Tessa Kay Kosta (December , â€" August , ) was a star of Broadway
musicals and operettas during the early decades of the twentieth
century.Kosta was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Edward
and Emma Kosta. Her parents came to America from Hungary the year of
her birth, settling first in Chicago and then San Francisco where her
father worked as a confectioner. Sometime after the turn of the
twentieth century Kosta’s family moved to Ely, Nevada where she
graduated from Ely High School in . Prior to entering college at Salt
Lake City, she studied music at the Holy Rosary Academy in San
Bernardino, California.Kosta’s break came in February when producer
George W. Lederer plucked her from the chorus to play the title role
Yvonne Sherry in road productions of his hit Broadway musical, Madame
Sherry. She stayed with Madame Sherry for over a year to positive
reviews before touring in late as Claudine with the musical comedy
The Pink Lady opposite Olga De Baugh and Harry Depp.Her adult Broadway
debut came on April , , at the Astor Theatre as Anna Budd in the
musical comedy The Beauty Shop. Kosta’s Broadway career would span
at least fifteen years, with Chu Chin Chow (/), Lassie (), The
Chocolate Soldier (/), Caroline () and Song of the Flame () among her
more memorable productions. She last appeared on Broadway in at
Jolson's th Street Theatre playing the multiple roles Musette, Irma
and Lieutenant Fedor in The Fortune Teller.
musicals and operettas during the early decades of the twentieth
century.Kosta was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Edward
and Emma Kosta. Her parents came to America from Hungary the year of
her birth, settling first in Chicago and then San Francisco where her
father worked as a confectioner. Sometime after the turn of the
twentieth century Kosta’s family moved to Ely, Nevada where she
graduated from Ely High School in . Prior to entering college at Salt
Lake City, she studied music at the Holy Rosary Academy in San
Bernardino, California.Kosta’s break came in February when producer
George W. Lederer plucked her from the chorus to play the title role
Yvonne Sherry in road productions of his hit Broadway musical, Madame
Sherry. She stayed with Madame Sherry for over a year to positive
reviews before touring in late as Claudine with the musical comedy
The Pink Lady opposite Olga De Baugh and Harry Depp.Her adult Broadway
debut came on April , , at the Astor Theatre as Anna Budd in the
musical comedy The Beauty Shop. Kosta’s Broadway career would span
at least fifteen years, with Chu Chin Chow (/), Lassie (), The
Chocolate Soldier (/), Caroline () and Song of the Flame () among her
more memorable productions. She last appeared on Broadway in at
Jolson's th Street Theatre playing the multiple roles Musette, Irma
and Lieutenant Fedor in The Fortune Teller.
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