| Author | Message: Found this on Playbill.com | Posted by: ChloeMiles
On: 2/6/1999 at 6:08:10 PM GMT
Message #: 668
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BERNADETTE PETERS
The most exciting news of the week has to be Bernadette Peters' return to The
Great White Way in the much-anticipated revival of Irving Berlin's Annie Get
Your Gun. In honor of this occasion, I thought I would devote the rest of this
week's column to some of the many shows and concerts in which I have had the
pleasure of watching Peters perform.
Song and Dance: Of her many wonderful stage roles, this is perhaps the
performance I recall most fondly, and it was the show that won Peters her
long-deserved Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. I was a junior in high
school at the time, and it was the height of my Bernadette mania, having just
"discovered" her many talents a year earlier on the cast recording of Sunday
in the Park with George. (Peters' understudy was unfortunately on the day I
had tickets for Sunday, but thankfully her beautiful performance in that show
was captured on video and later aired on PBS.) It was with great expectation
that I went to New York with my mom to catch one of the first preview
performances of this Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. I knew nothing about the
show, except that the first act was pure Peters, so how could one go wrong?
Indeed, the first act was Peters alone onstage for a one-hour song cycle. From
the moment she stepped onstage through to the reprise of "Take That Look Off
Your Face" at the end of the first act, Peters was perfection personified, her
singing flawless and her acting dynamic. She brought Emma, the English hat
designer, to full life, and it was a rollercoaster ride of emotions as the
audience watched Peters, as Emma, move from one relationship to another. Her
voice was at full throttle, belting the show's opener, "Take That Look Off
Your Face," as she explained, "I am gonna work hard/Get my card/Have a
brilliant career/Stay in love/And outshine any New York girl you'd see/If you
think that I won't/You don't know me." Peters was seductively charming in
"English Girls"; she mixed anger with pain in "You Made Me Think You Were in
Love"; she brought perfect comic timing to the three "Letter[s] Home"; and the
emotional peak of the first act was the succession of four beautiful songs:
"Unexpected Song," "Come Back with the Same Look in Your Eyes," "Take That
Look Off Your Face (reprise)" and "Tell Me on a Sunday." Just to hear her
beautiful tones on "Unexpected Song" was reason enough to see the show, and it
brought me back to the musical three more times.
Into the Woods: I was in college when Peters opened in Stephen Sondheim and
James Lapine's ingenious take on the fairytales of the Brother Grimm, Into the
Woods; however, I made sure I had my tickets for the musical when I was home
on break. Peters was almost unrecognizable during her first appearance in the
show, dressed as an old, crooked-fingered witch, and she drew roars of
laughter from the audience when she delivered her first number, the "Witch's
Rap." "Greens, greens and nothing but greens," Peters spit out in a fury, as
she told the childless Baker and his wife what they must do to break the spell
that has left them childless. Throughout the first act, Peters appeared many
times, always finding the most comical way to deliver a line. She was also
extremely moving when she sang "Stay with Me" to her long-haired daughter,
Rapunzel. Her voice soared as she implored, "Stay with me/I am home/ Who out
there could love you more than I/What out there?/That I cannot supply." And,
her transformation from the grotesque witch to her beautiful former self
toward the end of the first act remains one of the great tricks of theatrical
wizardry.
During Into the Woods's second act, the Witch served as a moral conscience,
questioning the motives and the necessity to place blame on a specific
individual for the catastrophes of the community. In her 11 o'clock number,
"Last Midnight," Peters pulled out all the stops, vocally and dramatically,
only to disappear with a "boom...crunch" at the end of the song. She returned
to offer a final bit of advice in the show's finale, gently singing, 'Careful
the things you say/Children will listen. . ." Her performance brought me back
to that show two more times.
The Goodbye Girl: If The Goodbye Girl didn't quite live up to the expectations
of a creative team consisting of Neil Simon, Marvin Hamlisch and David Zippel,
Graciela Daniele and Michael Kidd (who replaced Gene Saks during its out-of-
town tryout in Chicago), the show was nonetheless an enjoyable outing, which
brought Peters back to the stage after nearly a six-year break from musicals
and paired her with the talented comedian Martin Short. Peters was divine as
always, displaying her infectious charm and comedy, while singing a host of
pleasant tunes- I think the Hamlisch/Zippel score is quite a good one and
often underrated. In fact, the score gave BP the chance to be forceful with
"No More," a riot with "A Beat Behind," maternally sweet with "Don't Follow in
My Footsteps," moving with "How Can I Win?," delightfully flirtatious in her
rooftop duet with Martin Short, "Paula," and joyous with "What a Guy." I was
able to catch her performance in this show two more times as well.
Peters in Concert: I first saw Peters in concert in Atlantic City soon after
her Tony Award-winning run in Song and Dance. I somehow convinced my entire
family to make the trek to the famed boardwalk to catch her critically-
acclaimed night-club act. I'll always remember how excited I was when we were
able to sit at one of the front tables, and the anticipation of awaiting BP's
entrance during the opening act of comedian/juggler Michael Davis. Soon
enough, though, the announcer's voice boomed, "Ladies and gentlemen, Ms.
Bernadette Peters." Peters began her hour-long show with her now-standard
opening "We're in the Money" and had the audience in the palm of her hand for
a set that included "Dedicated To the One I Love," "Gee Whiz," "Broadway
Baby," Sunday in the Park with George's "Move On," "Other Lady," a riveting
"Pearl's a Singer," a medley of Leonard Bernstein songs, the Peter Allen tune
"If You Were Wonderin'" and "Unexpected Song," which was prefaced by the
"Second Letter Home" from Song and Dance. I have since seen Peters perform in
concert a few other times, but nothing will ever match her Carnegie Hall
concert a few years back, which showcased the many talents of one of the
musical theatre's most incandescent stars. It was a magnificent program that
included not only magical steps back in time to her roles in Dames at Sea and
Mack and Mabel, but a second act of all Sondheim that boasted one show-stopper
after the next. How can you top the beautiful vocal tones of Peters'
"Johanna"? Maybe with a solo version of "You Could Drive a Person Crazy." Or,
perhaps, an intense, belted-to-the rafters "There Won't Be Trumpets." Or,
better yet, a totally new interpretation of the classic Company anthem "Being
Alive" or . . .
Upcoming Peters TV schedule. . .Peters and Tom Wopat will make an appearance
on the "Rosie O'Donnell Show" on Wednesday, Feb. 17 (10 a.m. on ABC). Peters
will also join Regis Philbin and Kathie Lee Gifford on "Live with Regis and
Kathie Lee" on Tuesday, March 9 (9 a.m. on ABC), and on Tuesday, March 23
Peters will sit down with the ladies of "The View" (11 a.m. on ABC). So, set
those VCRS!
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