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Karen
Registered User
Registered:
5/3/2002 | posted: 2/11/2007 at 10:39:28 AM ET
Any news yet? A couple of people have posted comments in the guest book on her official site. Very enthusiastic. It sounds like it was a great night.
|  Jean
Registered User
Registered:
6/7/2003 | posted: 2/16/2007 at 6:33:03 AM ET
"February 16, 2007
A night with the red-headed Momma
By RICHARD MOESCHL
Mail Tribune
It was a sold-out performance at the Craterian and the main attraction was singer Bernadette Peters.
Peters will turn 59 on Feb. 28 and she looked the same to me as she always has on the stage: beautifully perky. She was decked out in heels and a sequinned dress slit up the front, her trademark red tresses falling over her shoulders and getting pulled back regularly from her face. "I hear it rains a lot here in Oregon," she said. "That's why my hair is so frizzy."
Born Bernadette Lazzara to an Italian-American family in Queens, she has been performing since she was 3, when her mother put her on a television show. She continued to appear on television shows and got her Actors Equity Card when she was 9. To avoid always being cast as an Italian, she changed her stage name to Bernadette Peters, from her father's first name.
And there she was, in downtown Medford, singing "Let Me Entertain You" at the top of a set that would proceed without intermission for 18 songs, including an encore. Peters has made several roles on Broadway her own: Momma Rose in "Gypsy," Annie Oakley in "Annie Get Your Gun," Dot/Marie in the Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine musical "Sunday in the Park with George," and the Witch in "Into the Woods." And we got to hear her sing many of the songs from those shows, including some that were sung by others in the casts.
Peters is an unabashed fan of Sondheim, having appeared in a number of his musicals. At the Craterian she sang his praises — literally and figuratively. Most of the selections on the program came from the pen of Sondheim: "Let Me Entertain You" and "Everything's Coming Up Roses" ("Gypsy"), "No One Is Alone" and "Children Will Listen" ("Into the Woods"), "Not a Day Goes By" ("Merrily We Roll Along"), "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" and "Being Alive" ("Company") and "Move On" ("Sunday in the Park with George").
Sondheim is a fan of Peters, too. On her Web site, he is quoted as saying: "Like very few others, she sings and acts at the same time. Most performers act and then sing, act and then sing ... Bernadette is flawless as far as I'm concerned. I can't think of anything negative."
I'm sure many audience members would be hard-pressed to find anything negative about her Rogue Valley performance. She was backed by "The Ginger Rogers Craterian Band," an ad hoc collection of local musicians including many familiar faces from the Rogue Valley Symphony. I also recognized Ed Dunsavage on guitar, Theresa McCoy on percussion, Jodi French on piano and David Miller on upright bass.
On piano and conducting the whole ensemble was Peters' musical director and arranger, Marvin Laird, who has been working with her since she was 13. A special treat for those of us of a certain age was the drummer, Cubby O'Brien of Mousketeer fame, who is two years younger than Peters.
Peters has received Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards and an Emmy nomination for her performances. She's been on stage, on TV and in films. But when I think of Bernadette Peters, I think of Broadway. And that was the feeling that came across at the Craterian as she stood center stage encased in the spotlight, head tossed back, arms outstretched, looking up toward the sky and belting out a note with the power and resonance of a very gifted voice.
For a sultry rendition of "Fever," Peters climbed up a short set of stairs, then sprawled across the piano. Her delivery was punctuated by some moves with the microphone and Cubby's drums. The only other bit of stage business was to don a shawl and change shoes for her powerful Mama Rose moment. An occasional stride across the stage and one quick visit to the audience was all of the choreography. This was a night of singing.
The vocal dynamics spanned the whole range you'd expect from a Great White Way diva. "O Shenandoah," a surprising choice for a Broadway chanteuse, was delicately intoned, almost completely a cappella with a few light piano embellishments. "There Is Nothing Like a Dame" from "South Pacific" got the full-bore treatment. Other Rodgers and Hammerstein pieces included "Some Enchanted Evening," also from "South Pacific," "When I Marry Mr. Snow" from "Carousel" and "The Gentleman Is a Dope" from "Allegro."
Before you knew it, the encore was over, "The Ginger Rogers Craterian Band" had wrapped up its last few notes and the lights came up in the auditorium. Talk about some enchanted evening."
Source:Mail Tribune, Southern Oregon
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Sweet...
(I have a feeling that she sang "Roses Turn" rather than "Everything's Coming Up Roses". And the quote by Sondheim is not from her web site, it's from the Wikipedia article.)
| Jean
Registered User
Registered:
6/7/2003 | posted: 2/17/2007 at 4:30:18 AM ET
blog and photo
| BroadwayBabyGal
Registered User
Registered:
5/8/2003 | posted: 2/18/2007 at 1:16:36 AM ET
Wow, she sure loves that dress! 
Jessica
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