Bernadette Peters is Broadway royalty by now. If she were British, I believe she would be Dame Bernadette Peters for her contributions to theatre and the arts. She’s had the most amazing career.
Regarded by many as the foremost interpreter of the works of Stephen Sondheim,[1] Peters is particularly noted for her roles on the Broadway stage, including in the musicals Mack and Mabel (1974), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), Song and Dance (1985), Into the Woods (1987), The Goodbye Girl (1993), Annie Get Your Gun (1999), Gypsy (2003), A Little Night Music (2010), Follies (2011), and Hello, Dolly! (2018).[2]
en.wikipedia.org/...
Here she is as the Witch from Into the Woods singing “The Last Midnight.” I think the scenario is self-explanatory but here’s a bit of setup:
The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales, exploring the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. The main characters are taken from "Little Red Riding Hood" (spelled "ridinghood" in the script), "Jack and the Beanstalk", "Rapunzel", and "Cinderella", as well as several others. The musical is tied together by a story involving a childless baker and his wife and their quest to begin a family….
en.wikipedia.org/...
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Monday Youffraita
This one’s from Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George (1984) — a concert version of “Move On” with Mandy Patinkin, for Sondheim’s 80th birthday in 2010. Both created their roles on Broadway, Patinkin as Georges Seurat, the inventor of pointilism, and Peters as Dot, his lover and muse. This scene takes place when she comes back to Paris some years after leaving him and going to the States.
Bernadette Peters has the kind of voice that can be a disaster or a distinction—a voice that is both high and husky, delivered with a ragged squeak that sometimes has the effect of a nail scratched across glass and with a regional touch that is incontrovertibly New York.
Somehow Miss Peters has managed to turn all this to her advantage, to mold it into a voice that has immediate recognition value and the flexibility to project a serious role, as she did in “Mack and Mabel,” as well as the wide‐eyed naiveté that first brought her to attention in “Dames at Sea.”
www.nytimes.com/...
That’s from May 12, 1975. Since then her voice has matured, and so has her style, and she has grown into the incredible promise of her early talent. And Broadway is the better for it.
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In concert, singing “Being Alive,” the eleven o’clock showstopper from Sondheim’s Company: It’s Bobby’s signature song, but Peters has made it her own.
Sondheim has said of Peters, "Like very few others, she sings and acts at the same time," he says. "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."[29]
en.wikipedia.org/...
This next one’s a real treat:
Stephen Sondheim accompanies Bernadette Peters on "Send In the Clowns" from "A Little Night Music" at Southern Methodist University in 1994.
From the YouTube description
In 2003, Peters starred as Mama Rose in the Broadway revival of Gypsy, earning another Tony nomination. Ben Brantley in The New York Times wrote, "Working against type and expectation under the direction of Sam Mendes, Ms. Peters has created the most complex and compelling portrait of her long career, and she has done this in ways that deviate radically from the Merman blueprint."[33]
en.wikipedia.org/...
At the 2003 Tony Awards, as Mama Rose singing “Rose’s Turn” from the 2003 revival of Gypsy. I love the way she sets it up in commentary before you see the actual performance. This is one terrific clip, especially if you don’t already know the show. If you do, the bravura performance begins at 1:49.
Throughout her illustrious career, Bernadette Peters has dazzled audiences and critics with her performances on stage and television, in concert, and on recordings. She is one of the most critically-acclaimed Broadway performers, having received nominations for seven Tony Awards, winning two, and eight Drama Desk Awards, winning three. Four of the Broadway cast albums on which she has starred have won Grammy Awards. Recently, she has been starring on Broadway as Dolly Gallagher Levi in the hit musical, Hello, Dolly!
www.imdb.com/...
And that doesn’t even mention her film career.
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I’m guessing everyone is familiar with the story of Dolly Levi, the matchmaker, and her pursuit of crotchety old Horace Vandergelder. Or at least you’ve heard this number (another eleven o’clock showstopper).
Here she is:
She started at age 3 ½ —
Peters first performed on the stage as a child and then a teenaged actress in the 1960s, and in film and television in the 1970s. She was praised for this early work and for appearances on The Muppet Show, The Carol Burnett Show and in other television work, and for her roles in films including Silent Movie, The Jerk, Pennies from Heaven and Annie. In the 1980s, she returned to the theatre, where she became one of the best-known Broadway stars over the next three decades. She also has recorded six solo albums and several singles, as well as many cast albums, and performs regularly in her own solo concert act.
en.wikipedia.org/...
This is such a great interview with Stephen Colbert, from I think 2018. Her mother didn’t want her to get typecast, so… [7:29]
I would be remiss not to include this. It’s her whole concert from Royal Festival Hall in London, 1998.
Well worth your time if you want to relax with a great show. [1:31:00]
☕️ 🍔 Have a great day! 🍟 🍦