Bernadette Peters
Encyclopedia
Bernadette Peters is an American actress, singer and children's book author from Ozone Park, Queens, New York. Over the course of a career that has spanned five decades, she has starred in musical theatre
, films and television, as well as performing in solo concerts and 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.
Peters first performed on the stage as a child and then a teenage actor 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 like 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. Peters also continues to act in films and on television, where she has been nominated for three Emmy Award
s and three Golden Globe Award
s, winning once.
Peters is particularly noted for her starring roles in stage musicals, including Sunday in the Park with George
, Into the Woods
, Song and Dance
, Annie Get Your Gun
, Gypsy, A Little Night Music
and Follies
, becoming closely associated with composer Stephen Sondheim
. She had a four-year romantic relationship with comedian Steve Martin
and was married to investment adviser
Michael Wittenberg for over nine years until he was killed in a helicopter crash on September 26, 2005. Peters is known for her charitable work, including as a founder of the Broadway Barks
animal charity.
at the age of three-and-a-half. She appeared on the television shows Name That Tune
and several times on The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour
at age five.
In January 1958, at age nine, she obtained her Actors Equity Card
in the name of Bernadette Peters to avoid ethnic stereotyping, with the stage name taken from her father's first name. She made her professional stage debut the same month in This is Goggle, a comedy directed by Otto Preminger
that closed during out-of-town tryouts before reaching New York. She then appeared on NBC
television as Anna Stieman in A Boy Called Ciske, a Kraft Mystery Theatre production, in May 1958, and in a vignette entitled "Miracle in the Orphanage", part of "The Christmas Tree", a Hallmark Hall of Fame
production, in December 1958 with fellow child actor Richard Thomas
and veteran actors Jessica Tandy
and Margaret Hamilton
. She first appeared on the New York stage at age 10 as Tessie in the New York City Center
revival of The Most Happy Fella
(1959). In her teen years, she attended the Quintano's School for Young Professionals, a now defunct private school that several famous people, such as Steven Tyler
, attended.
At age 13, Peters appeared as one of the "Hollywood Blondes" and was an understudy for "Dainty June" in the second national tour of Gypsy
. During this tour, Peters first met her long-time accompanist, conductor and arranger Marvin Laird, who was the assistant conductor for the tour. Laird recalled, "I heard her sing an odd phrase or two and thought, 'God that's a big voice out of that little girl,'" The next summer, she played Dainty June in summer stock, and in 1962 she recorded her first single. In 1964, she played Leisl in The Sound of Music
and Jenny in Riverwind in summer stock
at the Mt. Gretna Playhouse (Pennsylvania
), and Riverwind again at the Bucks County Playhouse
in 1966. Upon graduation from high school, she started working steadily, appearing Off-Broadway
in the musicals The Penny Friend
(1966) and Curley McDimple
(1967) and as a standby on Broadway
in The Girl in the Freudian Slip (1967). She made her Broadway debut in Johnny No-Trump
in 1967, and next appeared as George M. Cohan
's sister opposite Joel Grey
in George M!
(1968), winning the Theatre World Award
.
It was Peters' performance as "Ruby" in the 1968 Off-Broadway
production of Dames at Sea
, a parody of 1930s musicals, that brought her critical acclaim and her first Drama Desk Award
. She had appeared in an earlier 1966 version of Dames at Sea at the Off-Off-Broadway
performance club Caffe Cino. Peters had starring roles in her next Broadway vehicles—Gelsomina in La Strada
(1969) and Hildy in On the Town (1971), for which she received her first Tony Award
nomination. She played Mabel Normand
in Mack and Mabel (1974), receiving another Tony nomination. Clive Barnes
wrote: "With the splashy Mack & Mabel ... diminutive and contralto Bernadette Peters found herself as a major Broadway star." Although these had short runs, Peters was singled out for praise by the critics, and the Mack and Mabel cast album became popular among musical theatre fans. She moved to Los Angeles
in the early 1970s to concentrate on television and film work.
s or television movie
s beginning in 1973, including Mel Brooks
' 1976 film Silent Movie
(for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award), the musical Annie
(1982), Pink Cadillac (1989), in which she co-starred with Clint Eastwood
, and Woody Allen
's Alice
(1990).
Peters starred opposite Steve Martin
in The Jerk
(1979), in a role that he wrote for her, and Pennies From Heaven
(1981), for which she won the Golden Globe Award as Best Motion Picture Actress in a Comedy or Musical. In Pennies from Heaven, she played Eileen Everson, a schoolteacher turned prostitute. Of her performance in Pennies From Heaven, John DiLeo wrote that she "is not only poignant as you'd expect but has a surprising inner strength." Pauline Kael
wrote in The New Yorker
: "Peters is mysteriously right in every nuance." Kael further noted that "The dance numbers are funny, amazing, and beautiful all at once; several of them are just about perfection." A review of the DVD reissue noted, "Peters brought a cocky attitude and a sexy exuberance to the musical numbers."
Peters and Martin had begun a romantic relationship in 1977 that lasted approximately four years. By 1981, her popularity had led to Peters appearing on the cover and in a spread in the December 1981 issue of Playboy Magazine, in which she posed in lingerie designed by Bob Mackie
.
Peters appeared with three generations of the Kirk Douglas
family in the 2003 film It Runs in the Family
, in which she played the wife of Michael Douglas
's character. In May 2006, she appeared in the movie Come le formiche (Wine and Kisses) with F. Murray Abraham
, filmed in Italy, playing a rich American who becomes involved with an Italian family that owns a vineyard. The DVD was released in 2007 in Italy. She starred in a film titled Coming Up Roses, playing a former musical-comedy actress with two daughters. The movie, produced by Bullet Pictures, Inc. and directed by Lisa Albright was filmed in March 2010.
production of the comedy-drama Sally and Marsha
, for which she was nominated for a Drama Desk Award
. She then returned to Broadway as Dot/Marie in the Stephen Sondheim
–James Lapine
musical Sunday in the Park with George
(1984), for which she received her third Tony Award nomination. The New York Times
reviewer Frank Rich
called her performance "radiant". She recorded the role for PBS in 1986, winning a 1987 ACE Award. Her next role was Andrew Lloyd Webber
's Song and Dance
(1985), winning her first Tony for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her performance in the role of Emma. Theater critic Frank Rich wrote in an otherwise negative review of the show that Peters "has no peer in the musical theater right now."
She then created the role of the Witch in Sondheim-Lapine's Into the Woods
(1987). Peters is "considered by many to be the premier interpreter of [Sondheim's] work," according to writer Alex Witchel. Raymond Knapp wrote that Peters "achieved her definitive stardom" in Sunday in the Park With George and Into the Woods. 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." Peters continued her association with Sondheim with a 1995 benefit concert of Anyone Can Whistle
. Additionally, she appeared in several concerts featuring Sondheim's work, and performed for him at his 1993 Kennedy Center Honors
ceremony.
She next starred in the musical adaptation of Neil Simon
's The Goodbye Girl
with music by Marvin Hamlisch
(1993). Peters won her second Tony for her performance as Annie Oakley
in the 1999 revival of Annie Get Your Gun
opposite Tom Wopat
. Among many glowing notices for this role, critic Lloyd Rose
of the Washington Post commented: "[Peters] banishes all thoughts of Ethel Merman about two bars into her first number, 'Doin' What Comes Natur'lly.' Partly this is because Merman's Annie was a hearty, boisterous gal, while Peters plays an adorable, slightly goofy gamine... For anyone who cares about the American musical theater, the chance to see Peters in this role is reason enough to see the show." Playbill went even further: "Arguably the most talented comedienne in the musical theatre today, Peters manages to extract a laugh from most every line she delivers."
In 2003, Peters took on the role of Mama Rose in the Broadway revival of Gypsy
, earning another Tony nomination. Ben Brantley
in his New York Times review 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." Arthur Laurents
said: "But in 2003 there was a new Rose on Broadway: Bernadette Peters! Brilliant, original, totally unlike any of the others." In February 2006, she participated in a reading of the Sondheim-Weidman musical Bounce
. On September 24, 2007, Peters participated in a one-time only charity reading of the play Love Letters
with her former Gypsy co-star, John Dossett.
After an absence from the Broadway stage of six years (Gypsy closed in 2004), she starred in the Broadway revival of Sondheim's A Little Night Music
, as Desiree Armfeldt from July 13, 2010 to January 9, 2011. She replaced Catherine Zeta-Jones
in the role. The New York Times reviewer wrote of her performance, "for theater lovers there can be no greater current pleasure than to witness Bernadette Peters perform the show’s signature number, "Send In the Clowns," with an emotional transparency and musical delicacy that turns this celebrated song into an occasion of transporting artistry. I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced with such palpable force – or such prominent goose bumps – the sense of being present at an indelible moment in the history of musical theater."
Peters appeared in the role of Sally Durant Plummer in the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts production of the Sondheim musical, Follies
in May and June 2011. Of her performance, one critic wrote: "Peters may not be the most traditional casting for Sally, now an ultraneurotic housewife in Phoenix
, but she exquisitely captures the character's unfathomable sadness and longing. It's a star turn, for sure, but one that brings attention to itself because of its truthfulness. Not surprisingly, her rendition of 'Losing My Mind' is simply shattering." She is reprising her role of Sally in the Broadway limited engagement of Follies, which started in previews on August 7, 2011 at the Marquis Theatre
.
s for her guest-starring roles on The Muppet Show
(1977) and Ally McBeal
(2001). On The Muppet Show, Peters sang the song "Just One Person" to Robin the Frog. She was one of the Muppets
' guests when they hosted The Tonight Show
in 1979, again singing "Just One Person" to Robin, and she appeared in other episodes with the Muppets. Peters was also nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award, Outstanding Performer in a Children's Special, for her work in the 2002 made-for-television movie Bobbie's Girl
. She won the 1987 "CableACE Award
" for her role as Dot in the television version of Sunday in the Park With George.
She has appeared in many variety show
s with stars such as Sonny and Cher and George Burns
. She has both performed and presented on the Academy Awards
broadcasts in 1976, 1981, 1983, 1987 and 1994. Peters has been a presenter at the annual Tony Awards ceremony and co-hosted the ceremony with Gregory Hines
in June 2002. She also hosted Saturday Night Live
in November 1981. She made 12 guest appearances on The Carol Burnett Show
as well as appearing with Burnett in the made-for-television version of Once Upon a Mattress
and the 1982 film Annie
. She also performed at the Kennedy Center Honors
ceremony for Burnett in 2003. Peters often appeared on the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and on the day-time talk show Live with Regis and Kelly
, both as a co-host and a guest. Peters voiced Rita the stray cat in the "Rita and Runt" segments of the animated series Animaniacs
. Peters, as Rita, sang both original songs written for the show and parodies of Broadway musical numbers. She appeared on Inside the Actor's Studio in November 2000, discussing her career and craft.
Peters has co-starred in a number of television movies, including The Last Best Year
(1990) with Mary Tyler Moore
, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella (1997) with Brandy
(receiving a nomination for the "Golden Satellite Award" for her role), and Prince Charming
(2003) with Martin Short
. She co-starred in her own television series, All's Fair
, with Richard Crenna
in 1976–77, for which Peters was nominated for a Golden Globe award as Best TV Actress — Musical/Comedy. In March 2005, she made a pilot for an ABC
situation comedy series titled Adopted, co-starring with Christine Baranski
, but it was not picked up. Peters appeared in the Lifetime
television movie Living Proof
, which was first broadcast on October 18, 2008. She played the role of Barbara, an art teacher with breast cancer, who is initially reluctant to participate in the study for the cancer drug Herceptin. Andrew Gans of Playbill wrote, "Peters is able to choose from an expansive emotional palette to color the character, and her performance... is moving, humorous and ultimately spirit-raising".
Peters' television work in recent years also includes guest appearances on several television series. She appeared as the sharp-tongued sister of Karen Walker
(Megan Mullally
) on the penultimate episode of the NBC
series Will & Grace
, "Whatever Happened to Baby Gin?" (May 2006); as a defense attorney on the NBC series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
(November 2006); as a judge on the ABC series Boston Legal
(May 2007); and as an accident victim in Grey's Anatomy
(September 2008). Of her role in Grey's Anatomy, TV Guide wrote: "Peters is especially fine as she confronts a life spinning out of control. I'd make her an early contender for a guest-actor Emmy nomination." In January, February and May 2009, she appeared in the ABC series Ugly Betty
in five episodes as Jodie Papadakis, a magazine mogul running the YETI (Young Editors Training Initiative) program that Betty and Marc are in.
Peters' appearance at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival
in June 2009 was filmed and broadcast in Australia later that month.
. Peters' 1980 single "Gee Whiz" reached the top forty on the U.S. pop singles charts. She has recorded most of the Broadway and off-Broadway musicals she has appeared in, and four of these cast albums have won Grammy Awards.
Peters' debut album in 1980 (an LP
), entitled Bernadette Peters contained 10 songs, including "If You Were The Only Boy", "Gee Whiz", "Heartquake", "Should've Never Let Him Go", "Chico's Girl", "Pearl's a Singer", "Other Lady", "Only Wounded", "I Never Thought I'd Break" and "You'll Never Know". The original cover painting by Alberto Vargas
, pictured at left, was one of his last works, created at the age of 84. According to The New York Daily News, Peters "persuaded him to do one last 'Vargas Girls' portrait... She just went to his California retreat, asked him to do one more, he looked at her and said, 'You ARE a Vargas girl!'" She kept the original painting. The original title planned for the album was Decades. Rolling Stone
wrote of her debut album:
Her next solo album, Now Playing (1981), featured songs by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Carole Bayer Sager and Marvin Hamlisch
, and Stephen Sondheim (for example, "Broadway Baby"). Bernadette Peters was re-released on CD in 1992 as Bernadette, with the 1980 Vargas cover art, and included some of the songs from Now Playing. In 1996, she was nominated for a Grammy Award for her best-selling album, I'll Be Your Baby Tonight, which includes popular songs by John Lennon
, Paul McCartney
, Lyle Lovett
, Hank Williams, Sam Cooke
, and Billy Joel
, as well as Broadway classics by Leonard Bernstein
and Rodgers and Hammerstein
. The live recording of her 1996 Carnegie Hall concert, Sondheim, Etc. - Bernadette Peters Live At Carnegie Hall, also was nominated for a Grammy Award.
Peters' next studio album, in 2002, Bernadette Peters Loves Rodgers and Hammerstein, consisted entirely of Rodgers and Hammerstein songs, including two that she often sings in her concerts, "Some Enchanted Evening
" and "There Is Nothin' Like a Dame". This album, which reached position 14 in the "Top Internet Charts", was her third album in a row nominated for a Grammy Award. It formed the basis of her Radio City Music Hall
solo concert debut in June 2002. Her last solo album, titled Sondheim Etc., Etc. Live At Carnegie Hall: The Rest of It, was released in 2005. It consists of all of the songs (and patter) from her 1996 Carnegie Hall concert that were not included in the earlier recording.
Additionally, Peters has recorded songs on other albums, such as "Dublin Lady" on John Whelan's Flirting with the Edge (Narada, 1998). On the Mandy Patinkin
Dress Casual 1990 album, Patinkin and Peters recorded the songs from Stephen Sondheim's 1966 television play, Evening Primrose. On the tribute album Born to the Breed: A Tribute to Judy Collins
Peters sings "Trust Your Heart".
in New York City in 1996, devoting the second half to the work of Stephen Sondheim. She performed a similar concert in London, which was taped and released on video, and also aired on U.S. Public Television stations in 1999. She continues to perform her solo concert at venues around the U.S., such as the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
in Miami, and with symphony orchestras such as the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Hall.
In a review of her 2002 Radio City Music Hall concert, Stephen Holden
of The New York Times
described Peters as "the peaches-and-cream embodiment of an ageless storybook princess... inside a giant soap bubble floating toward heaven. A belief in the power of the dreams behind Rodgers and Hammerstein
's songs, if not in their reality, was possible." Peters made her solo concert debut at Lincoln Center in New York City on May 1, 2006. Holden, reviewing this concert, noted, "Even while swiveling across the stage of Avery Fisher Hall
like a voluptuous Botticelli Venus in Bob Mackie spangles... she radiated a preternatural innocence.... For the eternal child in all of us, she evokes a surrogate childhood playmate". In June 2009, Peters was the headliner at the 2009 Adelaide Cabaret Festival
in Adelaide
, Australia. The Sunday Mail felt that Peters showed "the verve, vigour and voice of someone half her age."
Peters' concert performances often benefit arts organizations or help them to mark special occasions, such as her performance on an overnight cruise on the Seabourn Odyssey
in a benefit for the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
in Miami in November 2009. She was one of the performers to help celebrate the Center's grand opening, in October 2006. She headlined The Alliance of The Arts Black Tie Anniversary Gala at Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza in Thousand Oaks, California
, on November 21, 2009. She had helped to celebrate the opening of the Arts Plaza with concerts fifteen years earlier.
, Peters has written two children's books, both illustrated by Liz Murphy. The first is about a scrappy dog, named after her dog Kramer, and the pleasure of adopting a pet. Titled Broadway Barks, the book is published by Blue Apple Books (2008). Peters wrote the words and music to a lullaby, titled "Kramer's Song", which is included on a CD in the book. The book reached #5 on The New York Times Children's Best Sellers: Picture Books list for the week of June 8, 2008.
Her second children's book is the story of a pit bull
, Stella, named after Peters' pit bull. The character would rather be a pig ballerina, but she learns to accept herself. Titled Stella is a Star, the book includes a CD with an original song written and performed by Peters and was released in April 2010 by Blue Apple Books. According to Publisher's Weekly, "Turning the pages to Peters' spirited narration, which is provided in an accompanying CD, makes for a more rewarding reading experience. The story and disc end with a sneakily affecting self-esteem anthem, which, like the familiar tale itself, is buoyed by the author's lovely vocals." Peters introduced the book at a reading and signing where she also sang part of the song, at the L.A. Times Festival of Books, Los Angeles
, California, on April 24, 2010.
Peters sings four songs on the CD accompanying the 2005 children's picture book Dewey Doo-it Helps Owlie Fly Again, the proceeds of which benefit the Christopher Reeve Foundation
. Her co-star from Sunday in the Park With George, Mandy Patinkin
, also sings on the CD.
Peters contributes her time and talents to various charitable, celebratory and civic efforts. In 1999, Peters and Mary Tyler Moore
co-founded Broadway Barks
, an annual animal adopt-a-thon held in New York City. Each July, she and Mary Tyler Moore act as co-hosts and presenters for the Broadway Barks event. Peters held a concert, "A Special Concert for Broadway Barks Because Broadway Cares", at the Minskoff Theatre
, New York City, on November 9, 2009 as a benefit for both Broadway Barks and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids. The concert raised an estimated $615,000 for the two charities. Also in support of Broadway Barks, Peters has appeared on the daytime talk show Live With Regis and Kelly
.
Other
Peters serves on the Board of Trustees of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS
and participates in the organization's events, such as the annual Broadway Flea Market and Grand Auction, and the "Gypsy of the Year" competition. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Standing Tall, a non-profit educational program offering an innovative program for children with multiple disabilities, based in New York City. Her late husband was the Director and Treasurer of Standing Tall. Peters' 1995 Anyone Can Whistle concert and her "Carnegie Hall" 1996 concert were benefits for the Gay Men's Health Crisis
. She also has supported the Christopher Reeve Foundation
.
In 2007, Peters helped the Broadway community celebrate the end of the stagehand strike
in a "Broadway's Back" concert at the Marquis Theatre
. In 2008, she was one of the participants in a fund-raiser for the Westport Country Playhouse
, and in the opening ceremony and dedication of the renovated TKTS
discount ticket booth in Times Square
. That year, she also presented Mayor Michael Bloomberg
with the Humanitarian Award at the Breast Cancer Research Foundation awards. On March 8, 2009, she helped celebrate the last birthday of Senator Ted Kennedy
(singing "There Is Nothin' Like a Dame") in a private concert and ceremony held at the Kennedy Center, hosted by Bill Cosby
, with many Senators, Representatives, and President Barack
and First Lady Michelle Obama
in attendance. On November 19, 2009, she helped to celebrate the opening of The David Rubenstein
Atrium at Lincoln Center.
On February 8, 2010, Peters was one of the many to honor Angela Lansbury at the annual Drama League of New York
benefit, singing "Not While I'm Around". In March 2010, Peters helped Stephen Sondheim celebrate his 80th birthday in the Roundabout Theatre Company
"Sondheim 80" benefit. She was one of the Honorary Chairs. She had been part of the Roundabout Theatre's Sondheim gala for his 75th birthday.
Michael Wittenberg on July 20, 1996 at the upstate New York home of long-time friend Mary Tyler Moore
. Wittenberg died at age 43 on September 26, 2005 in a helicopter crash in Montenegro
while on a business trip.
Peters has two dogs, a mixed-breed dog named Kramer and an American pit bull terrier named Stella, both adopted from shelters. Peters' goddaughter Isabelle and Kramer were the inspirations for the characters in her first children's book, Broadway Barks, and Stella inspired the title character of her second children's book, Stella is a Star.
in April 1987. She was named the Hasty Pudding
Woman of the Year in 1987. Other honors include the Sarah Siddons Award
for outstanding performance in a Chicago
theatrical production (1994); the American Theatre Hall of Fame
at the Gershwin Theatre in New York City (1996), becoming the youngest person so honored; The Actors' Fund
Artistic Achievement Medal (1999); an Honorary Doctorate
from Hofstra University
in Hempstead, New York
(May 19, 2002); the Hollywood Bowl
Hall of Fame in June 2002 and the National Dance Institute
2009 Artistic Honoree in April 2009. She was the recipient of the Stephen Sondheim Award, presented by the Signature Theatre on April 11, 2011.
Other notable concerts
Cast recordings
Other recordings
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
, films and television, as well as performing in solo concerts and recordings. She is one of the most critically acclaimed Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
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.
Peters first performed on the stage as a child and then a teenage actor 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 Muppet Show
The Muppet Show is a British television programme produced by American puppeteer Jim Henson and featuring Muppets. After two pilot episodes were produced in 1974 and 1975, the show premiered on 5 September 1976 and five series were produced until 15 March 1981, lasting 120 episodes...
, The Carol Burnett Show
The Carol Burnett Show
The Carol Burnett Show is a variety / sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway. It originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 278 episodes and originated from CBS Television City's Studio 33...
and in other television work, and for her roles in films like Silent Movie
Silent Movie
Silent Movie is a 1976 satirical comedy film co-written, directed by, and starring Mel Brooks, and released by 20th Century Fox on June 17, 1976...
, The Jerk
The Jerk
The Jerk is a 1979 American comedy film. Directed by Carl Reiner, the film was written by Steve Martin, Carl Gottlieb and Michael Elias. This was Steve Martin's first starring role in a feature film. The film also features Bernadette Peters, M. Emmet Walsh and Jackie Mason.-Plot:The film begins...
, Pennies from Heaven
Pennies from Heaven (1981 film)
Pennies from Heaven is a 1981 musical film. The film was based on a 1978 BBC television drama. In 1981, Dennis Potter adapted his own screenplay for a film of the same name for American audiences, with its setting changed to Depression era Chicago. Potter was nominated for the 1981 Academy Award...
and Annie
Annie (film)
Annie is a 1982 American musical film directed by John Huston and choreographed by Arlene Phillips. The film is an adaption of the 1977 stage musical of the same name, which in turn was based on the 1924 Little Orphan Annie comic strip by Harold Gray. The movie features music by Charles Strouse,...
. 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. Peters also continues to act in films and on television, where she has been nominated for three Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
s and three Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
s, winning once.
Peters is particularly noted for her starring roles in stage musicals, including Sunday in the Park with George
Sunday in the Park with George
Sunday in the Park with George is a 1984 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical was inspired by the painting "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat...
, Into the Woods
Into the Woods
Into the Woods is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It debuted in San Diego at the Old Globe Theatre in 1986, and premiered on Broadway in 1987. Bernadette Peters' performance as the Witch and Joanna Gleason's portrayal of the Baker's Wife brought acclaim...
, Song and Dance
Song and Dance
Song and Dance is a musical comprising two acts, one told entirely in "Song" and one entirely in "Dance", tied together by a love story.The first part is Tell Me On A Sunday, with lyrics by Don Black and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, about a young British woman's romantic misadventures in New York...
, Annie Get Your Gun
Annie Get Your Gun (musical)
Annie Get Your Gun is a musical with lyrics and music written by Irving Berlin and a book by Herbert Fields and his sister Dorothy Fields. The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley , who was a sharpshooter from Ohio, and her husband, Frank Butler.The 1946 Broadway production...
, Gypsy, A Little Night Music
A Little Night Music
A Little Night Music is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. Inspired by the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night, it involves the romantic lives of several couples. Its title is a literal English translation of the German name for Mozart's Serenade...
and Follies
Follies
Follies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. The story concerns a reunion in a crumbling Broadway theatre, scheduled for demolition, of the past performers of the "Weismann's Follies," a musical revue , that played in that theatre between the World Wars...
, becoming closely associated with composer Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
. She had a four-year romantic relationship with comedian Steve Martin
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....
and was married to investment adviser
Investment Advisor
The term Investment Advisor is an individual or firm who, for compensation, engages in the business of advising others, either directly or through publications or writings, as to the value of securities or as to the advisability of investing in, purchasing, or selling securities...
Michael Wittenberg for over nine years until he was killed in a helicopter crash on September 26, 2005. Peters is known for her charitable work, including as a founder of the Broadway Barks
Broadway Barks
Broadway Barks is an annual animal charity event held in New York City to promote the adoption of shelter animals. The event has been held every July in Shubert Alley, starting in 1999.-History:...
animal charity.
Early life and career
Peters was born Bernadette Lazzara to an Italian-American family in Ozone Park, Queens, New York, the youngest of three children. Her siblings are casting director Donna DeSeta and Joseph Lazzara. Her father Peter drove a bread delivery truck, and her mother, Marguerite (née Maltese), started her in show business by putting her on the television show Juvenile JuryJuvenile Jury
Juvenile Jury is an American children's game show which originally ran on NBC from April 3, 1947 to August 1, 1954. It was hosted by Jack Barry and featured a panel of kids aged ten or less giving advice to solve the problems of other kids.-Controversy:...
at the age of three-and-a-half. She appeared on the television shows Name That Tune
Name That Tune
Name That Tune is a television game show that put two contestants against each other to test their knowledge of songs. Premiering in the United States on NBC Radio in 1952, the show was created and produced by Harry Salter and his wife Roberta....
and several times on The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour
The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour
The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour was a variety show with a cast of children, including some who later became well-known adult performers. It had a long run for more than three decades...
at age five.
In January 1958, at age nine, she obtained her Actors Equity Card
Equity Card
An Equity Card is proof of membership in an organization of stage actors such as the Actors' Equity Association of the United States or the British Equity...
in the name of Bernadette Peters to avoid ethnic stereotyping, with the stage name taken from her father's first name. She made her professional stage debut the same month in This is Goggle, a comedy directed by Otto Preminger
Otto Preminger
Otto Ludwig Preminger was an Austro–Hungarian-American theatre and film director.After moving from the theatre to Hollywood, he directed over 35 feature films in a five-decade career. He rose to prominence for stylish film noir mysteries such as Laura and Fallen Angel...
that closed during out-of-town tryouts before reaching New York. She then appeared on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
television as Anna Stieman in A Boy Called Ciske, a Kraft Mystery Theatre production, in May 1958, and in a vignette entitled "Miracle in the Orphanage", part of "The Christmas Tree", a Hallmark Hall of Fame
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The second longest-running television program in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2011...
production, in December 1958 with fellow child actor Richard Thomas
Richard Thomas (actor)
Richard Earl Thomas is an American actor, best known for his role as budding author John-Boy Walton in the CBS drama The Waltons.- Early life :Thomas was born Richard Earl Thomas in New York,...
and veteran actors Jessica Tandy
Jessica Tandy
Jessie Alice "Jessica" Tandy was an English-American stage and film actress.She first appeared on the London stage in 1926 at the age of 16, playing, among others, Katherine opposite Laurence Olivier's Henry V, and Cordelia opposite John Gielgud's King Lear. She also worked in British films...
and Margaret Hamilton
Margaret Hamilton
Margaret Hamilton was an American film actress known for her portrayal of the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz...
. She first appeared on the New York stage at age 10 as Tessie in the New York City Center
New York City Center
New York City Center is a 2,750-seat Moorish Revival theater located at 131 West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues in Manhattan, New York City. It is one block south of Carnegie Hall...
revival of The Most Happy Fella
The Most Happy Fella
The Most Happy Fella is a 1956 musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Frank Loesser. The story, about a romance between an older man and younger woman, is based on the play They Knew What They Wanted by Sidney Howard...
(1959). In her teen years, she attended the Quintano's School for Young Professionals, a now defunct private school that several famous people, such as Steven Tyler
Steven Tyler
Steven Tyler is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the frontman and lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the harmonica, and occasional piano and percussion. He is known as the "Demon of Screamin'", due to his high screams...
, attended.
Gypsy: A Musical Fable
Gypsy is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Gypsy is loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, the famous striptease artist, and focuses on her mother, Rose, whose name has become synonymous with "the ultimate show business...
. During this tour, Peters first met her long-time accompanist, conductor and arranger Marvin Laird, who was the assistant conductor for the tour. Laird recalled, "I heard her sing an odd phrase or two and thought, 'God that's a big voice out of that little girl,'" The next summer, she played Dainty June in summer stock, and in 1962 she recorded her first single. In 1964, she played Leisl in The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music is a musical by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers...
and Jenny in Riverwind in summer stock
Summer Stock
For the article about the theatre genre, see Summer stock theatre.Summer Stock is a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical made in 1950. The film was directed by Charles Walters and stars Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Eddie Bracken, Gloria DeHaven, Marjorie Main, and Phil Silvers...
at the Mt. Gretna Playhouse (Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
), and Riverwind again at the Bucks County Playhouse
Bucks County Playhouse
The Bucks County Playhouse is the State Theater of Pennsylvania, and is located in New Hope, Pennsylvania.When the Hope Mills burnt in 1790, the grist mills were rebuilt as the New Hope Mills by Benjamin Parry. ....
in 1966. Upon graduation from high school, she started working steadily, appearing Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
in the musicals The Penny Friend
The Penny Friend
The Penny Friend is a musical with music, lyrics, and book by William Roy based on a play by J. M. Barrie, A Kiss for Cinderella. It featured Bernadette Peters in her first off-Broadway role...
(1966) and Curley McDimple
Curley McDimple
Curley McDimple is a musical with music and lyrics by Robert Dahdah and book by Robert Dahdah and Mary Boylan. The play is a spoof of Depression-era Shirley Temple movies and was presented in a black and white design. This was one of two musicals in which Bernadette Peters appeared that spoofed...
(1967) and as a standby on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in The Girl in the Freudian Slip (1967). She made her Broadway debut in Johnny No-Trump
Johnny No-Trump
Johnny No-Trump is a play written by Mary Mercier which ran for one performance on Broadway.Johnny No-Trump opened at the Cort Theatre on October 8, 1967 and ran for 5 previews and one regular performance...
in 1967, and next appeared as George M. Cohan
George M. Cohan
George Michael Cohan , known professionally as George M. Cohan, was a major American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer, and producer....
's sister opposite Joel Grey
Joel Grey
Joel Grey is an American stage and screen actor, singer, and dancer, best known for his role as the Master of Ceremonies in both the stage and film adaptation of the Kander & Ebb musical Cabaret. He has won the Academy Award, Tony Award and Golden Globe Award...
in George M!
George M!
George M! is a Broadway musical based on the life of George M. Cohan, the biggest Broadway star of his day who was known as "The Man Who Owned Broadway." The book for the musical was written by Michael Stewart, John Pascal, and Francine Pascal. Music and lyrics were, of course, by George M...
(1968), winning the Theatre World Award
Theatre World Award
The Theatre World Award, first awarded for the 1945-46 season, is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or off-Broadway.-History:...
.
It was Peters' performance as "Ruby" in the 1968 Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
production of Dames at Sea
Dames at Sea
Dames at Sea is a musical with book and lyrics by George Haimsohn and Robin Miller and music by Jim Wise.The musical is a parody of large, flashy 1930s Busby Berkeley-style movie musicals in which an understudy steps into a role on Broadway and becomes a star...
, a parody of 1930s musicals, that brought her critical acclaim and her first Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
. She had appeared in an earlier 1966 version of Dames at Sea at the Off-Off-Broadway
Off-Off-Broadway
Off-Off-Broadway theatrical productions in New York City are those in theatres that are smaller than Broadway and Off-Broadway theatres. Off-Off-Broadway theaters are often defined as theaters that have fewer than 100 seats, though the term can be used for any show in the New York City area that...
performance club Caffe Cino. Peters had starring roles in her next Broadway vehicles—Gelsomina in La Strada
La Strada (musical)
La Strada is a musical with lyrics and music by Lionel Bart, with additional lyrics by Martin Charnin and additional music by Elliot Lawrence. It is based on the 1954 film of the same name by Federico Fellini. Bart wrote the score in 1967 and made a demonstration recording, although the musical...
(1969) and Hildy in On the Town (1971), for which she received her first Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nomination. She played Mabel Normand
Mabel Normand
Mabel Normand was an American silent film comedienne and actress. She was a popular star of Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios and is noted as one of the film industry's first female screenwriters, producers and directors...
in Mack and Mabel (1974), receiving another Tony nomination. Clive Barnes
Clive Barnes (critic)
Clive Alexander Barnes, CBE was a British-born American writer and critic. From 1965 to 1977 he was the dance and theater critic for the New York Times, the most powerful position he had held, since its theater critics' reviews historically have had great influence on the success or failure of...
wrote: "With the splashy Mack & Mabel ... diminutive and contralto Bernadette Peters found herself as a major Broadway star." Although these had short runs, Peters was singled out for praise by the critics, and the Mack and Mabel cast album became popular among musical theatre fans. She moved to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
in the early 1970s to concentrate on television and film work.
Film appearances
Peters has appeared in 32 feature filmFeature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
s or television movie
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
s beginning in 1973, including Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
' 1976 film Silent Movie
Silent Movie
Silent Movie is a 1976 satirical comedy film co-written, directed by, and starring Mel Brooks, and released by 20th Century Fox on June 17, 1976...
(for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award), the musical Annie
Annie (film)
Annie is a 1982 American musical film directed by John Huston and choreographed by Arlene Phillips. The film is an adaption of the 1977 stage musical of the same name, which in turn was based on the 1924 Little Orphan Annie comic strip by Harold Gray. The movie features music by Charles Strouse,...
(1982), Pink Cadillac (1989), in which she co-starred with Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
, and Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
's Alice
Alice (1990 film)
Alice is a 1990 film written and directed by Woody Allen and starring Joe Mantegna, Mia Farrow and Alec Baldwin. The film is a loose reworking of Federico Fellini's 1965 film Juliet of the Spirits.-Plot:...
(1990).
Peters starred opposite Steve Martin
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....
in The Jerk
The Jerk
The Jerk is a 1979 American comedy film. Directed by Carl Reiner, the film was written by Steve Martin, Carl Gottlieb and Michael Elias. This was Steve Martin's first starring role in a feature film. The film also features Bernadette Peters, M. Emmet Walsh and Jackie Mason.-Plot:The film begins...
(1979), in a role that he wrote for her, and Pennies From Heaven
Pennies from Heaven (1981 film)
Pennies from Heaven is a 1981 musical film. The film was based on a 1978 BBC television drama. In 1981, Dennis Potter adapted his own screenplay for a film of the same name for American audiences, with its setting changed to Depression era Chicago. Potter was nominated for the 1981 Academy Award...
(1981), for which she won the Golden Globe Award as Best Motion Picture Actress in a Comedy or Musical. In Pennies from Heaven, she played Eileen Everson, a schoolteacher turned prostitute. Of her performance in Pennies From Heaven, John DiLeo wrote that she "is not only poignant as you'd expect but has a surprising inner strength." Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. Earlier in her career, her work appeared in City Lights, McCall's and The New Republic....
wrote in The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
: "Peters is mysteriously right in every nuance." Kael further noted that "The dance numbers are funny, amazing, and beautiful all at once; several of them are just about perfection." A review of the DVD reissue noted, "Peters brought a cocky attitude and a sexy exuberance to the musical numbers."
Peters and Martin had begun a romantic relationship in 1977 that lasted approximately four years. By 1981, her popularity had led to Peters appearing on the cover and in a spread in the December 1981 issue of Playboy Magazine, in which she posed in lingerie designed by Bob Mackie
Bob Mackie
Robert Gordon Mackie is an American fashion designer, best known for his costuming for entertainment icons such as Judy Garland, Cher, Diana Ross, Liza Minnelli, Tina Turner, and Mitzi Gaynor...
.
Peters appeared with three generations of the Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
family in the 2003 film It Runs in the Family
It Runs in the Family (2003 film)
It Runs in the Family is a 2003 comedy-drama movie directed by Fred Schepisi and starring three generations of the Douglas family: Kirk Douglas, his son Michael Douglas, and Michael's son Cameron Douglas, who play three generations of a family....
, in which she played the wife of Michael Douglas
Michael Douglas
Michael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the...
's character. In May 2006, she appeared in the movie Come le formiche (Wine and Kisses) with F. Murray Abraham
F. Murray Abraham
Fahrid Murray Abraham is an American actor. He became known during the 1980s after winning the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus. He has appeared in many roles, both leading and supporting, in films such as All the President's Men and Scarface...
, filmed in Italy, playing a rich American who becomes involved with an Italian family that owns a vineyard. The DVD was released in 2007 in Italy. She starred in a film titled Coming Up Roses, playing a former musical-comedy actress with two daughters. The movie, produced by Bullet Pictures, Inc. and directed by Lisa Albright was filmed in March 2010.
Theatre roles, 1980s to present
In 1982, Peters returned to the New York stage after an eight year absence in one of her few non-musical stage appearances, the off-Broadway Manhattan Theatre ClubManhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club is a theater company located in New York City. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has grown since its founding in 1970 from an Off-Off Broadway showcase into one of the country’s most acclaimed...
production of the comedy-drama Sally and Marsha
Sally and Marsha
Sally and Marsha is a comedy-drama, written by Sybille Pearson and directed by Lynne Meadow. It premiered Off-Broadway in 1982.-Productions:Pearson was a graduate student at City College, and the play was read there by Jill Eikenberry and Pamela Reed in May 1980...
, for which she was nominated for a Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
. She then returned to Broadway as Dot/Marie in the Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
–James Lapine
James Lapine
James Lapine is an American stage director and librettist. He has won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times, for Into the Woods, Falsettos, and Passion. He has frequently collaborated with Stephen Sondheim and William Finn.-Biography:Lapine was born in Mansfield, Ohio and graduated...
musical Sunday in the Park with George
Sunday in the Park with George
Sunday in the Park with George is a 1984 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical was inspired by the painting "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat...
(1984), for which she received her third Tony Award nomination. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reviewer Frank Rich
Frank Rich
Frank Rich is an American essayist and op-ed columnist who wrote for The New York Times from 1980, when he was appointed its chief theatre critic, until 2011...
called her performance "radiant". She recorded the role for PBS in 1986, winning a 1987 ACE Award. Her next role was Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
's Song and Dance
Song and Dance
Song and Dance is a musical comprising two acts, one told entirely in "Song" and one entirely in "Dance", tied together by a love story.The first part is Tell Me On A Sunday, with lyrics by Don Black and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, about a young British woman's romantic misadventures in New York...
(1985), winning her first Tony for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her performance in the role of Emma. Theater critic Frank Rich wrote in an otherwise negative review of the show that Peters "has no peer in the musical theater right now."
She then created the role of the Witch in Sondheim-Lapine's Into the Woods
Into the Woods
Into the Woods is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It debuted in San Diego at the Old Globe Theatre in 1986, and premiered on Broadway in 1987. Bernadette Peters' performance as the Witch and Joanna Gleason's portrayal of the Baker's Wife brought acclaim...
(1987). Peters is "considered by many to be the premier interpreter of [Sondheim's] work," according to writer Alex Witchel. Raymond Knapp wrote that Peters "achieved her definitive stardom" in Sunday in the Park With George and Into the Woods. 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." Peters continued her association with Sondheim with a 1995 benefit concert of Anyone Can Whistle
Anyone Can Whistle
Anyone Can Whistle is a musical with a book by Arthur Laurents and music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The story concerns a corrupt mayoress, an idealistic nurse, a man who may be a doctor, and various officials, patients and townspeople, all fighting to save a bankrupt town...
. Additionally, she appeared in several concerts featuring Sondheim's work, and performed for him at his 1993 Kennedy Center Honors
Kennedy Center Honors
The Kennedy Center Honors is an annual honor given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture. The Honors have been presented annually since 1978 in Washington, D.C., during gala weekend-long events which culminate in a performance for—and...
ceremony.
She next starred in the musical adaptation of Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
's The Goodbye Girl
The Goodbye Girl (musical)
The Goodbye Girl is a musical with a book by Neil Simon, lyrics by David Zippel, and music by Marvin Hamlisch, based on Simon's original screenplay for the 1977 film of the same name.-Production history:...
with music by Marvin Hamlisch
Marvin Hamlisch
Marvin Frederick Hamlisch is an American composer. He is one of only thirteen people to have been awarded Emmys, Grammys, Oscars, and a Tony . He is also one of only two people to EGOT and also win a Pulitzer Prize...
(1993). Peters won her second Tony for her performance as Annie Oakley
Annie Oakley
Annie Oakley , born Phoebe Ann Mosey, was an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. Oakley's amazing talent and timely rise to fame led to a starring role in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, which propelled her to become the first American female superstar.Oakley's most famous trick is perhaps...
in the 1999 revival of Annie Get Your Gun
Annie Get Your Gun (musical)
Annie Get Your Gun is a musical with lyrics and music written by Irving Berlin and a book by Herbert Fields and his sister Dorothy Fields. The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley , who was a sharpshooter from Ohio, and her husband, Frank Butler.The 1946 Broadway production...
opposite Tom Wopat
Tom Wopat
Tom Wopat is an American actor and singer. He first achieved fame as Luke Duke in the long-running 1979 television series The Dukes of Hazzard, along with John Schneider. He also played Jeff, one of Cybill Shepherd's ex-husbands in the TV series Cybill.-Life and career:Wopat was born in Lodi,...
. Among many glowing notices for this role, critic Lloyd Rose
Lloyd Rose
Lloyd Rose is an American writer most associated with her work on various Doctor Who spin-offs. She has also written for the American television series Homicide: Life on the Street and Kingpin...
of the Washington Post commented: "[Peters] banishes all thoughts of Ethel Merman about two bars into her first number, 'Doin' What Comes Natur'lly.' Partly this is because Merman's Annie was a hearty, boisterous gal, while Peters plays an adorable, slightly goofy gamine... For anyone who cares about the American musical theater, the chance to see Peters in this role is reason enough to see the show." Playbill went even further: "Arguably the most talented comedienne in the musical theatre today, Peters manages to extract a laugh from most every line she delivers."
In 2003, Peters took on the role of Mama Rose in the Broadway revival of Gypsy
Gypsy: A Musical Fable
Gypsy is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Gypsy is loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, the famous striptease artist, and focuses on her mother, Rose, whose name has become synonymous with "the ultimate show business...
, earning another Tony nomination. Ben Brantley
Ben Brantley
Benjamin D. "Ben" Brantley is an American journalist and the chief theater critic of The New York Times.-Life and career:...
in his New York Times review 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." Arthur Laurents
Arthur Laurents
Arthur Laurents was an American playwright, stage director and screenwriter.After writing scripts for radio shows after college and then training films for the U.S...
said: "But in 2003 there was a new Rose on Broadway: Bernadette Peters! Brilliant, original, totally unlike any of the others." In February 2006, she participated in a reading of the Sondheim-Weidman musical Bounce
Bounce (musical)
Road Show is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by John Weidman...
. On September 24, 2007, Peters participated in a one-time only charity reading of the play Love Letters
Love Letters (play)
Love Letters is a Pulitzer Prize for Drama nominated play by A. R. Gurney. The play centers on just two characters, Melissa Gardner and Andrew Makepeace Ladd III...
with her former Gypsy co-star, John Dossett.
After an absence from the Broadway stage of six years (Gypsy closed in 2004), she starred in the Broadway revival of Sondheim's A Little Night Music
A Little Night Music
A Little Night Music is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. Inspired by the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night, it involves the romantic lives of several couples. Its title is a literal English translation of the German name for Mozart's Serenade...
, as Desiree Armfeldt from July 13, 2010 to January 9, 2011. She replaced Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones, CBE, is a British actress. She began her career on stage at an early age. After starring in a number of United Kingdom and United States television films and small roles in films, she came to prominence with roles in Hollywood movies such as the 1998 action film The Mask of...
in the role. The New York Times reviewer wrote of her performance, "for theater lovers there can be no greater current pleasure than to witness Bernadette Peters perform the show’s signature number, "Send In the Clowns," with an emotional transparency and musical delicacy that turns this celebrated song into an occasion of transporting artistry. I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced with such palpable force – or such prominent goose bumps – the sense of being present at an indelible moment in the history of musical theater."
Peters appeared in the role of Sally Durant Plummer in the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts production of the Sondheim musical, Follies
Follies
Follies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. The story concerns a reunion in a crumbling Broadway theatre, scheduled for demolition, of the past performers of the "Weismann's Follies," a musical revue , that played in that theatre between the World Wars...
in May and June 2011. Of her performance, one critic wrote: "Peters may not be the most traditional casting for Sally, now an ultraneurotic housewife in Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
, but she exquisitely captures the character's unfathomable sadness and longing. It's a star turn, for sure, but one that brings attention to itself because of its truthfulness. Not surprisingly, her rendition of 'Losing My Mind' is simply shattering." She is reprising her role of Sally in the Broadway limited engagement of Follies, which started in previews on August 7, 2011 at the Marquis Theatre
Marquis Theatre
The Marquis Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 1535 Broadway in midtown-Manhattan.Situated on the third floor of the Marriott Marquis Hotel, the 1611-seat venue was designed by developer/architect John C. Portman, Jr...
.
Theatre awards
Peters has been nominated for the Tony Award seven times, and won twice. She has also been nominated for the Drama Desk Award eight times and won three times (Annie Get Your Gun, Song and Dance, and Dames at Sea).Television appearances
Peters was nominated for Emmy AwardEmmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
s for her guest-starring roles on The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show is a British television programme produced by American puppeteer Jim Henson and featuring Muppets. After two pilot episodes were produced in 1974 and 1975, the show premiered on 5 September 1976 and five series were produced until 15 March 1981, lasting 120 episodes...
(1977) and Ally McBeal
Ally McBeal
Ally McBeal is an American legal comedy-drama series which aired on the Fox network from 1997 to 2002. The series was created by David E. Kelley, who also served as the executive producer, along with Bill D'Elia...
(2001). On The Muppet Show, Peters sang the song "Just One Person" to Robin the Frog. She was one of the Muppets
The Muppets
The Muppets are a group of puppet characters created by Jim Henson starting in 1954–55. Although the term is often used to refer to any puppet that resembles the distinctive style of The Muppet Show, the term is both an informal name and legal trademark owned by the Walt Disney Company in reference...
' guests when they hosted The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
in 1979, again singing "Just One Person" to Robin, and she appeared in other episodes with the Muppets. Peters was also nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award, Outstanding Performer in a Children's Special, for her work in the 2002 made-for-television movie Bobbie's Girl
Bobbie's Girl
Bobbie's Girl is a 2002 comedy-drama television movie about two women leading a comfortable, quiet life running a pub in Dublin who are suddenly confronted with a series of health and family crises...
. She won the 1987 "CableACE Award
CableACE Award
The CableACE Award was an award that was given from 1978 to 1997 to honor excellence in American cable television programming...
" for her role as Dot in the television version of Sunday in the Park With George.
She has appeared in many variety show
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
s with stars such as Sonny and Cher and George Burns
George Burns
George Burns , born Nathan Birnbaum, was an American comedian, actor, and writer.He was one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, film, radio, television and movies, with and without his wife, Gracie Allen. His arched eyebrow and cigar smoke punctuation became...
. She has both performed and presented on the Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
broadcasts in 1976, 1981, 1983, 1987 and 1994. Peters has been a presenter at the annual Tony Awards ceremony and co-hosted the ceremony with Gregory Hines
Gregory Hines
Gregory Oliver Hines was an American actor, singer, dancer and choreographer.-Early years:Born in New York City, Hines and his older brother Maurice started dancing at an early age, studying with choreographer Henry LeTang...
in June 2002. She also hosted Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
in November 1981. She made 12 guest appearances on The Carol Burnett Show
The Carol Burnett Show
The Carol Burnett Show is a variety / sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway. It originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 278 episodes and originated from CBS Television City's Studio 33...
as well as appearing with Burnett in the made-for-television version of Once Upon a Mattress
Once Upon a Mattress
Once Upon a Mattress is a musical comedy with music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer. It opened off-Broadway in May 1959, and then moved to Broadway...
and the 1982 film Annie
Annie (film)
Annie is a 1982 American musical film directed by John Huston and choreographed by Arlene Phillips. The film is an adaption of the 1977 stage musical of the same name, which in turn was based on the 1924 Little Orphan Annie comic strip by Harold Gray. The movie features music by Charles Strouse,...
. She also performed at the Kennedy Center Honors
Kennedy Center Honors
The Kennedy Center Honors is an annual honor given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture. The Honors have been presented annually since 1978 in Washington, D.C., during gala weekend-long events which culminate in a performance for—and...
ceremony for Burnett in 2003. Peters often appeared on the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and on the day-time talk show Live with Regis and Kelly
Live with Regis and Kelly
Live! with Kelly is a syndicated American television morning talk show, hosted by Kelly Ripa. The show has aired since 1983 in New York City and 1988 nationwide. Tony Pigg has been the show's announcer since its inception...
, both as a co-host and a guest. Peters voiced Rita the stray cat in the "Rita and Runt" segments of the animated series Animaniacs
Animaniacs
Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
. Peters, as Rita, sang both original songs written for the show and parodies of Broadway musical numbers. She appeared on Inside the Actor's Studio in November 2000, discussing her career and craft.
Peters has co-starred in a number of television movies, including The Last Best Year
The Last Best Year
The Last Best Year is a drama television movie, concerning a lonely woman who discovers that she has a terminal illness. This made-for-television movie co-starred Mary Tyler Moore and Bernadette Peters, two actresses known for playing comedic roles. It aired on ABC.-Plot summary:Jane visits a...
(1990) with Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore is an American actress, primarily known for her roles in television sitcoms. Moore is best known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show , in which she starred as Mary Richards, a 30-something single woman who worked as a local news producer in Minneapolis, and for her earlier role as...
, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella (1997) with Brandy
Brandy (entertainer)
Brandy Rayana Norwood , known professionally as Brandy, is an American singer-songwriter, producer, actress, and dancer. In 2009, she introduced her rap alter-ego Bran'Nu....
(receiving a nomination for the "Golden Satellite Award" for her role), and Prince Charming
Prince Charming (TV film)
Prince Charming is a 2001 made-for-television film. It is a comical fairy tale, relating the story of a Prince who is cursed, his wizard squire, and the present-day women who lift the curse...
(2003) with Martin Short
Martin Short
Martin Hayter Short, CM is a Canadian actor, comedian, writer, singer and producer. He is best-known for his comedy work, particularly on the TV programs SCTV and Saturday Night Live...
. She co-starred in her own television series, All's Fair
All's Fair
All's Fair is an American television situation comedy that aired on CBS from 1976 to 1977. The show co-starred Richard Crenna as a conservative political columnist and Bernadette Peters as a liberal photographer...
, with Richard Crenna
Richard Crenna
Richard Donald Crenna was an American motion picture, television, and radio actor and occasional television director. He starred in such motion pictures as The Sand Pebbles, Wait Until Dark, Body Heat, the first three Rambo movies, Hot Shots! Part Deux, and The Flamingo Kid...
in 1976–77, for which Peters was nominated for a Golden Globe award as Best TV Actress — Musical/Comedy. In March 2005, she made a pilot for an ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
situation comedy series titled Adopted, co-starring with Christine Baranski
Christine Baranski
Christine Jane Baranski is an American stage and screen actress, and is perhaps best known for her Emmy Award winning portrayal as "Maryanne Thorpe" in the sitcom Cybill, and her Emmy nominated portrayal of "Diane Lockhart" in The Good Wife...
, but it was not picked up. Peters appeared in the Lifetime
Lifetime Television
Lifetime Television, often referred to as Lifetime TV, or most commonly, Lifetime, is an American cable television specialty channel devoted to movies, sitcoms and dramas, all of which are either geared toward women or feature women in lead roles. The cable network is owned by A&E Television Networks...
television movie Living Proof
Living Proof (film)
Living Proof is a 2008 Lifetime Television movie, directed by Dan Ireland, starring Harry Connick, Jr.The film is based on the true life story of Dr. Dennis Slamon and the book HER-2: The Making of Herceptin, a Revolutionary Treatment for Breast Cancer by Robert Bazell. Vivienne Radkoff wrote the...
, which was first broadcast on October 18, 2008. She played the role of Barbara, an art teacher with breast cancer, who is initially reluctant to participate in the study for the cancer drug Herceptin. Andrew Gans of Playbill wrote, "Peters is able to choose from an expansive emotional palette to color the character, and her performance... is moving, humorous and ultimately spirit-raising".
Peters' television work in recent years also includes guest appearances on several television series. She appeared as the sharp-tongued sister of Karen Walker
Karen Walker (character)
Karen Walker is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Will & Grace . She was portrayed by actress and singer Megan Mullally...
(Megan Mullally
Megan Mullally
Megan Mullally is an American actress and singer.After working in the theatre in Chicago, Mullally moved to Los Angeles in 1985 and began to appear in supporting roles in film and television productions. She made her Broadway debut in Grease in 1994 and she has since appeared in several Broadway...
) on the penultimate episode of the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
series Will & Grace
Will & Grace
Will & Grace was an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 21, 1998 to May 18, 2006 for a total of eight seasons. Will & Grace remains the most successful television series with gay principal characters...
, "Whatever Happened to Baby Gin?" (May 2006); as a defense attorney on the NBC series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced...
(November 2006); as a judge on the ABC series Boston Legal
Boston Legal
Boston Legal is an American legal dramedy created by David E. Kelley, which was produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for the ABC...
(May 2007); and as an accident victim in Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...
(September 2008). Of her role in Grey's Anatomy, TV Guide wrote: "Peters is especially fine as she confronts a life spinning out of control. I'd make her an early contender for a guest-actor Emmy nomination." In January, February and May 2009, she appeared in the ABC series Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Silvio Horta, which premiered on ABC on September 28, 2006, and ended on April 14, 2010. The series revolves around the character Betty Suarez and is based on Fernando Gaitán's Colombian telenovela soap opera Yo soy Betty, la fea...
in five episodes as Jodie Papadakis, a magazine mogul running the YETI (Young Editors Training Initiative) program that Betty and Marc are in.
Peters' appearance at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival
Adelaide Cabaret Festival
The Adelaide Cabaret Festival is an annual cabaret festival held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. It is the largest festival of its type in the world, with more than 48,000 attendees....
in June 2009 was filmed and broadcast in Australia later that month.
Recordings
Peters has recorded six solo albums and several singles. Three of her albums have been nominated for the Grammy AwardGrammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
. Peters' 1980 single "Gee Whiz" reached the top forty on the U.S. pop singles charts. She has recorded most of the Broadway and off-Broadway musicals she has appeared in, and four of these cast albums have won Grammy Awards.
Peters' debut album in 1980 (an LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
), entitled Bernadette Peters contained 10 songs, including "If You Were The Only Boy", "Gee Whiz", "Heartquake", "Should've Never Let Him Go", "Chico's Girl", "Pearl's a Singer", "Other Lady", "Only Wounded", "I Never Thought I'd Break" and "You'll Never Know". The original cover painting by Alberto Vargas
Alberto Vargas
Alberto Vargas was a noted Peruvian painter of pin-up girls. He is often considered one of the most famous of the pin-up artists...
, pictured at left, was one of his last works, created at the age of 84. According to The New York Daily News, Peters "persuaded him to do one last 'Vargas Girls' portrait... She just went to his California retreat, asked him to do one more, he looked at her and said, 'You ARE a Vargas girl!'" She kept the original painting. The original title planned for the album was Decades. Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
wrote of her debut album:
Her next solo album, Now Playing (1981), featured songs by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Carole Bayer Sager and Marvin Hamlisch
Marvin Hamlisch
Marvin Frederick Hamlisch is an American composer. He is one of only thirteen people to have been awarded Emmys, Grammys, Oscars, and a Tony . He is also one of only two people to EGOT and also win a Pulitzer Prize...
, and Stephen Sondheim (for example, "Broadway Baby"). Bernadette Peters was re-released on CD in 1992 as Bernadette, with the 1980 Vargas cover art, and included some of the songs from Now Playing. In 1996, she was nominated for a Grammy Award for her best-selling album, I'll Be Your Baby Tonight, which includes popular songs by John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
, Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
, Lyle Lovett
Lyle Lovett
Lyle Pearce Lovett is an American singer-songwriter and actor. Active since 1980, he has recorded thirteen albums and released 21 singles to date, including his highest entry, the number 10 chart hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, "Cowboy Man"...
, Hank Williams, Sam Cooke
Sam Cooke
Samuel Cook, , better known under the stage name Sam Cooke, was an American gospel, R&B, soul, and pop singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. He is considered to be one of the pioneers and founders of soul music. He is commonly known as the King of Soul for his distinctive vocal abilities and...
, and Billy Joel
Billy Joel
William Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...
, as well as Broadway classics by Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
and Rodgers and Hammerstein
Rodgers and Hammerstein
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...
. The live recording of her 1996 Carnegie Hall concert, Sondheim, Etc. - Bernadette Peters Live At Carnegie Hall, also was nominated for a Grammy Award.
Peters' next studio album, in 2002, Bernadette Peters Loves Rodgers and Hammerstein, consisted entirely of Rodgers and Hammerstein songs, including two that she often sings in her concerts, "Some Enchanted Evening
Some Enchanted Evening (song)
"Some Enchanted Evening" is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific.In the musical, it is sung as a solo by Emile de Becque, the French plantation owner, who falls in love with the American navy nurse Nellie Forbush. In this song he sings of seizing the moment so...
" and "There Is Nothin' Like a Dame". This album, which reached position 14 in the "Top Internet Charts", was her third album in a row nominated for a Grammy Award. It formed the basis of her Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...
solo concert debut in June 2002. Her last solo album, titled Sondheim Etc., Etc. Live At Carnegie Hall: The Rest of It, was released in 2005. It consists of all of the songs (and patter) from her 1996 Carnegie Hall concert that were not included in the earlier recording.
Additionally, Peters has recorded songs on other albums, such as "Dublin Lady" on John Whelan's Flirting with the Edge (Narada, 1998). On the Mandy Patinkin
Mandy Patinkin
Mandel Bruce "Mandy" Patinkin is an award-winning American actor of stage and screen and a tenor vocalist. He is a noted interpreter of the musical works of Stephen Sondheim, and is best-known for his work in musical theatre, originating iconic roles such as Georges Seurat in Sunday in the Park...
Dress Casual 1990 album, Patinkin and Peters recorded the songs from Stephen Sondheim's 1966 television play, Evening Primrose. On the tribute album Born to the Breed: A Tribute to Judy Collins
Born to the Breed: A Tribute to Judy Collins
Born to the Breed: A Tribute to Judy Collins is a tribute compilation album to American folk singer Judy Collins, released on October 14, 2008 in the United States by the record label, Wildflower...
Peters sings "Trust Your Heart".
Concert performances
Peters has been performing her solo concert in the United States and Canada for many years. She made her solo concert debut at Carnegie HallCarnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
in New York City in 1996, devoting the second half to the work of Stephen Sondheim. She performed a similar concert in London, which was taped and released on video, and also aired on U.S. Public Television stations in 1999. She continues to perform her solo concert at venues around the U.S., such as the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, commonly called The Arsht Center, is Florida's largest performing arts center and is located on Biscayne Boulevard in the Omni neighborhood of Downtown, Miami, Florida, United States...
in Miami, and with symphony orchestras such as the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Hall.
In a review of her 2002 Radio City Music Hall concert, Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden is an American writer, music critic, film critic, and poet.Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
described Peters as "the peaches-and-cream embodiment of an ageless storybook princess... inside a giant soap bubble floating toward heaven. A belief in the power of the dreams behind Rodgers and Hammerstein
Rodgers and Hammerstein
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...
's songs, if not in their reality, was possible." Peters made her solo concert debut at Lincoln Center in New York City on May 1, 2006. Holden, reviewing this concert, noted, "Even while swiveling across the stage of Avery Fisher Hall
Avery Fisher Hall
Avery Fisher Hall is a concert hall, in New York City and is part of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts complex. It is the home of the New York Philharmonic, with a capacity of 2,738 seats.-History:...
like a voluptuous Botticelli Venus in Bob Mackie spangles... she radiated a preternatural innocence.... For the eternal child in all of us, she evokes a surrogate childhood playmate". In June 2009, Peters was the headliner at the 2009 Adelaide Cabaret Festival
Adelaide Cabaret Festival
The Adelaide Cabaret Festival is an annual cabaret festival held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. It is the largest festival of its type in the world, with more than 48,000 attendees....
in Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, Australia. The Sunday Mail felt that Peters showed "the verve, vigour and voice of someone half her age."
Peters' concert performances often benefit arts organizations or help them to mark special occasions, such as her performance on an overnight cruise on the Seabourn Odyssey
Seabourn Odyssey
The Seabourn Odyssey is the first new ship for Seabourn Cruise Line in over a decade. About 90% of the ship's suites have private verandas. Some of the Seabourn Odysseys features include one of the largest spas featured in a cruise ship, a built-in marina, and expanded guest services compared to...
in a benefit for the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, commonly called The Arsht Center, is Florida's largest performing arts center and is located on Biscayne Boulevard in the Omni neighborhood of Downtown, Miami, Florida, United States...
in Miami in November 2009. She was one of the performers to help celebrate the Center's grand opening, in October 2006. She headlined The Alliance of The Arts Black Tie Anniversary Gala at Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza in Thousand Oaks, California
Thousand Oaks, California
Thousand Oaks is a city in southeastern Ventura County, California, in the United States. It was named after the many oak trees that grace the area, and the city seal is adorned with an oak....
, on November 21, 2009. She had helped to celebrate the opening of the Arts Plaza with concerts fifteen years earlier.
Children's books
To support the animal adoption charity that she co-founded, Broadway BarksBroadway Barks
Broadway Barks is an annual animal charity event held in New York City to promote the adoption of shelter animals. The event has been held every July in Shubert Alley, starting in 1999.-History:...
, Peters has written two children's books, both illustrated by Liz Murphy. The first is about a scrappy dog, named after her dog Kramer, and the pleasure of adopting a pet. Titled Broadway Barks, the book is published by Blue Apple Books (2008). Peters wrote the words and music to a lullaby, titled "Kramer's Song", which is included on a CD in the book. The book reached #5 on The New York Times Children's Best Sellers: Picture Books list for the week of June 8, 2008.
Her second children's book is the story of a pit bull
Pit bull
A Pit bull is any of several breeds of dog in the molosser breed group.Many jurisdictions that restrict pit bulls, including Ontario, Canada,, Miami, Florida, U.S...
, Stella, named after Peters' pit bull. The character would rather be a pig ballerina, but she learns to accept herself. Titled Stella is a Star, the book includes a CD with an original song written and performed by Peters and was released in April 2010 by Blue Apple Books. According to Publisher's Weekly, "Turning the pages to Peters' spirited narration, which is provided in an accompanying CD, makes for a more rewarding reading experience. The story and disc end with a sneakily affecting self-esteem anthem, which, like the familiar tale itself, is buoyed by the author's lovely vocals." Peters introduced the book at a reading and signing where she also sang part of the song, at the L.A. Times Festival of Books, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California, on April 24, 2010.
Peters sings four songs on the CD accompanying the 2005 children's picture book Dewey Doo-it Helps Owlie Fly Again, the proceeds of which benefit the Christopher Reeve Foundation
Christopher Reeve Foundation
The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation is a charitable organization headquartered in Short Hills, New Jersey and dedicated to finding treatments and cures for paralysis caused by spinal cord injury and other neurological disorders...
. Her co-star from Sunday in the Park With George, Mandy Patinkin
Mandy Patinkin
Mandel Bruce "Mandy" Patinkin is an award-winning American actor of stage and screen and a tenor vocalist. He is a noted interpreter of the musical works of Stephen Sondheim, and is best-known for his work in musical theatre, originating iconic roles such as Georges Seurat in Sunday in the Park...
, also sings on the CD.
Other activities
Broadway BarksPeters contributes her time and talents to various charitable, celebratory and civic efforts. In 1999, Peters and Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore is an American actress, primarily known for her roles in television sitcoms. Moore is best known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show , in which she starred as Mary Richards, a 30-something single woman who worked as a local news producer in Minneapolis, and for her earlier role as...
co-founded Broadway Barks
Broadway Barks
Broadway Barks is an annual animal charity event held in New York City to promote the adoption of shelter animals. The event has been held every July in Shubert Alley, starting in 1999.-History:...
, an annual animal adopt-a-thon held in New York City. Each July, she and Mary Tyler Moore act as co-hosts and presenters for the Broadway Barks event. Peters held a concert, "A Special Concert for Broadway Barks Because Broadway Cares", at the Minskoff Theatre
Minskoff Theatre
The Minskoff Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre, located at 1515 Broadway in midtown-Manhattan. It is now showing the musical The Lion King, based on the Disney animated film of the same name....
, New York City, on November 9, 2009 as a benefit for both Broadway Barks and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids. The concert raised an estimated $615,000 for the two charities. Also in support of Broadway Barks, Peters has appeared on the daytime talk show Live With Regis and Kelly
Live with Regis and Kelly
Live! with Kelly is a syndicated American television morning talk show, hosted by Kelly Ripa. The show has aired since 1983 in New York City and 1988 nationwide. Tony Pigg has been the show's announcer since its inception...
.
Other
Peters serves on the Board of Trustees of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is the theatre community’s response to the AIDS crisis. By drawing upon the talents, resources and generosity of the theatre community, on Broadway, Off-Broadway and across the country, BC/EFA raises funds for AIDS-related causes across the United States...
and participates in the organization's events, such as the annual Broadway Flea Market and Grand Auction, and the "Gypsy of the Year" competition. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Standing Tall, a non-profit educational program offering an innovative program for children with multiple disabilities, based in New York City. Her late husband was the Director and Treasurer of Standing Tall. Peters' 1995 Anyone Can Whistle concert and her "Carnegie Hall" 1996 concert were benefits for the Gay Men's Health Crisis
Gay Men's Health Crisis
The Gay Men's Health Crisis is a New York City-based non-profit, volunteer-supported and community-based AIDS service organization that has led the United States in the fight against AIDS.-1980s:...
. She also has supported the Christopher Reeve Foundation
Christopher Reeve Foundation
The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation is a charitable organization headquartered in Short Hills, New Jersey and dedicated to finding treatments and cures for paralysis caused by spinal cord injury and other neurological disorders...
.
In 2007, Peters helped the Broadway community celebrate the end of the stagehand strike
2007 Broadway stagehand strike
2007 Broadway Stagehands Strike was a strike action by stagehands represented by Theatrical Protective Union Number One of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees against the Shubert, Jujamcyn, and Nederlander theaters...
in a "Broadway's Back" concert at the Marquis Theatre
Marquis Theatre
The Marquis Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 1535 Broadway in midtown-Manhattan.Situated on the third floor of the Marriott Marquis Hotel, the 1611-seat venue was designed by developer/architect John C. Portman, Jr...
. In 2008, she was one of the participants in a fund-raiser for the Westport Country Playhouse
Westport Country Playhouse
Westport Country Playhouse, is a not-for-profit theater in Westport, Connecticut. Under the artistic direction of Mark Lamos the Playhouse produces new and classic plays for the public....
, and in the opening ceremony and dedication of the renovated TKTS
TKTS
The TKTS ticket booths in New York and London sell Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, music and dance events and West End theatre tickets, respectively, at discounts of 25–50% off the face value.-New York:...
discount ticket booth in Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
. That year, she also presented Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
with the Humanitarian Award at the Breast Cancer Research Foundation awards. On March 8, 2009, she helped celebrate the last birthday of Senator Ted Kennedy
Ted Kennedy
Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...
(singing "There Is Nothin' Like a Dame") in a private concert and ceremony held at the Kennedy Center, hosted by Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
, with many Senators, Representatives, and President Barack
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
and First Lady Michelle Obama
Michelle Obama
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama is the wife of the 44th and incumbent President of the United States, Barack Obama, and is the first African-American First Lady of the United States...
in attendance. On November 19, 2009, she helped to celebrate the opening of The David Rubenstein
David Rubenstein
David M. Rubenstein is the co-founder of The Carlyle Group, a global private equity firm. In the 2011 Forbes ranking of the wealthiest Americans, Rubenstein was ranked 148th with a net worth of $2.6 billion.-Early life and career:...
Atrium at Lincoln Center.
On February 8, 2010, Peters was one of the many to honor Angela Lansbury at the annual Drama League of New York
Drama League of New York
The Drama League of New York originated as a national organization begun in Chicago in 1910. The organization had two primary objectives: to influence the professional production of the best plays by alerting members to performances that warranted their support; and to ensure the continuity of...
benefit, singing "Not While I'm Around". In March 2010, Peters helped Stephen Sondheim celebrate his 80th birthday in the Roundabout Theatre Company
Roundabout Theatre Company
The Roundabout Theatre Company is a leading non-profit theatre company based in New York City.-History:The company was founded in 1965 by Gene Feist and Elizabeth Owens and now operates five theatres, all in Manhattan: the American Airlines Theatre ; Studio 54 ; the Stephen Sondheim Theatre The...
"Sondheim 80" benefit. She was one of the Honorary Chairs. She had been part of the Roundabout Theatre's Sondheim gala for his 75th birthday.
Personal life
Peters married investment adviserInvestment Advisor
The term Investment Advisor is an individual or firm who, for compensation, engages in the business of advising others, either directly or through publications or writings, as to the value of securities or as to the advisability of investing in, purchasing, or selling securities...
Michael Wittenberg on July 20, 1996 at the upstate New York home of long-time friend Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore is an American actress, primarily known for her roles in television sitcoms. Moore is best known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show , in which she starred as Mary Richards, a 30-something single woman who worked as a local news producer in Minneapolis, and for her earlier role as...
. Wittenberg died at age 43 on September 26, 2005 in a helicopter crash in Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
while on a business trip.
Peters has two dogs, a mixed-breed dog named Kramer and an American pit bull terrier named Stella, both adopted from shelters. Peters' goddaughter Isabelle and Kramer were the inspirations for the characters in her first children's book, Broadway Barks, and Stella inspired the title character of her second children's book, Stella is a Star.
Honorary awards
Peters has received many honorary awards over the years, such as a star on the Hollywood Walk of FameHollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
in April 1987. She was named the Hasty Pudding
Hasty Pudding Theatricals
The Hasty Pudding Theatricals, known informally simply as The Pudding, is a theatrical student society at Harvard University, known for its burlesque musicals and for its status as the oldest collegiate theatrical organization in the United States...
Woman of the Year in 1987. Other honors include the Sarah Siddons Award
Sarah Siddons Award
The Sarah Siddons Society is an American non-profit organization founded in 1952 by prominent Chicago theatre patrons with the goal of promoting excellence in the theatre. The Society presents the Sarah Siddons Award annually to an actor for an outstanding performance in a Chicago theatre production...
for outstanding performance in a Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
theatrical production (1994); the American Theatre Hall of Fame
American Theatre Hall of Fame
The American Theatre Hall of Fame in New York City was founded in 1972. Earl Blackwell was the first head of the Executive Committee. In an announcement at a luncheon meeting on March 1972, he said that the new Theater Hall of Fame would be located in the Uris Theatre . James M...
at the Gershwin Theatre in New York City (1996), becoming the youngest person so honored; The Actors' Fund
Actors' Fund
The Actors Fund of America is a nonprofit umbrella charitable organization that assists American entertainment and performing arts professionals through a broad spectrum of programs, including comprehensive social services, health services, supportive and affordable housing, employment and training...
Artistic Achievement Medal (1999); an Honorary Doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
from Hofstra University
Hofstra University
Hofstra University is a private, nonsectarian institution of higher learning located in the Village of Hempstead, New York, United States, about east of New York City: less than an hour away by train or car...
in Hempstead, New York
Hempstead (village), New York
Hempstead is a village located in the town of Hempstead, Nassau County, New York, United States. The population was 53,891 at the 2010 census.Hofstra University is located on the border between Hempstead and Uniondale.-Foundation:...
(May 19, 2002); the Hollywood Bowl
Hollywood Bowl
The Hollywood Bowl is a modern amphitheater in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, United States that is used primarily for music performances...
Hall of Fame in June 2002 and the National Dance Institute
National Dance Institute
National Dance Institute was founded in the belief that the arts have a unique power to engage children and motivate them toward excellence. Under the artistic direction of Ellen Weinstein and a staff of professional dancer/choreographers and musician/composers, NDI strives to reach every child,...
2009 Artistic Honoree in April 2009. She was the recipient of the Stephen Sondheim Award, presented by the Signature Theatre on April 11, 2011.
Stage (selected)
| Year | Show | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | This is Goggle | Professional stage debut | |
| 1967 | The Girl in the Freudian Slip | Leslie Maugham | Broadway debut (standby) |
| 1967 | Johnny No-Trump Johnny No-Trump Johnny No-Trump is a play written by Mary Mercier which ran for one performance on Broadway.Johnny No-Trump opened at the Cort Theatre on October 8, 1967 and ran for 5 previews and one regular performance... |
Bettina | |
| 1968 | George M! George M! George M! is a Broadway musical based on the life of George M. Cohan, the biggest Broadway star of his day who was known as "The Man Who Owned Broadway." The book for the musical was written by Michael Stewart, John Pascal, and Francine Pascal. Music and lyrics were, of course, by George M... |
Josie Cohan | Theatre World Award for Debut Performance Theatre World Award The Theatre World Award, first awarded for the 1945-46 season, is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or off-Broadway.-History:... |
| 1968 | Dames at Sea Dames at Sea Dames at Sea is a musical with book and lyrics by George Haimsohn and Robin Miller and music by Jim Wise.The musical is a parody of large, flashy 1930s Busby Berkeley-style movie musicals in which an understudy steps into a role on Broadway and becomes a star... |
Ruby | Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category... |
| 1968 | A Mother's Kisses | Performer | Written by Bruce Jay Friedman Bruce Jay Friedman Bruce Jay Friedman is an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright, and actor.Raised in the Bronx by Irving and Mollie Friedman, Bruce Jay Friedman graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School. He then attended the University of Missouri as a journalism major, then served as a First Lieutenant in... and featured Bea Arthur. Three weeks of out-of-town tryouts in New Haven and Baltimore; cancelled before scheduled Broadway premiere. |
| 1969 | La Strada La Strada (musical) La Strada is a musical with lyrics and music by Lionel Bart, with additional lyrics by Martin Charnin and additional music by Elliot Lawrence. It is based on the 1954 film of the same name by Federico Fellini. Bart wrote the score in 1967 and made a demonstration recording, although the musical... |
Gelsomina | Closed after one official performance. Peters' performance was praised. |
| 1971 | Nevertheless, They Laugh | Consuelo | Lamb's Club, New York City, March 1971 (5 performances) |
| 1971 | W.C. | Carlotta Monti Carlotta Monti Carlotta Monti was an American film actress who was also the mistress of W. C. Fields.Born Carlotta Montijo in Los Angeles, California, Monti appeared in B-movies like Kiss of Araby , Tarzan the Fearless and Night Cargo , usually cast as an exotic temptress... |
Starred Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award... . Played only out-of-town from May to October 1971, never opening in New York City. |
| 1971 | On the Town (revival) | Hildy Esterhazy | Nominated—Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical |
| 1974 | Mack & Mabel Mack & Mabel Mack & Mabel is a musical with a book by Michael Stewart and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. The plot involves the tumultuous romantic relationship between Hollywood director Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand , who became one of his biggest stars... |
Mabel Normand | Nominated—Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical was first awarded at the 1974-1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since... Nominated—Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical |
| 1982 | Sally and Marsha Sally and Marsha Sally and Marsha is a comedy-drama, written by Sybille Pearson and directed by Lynne Meadow. It premiered Off-Broadway in 1982.-Productions:Pearson was a graduate student at City College, and the play was read there by Jill Eikenberry and Pamela Reed in May 1980... |
Sally | |
| 1984 | Sunday in the Park with George Sunday in the Park with George Sunday in the Park with George is a 1984 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical was inspired by the painting "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat... |
Dot/Marie | Nominated—Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical was first awarded at the 1974-1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since... Nominated—Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical |
| 1985 | Song and Dance Song and Dance Song and Dance is a musical comprising two acts, one told entirely in "Song" and one entirely in "Dance", tied together by a love story.The first part is Tell Me On A Sunday, with lyrics by Don Black and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, about a young British woman's romantic misadventures in New York... |
Emma | Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical was first awarded at the 1974-1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since... Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical |
| 1987 | Into the Woods Into the Woods Into the Woods is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It debuted in San Diego at the Old Globe Theatre in 1986, and premiered on Broadway in 1987. Bernadette Peters' performance as the Witch and Joanna Gleason's portrayal of the Baker's Wife brought acclaim... |
Witch | Nominated—Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical was first awarded at the 1974-1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since... |
| 1993 | The Goodbye Girl The Goodbye Girl (musical) The Goodbye Girl is a musical with a book by Neil Simon, lyrics by David Zippel, and music by Marvin Hamlisch, based on Simon's original screenplay for the 1977 film of the same name.-Production history:... |
Paula | Nominated—Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical |
| 1999 | Annie Get Your Gun Annie Get Your Gun (musical) Annie Get Your Gun is a musical with lyrics and music written by Irving Berlin and a book by Herbert Fields and his sister Dorothy Fields. The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley , who was a sharpshooter from Ohio, and her husband, Frank Butler.The 1946 Broadway production... (revival) |
Annie Oakley Annie Oakley Annie Oakley , born Phoebe Ann Mosey, was an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. Oakley's amazing talent and timely rise to fame led to a starring role in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, which propelled her to become the first American female superstar.Oakley's most famous trick is perhaps... |
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical was first awarded at the 1974-1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since... Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical Outer Critics Circle Award The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on and Off-Broadway and were begun during the 1949-1950 theater season. The awards are decided upon by theater critics who review for out-of-town newspapers, national publications, and other media outlets... Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical |
| 2003 | Gypsy Gypsy: A Musical Fable Gypsy is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Gypsy is loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, the famous striptease artist, and focuses on her mother, Rose, whose name has become synonymous with "the ultimate show business... (revival) |
Rose Rose Thompson Hovick Rose Elizabeth Thompson Hovick was the mother of two famous performing daughters: burlesque artist Gypsy Rose Lee and actress June Havoc.-Life and career:... |
Nominated—Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical was first awarded at the 1974-1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since... Nominated—Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical |
| 2009 | A Little Night Music A Little Night Music A Little Night Music is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. Inspired by the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night, it involves the romantic lives of several couples. Its title is a literal English translation of the German name for Mozart's Serenade... (revival) |
Desiree Armfeldt | Replacement for Catherine Zeta-Jones Catherine Zeta-Jones Catherine Zeta-Jones, CBE, is a British actress. She began her career on stage at an early age. After starring in a number of United Kingdom and United States television films and small roles in films, she came to prominence with roles in Hollywood movies such as the 1998 action film The Mask of... |
| 2011 | Follies Follies Follies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. The story concerns a reunion in a crumbling Broadway theatre, scheduled for demolition, of the past performers of the "Weismann's Follies," a musical revue , that played in that theatre between the World Wars... (revival) |
Sally Durant Plummer | Kennedy Center and also Broadway revival |
Filmography
- Ace Eli and Rodger of the SkiesAce Eli and Rodger of the SkiesAce Eli and Rodger of the Skies is a 1973 adventure-comedy film, with a story by Steven Spielberg. The film centers on a stunt pilot and his son as they fly around the United States in the 1920s, and their adventures along the way.-Background:Steven Spielberg had developed the story of a flyer...
(1973) - The Longest Yard (1974)
- Silent MovieSilent MovieSilent Movie is a 1976 satirical comedy film co-written, directed by, and starring Mel Brooks, and released by 20th Century Fox on June 17, 1976...
(1976) - W.C. Fields and MeW.C. Fields and MeW.C. Fields and Me is a 1976 American biographical film directed by Arthur Hiller and starring Rod Steiger and Valerie Perrine. The screenplay by Bob Merrill is based on a memoir by Carlotta Monti, mistress of W.C. Fields for the last 14 years of his life....
(1976) - Vigilante ForceVigilante ForceVigilante Force is a 1976 American action film concerning a Vietnam War veteran and his buddies, who are hired by his brother and others in a small California town for protection from rowdy oil-field workers....
(1976) - The JerkThe JerkThe Jerk is a 1979 American comedy film. Directed by Carl Reiner, the film was written by Steve Martin, Carl Gottlieb and Michael Elias. This was Steve Martin's first starring role in a feature film. The film also features Bernadette Peters, M. Emmet Walsh and Jackie Mason.-Plot:The film begins...
(1979) - TulipsTulips (film)Tulips is a 1981 comedy-drama movie directed by Rex Bromfield, Mark Warren, and Al Waxman, and starring Gabe Kaplan and Bernadette Peters.-Summary:Leland Irving is depressed and lonely but his attempts at suicide are unsuccessful...
(1981) - Pennies from HeavenPennies from Heaven (1981 film)Pennies from Heaven is a 1981 musical film. The film was based on a 1978 BBC television drama. In 1981, Dennis Potter adapted his own screenplay for a film of the same name for American audiences, with its setting changed to Depression era Chicago. Potter was nominated for the 1981 Academy Award...
(1981) - HeartbeepsHeartbeepsHeartbeeps is an American romantic sci-fi comedy film about two robots who fall in love and decide to strike out on their own. It was directed by Allan Arkush, and starred Andy Kaufman and Bernadette Peters as the robots...
(1981) - AnnieAnnie (film)Annie is a 1982 American musical film directed by John Huston and choreographed by Arlene Phillips. The film is an adaption of the 1977 stage musical of the same name, which in turn was based on the 1924 Little Orphan Annie comic strip by Harold Gray. The movie features music by Charles Strouse,...
(1982) - Slaves of New YorkSlaves of New YorkSlaves of New York is a 1989 comedy-drama Merchant Ivory Productions film. It was directed byJames Ivory, produced by Ismail Merchant, and starred Bernadette Peters, Adam Coleman Howard, Chris Sarandon, Mary Beth Hurt, Mercedes Ruehl, Madeleine Potter, and Steve Buscemi.Based on the stories Slaves...
(1989) - Pink Cadillac (1989)
- AliceAlice (1990 film)Alice is a 1990 film written and directed by Woody Allen and starring Joe Mantegna, Mia Farrow and Alec Baldwin. The film is a loose reworking of Federico Fellini's 1965 film Juliet of the Spirits.-Plot:...
(1990) - ImpromptuImpromptu (1991 film)Impromptu is a 1991 movie, based on a screenplay written by Sarah Kernochan, directed by James Lapine, produced by Daniel A. Sherkow and Stuart Oken, and starring Hugh Grant as Chopin and Judy Davis as George Sand. This movie was rated PG-13 by the MPAA...
(1991) - Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted ChristmasBeauty and the Beast: The Enchanted ChristmasBeauty and The Beast: The Enchanted Christmas is a 1997 animated holiday special produced by The Walt Disney Company. It is a midquel that takes place within the timeline of the original Beauty and the Beast...
(1997) (voice) - AnastasiaAnastasia (1997 film)Anastasia is a 1997 American animated musical film produced and directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. It was the first feature film to be released by Fox Animation Studios....
(1997) (voice) - Barney's Great AdventureBarney's Great AdventureBarney's Great Adventure is a 1998 musical adventure film based on the children's television series Barney & Friends, featuring the character Barney the dinosaur...
(1998) (singer, title song) - Wakko's WishWakko's WishSteven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs: Wakko's Wish, usually referred to as Wakko's Wish is a 1999 American direct-to-video animated tragicomedy film based on the Warner Bros. 1993-98 animated series, Animaniacs, and also the swan song to the series...
(1999) (voice) - Let It SnowLet It Snow (film)Let It Snow is a 2001 romantic comedy movie. The story involves a young man who finds love during "snow days" time off from high school, but spends years finding his true self...
(2001) - The Making and Meaning of We Are FamilyWe Are Family FoundationThe We Are Family Foundation is an American 501 nonprofit organization founded in 2001 by songwriter, musician, and producer Nile Rodgers in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks...
(2002) (documentary) - It Runs in the FamilyIt Runs in the Family (2003 film)It Runs in the Family is a 2003 comedy-drama movie directed by Fred Schepisi and starring three generations of the Douglas family: Kirk Douglas, his son Michael Douglas, and Michael's son Cameron Douglas, who play three generations of a family....
(2003) - The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck MigrationThe Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck MigrationThe Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration is the tenth film in the Land Before Time series.-Plot:Littlefoot has nightmares which involve the sun, or "Great Circle". He mentions it to his grandparents, who share the experience. Grandpa has a feeling that he wants to "go somewhere", and...
(2003) (voice) - Come le formiche (Wine and Kisses) (2007) (DVD released in Italy)
Television
- The Carol Burnett ShowThe Carol Burnett ShowThe Carol Burnett Show is a variety / sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway. It originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 278 episodes and originated from CBS Television City's Studio 33...
(various shows, 1969–1991) - George M!George M!George M! is a Broadway musical based on the life of George M. Cohan, the biggest Broadway star of his day who was known as "The Man Who Owned Broadway." The book for the musical was written by Michael Stewart, John Pascal, and Francine Pascal. Music and lyrics were, of course, by George M...
(1970) - Once Upon a MattressOnce Upon a MattressOnce Upon a Mattress is a musical comedy with music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer. It opened off-Broadway in May 1959, and then moved to Broadway...
(1972) as Lady Larkin - "Love American Style" – Episode titled "Love and the Hoodwinked Honey" (1973) as Nellie (opposite Jerry OrbachJerry OrbachJerome Bernard "Jerry" Orbach was an American actor and singer. He was well known for his starring role as Detective Lennie Briscoe in the Law & Order television series and as the voice of Lumière in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. As well, Orbach was a noted musical theatre star...
) - Paradise Lost (TV film, 1974)
- MaudeMaude (TV series)Maude was an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS network from September 12, 1972 until April 22, 1978.Maude starred Beatrice Arthur as Maude Findlay, an outspoken, middle-aged, politically liberal woman living in suburban Tuckahoe, Westchester County, New York with...
– Episode titled "Rumpus in the Rumpus Room" (1975) - All in the FamilyAll in the FamilyAll in the Family is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. In September 1979, a new show, Archie Bunker's Place, picked up where All in the Family had ended...
– Episode titled "Gloria Suspects Mike" (1975) - All's FairAll's FairAll's Fair is an American television situation comedy that aired on CBS from 1976 to 1977. The show co-starred Richard Crenna as a conservative political columnist and Bernadette Peters as a liberal photographer...
(TV series) (1976–1977) - McCloud – Episode titled "The Day New York Turned Blue" (1976)
- The Muppet ShowThe Muppet ShowThe Muppet Show is a British television programme produced by American puppeteer Jim Henson and featuring Muppets. After two pilot episodes were produced in 1974 and 1975, the show premiered on 5 September 1976 and five series were produced until 15 March 1981, lasting 120 episodes...
(1977) - The Islander (TV film, 1978)
- The Martian ChroniclesThe Martian Chronicles (TV miniseries)The Martian Chronicles is a television miniseries based on Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles and dealing with the exploration of Mars and the inhabitants there. The series starred Rock Hudson, Darren McGavin, Bernadette Peters, Roddy McDowall, Barry Morse, and Maria Schell...
(1980) (miniseries) - Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
(1981) (host and performer) - Faerie Tale TheatreFaerie Tale TheatreFaerie Tale Theatre is a live-action children's television anthology series retelling popular fairy tales. Shelley Duvall serves as narrator, host and executive producer of the program, and occasionally stars in episodes...
– Sleeping BeautySleeping Beauty (Faerie Tale Theatre episode)Sleeping Beauty is the 5th episode of the television anthology Faerie Tale Theatre. The story is adapted from the classic fairytale of Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault and Brothers Grimm and stars Bernadette Peters as the title character.-Plot:...
(1983) - Sunday in the Park with GeorgeSunday in the Park with GeorgeSunday in the Park with George is a 1984 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical was inspired by the painting "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat...
(1986) - Diana Ross: Red Hot Rhythm and Blues (1987)
- David (TV film, 1988)
- Fall from GraceFall from Grace (1990 film)Fall from Grace is a drama, concerning the lives of Jim Bakker and his then-wife, Tammy Faye Bakker Messner during the 1980s, and starred Kevin Spacey and Bernadette Peters. This made-for-television movie aired on NBC on April 29, 1990.-Plot summary:...
(TV film, 1990) - The Last Best YearThe Last Best YearThe Last Best Year is a drama television movie, concerning a lonely woman who discovers that she has a terminal illness. This made-for-television movie co-starred Mary Tyler Moore and Bernadette Peters, two actresses known for playing comedic roles. It aired on ABC.-Plot summary:Jane visits a...
(TV film, 1990) - Into the WoodsInto the WoodsInto the Woods is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It debuted in San Diego at the Old Globe Theatre in 1986, and premiered on Broadway in 1987. Bernadette Peters' performance as the Witch and Joanna Gleason's portrayal of the Baker's Wife brought acclaim...
(1991) - The Last Mile (1992)
- AnimaniacsAnimaniacsSteven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
("Rita and Runt" episodes, 1993–1994) (voice of Rita)
- The Larry Sanders ShowThe Larry Sanders ShowThe Larry Sanders Show is a satirical television sitcom that aired from August 1992 to May 1998 on the HBO cable television network in the United States. It starred stand-up comedian Garry Shandling as vain, neurotic talk show host Larry Sanders, and centered on the running of his TV show, and the...
– Episode titled "Montana" (1994) - A&E StageA&E NetworkThe A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...
: "A Tribute to Stephen Sondheim at Southern Methodist University" (1995) - Live with Regis and KellyLive with Regis and KellyLive! with Kelly is a syndicated American television morning talk show, hosted by Kelly Ripa. The show has aired since 1983 in New York City and 1988 nationwide. Tony Pigg has been the show's announcer since its inception...
(various appearances, 1996–2011) - The Odyssey (1997) (miniseries)
- Cinderella (TV film, 1997)
- What the Deaf Man HeardWhat the Deaf Man HeardWhat the Deaf Man Heard is a 1997 Hallmark Hall of Fame television movie that aired on CBS television on November 23, 1997. It concerns Sammy, a boy who pretends to be deaf and mute, when in reality he can hear and speak perfectly well. The movie starred Matthew Modine and James Earl Jones.-Plot...
(TV film, 1997) - Holiday in Your HeartHoliday in Your HeartHoliday in Your Heart is a 1997 drama, based on a story written by LeAnn Rimes and Tom Carter. This made-for-television movie co-stars Bernadette Peters as a country singer. The movie aired on ABC television on December 14, 1997.-Plot:...
(TV film, 1997) - The CloserThe Closer (1998 TV series)The Closer was an American television situation comedy that aired on CBS for 10 episodes in 1998. The show starred Tom Selleck as a successful advertising agency executive.-Plot summary:...
– Episode titled "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (1998) - Inside the Actors StudioInside the Actors StudioInside the Actors Studio is a series on the Bravo cable television channel, hosted by James Lipton. It is produced and directed by Jeff Wurtz; the executive producer is James Lipton. The program, which premiered in 1994, is distributed internationally by CABLEready and is broadcast in 125 countries...
(2000) - FrasierFrasierFrasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
("Sliding Frasiers") (2001) (celebrity call-in) - Ally McBealAlly McBealAlly McBeal is an American legal comedy-drama series which aired on the Fox network from 1997 to 2002. The series was created by David E. Kelley, who also served as the executive producer, along with Bill D'Elia...
– Episodes titled "The Getaway" and "The Obstacle Course"Ally McBeal (season 4)The fourth season of the television series Ally McBeal commenced airing in the United States on October 12, 2000, concluded on May 21, 2001, and consisted of 23 episodes...
(2001) - Bobbie's GirlBobbie's GirlBobbie's Girl is a 2002 comedy-drama television movie about two women leading a comfortable, quiet life running a pub in Dublin who are suddenly confronted with a series of health and family crises...
(TV film, 2002) - Prince CharmingPrince Charming (TV film)Prince Charming is a 2001 made-for-television film. It is a comical fairy tale, relating the story of a Prince who is cursed, his wizard squire, and the present-day women who lift the curse...
(TV film, 2001 (Peru), 2003 (USA)) - Adopted (2005) (unsold ABC pilot)
- Will & GraceWill & GraceWill & Grace was an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 21, 1998 to May 18, 2006 for a total of eight seasons. Will & Grace remains the most successful television series with gay principal characters...
– Episode titled "Whatever Happened to Baby Gin?" (2006) - Law and Order:SVU – Episode titled "ChoreographedLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit (season 8)This article contains a list of episodes for season 8 of the television series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.-Cast:*Christopher Meloni as Det. Elliot Stabler*Mariska Hargitay as Det. Olivia Benson*Richard Belzer as Det. John Munch...
" (2006) - Boston LegalBoston LegalBoston Legal is an American legal dramedy created by David E. Kelley, which was produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for the ABC...
– Episode titled "Guantanamo By The Bay" (2007) - Grey's AnatomyGrey's AnatomyGrey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...
– Episode titled "Dream a Little Dream of MeDream a Little Dream of Me (Grey's Anatomy)"Dream a Little Dream of Me, Parts 1 & 2" are the first and second episodes of the fifth season of the ABC series, Grey's Anatomy. The episodes are written by Shonda Rhimes and directed by Rob Corn. It aired on September 25, 2008.-Plot:...
" (2008) - Living ProofLiving Proof (film)Living Proof is a 2008 Lifetime Television movie, directed by Dan Ireland, starring Harry Connick, Jr.The film is based on the true life story of Dr. Dennis Slamon and the book HER-2: The Making of Herceptin, a Revolutionary Treatment for Breast Cancer by Robert Bazell. Vivienne Radkoff wrote the...
(TV film, 2008) - Ugly BettyUgly BettyUgly Betty is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Silvio Horta, which premiered on ABC on September 28, 2006, and ended on April 14, 2010. The series revolves around the character Betty Suarez and is based on Fernando Gaitán's Colombian telenovela soap opera Yo soy Betty, la fea...
– Episodes titled "Dress for SuccessDressed for Success (Ugly Betty)"Dress for Success" is the eleventh episode in the third season, the 52nd episode overall, of the American dramedy series Ugly Betty, which aired on January 8, 2009...
"; "There's No Place Like ModeThere's No Place Like Mode"There's No Place Like Mode" is the fifteenth episode in the third season, the 56th episode overall, of the American dramedy series Ugly Betty, which aired on February 19, 2009. The episode was written by Sheila Lawrence and directed by Bethany Rooney....
", "Things Fall ApartThings Fall Apart (Ugly Betty)"Things Fall Apart" is the sixteenth episode in the third season, the 57th episode overall, of the American dramedy series Ugly Betty, which aired on February 26, 2009. The episode was written by Henry Alonso Myers and directed by Tom Verica.-Plot:...
", "In The StarsIn the Stars"In the Stars" is the twenty-second episode in the third season, the 63rd episode overall, of the American dramedy series Ugly Betty, which aired on May 14, 2009.-Plot:...
", and CurveballCurveball (Ugly Betty)"Curveball" is the twenty third episode in the third season, the 64th episode overall, of the American dramedy series Ugly Betty, which aired on May 21, 2009...
(2009)
Concerts
Major concerts- Various venues, summer of 1989: 10-city concert tour with Peter AllenPeter AllenPeter Allen was an Australian songwriter and entertainer. His songs were made popular by many recording artists, including Elkie Brooks, Melissa Manchester and Olivia Newton-John, with one, Arthur's Theme, winning an Academy Award in 1981...
. - Hollywood BowlHollywood BowlThe Hollywood Bowl is a modern amphitheater in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, United States that is used primarily for music performances...
, Los Angeles, California on September 6 and 7, 1996 (solo concert). - Carnegie HallCarnegie HallCarnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
, New York City on December 9, 1996 (solo concert with guest singers/dancers, recorded on CD). - Sydney Opera HouseSydney Opera HouseThe Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
, Sydney, Australia on January 7 and 8, 1998 (solo concert). - Royal Festival HallRoyal Festival HallThe Royal Festival Hall is a 2,900-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge. It is a Grade I listed building - the first post-war building to become so protected...
, London on September 17, 1998 (solo concert with guest singers/dancers, recorded on video). - Radio City Music HallRadio City Music HallRadio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...
, New York City on June 19, 2002 (solo concert with guest singers). - Lincoln Center (Avery Fisher Hall), New York City, on May 1, 2006 (solo concert).
- Adelaide Cabaret FestivalAdelaide Cabaret FestivalThe Adelaide Cabaret Festival is an annual cabaret festival held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. It is the largest festival of its type in the world, with more than 48,000 attendees....
, AdelaideAdelaideAdelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, Australia, on June 6 and 7, 2009 (solo concert). Peters headlined, and the concert was televised on June 27, 2009 on FoxtelFoxtelFoxtel is an Australian pay television company, operating cable, direct broadcast satellite television and IPTV services. It was formed in 1995 through a joint venture established between Telstra and News Corporation....
. A DVD of the concert was released in Australia in June 2010. - Benefit concert, "Bernadette Peters: A Special Concert for Broadway Barks Because Broadway Cares", Minskoff TheatreMinskoff TheatreThe Minskoff Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre, located at 1515 Broadway in midtown-Manhattan. It is now showing the musical The Lion King, based on the Disney animated film of the same name....
, New York City on November 9, 2009.
Other notable concerts
- "Sondheim: A Celebration At Carnegie Hall" (broadcast on PBS Great Performances in 1993) – June 10, 1992, singing "Being Alive" and "Sunday"
- "Hey Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron MacKintosh" – June 7, 1998, singing, among others, "Unexpected Song", "Not a Day Goes By" and "You Gotta Have A Gimmick"
- Hollywood Bowl Sondheim Concert – July 8, 2005, performing in the "Opening Doors Medley" and "Being Alive".
- "Sondheim: The Birthday Concert", the New York PhilharmonicNew York PhilharmonicThe New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher HallAvery Fisher HallAvery Fisher Hall is a concert hall, in New York City and is part of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts complex. It is the home of the New York Philharmonic, with a capacity of 2,738 seats.-History:...
, a celebration of Sondheim's 80th birthday – March 15 and 16, 2010. Peters sang "Move On" with Mandy Patinkin and "Not a Day Goes By".
Discography
Solo recordings- Bernadette Peters (1980) MCA. Billboard 200Billboard 200The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
#114 (retitled and expanded as Bernadette in a 1992 CD reissue) - "Gee Whiz!" ("Look at His Eyes") (1980) Billboard Hot 100Billboard Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
#31 (singleSingle (music)In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
) - Now Playing (1981) MCA US Billboard 200 #151
- I'll Be Your Baby Tonight (1996) Angel Records – Grammy AwardGrammy AwardA Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
nominee - Sondheim, Etc. – Bernadette Peters Live At Carnegie Hall (1997) Angel Records – Grammy AwardGrammy AwardA Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
nominee - Bernadette Peters Loves Rodgers and Hammerstein (2002) Angel Records – Grammy AwardGrammy AwardA Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
nominee - Sondheim Etc., Etc. Live At Carnegie Hall: The Rest of It (2005) Angel Records
- "Kramer's Song" (2008) Blue Apple Books (single)
- "Stella's Song" (2010) Blue Apple Books (single)
Cast recordings
- George M! – Sony (1968)
- Dames At Sea – Columbia Masterworks (1969)
- Mack and Mabel – MCA (1974)
- Sunday in the Park with George – RCA Records (1984) – Grammy AwardGrammy AwardA Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
winner (Best Cast Show Album, 1985) - Song and Dance – The Songs – RCA Victor (1985)
- Into The Woods – RCA Victor Records (1988) – Grammy AwardGrammy AwardA Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
winner (Best Musical Cast Show Album, 1989) - The Goodbye Girl – Columbia Records (1993)
- Anyone Can Whistle Live At Carnegie Hall – Columbia Records (1995)
- Annie Get Your Gun The New Broadway Cast Recording – Angel Records (1999) – Grammy AwardGrammy AwardA Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
winner (Best Musical Show Album, 2000) - Gypsy The New Broadway Cast Recording – Angel Records (2003) – Grammy AwardGrammy AwardA Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
winner (Best Musical Show Album, 2004) - Sherry!Sherry!Sherry! is a musical with a book and lyrics by James Lipton and music by Laurence Rosenthal. The musical is based on the George S. Kaufman-Moss Hart play The Man Who Came to Dinner....
– Studio Cast Recording – Angel Records (2004) - Legends Of Broadway-Bernadette Peters Compilation (2006) – Sony Masterworks Broadway (Original versions of songs from Dames At Sea, Annie Get Your Gun, Anyone Can Whistle, Sunday in the Park with George, Mack and Mabel, Song and Dance, Into The Woods and Gypsy)
- Follies – PS Classics (2011)
Other recordings
- Dress Casual – Evening Primrose suite with Mandy Patinkin – CBS Records (1990)
- Sondheim – A Celebration at Carnegie Hall (Concert Cast) RCA Victor Broadway (1992)
- Hey Mr. Producer!: The Musical World of Cameron MackintoshCameron MackintoshSir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh is a British theatrical producer notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. At the height of his success in 1990, he was described as being "the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world" by the New York...
– Philips Records (1998) - Flirting with the Edge – John Whelan – Narada (1998)
- Dewey Doo-It Helps Owlie Fly Again – Randall Fraser Publishing (2005)
- Born to the Breed: A Tribute to Judy CollinsBorn to the Breed: A Tribute to Judy CollinsBorn to the Breed: A Tribute to Judy Collins is a tribute compilation album to American folk singer Judy Collins, released on October 14, 2008 in the United States by the record label, Wildflower...
– Wildflower Records (2008) - "Trust Your Heart"
External links
- Bernadette Peters official website
- Standing Tall website
- The Carol Burnett Show screengrabs, "As the Stomach Turns" episode
- Photo of Peters on Bing CrosbyBing CrosbyHarry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
Christmas special - Numerous photos of Peters
- YouTube excerpt of Peters performing "Send in the Clowns" on Broadway, 2010