By Andrew Gans
05 Mar 2010

Following Sunday, Peters would star in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Song & Dance as British hat designer Emma, a tour de force that brought the actress her first Tony Award. In 1987 the chance to star as a wise, but crooked-fingered witch in another Stephen Sondheim musical, the fairy-tale-themed Into the Woods, presented itself: "I was in Sunday in the Park, and I loved the show so much, and I learned so much from being in a Lapine/Sondheim show. With Into the Woods, when the role was available, I said to James, 'Okay, I'll do it!" Although Peters had not taken part in the musical's workshop, she says, "I was so focused on learning the role, it wasn't like I felt like I was so far behind everyone. I think it was being reblocked anyway, but no one made me feel that [I was behind], so that was nice."

And, what does it mean to the actress to have created roles in two of Sondheim's Broadway musicals? "It's pretty nice, isn't it, when you think about it," she says with a laugh. "I feel so fortunate to get the chance to sing his music. So if I'm in something new, that's great. I don't care if it's new or not new. I just like to sing his music." Peters, of course, would bring new dimension to the role of Rose years later in the 2003 Broadway revival of one of Sondheim's early musicals, Gypsy, which features lyrics by Sondheim, music by the late Jule Styne and a book by Arthur Laurents.

	Bernadette Peters in Gypsy
	photo by Joan Marcus

"You know, I mentioned that at [my fall benefit concert, Bernadette Peters: A Special Concert for Broadway Barks Because Broadway Cares]. I was saying to Arthur Laurents, 'Gypsy and West Side Story are competing as the best musical ever written, but what do you care? You wrote them both! And so did you, Steve!' Two blockbusters, right? Two of the very best musicals ever written."

There was another especially notable Peters concert, a 1996 evening that marked the singing actress' solo Carnegie Hall debut and featured a second act devoted solely to the music of Stephen Sondheim. When asked about the process of learning so many new tunes for that sold-out evening, Peters says, "Basically, I'm learning [the songs] technically, but it's wonderful because you can figure out what's going on with the character at the same time, which helps you to learn the song, because he really writes for character. A quarter note is a quarter note for a reason, and it's usually what the character is feeling. The character's angry, or passionate, or upset — there's a reason why you're holding the note, or a reason why it's a short note. It's actually easier to learn because of that, because everything makes sense."

Working on new material with Sondheim, Peters says, is "also great [because] he explains it to you. He plays it for you, and he sings it for you. The most wonderful thing is to have the author there to ask questions. Imagine if we had Shakespeare there, and we could ask questions of Shakespeare. Well, we have Steve right there. And when you ask him questions, he really thinks it through and decides why it was written, and what his reasoning was, and what it means."

Peters says that Sondheim's songs are different from other composers "because he writes the music and the lyrics. It's combined. They're about very deep and interesting things. I'm always learning about life singing his songs. And I'm bringing myself to experiences that I like experiencing. The positive ones, anyway," she laughs, "over and over." Among her very favorites are "No One Is Alone" and "With so Little to Be Sure Of." "And every time I do a [concert]," Peters adds, "I always throw in more Sondheim. 'I want to sing that one! I want to sing that one!'" In fact, in her November concert at Broadway's Minskoff Theatre, Peters included two songs from Follies. Her performances of "In Buddy's Eyes" and "Losing My Mind" were so revelatory that someone needs to mount a production of Follies so that Peters can work her unique brand of magic in the role of the former follies star, Sally Durant Plummer.

And, what does Peters think Sondheim's legacy to the musical theatre is? "Oh my God," she says. "Everything. I mean, he's someone that really changed the face of musical theatre. And at first, his shows seemed odd to people, but as we evolved, they make so much sense now. They were just so ahead of people's perception, I think . . . When we did the ten-year reunion of Into the Woods, my thrill was to sit in the middle of all that music, and listen to everyone sing that score. That's the thing about his music: When you have a great song, with great lyrics, great ideas, thoughts, feelings, it gets deeper and deeper — especially as you go through life and learn more about yourself."

DIVA TIDBITS
There was a moment during Marilyn Maye's performance this past Tuesday evening when I found myself moving my head and body back and forth to the music, and I looked around and most of the audience at Feinstein's at Loews Regency was doing the same thing. Such is the magic of the 81-year-old performer, who is currently playing the Manhattan nightspot through March 13. It is easy to see why the veteran singer was a favorite guest on "The Tonight Show" (she made a record-breaking 76 appearances on the NBC chat show): Maye is a gifted musician who boasts a vocal mastery like few of any age. She is also, simply, a joy to watch and listen to; in fact, the word "joy" is one that came to mind several times throughout her generous set that features a mix of standards ("The Song Is You," and a terrific Cole Porter medley), rarities (Blossom Dearie's great "Bye Bye Country Boy"), two Stephen Sondheim offerings ("Old Friend" and "Being Alive") and her own signature tunes ("Guess Who I Saw Today"). If, like me, you have never previously had the chance to enjoy Maye's talents, I suggest you head over to Feinstein's and watch the singer weave a magic spell over the audience. [Feinstein's is located at 540 Park Avenue at 61st Street in New York City. For ticket reservations and club information, call (212) 339-4095 or visit feinsteinsatloewsregency.com and TicketWeb.com.]

This week we launched Celeb PlayBlogger, a new feature that will run sporadically in PlayBlog. Our first guest celebrity blogger was Tony Award winner Victoria Clark, the dazzling singing actress who won her Tony for her performance in Lincoln Center Theater's production of The Light in the Piazza. Clark is back at LCT in Andrew Bovell's award-winning family drama When the Rain Stops Falling, which will officially open at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater March 8. Clark blogged March 1-5. To read her entertaining entries, click here.

Well, that's all for now. Happy diva-watching! E-mail questions or comments to agans@playbill.com.