By Andrew Gans
30 Jul 2004

Q: Would you like to do it elsewhere after Joe's Pub?
LBB: Absolutely. I think Joe's Pub is like my dress rehearsal because I'm never gonna have done it before an audience before. And I have wigs and all this crazy madness. [Laughs.] It's going to be really fun. I want to do this show as much as I can — I know that it's one of those things that I can always extend on . . . I do a look at Hairspray, I do a small little glance at Wicked. I do the look at Ruthless! when I was little. That's actually a funny section. I do me going back to Kentucky in high school — this girl who had learned all this stuff from being in New York and all of a sudden I'm jarred back into a world of normalcy, and I'm completely not fitting in. The thing is the show is relatable because everybody's been through that — everybody's felt those kinds of emotions, but it's also a little different because not everybody was a child actor.

Q: I think the first show I saw you in was Gypsy out at Paper Mill. What was that experience like?
LBB: That was great. I had a blast. I would've loved to have done something with it [after Paper Mill]. Betty Buckley was great, Deborah Gibson was a sweetheart and Joe Machota was so freakin' talented. [Laughs.] It was one of the first things he did before he got Mamma Mia!. That was so much fun. I was a senior in high school in Kentucky, and I was missing time to do Gypsy. It reconfirmed how much I loved doing musical theatre and how much I really, truly wanted to be in the business. Gypsy helped me with that — how much fun it was to be with a cast and how much I loved gay men! [Laughs.]

Q: Because of the roles you've played, do you think people have a misconception about you?
LBB: Absolutely, absolutely! People think I'm a total stuck-up blonde bitch. [Laughs.] I always make comments like, "Oh, I'm playing the bitch again — typecasting!" I think if you've done a kind of a role enough, you become really good at it, and it's believable because the character is not only a little over the top, but it's also got a sense of realness to it because you've done it so many times. I think it would be really nice for me to be able to do something different now. [Laughs.]

Q: Do you have any other projects in the works?
LBB: Yes. I'm in negotiations right now for The It Girl, but I can't really talk about that. And, Tarzan, I did the reading for that. It was awesome. I'm so excited about that, but I can't talk about that either. [Laughs.] There are other projects in which I'm not playing the snooty blonde girl, and I'm very excited. [Laughs.]

[Shameless! The Life and Times of Laura Bell Bundy will be presented Oct. 4 at Joe's Pub, located within the Public Theater at 425 Lafayette Street. Produced by Lynn Shaw, the 9:30 PM concert will be directed by Jamie McGonnigal with musical direction by John McMahon. For tickets, visit www.telecharge.com.]

DIVA TIDBITS

It's a busy time for Susan Egan, who recently starred in the title role of Thoroughly Modern Millie. Egan will soon release her second solo recording, "Coffee House," on the LML label. She will autograph copies of that new CD Aug. 18. in Manhattan at Theatre Circle, 268 West 44th Street, from 4:30-6 PM. Egan will also be part of the Hollywood Bowl's upcoming The Lord of the Rings Symphony concert Sept. 21. The singer actress will be the mezzo-soprano soloist for the concert, which is based on Howard Shore's score for the award-winning film. John Mauceri will conduct the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra for the concert; show time is 8 PM. Visit www.hollywoodbowl.org for more information.

Casting was announced earlier this week for the upcoming Stephen Sondheim revue, Opening Doors, which will play Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall this fall. Carolee Carmello, Gregg Edelman, Victoria Clark and Kate Baldwin will comprise the four-person cast, which will be directed by David Kernan. Opening Doors will play Zankel Hall Sept. 30-Oct. 9 with an official opening set for Oct. 5. The revue, first staged in London and then titled Moving On, features more than 40 Sondheim classics and will take the theatregoer “on a musical journey through Sondheim’s life, illustrated by images, song and personal narration by the composer.” Part of the Nonesuch at Carnegie series, tickets are priced $35 and $85; for more information go to www.carnegiehall.org.

The eighth season of Reprise! Broadway's Best kicks off with Lerner and Loewe's Brigadoon Aug. 17 with a cast that includes husband-and-wife actors Jason Danieley and Marin Mazzie as well as former pop star Deborah Gibson and veteran actor Orson Bean. Mazzie and Danieley, who recently starred in the Pasadena Playhouse's production of 110 in the Shade, will play, respectively, Fiona MacLaren and Tommy Albright in Brigadoon. Gibson will portray Meg Brockie with Bean as Mr. Lundie. Directed by Stuart Ross, the musical will officially open Aug. 18 and will play through Aug. 29 at UCLA's Freud Playhouse. The cast will also include Brooks Almy, Jodi Ashworth, Louis Becker, Bradley Benjamin, Teressa Byrne, Larry Cedar, Robert Pike Daniel, Gary Franco, Bella Hicks, Chris Holly, Allan Louis, Kim Mikesell, Elisa Nixon, Sean McDermott, Blake Pullen and Ellen Rosa. Lee Martino will choreograph the production with musical direction by Gerald Sternbach. Tickets, priced $55-$65, are available by calling the UCLA central ticket office at (310) 825 2101. Go to www.reprise.org for more information.

Lauren Kennedy, most recently on Broadway as Fantine in Les Misérables, will be part of the cast of the new musical The Ten Commandments: The Spectacle Musical. Kennedy's official website reported that the actress be among the cast of the musical starring film actor Val Kilmer as Moses. The stagework is set to begin performances at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, California Sept. 18 and open Sept. 27. For tickets to The Ten Commandments: The Spectacle Musical at the Kodak, 6801 Hollywood Blvd., call (213) 480-3232 or (714) 740-7878.

Well, that's all for now. Happy diva-watching!