Tony Award winner Betty Buckley, who recently completed filming the final season of HBO's jailhouse series "Oz," has joined the Fynsworth Alley family.
Buckley will release her latest solo album — due in September — on the Fynsworth Alley label. Fynsworth has also acquired two previous Buckley recordings, "Heart to Heart," originally released on the KO label and featuring Kenny Werner on piano; and "Betty Buckley," the 15th anniversary re-release of her debut solo album, recorded live in New York and first released on the now-defunct Rizzoli label.
"Heart to Heart" includes such tracks as "Just the Way You Look Tonight," "Ruby," "Anyone Can Whistle," "Violets," "I Am a Town," "How Deep Is the Ocean?," and "Danny Boy." "Betty Buckley" features several tunes penned by the actress-singer herself — "So-La," "So Is Love," "Co-Wrangle-Do-Right," "Travellers On a Star," "Dark Blue-Eyed Blues" — as well as Stephen Schwartz's "Meadowlark" and the country hit "Wind Beneath My Wings." The re-release also boasts three tunes not on the original version: "Over You," "Eternal Fix" and "Tender Mercy."
Buckley — who received a Tony nomination for her most recent Broadway outing in Triumph of Love — is one of Broadway's finest performers, offering heartfelt performances in Sunset Boulevard, Carrie, Song & Dance, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, 1776 and Promises, Promises. She won a Tony Award for her performance as Grizabella in the Broadway production of Cats, and she starred on the London stage in Promises, Promises and Sunset Boulevard, earning an Olivier Award nomination for her work in the latter. Also a TV ("Eight Is Enough") and film (Tender Mercies) star, the actress-singer devotes much of her time to concert appearances around the world. Her latest solo CD, "Stars and the Moon: Betty Buckley Live at the Donmar Warehouse," was nominated for a Grammy Award and is available from Concord Records.
In related news: Buckley will begin an engagement at the New York cabaret Feinstein's at the Regency on Oct. 22. She will play the elegant boîte through Nov. 9. —By Andrew Gans
