DIVA TALK: Catching up with Bernadette Peters - by Andrew Gans, Playbill - Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals, Inc. - Working with the City of New York to promote dog and cat adoption and spay and neuter programs to make New York a no-kill city.

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DIVA TALK: Catching up with Bernadette Peters

by Andrew Gans, Playbill

Friday, July 9, 2004

News, views and reviews about the multi-talented women of the musical theatre and the concert/cabaret stage.

Bernadette Peters

I've interviewed Bernadette Peters nearly a dozen times, and one thing I immediately learned about the award-winning actress is the only thing bigger than her talent is her heart. Late last week, I had the pleasure of chatting again with the recent Gypsy star about the July 10 BROADWAY BARKS!, the fundraiser she began six years ago with pal Mary Tyler Moore to find homes for animals in New York-area shelters.

"It was during Annie Get Your Gun, and we had just finished doing Gypsy of the Year for Broadway Cares," Peters explained, "and we thought, 'Gee, we made so much money [for BC/EFA], and it feels so good to do something,' we thought we should do something else. I'm, of course, very interested in animals and animals in the shelters — Mary Tyler Moore and I, that's our big passion. [The Annie Get Your Gun] stage manager, Richard Hester, said, 'Why don't we do an adopt-a-thon in Shubert Alley?' So we decided to get all the people in the Broadway shows who love animals to come and parade them and show everybody what great animals there are in the city."

Peters' interest in animals, dogs in particular, dates back to her childhood, when at age nine she and the rest of the Lazzara family welcomed their first dog into their home in Ozone Park, Queens. "It always involves Gypsy," Peters said with a laugh, "and the dog that we wanted was, of course, a little Yorkie, a little dog that Momma Rose used to carry around in Gypsy. I wasn't in Gypsy until I was 13, but I kept auditioning for it. But we couldn't afford a little poodle or a little Yorkie, so we went to the Bide-a-Wee, and we got a puppy that they promised wouldn't get to be too big! I guess she got to be about 35-40 pounds. Her name was Suzie, and she was great. She was some kind of retriever-terrier, and she was like the nana of the household. If anybody raised their voice, she'd [bark] at them."

Peters, who is still as passionate about animals as ever — she and husband Michael Wittenberg are the proud owners of two rescued pooches, Kramer and Stella — hopes to make New York a no-kill city. "There's no reason why these lovely, lovely companion animals should be euthanized," she said. "People sometimes have a strange perception of the animals in the pound. They're just wonderful animals that people had to give up — maybe they had to move or somebody died or somebody had a baby and the baby was allergic. These animals have been members of families, so these are great, great pets."

Peters also explained that the ACC — what was once the City Pound — euthanizes a staggering 40,000 animals each year. "The ACC has to take everything and anything that comes to them, that the police bring in. I was there once, and they brought in a chicken! They have to take whatever's there, and there's no room for every animal. So, they have to unfortunately euthanize them." There is a bright spot, however, Peters said. "There's something that was formed called the Mayor's Alliance that's great — all the shelters in the city are connected with it. So we all work together now in tandem, including the ACC."

This year's BROADWAY BARKS! adopt-a-thon begins at 3:30 PM in Shubert Alley, with the presentation of pets scheduled for 5:30 PM. And, the fundraiser promises to be the most celebrity-packed ever. Among those set to be part of this very worthy cause are Gary Beach, Stephanie J. Block, Mario Cantone, Christy Carlson Romano, Patrick Cassidy, Michael Cerveris, Kristin Chenoweth, Veanne Cox, Paige Davis, Beth Fowler, Jordan Gelber, Neil Patrick Harris, Shirley Jones, Sandra Joseph, Isabel Keating, Eartha Kitt, Laura Linney, Swoosie Kurtz, Audra McDonald, Idina Menzel, Michael Mulheren, Donna Murphy, Denis O'Hare, Brad Oscar, Angie Schworer, Eric Stoltz, John Tartaglia, Jennifer Westfeldt and Rachel York. "Everybody knows about it now," said Peters, "and they love it! You might think, 'Oh, it's so exhausting to do between shows,' but because pets are healing, you get more energy from them. You feel so good. We used to have scripts, but now we just have the celebrities meet the animals they're going to bring onstage [before] the afternoon [begins], and then they can say whatever they want about the dog or the cat. They talk about it from their hearts. It's a beautiful combination."

Peters, of course, recently completed a year's run as Momma Rose — a thrilling, moving performance I caught five times — in the acclaimed revival of Gypsy. About the show's final, sold-out performance she said, "It was wonderful. It was just a great role. I wasn't thinking, 'Oh, this is the last time I'm doing this part.' I was really just fulfilling the needs of the character and playing the role." She also had nothing but praise for her co-stars: "It was a great cast — probably one of the most talented casts I've ever worked with. You're going to see all the young people go places, I believe. We loved our children that were in the show, and everybody cared about the show, and everybody kept digging deeper and deeper and kept going forward with [their roles]. When you have something that's written so well, you just keep going deeper into it, and it's so fulfilling. It was a real adventure."

Although the two-time Tony Award winner said that she's still mulling over the possibility of a Gypsy tour or a London production, for now she's busy catching up on theatre ("I saw Assassins. I thought it was so great. I know it's going to close, but I want to see it again. And, Avenue Q, which was wonderful. They're such talented people [in that cast] — they're amazing") and classic novels. "I'm reading a lot now," she said, "something I haven't done since I was a child, and I'm loving it. I'm currently reading 'Anna Karenina.'"

For those going through Peters withdrawal, however, take heart. The actress plans to release a companion piece to her Grammy-nominated Carnegie Hall CD this summer. "There's enough material there [for a second album], and I'm thrilled about that." Among the songs not heard on the original CD are Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Unexpected Song," a medley of "We're in the Money" and "Pennies from Heaven," the 1919 classic "If You Were the Only Boy (in the World)," Peter Allen's "I Never Thought I'd Break," Lesley Gore and Jack Weston's "Other Lady," a pairing of "The Hills of Shiloh" and "Faithless Love" as well as several Stephen Sondheim tunes — "They Asked Me Why I Believe in You," "Later," "With So Little To Be Sure Of" and "Children Will Listen." Peters' encore, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," was also not found on the first Carnegie disc.

But, for now, Peters is busily preparing for BROADWAY BARKS! 6, ready to step aside and let the dogs shine in the spotlight. "The dogs look so great, they're really the stars of the afternoon. They get up there on the stage, and they look so wonderful. We just want everyone to come and see them."

For additional information visit www.broadwaybarks.com.