Bernadette Peters

Bernadette Peters
Peters in 2008
Born	Bernadette Lazzara (1948-02-28) February 28, 1948 Ozone Park, Queens, New York, United States
Occupation(s)	Actress, singer, author, comedienne
Years active	1958–present
Spouse(s)	Michael Wittenberg (m. 1996–2005; his death)
Website	Official website

Bernadette Peters (born Bernadette Lazzara; February 28, 1948) is an American actress, singer and children's book author. 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 (plus an honorary award), and nine Drama Desk Awards, winning three. Four of the Broadway cast albums on which she has starred have won Grammy Awards.

Regarded by many as the foremost interpreter of the works of Stephen Sondheim, Peters is particularly noted for her roles on the Broadway stage, including in the musicals Mack and Mabel, Sunday in the Park with George, Song and Dance, Into the Woods, Annie Get Your Gun and Gypsy.

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 Awards and three Golden Globe Awards, winning once.

Early life and career

Peters won the Theatre World Award as Josie Cohan (left) in George M! (1968).

Peters was born Bernadette Lazzara to a Sicilian 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 Jury 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.

Another early biographical role was Mabel Normand in Mack and Mabel (1974). Normand shown c. 1920

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 Liesl 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 Josie opposite Joel Grey in George M! (1968), winning the Theatre World Award.

Peters' performance as "Ruby" in the 1968 Off-Broadway production of Dames at Sea, a parody of 1930s musicals, 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.

Film appearances

In Pennies From Heaven, "Peters brought a cocky attitude and a sexy exuberance to the musical numbers."

Peters has appeared in 33 feature films or television movies 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 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, directed by Lisa Albright, was filmed in March 2010 and released commercially in November 2012.

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 Club 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 theatre critic Frank Rich called her performance "radiant". She recorded the role for PBS in 1986, winning a 1987 ACE Award. Her next role was in 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. 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 by appearing in a 1995 benefit concert of Anyone Can Whistle, playing the role of Fay Apple. Additionally, she appeared in several concerts featuring Sondheim's work, and performed for him at his 1993 Kennedy Center Honors ceremony.

Peters after a performance of Gypsy in 2004

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 called her Rose "Brilliant, original, totally unlike any of the others." In 2006, she participated in a reading of the Sondheim - Weidman musical Bounce. In 2007, Peters participated in a charity reading of the play Love Letters with John Dossett.

After an absence from the Broadway stage of six years (Gypsy closed in 2004), Peters starred in the Broadway revival of Sondheim's A Little Night Music, as Desiree Armfeldt from July 2010 to January 2011. She replaced Catherine Zeta-Jones in the role. The New York Times reviewer wrote of her performance,

[F]or 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 in 2011 at the Kennedy Center

Peters next appeared in the role of Sally Durant Plummer in the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts production of the Sondheim–Goldman 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 reprised her role of Sally in the Broadway limited engagement, at the Marquis Theatre, from August 2011 to January 2012. She received a nomination for the Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Actress in a Musical, for this role.

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 nine times and won three times, for Annie Get Your Gun, Song and Dance, and Dames at Sea. At the 66th Tony Awards (2012), Peters was presented with the honorary Isabelle Stevenson Award for "making a substantial contribution of volunteered time and effort on behalf of one or more humanitarian, social service or charitable organizations, regardless of whether such organizations relate to the theatre", specifically for her work with Broadway Barks. In making the announcement for this award, the Tony official site noted "With a rich generosity of spirit, Bernadette Peters’ devotion to charitable causes is perhaps only outweighed by her much fêted dedication to performing.... Peters’ efforts are held in the highest regard on Broadway and beyond. To quote BC/EFA’s Tom Viola, 'Bernadette’s boundless compassion and generosity represent the best in all of us.' "

Television appearances

Peters on the Tim Conway Show, 1977

Peters was nominated for Emmy Awards 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 shows 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 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. She played a young, liberal photographer, who becomes romantically involved with an older, conservative columnist. Although Peters was praised for her charismatic performance, the show ran for only one season. 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 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. Her appearance at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival in June 2009 was filmed and broadcast in Australia later that month.

Peters first appeared in the NBC series Smash in the March 2012 episode "The Workshop", as Leigh Conroy, Ivy's mother, a retired Broadway star, who feels competitive because of her daughter's blossoming career. She visits the workshop and sings Everything's Coming Up Roses (from Gypsy) at the urging of the workshop cast. She also appeared in the season 1 finale, "Bombshell" (May 2012), to celebrate Ivy's presumed role as Marilyn, in "The Parents" episode (April 2013), where, as Leigh, she sings an original Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman song, "Hang the Moon", in the episode "Opening Night" (April 2013) and in the episode "The Phenomenon" (May 2013).

Recordings

Album cover from Bernadette Peters (painting by Vargas, 1980)

Peters has recorded six solo albums and several singles. Three of her albums have been nominated for the Grammy Award. Peters' 1980 single "Gee Whiz" reached the top forty on the U.S. Billboard 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:

Peters debuts on record as a first-rate pop torch singer: Melissa Manchester with soul, Bette Midler on pitch. Her album has already spawned the hit single "Gee Whiz," a laid-back, doo-wop version... that makes Peters' piping, little-girl voice seem almost like a cutesy novelty. There are also a couple of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil rock tunes in which she sounds slightly trashy and out of her depth. The Peter Allen songs on side two are really more her style. In fact, the whole second half of Bernadette Peters is just about perfect, from the star's semi-C&W rendition of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller's "Pearl's a Singer" to a wistful recap of Harry Warren and Mark Gordon's romantic "You'll Never Know." But the best cuts are in between. "Other Lady," written by Lesley Gore (!) with Ellen Weston, tackles an age-old problem with... devastating eloquence... and Peters delivers it with the proper brooding introspection. Allen's compositions, "Only Wounded" (co-written with Carole Bayer Sager) and the torchy "I Never Thought I'd Break" (co-written with Dean Pitchford), feature the finest singing on the LP...the unusual absence of airbrushing echo places heavy demands on the chanteuse's sultry soprano. That Bernadette Peters rises to the occasion makes her performance that much more impressive."

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 on the Billboard "Top Internet Albums" chart, 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 The New York Times review of the 1986 Broadway cast recording of Song and Dance (titled Bernadette Peters in Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Song & Dance'), Stephen Holden wrote that the recording was "a personal triumph for a singer and actress who is rapidly establishing herself as the first lady of the Broadway musical. Performing material whose music borders on kitsch and whose lyrics and story suggest a verbose soap opera, Miss Peters nevertheless projects an astounding emotional generosity and conviction. Almost singlehandedly she turns the inconsequential erotic misadventures of Emma ... into a touching romantic fable about love and its defenses and the loss of innocence. ... Miss Peters has always oozed a cuddlesome Shirley Temple-like sweetness and vulnerability. This quality, which used to seem more like an adorable child-star affectation than an deep-seated trait, has proved to be an essential ingredient of Miss Peters's personality. A delivery that once seemed coy and cutesy has deepened and ripened into an honesty and compassion that pour out in singing that is childlike but also resilient."

In 2003, Andrew Gans wrote in Playbill.com of Peters' recording sessions for Gypsy: "What is it about her voice that is so moving? Part womanly and part girlish, it is a powerful instrument, not only in volume (though that is impressive) but in the wealth of emotion it is able to convey. ... her voice – that mix of husky, sweet, rounded, vibrato-filled tones – induces a response that spans the emotional scale." Of her "Rose's Turn", Gans wrote: "...her rendition of this song may be the highlight of a career already filled with many highlights: She has taken a song that has been delivered incredibly by others and brought it to a new level." Of her performance on the recording of Follies (2011), Steven Suskin wrote in Playbill.com: "This is a fine Sally, the sort of Sally you'd expect to get from an actress like – well, Bernadette Peters. The performance on the CD is compelling; either this is simply the magic of the recording studio or Peters has changed what she does and how she does it."

Concert performances

Peters at the Drama League in 2010

Peters has been performing her solo concert in the United States and Canada for many years. She made her solo concert debut at Carnegie Hall 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.

Children's books

Peters at Broadway Barks, 2006

To support the animal adoption charity that she co-founded, Broadway Barks, 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 Publishers 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.

Other activities

Broadway Barks

Peters at 13th Annual Broadway Barks Benefit (2011)

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 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 AIDSand participates in that 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. The 1995 benefit concert Anyone Can Whistle and Peters' "Carnegie Hall" 1996 concert were benefits for the Gay Men's Health Crisis.

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. In 2012, Peters became a Patron of The Stephen Sondheim Society.

Personal life

Peters and Steve 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 married investment adviser Michael Wittenberg on July 20, 1996 at the Millbrook, 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' Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

Peters had a mixed-breed dog named Kramer (now deceased) that was the model of a character in her first children's book. She has an American pit bull terrier named Stella, the inspiration for her second book and another dog named Charlie. She adopted all three from shelters.

Honorary awards

Peters has received many honorary awards, including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame 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 "Sondheim Award", presented by the Signature Theatre in April 2011. In May 2012, New Dramatists, an organization that supports beginning playwrights, presented Peters with their Lifetime Achievement Award. In announcing this honor, New Dramatists said: "She has brought a new sound into the theatre and continues to do so, in surprising and miraculous ways. By some sleight of magic, her singularity always manages to bring out the best and richest in the work of her composers and writers. So, of course New Dramatists is thrilled to honor her." In May 2013 the Drama League gave Peters the honorary Special Award of Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theatre Award "in recognition of her contribution to the musical theatre."

Work

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	Bettina
1968	George M!	Josie Cohan	Theatre World Award for Debut Performance
1968	Dames at Sea	Ruby	Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance
1968	A Mother's Kisses	Performer	Written by Bruce Jay Friedman and featured Bea Arthur. Three weeks of out-of-town tryouts in New Haven and Baltimore; cancelled before scheduled Broadway premiere.
1969	La Strada	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	Starred Mickey Rooney. 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	Mabel Normand	Nominated—Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical Nominated—Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical
1982	Sally and Marsha	Sally
1984	Sunday in the Park with George	Dot/Marie	Nominated—Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical Nominated—Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical
1985	Song and Dance	Emma	Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical
1987	Into the Woods	The Witch	Nominated—Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical
1993	The Goodbye Girl	Paula	Nominated—Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical
1999	Annie Get Your Gun (revival)	Annie Oakley	Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical
2003	Gypsy (revival)	Rose	Nominated—Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical Nominated—Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical
2010	A Little Night Music (revival)	Desiree Armfeldt	Replacement for Catherine Zeta-Jones, from July 2010-January 2011
2011	Follies (revival)	Sally Durant Plummer	Kennedy Center and Broadway Nominated—Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1973	Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies	Allison
1974	The Longest Yard	Warden's Secretary, Miss Toot
1976	W.C. Fields and Me	Melody
1976	Silent Movie	Vilma Kaplan	Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
1976	Vigilante Force	Little Dee
1979	The Jerk	Marie
1981	Tulips	Rutanya Wallace
1981	Pennies from Heaven	Eileen	Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1981	Heartbeeps	Aqua
1982	Annie	Lily St. Regis
1989	Slaves of New York	Eleanor
1989	Pink Cadillac	Lou Ann McGuinn
1990	Alice	Muse
1991	Impromptu	Marie D'Agoult
1997	Anastasia	Sophie	voice
1997	Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas	Angelique	voice
1998	Barney's Great Adventure		singer, title song
1999	Snow Days	Elise Ellis	Released commercially in 2001; original title Snow Days, aka Let It Snow
1999	Wakko's Wish	Rita	voice
2003	It Runs in the Family	Rebecca Gromberg
2003	The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration	Sue	voice
2007	Come le formiche	Mary Ann	aka Wine and Kisses
2011	Coming Up Roses	Diane	released commercially in 2012
2014	Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return	Glinda the Good Witch	voice

Television

• The Carol Burnett Show (various shows, 1969–1991)
• Bing Crosby Specials – Cooling It (April 1970) and Bing Crosby's White Christmas Special (November 1976)
• George M! (1970)
• Once Upon a Mattress (1972) as Lady Larkin
• Love American Style – Episode titled "Love and the Hoodwinked Honey" (1973) as Nellie (opposite Jerry Orbach)
• Paradise Lost (TV film, 1974)
• Maude – Episode titled "Rumpus in the Rumpus Room" (1975)
• All in the Family – Episode titled "Gloria Suspects Mike" (1975)
• All's Fair (TV series) (1976–1977)
• McCloud – Episode titled "The Day New York Turned Blue" (1976)
• The Muppet Show (1977)
• The Tim Conway Show (1977)
• The Islander (TV film, 1978)
• The Martian Chronicles (1980) (miniseries)
• Saturday Night Live (1981) (host and performer)
• Faerie Tale Theatre – Sleeping Beauty (1983)
• Sunday in the Park with George (1986)
• Diana Ross: Red Hot Rhythm & Blues (1987)
• David (TV film, 1988)
• Fall from Grace (TV film, 1990)
• The Last Best Year (TV film, 1990)
• Into the Woods (1991)
• The Last Mile (1992)
• Animaniacs ("Rita and Runt" episodes, 1993–1994) (voice of Rita)
• The Larry Sanders Show – Episode titled "Montana" (1994)

• A&E Stage: "A Tribute to Stephen Sondheim at Southern Methodist University" (1995)
• Live with Regis and Kelly (various appearances, 1996–2011)
• The Odyssey (1997) (miniseries)
• Cinderella (TV film, 1997)
• What the Deaf Man Heard (TV film, 1997)
• Holiday in Your Heart (TV film, 1997)
• The Closer – Episode titled "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (1998)
• Inside the Actors Studio (2000)
• Frasier ("Sliding Frasiers") (2001) (celebrity call-in)
• Ally McBeal  – Episodes titled "The Getaway" and "The Obstacle Course" (2001)
• Bobbie's Girl (TV film, 2002)
• Prince Charming (TV film, 2001 (Peru), 2003 (USA))
• Adopted (2005) (unsold ABC pilot)
• Will & Grace – Episode titled "Whatever Happened to Baby Gin?" (2006)
• Law and Order:SVU – Episode titled "Choreographed" (2006)
• Boston Legal – Episode titled "Guantanamo By The Bay" (2007)
• Grey's Anatomy – Episode titled "Dream a Little Dream of Me" (2008)
• Living Proof (TV film, 2008)
• Ugly Betty – Episodes titled "Dress for Success"; "There's No Place Like Mode", "Things Fall Apart", "In The Stars", and "Curveball" (2009)
• Smash – Episodes titled "The Workshop", "Bombshell" (2012), "The Parents" (2013), "Opening Night" (2013), "The Phenomenon" (2013) and "The Tonys".

Concerts

Major concerts

• Various venues, summer of 1989: 10-city concert tour with Peter Allen.
• Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, California on September 6 and 7, 1996 (solo concert).
• Carnegie Hall, New York City on December 9, 1996 (solo concert with guest singers/dancers, recorded on CD).
• Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia on January 7 and 8, 1998 (solo concert).
• Royal Festival Hall, London on September 17, 1998 (solo concert with guest singers/dancers, recorded on video).
• Radio City Music Hall, 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 Festival, Adelaide, Australia, on June 6 and 7, 2009 (solo concert). Peters headlined, and the concert was televised on June 27, 2009 on Foxtel. 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 Theatre, New York City on November 9, 2009.

Other notable concerts

• "Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall" – June 10, 1992 (broadcast on PBS Great Performances in 1993), singing "Not a Day Goes By" and "Sunday"
• "Hey Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron MacKintosh" – June 7, 1998, singing, among others, "Unexpected Song", "Being Alive" 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 Philharmonic at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, 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 200 #114 (retitled and expanded as Bernadette in a 1992 CD reissue)
• "Gee Whiz!" ("Look at His Eyes") (1980) Billboard Hot 100 #31 (single)
• Now Playing (1981) MCA US Billboard 200 #151
• I'll Be Your Baby Tonight (1996) Angel Records – Grammy Award nominee
• Sondheim, Etc. – Bernadette Peters Live At Carnegie Hall (1997) Angel Records – Grammy Award nominee
• Bernadette Peters Loves Rodgers and Hammerstein (2002) Angel Records – Grammy Award 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 Award winner (Best Cast Show Album, 1985)
• Song and Dance – The Songs – RCA Victor (1985)
• Into The Woods – RCA Victor Records (1988) – Grammy Award 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 Award winner (Best Musical Show Album, 2000)
• Gypsy The New Broadway Cast Recording – Angel Records (2003) – Grammy Award winner (Best Musical Show Album, 2004)
• Sherry! – 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 Mackintosh – 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 Collins – Wildflower Records (2008) - "Trust Your Heart"

References

• Bryer, Jackson R. and Richard Allan Davison. The Art Of The American Musical: Conversations with the Creators (2005), Rutgers University Press, ISBN 0-8135-3613-8
• Crespy, David Allison. Off-Off-Broadway Explosion (2003), Back Stage Books, ISBN 0-8230-8832-4
• Knapp, Raymond. The American Musical and the Performance of Personal Identity (2006), Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-12524-4

External links

• Official website
• Bernadette Peters at the Internet Broadway Database
• Bernadette Peters at IMDb
• Peters at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Standing Tall website
• The Carol Burnett Show screengrabs, "As the Stomach Turns" episode
• Photo of Peters on Bing Crosby Christmas special
• Numerous photos of Peters