Bernadette Peters - Theatre Roles, 1980s To Present

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 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 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.

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: " 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,

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 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.