Continuing my coursework in Divas 101 (for my major of Broadway Studies, naturally), I attended a Bernadette Peters concert last night. Even though I had glimpsed Ms. Peters at Broadway Barks a few years ago, I had not had the pleasure of seeing her live... until last night.
I had been aware of Bernadette before, but it was not until recently that I began paying more attention to what she's done, listening to her cds and watching her dvds (again, thanks to the tutelage of my most excellent teachers.) I really found myself liking her voice and admiring her acting skills (like in Into the Woods and Sunday in the Park with George) and of course, the hair. (I wonder what shampoo she uses?? hahahahhaha.)
We had an eventful drive to Naperville (inadvertantly blew through an IPass Lane - but the IPass is in the other car.... oops. Now we are toll-way scofflaws!) but managed to find the North Central campus and parking and the building and Kari without any trouble. Even claimed the tickets without any trouble.
Can I just sidebar here for a minute and say what a total mess the ticket buying experience was? A waiting list and everything... Then, I got the tickets while pretending to be Sarah but gave MY credit card number - and they didn't even ask about the name on the credit card or anything. Nice to know it was just that easy. And then, I picked up the tickets and they just handed them over... I'd been worried they'd ask to see the credit card. But no. Here you go and enjoy the show! Well, thanks, guys... What's with these colleges? We had similar difficulties buying tickets at Dominican. And they had NO excuse, as they put on these shows every year.....
We now return to the regularly scheduled post.
Bernadette was fantastic. She looks completely amazing anyway, but last night she was stunning in a (what I am sure was) Bob Macke dress. She sang everything from "Let Me Entertain You" to tunes from South Pacific, Mack and Mabel, Song and dance, and OF COURSE music by the master and "our national treasure" Stephen Sondheim. She lounged on top of the piano for a smokin' hot "Fever" and sang "O Shenendoah" with just the piano. There was no intermission (good thing too. I'd been planning my escape route to the teeny tiny restroom and saw a long wait in my future.)
The whole second part of the show was dedicated to SJS, and she sang "Children Will Listen"
"No one is Alone" "Not a Day Goes By" and "You Could Drive a Person Crazy." One of my favorites was "Being Alive" - I just love love love love that song, and she just belts it out. She is, in fact, very versatile - she surprises you when you're not looking for it, with her range. All of a sudden she goes high, and it's like WOW. There's a lot of power there, and she just went for it. Brava.
THEN, just when I thought it couldn't get any better, it did. She made like she was leaving the stage, then came back and said, "Let's talk about Gypsy." We can talk about whatever you want, Bern. I was hoping she'd do "Some People" but she gave us one even better.
She did Rose's Turn - Oh. My. God. When I was prepping for going to see Gypsy at Ravinia this summer, I listened to Bernadette's recording non-stop. Sarah showed me the Tony awards clip where Bernadette performed Rose's Turn and brought the house down, and I was thinking, Damn, I wish I could have seen her. She gave a little taste of what her Mama Rose was like, and it was phenomenal. Like, Phuh-Nomenal. WOW.
She didn't want to leave it on that note, so she sang "Count your blessings." We were on our feet. It got the Mama Caruso stamp of approval. She sez to me as we are putting on our coats, "She was wonderful." And I'm glad. I mean, I was pretty sure she'd enjoy herself, but I didn't want to have dragged her out to Naperville only to have her not enjoy it.
We weren't going to wait by the stage door - we had a long drive back, but suddenly, I really just wanted to. So we stood out there with a handful of other people (including the Karens). There were three really amusing high school age fans out there - very loud and chatty and bursting with excitement (I am sure everyone knows the type I'm talking about here.) They took pictures of Bernadette's limo, pictures with her limo driver, and then, he opened the door to the car and was letting them look inside. So they took pictures with the three of them hovering around the open limo door AND pictures of the limo interior. The driver offered to let them sit in it for ten bucks, but none of them took him up on it .It cracked me up. Aw, just too cute. We even had "spies" from inside coming out to give us Bernadette movement updates ("Okay, so she just went upstairs to the meet and greet....") Finally she came out - the driver had said she wasn't feeling well, and that he was surprised she'd stayed as long as she had. She signed things and took pictures, then piled into her limo and was off. I was happy to have basked in the warm glow of her presence for a few extra minutes and my mom and I headed off for our long drive back home.
I am happy to report that we paid all of our tolls on the way home and did not get lost at all (which believe me is a crowning achievement).
A big huge shout out and thanks to Sarah for being so quick on the uptake and getting on the ticket waiting list and THEN allowing me to use her name to procure tickets even though she was not able to come. We missed you! Also, it is because of Sarah that I even wanted to go in the first place, and now I seem to have acquired another diva. Thanks for that, too. My ticket vault manager and my banker (not at B of A, in case anyone was wondering... I go to Chase) would like to have a word with you, by the way....
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