Who Is The Queen Of Broadway - T-Tees - Your Answers Await, Life's Questions Unraveled

She’s one of those stars whose first name is all you need to know.

You may be interested

Bernadette is coming to Provincetown. Bernadette Peters, on Sunday, July 19, at Town Hall.

You are viewing: Who Is The Queen Of Broadway

“I’ve never been to Provincetown. I’m looking forward to the audience and this beautiful place I’ve only heard about,” says Peters. “I’m here to entertain and have everyone go with me on this journey.”

She’ll be singing Rogers and Hammerstein, lots of Sondheim and her not-to-be-missed version of Peggy Lee’s “Fever” while lying on the piano. Songs she’s been singing and loving all her life.

Peters first met her musical director, Marvin Laird, when she was 13 years old. Laird was the rehearsal pianist for the National Tour of “Gypsy” when Peters was understudying the role of Baby June. “I was out on the road with my mother. My sister was understudying Louise. It was our family’s story, really personal for me,” says Peters.

She began her career singing on television when she was three-and-a-half years old. “It was live in those days,” she says. “I didn’t know I was on television because I didn’t come home and see it played back. I was just standing there fantasizing play singing while these big machines crossed in front of me.”

Refer to more articles: Who Is Nelson Brands Dad

Originally, it was her mother’s idea that she perform. She took ballet, singing and piano lessons. “When I was 17 and a young adult I was realizing it was a great emotional place for me to feel what I was feeling and I started to really love it. It became mine,” Peters says.

“The good news is that I was not a child star,” she says. “I was just a child actress so I didn’t have to reinvent myself after I grew up. I really knew who I was.”

She may not have been a child star but she certainly grew up to be one. “Dames at Sea” was her first big hit when she was 19 years old. She never stopped working, conquering movies, television and Broadway. She’s won Emmys, Grammys and three Tonys (“Dames at Sea,” “Song and Dance” and “Annie Get Your Gun.”)

She’s best know on Broadway for “Mack and Mable,” “Sunday In the Park With George,” “Into the Woods,” “Annie Get Your Gun” and Mamma Rose in “Gypsy.”

Her work with Stephen Sondheim is legendary. It began with the workshop of “Sunday In the Park With George.” “He was writing it as we were working on it. Every day a new song would come in and we would wait for it and of course it would knock our socks off,” Peters says.

“He is so thoughtful with actors,” Peters says of Sondheim. “He’s kind. Once when I first got “Children Will Listen” (“Into the Woods”) I lost my place in the music. I forgot the words. He said, ‘Listen, nevermind. I couldn’t do what you do, get out there in front of an audience and perform.’” The great thing about working with Sondheim is, it’s like asking Shakespeare, ‘What did you mean when you wrote that?’”

Refer to more articles: Unraveling the Mystery of Harriet: A World of Curiosities

She recently performed in a reunion concert and panel discussion with the original cast members of “Into The Woods” at BAM. “It was amazing to go back to such great material after you’ve lived 29 years. It’s very fulfilling.”