Stephen Sondheim on display in Dallas shows

by Arnold Wayne Jones of Dallas Voice

January is an exciting month for fans of Broadway. Between now and Jan. 22, three of the foremost interpreters of Stephen Sondheim songs -- Bernadette Peters, Judy Kaye and Patti LuPone -- will perform in Dallas in three unrelated shows.

So what's it like performing theater's preeminent gay composer? We sat down with two of them to discuss their careers and what makes Sondheim special to them.

Bernadette Peters

Bernadette Peters has conquered most media, gaining fame for her concert, film, TV and stage appearances, so it is perhaps not surprising she doesn't have a preference, "although I love doing concerts because I can pick what I'm going to sing," she says.

This weekend, just a few weeks shy of her 60th birthday, Peters gets to "pick what she sings" when she returns to a concert with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

But whenever Peters grabs a microphone to sing her favorite, you can bet there will be plenty by the composer she is most closely identified with.

"The second half I will devote mostly to Sondheim," she says. "But I do a lot of different things. I do "Fever" and some Rodgers & Hammerstein. I sing a song that's been in my repertoire for a while that will be beautiful in that hall. The most important thing is we're all entertained and we go on a fun journey and do beautiful songs."

In her long career, Peters has tackled many iconic roles, including playing Tammye Faye Bakker in a TV movie. But her favorite part came, perhaps predictably, in a show for which Sondheim wrote the lyrics.

"I usually say my favorite role is whatever I am doing at the time because, I get into it when I'm doing it. But I really love Rose in 'Gypsy.'"

Peters' performance in the 2003 revival initially met with some skepticism, as the pixie-ish actress seemed too delicate to play the brash stage mother. But she was convinced to do the show when Rose's daughter, June Havoc, called her.

"She said, 'My mom was small and petite and blond like you. She was a man-magnet and a man-killer, not really the blowsy behemoth as often depicted.' It gave me the impetus to know I was totally right for this role."

Perhaps ironically, Peters won both of her Tony Awards for non-Sondheim shows -- including one by the critically lambasted Andrew Lloyd Webber.

"It's all about finding the truth in the song," she says of her process. "You just have to look a little harder in an Andrew Lloyd Webber song."

And Peters has recently undertaken something new for her: Writing a song on her own.

Peters' passion is for shelter animals, and she wanted to record a lullaby that could help raise money for the pet-friendly charity Broadway Barks. To save on royalties, she wondered whether she could write it herself.

"After working with Sondheim would I presume to write a song?" she says. But with Sondheim's encouragement, she did it.

While Peters hasn't ruled out a return to Broadway, she does have one condition: "It has to be really irresistible to want to do it eight times a week."

Judy Kaye

Certainly appearing in Sondheim's greatest musical, "Sweeney Todd," could be fairly called irresistible to another stage legend, Judy Kaye.

Kaye's Broadway credits are in roles that should have her competing with Peters and LuPone as a gay icon: She created the roles of Carlotta in "The Phantom of the Opera" (for which she won a Tony Award); Rosie, the comic pal who expresses herself through ABBA songs in "Mamma Mia!"; and screeching diva Florence Foster Jenkins in "Souvenir."

But if Kaye has less name recognition that Peters & Co., her talent is just as evident, as demonstrated by how often she has performed one of Sondheim's most challenging shows.

"This is my fifth production of 'Sweeney,' including going on for Patti in 2006," Kaye says. And it may well be the most daring.

The current stage production -- which opens at the Majestic Theatre on Tuesday -- bears few similarities stylistically to Tim Burton's new feature film. Director John Doyle took a minimalistic approach with a skeletal set and the unusual decision to have the actors perform all the music from the stage. Which means Kaye gets to play the tuba -- not an instrument she was familiar with until this show. How intimidating is that?

"It's thrilling to do, actually," she says. "It's really neat to get up and do your scene, give it your all and then go to the side pick up an instrument and support someone else. It's totally engrossing -- it challenges a performer on every level technically, emotionally. And I love the fact I don't leave the stage!"

It's a special treat for Dallas audiences, because Kaye has not been on tour for 20 years -- and the last time she performed in Dallas, she met her husband. But the return to the road has posed some challenges.

"It's hard work -- the road is more difficult than it was. You have to go to the airport, go through security, sit in that little seat. And we're going from Miami to Kansas City to Dallas to Minneapolis -- you pack clothes for that trip! But the great part is when I get to the theater I sink back into this great show. For a lot a reasons, this has been a salvation for me."

"Sweeney" is the second of three musicals for which Kaye originated roles -- the third, this summer's "Mamma Mia!," is a far cry musically from Sondheim.

"ABBA was really not on my radar screen -- I was doing something else when ABBA was popular," she says. "I was, quite frankly, afraid to do the show. But I spent two of the funniest years of my career on that show. It is really well-crafted. So much care has gone into the writing of that piece. I'll be very interested to see the movie."

But for now, Kaye is concentrating on "Sweeney," which she adores as much as its fans.

"In Toronto, a little girl waved at me from the stage door. She couldn't have been more than 9 and was a Sondheim freak. Even kids love this thing!"

STEPHEN'S CHANTEUSES

Bernadette Peters In Concert with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Meyerson Symphony Center, 2301 Flora St. Jan. 11-12 at 8 p.m. $21-$101. 214-692-0203.

"Sweeney Todd," Majestic Theatre, 1925 Elm St. Jan. 15�20 at 8 p.m., weekend matinees at 2 p.m. $16-$72. 214-373-8-000.