Bernadette Peters Brings Her Broadway Powerhouse Pipes to the Santa Barbara Granada

I feel like I’ve entered a Sondheim play when I hear Bernadette Peters’ voice on my phone. Her breathy Queens, New York, accent is so familiar to me, and she’s so genuinely friendly that despite my being supremely starstruck, it feels a little like I’m talking to an old friend. 

For those who haven’t been waiting with bated breath since UCSB Arts & Lectures first announced the show, the Broadway legend will perform an intimate evening of beloved songs on Thursday, October 15, at the Granada. I got to spend a bit of time chatting with the woman The New York Times described as “more than talented. As an actress, singer, comedienne, and all-around warming presence, she has no peer in the musical theater.” They neglected to mention that she’s also a critically acclaimed star of film and television, among other things. Here are a few of the highlights from our call. 

You’ve had such an amazing career as a performer. Does it feel different to do a concert-style kind of evening of songs? 

No, because you know I’ve also been doing this since the ‘70s. I’ve been doing it for a long time and I love it because I can take all of those songs that I sing in a show, and I can even take other people’s songs from shows. (Laughs) I’m sitting in the wings and watching a song I love and I go “oh, I can sing that,” and I just put them in my concert, which I love doing. 

That’s great, but it does seem challenging when they’re sort of character songs with a lot of different emotions.

You know, I always make them personal, whether they’re in a show or whether I’m in a concert. And I get to choose them for the concert. And they are songs that I either like to be reminded of what they talk about, and they’re uplifting sometimes, or they’re just dramatic, and there’s that whole no fourth wall. When you’re in a show, there’s a fourth wall, right? They’re watching you because you play a character and you’re telling a story, but here you’re talking right to the audience, and there’s no fourth wall, and that’s wonderful.

So, we, your fans, all have our favorite Bernadette Peters songs. What would you say are your favorite songs?

There’s so many that I sing. “No One Is Alone” and “Children Will Listen” [both from Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods, listen here and here]. And “Losing My Mind.” [from Sondheim’s Follies, listen here]. And I was in Hello Dolly, so I sing two of Jerry Herman songs from Hello Dolly because I know they’re wonderful songs. 

Oh, absolutely, yes.

So basically, the show kind of has a nice arc to it, and hopefully everyone will go home feeling satisfied, and to feel they went on this musical journey with me.

I’m sure they will. I know you started as a child actress, but did you always want to be a singer and an actress? As a professional, was that your goal from the beginning?

I wasn’t quite aware of the business. I just liked performing and singing. And when I was little, I was really just like fantasizing, and playing and singing a song. And I was on television when I was five, but it was live television in those days, you didn’t see yourself back on a tape. I was playing on these big machines in front of me, and those were the cameras (laughs). But I didn’t realize what was going on. I did live dramatic television. I did Kraft Television Theatre and Hallmark Hall of Fame shows, dramatic things back in those days as a kid.

And were you aware that not every kid was doing this? 

Ooh yeah, because I went to regular public school, and so I kept it kind of hidden from my friends. I didn’t want to be different. I wanted to fit in with them. I didn’t talk about it much and it didn’t come up.

I understand. And so, Judy [her PR representative] said you’re working on or potentially maybe working on some movie projects. Is there anything you can tell us about? 

I’m in two films. One is out, with Malcolm McDowell. He’s divine in it — Last Train to Fortune — and I play a saloon owner, and then Mary Steenburgen, who he had been married to. She’s in it too.

Oh wow! Okay.

I was in Mozart in the Jungle with him, and I just adore him, and she adores him. In the film she plays a schoolteacher, and it’s really, he’s just brilliant and just fabulous. Then I’m in this movie with Julianne Moore, a Jesse Eisenberg movie called The Debut. And I just love, love, love the story. That’s why I decided to do it. I bookend it in the beginning and the end, but it’s really her story, and she’s so brilliant in it. She’s a really remarkable actor. And then I’m doing Ted Danson’s series called A Man on the Inside, Mary’s husband now (laughs). I’m filming that right now in San Francisco.

Nice. I wanted to ask you about your philanthropic work because I know you’re a big animal activist. Can you tell me a little bit about that?

Yes. I just feel that companion animals are so important in our lives, and they basically really are only here for us. And when I lived in New York, I realized that years ago — we’ve been doing this for 28 years. The City Shelter needed a lot of help because I went there after my dog passed away, and I saw how crowded they were. They had cages stacked up in the hallways, and they were trying not to euthanize, but they would have to euthanize. So, we started a dog adoption with all the people from Broadway … It’s their event now [Broadway Barks, cofounded by Peters with Mary Tyler Moore in 1999]. They come out between shows on a Saturday, and all the celebrities, they meet their animals and they bring them up on stage and talk about them to get them adopted.

That’s great.

We have great, great success. Now we have great numbers. So, you know, three-quarters of them get adopted, which is so terrific. 

Oh yeah, that’s wonderful. 

And I even started it in London with my friend Elaine Paige, and that one is called West End Woofs.

Oh, cute.

I think more and more people, especially with the pandemic, are realizing how wonderful dogs are to have in their lives. My friend Mandy Patinkin, he has a dog that he just adores, and he said to me, “You know, Bernadette, I didn’t understand this dog thing that you were doing for all these years about the dog, dah dah dee, dog, dog, dogs. And then I got my dog” — and then he started to cry because he loved his dog so much. He finally understood what a dog can add to a person’s life or a cat. To have that animal being there when you get home is very important for certain people.

I think you’re right. With the isolated time of the pandemic made it even more clear, for sure. I have to ask, do you think you’ll be back on Broadway anytime soon?

We’ll see…

See Bernadette Peters at the Granada Theatre (1214 State St.) on October 15, bit.ly/4hDpccx.