Tony Award winner Betty Buckley
Betty Buckley talks about DEAR WORLD in London
Betty Buckley night in London
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| With Betty Buckley and Michael at The Ivy in London |
First night in London, and we saw the fantastic Betty Buckley in the UK premiere of Jerry Herman’s DEAR WORLD at the Charing Cross Theatre. The show AND Betty were terrific! Seeing this beautiful gem of a show on stage finally was worth the wait. And Betty knocked it out of the park with each scene and song. Highlights were her tender readings of “I Was Beautiful,” “Kiss Her Now” and of course “I Don’t Want To Know.” Betty’s “Madwoman” was both hilarious and touchingly vulnerable.
Plus – you travel around the world to run into friends 🙂
Walking out of the theater we realized our friend Billy Stritch saw the same performance. He’s in town as music director for Liza’s sold-out concert tonight here in town. So he joined us for late dinner with Betty and friends at The Ivy.
Ah, The Ivy! Great London atmosphere and the staff was so kind to endure all of the picture taking and seat-switching as the conversations went on. I can’t repeat anything said at the dinner because apparently membership to the club means nothing you hear there can be passed on later. Some rule Betty explained to us. Oops – I think I just passed something on…. Erase, erase, erase…
Great night.
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| Michael and I with Billy Stritch after DEAR WORLD |
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| Our London friend and host (and “Mr. Knows-Everyone”) Michael Valdes |
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| The group at the Ivy. We closed the place down 🙂 |
Reviews for Charing Cross Theater’s DEAR WORLD starring Betty Buckley
Review Round up for the new production of Jerry Herman’s “Dear World” at Charing Cross Theatre in the UK:
Michael Billington from the Guardian writes: Betty Buckley, whom I last saw in Promises, Promises half a lifetime ago, lends the heroine the right air of dreamy dottiness, as if still inhabiting the Paris of the Belle Epoque. There is good support from Paul Nicholas as a benevolent sewerman, Peter Land as a leanly rapacious capitalist and Annabel Leventon as a park-bench habitue who hears more voices than Joan of Arc. It is not one of those Broadway failures like Sondheim’s Anyone Can Whistle that quickly acquires cult status, but Lynne stylishly evokes a fantasy Paris, and it’s hard not to warm to a show that suggests corporate greed and environmental destruction can be actively resisted.
Fourthwall Magazine writes: The score is stupendous from the get-go though. I’d never heard a note of it and could hum you great swathes and that’s before I downloaded the original Broadway cast recording this morning; Angela Lansbury stars, bonus! Betty Buckley stars here (double bonus) as a warm and wonderful, cookie Countess Aurelia. There’s a moment in Act 2 when the Julian of Stuart Matthew Price (top of his game, again) descends the stars holding a feather boa before role-playing Emile, the lost love of the Countess. I turned to the woman next to me and said, “Wow, what a scene!” I wonder who she was? We’re all going mad. She did agree, though.
Giles Cole from whatsonstage.com says: The remarkable Betty Buckley, as Countess Aurelia, presides over the stage with grace, aplomb and sheer Broadway presence, but it is only in the scenes with her fellow ‘madwomen’ that the show fuses into a true delight. Annabel Leventon and Rebecca Lock are glorious as sisters Constance and Gabrielle, and when these three ladies are onstage, one sits back happily and drinks in the wit, silliness and charm of the piece.
David Nice from theartsdesk.com states: Where it only took Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along 11 years to progress from flop to classic, Dear World has taken 44. Its time has finally come underneath the arches of Charing Cross in the intimate setting Herman always wanted, crowned this time by the supreme grace of Betty Buckley.
Visit charingcrosstheatre.co.uk for ticket information.
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| Photo by Dominic Maxwell |
New music: Betty Buckley “Ah Men – the Boys of Broadway”
Available today, new music from Tony Award-winning Broadway star Betty Buckley: AH MEN – THE BOYS OF BROADWAY, based on her critically acclaimed concert of the same name.
Like Betty, I’m from Fort Worth, Texas, and we both attended the same high school – although not at the same time. But in the 1970s – with successes on Broadway and TV already – she made a stop by Arlington Heights High School and spoke to our drama class. She spoke about acting and then, in an impromptu moment, sang for us unaccompanied. I was transfixed, and a fan of her voice (and acting) from that moment on.
When I was appearing on Broadway in Hello, Dolly!, Betty was giving her breathtaking performance as “Norma Desmond” in Sunset Boulevard. During the run of Dolly! many stars came backstage to say ‘hello’ to Carol Channing. I’d see them meet her on the stage after the curtain came down after the show as I had to cross the stage from my dressing room to the stage door. The only time I ever stopped and stuttered a ‘hello’ to anyone was when Betty Buckley came backstage. It was my chance and I took it. And she was as gracious then as she is today.
I recently discovered that Tennessee Williams admired Betty’s work. On the blog “Follies of God,” James Grissom shared with his readers that Tennessee had this to say about Betty Buckley:
Her singing voice is a wonderful example of that intercourse that exists only with a singer: When a singer is in possession of a great talent and an honest intensity of purpose, nothing can prevent the relationship between song and singer from taking place, with all of us voyeurs to the consummation.
She owns her material, but she doesn’t grasp it so tightly that we can’t also share in it, love it, feel to it. I find her a radiantly pure singer.
She helps me to the fog. I feel she belongs to me now.
I recently had the chance to interview Betty about her new CD, her current appearances around the country and her upcoming UK premiere of Jerry Herman’s Dear World at Charing Cross Theatre.
You can listen to the interview tomorrow night on The Candi & Randy Show, but here are just a few of Betty’s thoughts on the new CD:
• The inspiration for the new CD goes back to her young crush on Russ Tamblyn in the movie of West Side Story: “When I first saw the movie of West Side Story, I was about 14 and I was just in love with Russ Tamblyn who played “Riff.” Everything about him as “Riff” – I thought he was the coolest guy ever. And it went way beyond a crush. I wanted to dance like him, walk like him, talk like him. I wanted to be a Jet.”
• Betty had a short list of songs she knew she wanted to sing in this show/CD: “I knew I wanted to sing “I Can See It” from The Fantasticks, I knew I wanted to sing “Hey There” from The Pajama Game, “Corner of the Sky” from Pippin… I knew I wanted to sing “Venice” from Elegies and “Maria” from West Side Story, and I knew I wanted to sing “I Won’t Dance.”
• When asked if there’s a male role in the music theatre catalog she’d like to do, she doesn’t hesitate: “I think I could be a really dangerous Sweeney Todd.”
• On heading to London to star in the UK premiere of Dear World: “I’m really excited about it. I’ve known about this for about a year and a half. It will be a revised/new version of the show. It’s going to be really beautiful, I think. I’m really excited.”
I reached out to Broadway legend Jerry Herman for his thoughts on Betty starring in the new production and Jerry had this to say:
“Dear World requires a superb singer; Dear World requires a superb actor; and Betty Buckley is both. I so look forward to the London premiere with Gillian Lynne at the helm.”
Betty has been appearing across the country singing songs from the new CD. Find the nearest concert date on her website – www.BettyBuckley.com.
Lucky for me, she’ll be performing at The Smith Center here in Las Vegas November 15-18. Can’t wait to see her sing these great songs.
You can hear the full interview and several of the songs from the new CD by listening tomorrow night on The Candi & Randy Show – 9pmEST/6pmPST.