Peters at the Pops

Jennifer K Mahal

When the phone call comes on a Saturday morning, there is no mistaking

the voice. “Jennifer,” it purrs. It is the sound of the witch in “Into

the Woods,” the voice of Mabel in “Mack and Mabel,” the rich delight of

Annie Oakley in “Annie Get Your Gun.” Bernadette Peters is calling from

New York.

The reason for the call is simple: The 54-year-old Broadway star is at

the Orange County Performing Arts Center this weekend singing with the

Pacific Symphony Pops.

“I love singing with the Symphony,” she says. “They’re great.”

Having seen her perform in the past, there is every reason to think

the show will be terrific. It is not for nothing that Stephen Sondheim

has called Peters “flawless as far as I’m concerned.”

It is 8 a.m. in California and 11 a.m. in New York, where Peters has

been busy filming “Smack in the Kisser.” The filming has been going

great, she says, and working with both Michael Douglas and his father,

Kirk, is amazing. Peters plays Michael Douglas’ wife in the film, which

she describes as a dramatic comedy. Filming will continue until the

middle of May.

The movie is one of several projects that has the two-time Tony Award

winner busy. Peters’ latest album, “Bernadette Peters Loves Rodgers &

Hammerstein,” came out late last month. Next year, she will return to the

Broadway stage in Sam Mendes’ revival of “Gypsy.” Peters will play Mama

Rose.

Both projects take her back in a way. Though she is known for singing

Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber, it was the work of Richard Rodgers and

Oscar Hammerstein II that she used to audition with when she was 5. The

song was “Dites-Moi” from South Pacific. She had almost forgotten about

it, until asked what the first Rodgers and Hammerstein song she sang in

public was.

Though “Dites-Moi” is not on the album, others from her past are.

“Mister Snow” and “It Might as Well Be Spring” were part of her singing

lessons at 17. The first Broadway musical she ever heard was “Carousel”

-- “You’ll Never Walk Alone” found its way onto the CD.

“I always knew [Rodgers and Hammerstein songs] were there, and I took

them for granted,” Peters says. “It’s like patriotism. We take it for

granted until all of a sudden, we realize what it’s about.”

The album was producer Richard Jay-Alexander’s idea, she says. Some

more obvious choices -- like “I’m Going to Wash that Man Right Out of My

Hair” or “Hello, Young Lovers” -- have been bypassed for lesser known

tunes like “The Gentleman is a Dope” and “So Far.” The first is from

“Allegro,” which Sondheim told her to take a look at, and the latter she

first heard on a Frank Sinatra album.

“I started seeing them and trying the songs on for size,” Peters says.

“And there’s great truth to be found. Steve Sondheim told me that Oscar

believed everything he wrote, so there’s great authenticity in the

songs.”

Choosing what songs to sing -- whether in concert or on an album -- is

a personal process for Peters. She says she needs to connect with them,

that they need to both be entertaining and say something.

“Sondheim says some things that I need to hear more often, again and

again,” she says. “Things like ‘Children Will Listen’ and ‘No One is

Alone’. . . . Those are very healing songs.”

It’s odd, considering she is so closely connected with Sondheim, that

her Tony Awards are for her performances in Lloyd Webber’s “Song and

Dance” and in the revival of “Annie Get Your Gun.” Regardless, she has

won raves for playing Dot in Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park with George”

and the witch in “Into the Woods.” Her film credits include “The Jerk”

and “Pennies From Heaven” with ex-boyfriend Steve Martin, “Impromptu” and

“Slaves of New York.”

Peters started working in the business when she was 3 1/2. The Queens, N.Y., kid started out in life as Bernadette Lazzara, but became Peters

after her mother, Marguerite, decided the name didn’t work for show biz.

Peter is her father’s first name.

The touring show of “Gypsy” was among Peters’ first experiences in the

theater. She was 13 and played one of the kiddie vaudevillians.

“We went to Las Vegas and went on the road and across the country,”

Peters recalls. “It’s interesting that it’s gone around full circle now.”

The great thing about playing a role, she says, is discovering new

things about yourself -- things you didn’t use, kept hidden or didn’t

know you had. Sometimes she goes home still speaking the way her

characters do.

When asked what the worst thing about being an actress and singer is,

Peters says it’s the fear of catching a cold.

“That you’re not going to be able to perform and disappoint everyone,”

she says.

And the best thing? “Being able to reach out to all those people.”

The interview winds to a close, with pleasantries exchanged at the end

and a pitch for Peters’ favorite cause -- rescuing pound animals. She has

two dogs and had a cat that passed away.

“They’re wonderful animals, very adoptable,” she says. “So grateful to

be saved.”

And with that, the voice is gone.

FYI

* What: Bernadette Peters and the Pacific Symphony Pops

* When: 8 p.m. today and Saturday

* Where: Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive,

Costa Mesa

* Cost: $25-$75

* Call: (714) 755-5799