http://cptv.vo.llnwd.net/o2/ypmwebcontent/Commodore%20Skahill/CMS%20041312%20BP.mp3
You don't always get your big questions answered. I had a bunch of arguments with people who saw Bernadette Peters last year in the Broadway revival of "Follies."
These people complained that Peters had disappointed them. I understand why. They wanted to hear her big sound, chest out, shoulders thrown back, all the time. And Peters decided instead to give herself to the role of Sally - a lost, confused and faded ex-showgirl.
She took a little something off her fastball. (Side note: Peters is now 64. It's a little unreasonable to expect her to throw at the vocal equivalent of 98 miles an hour.) I thought it was a courageous sacrifice in the service of the play. It's exactly what a director might hope, in vain, to get a diva to do. It's what a diva might refuse to do, rather than endure a lot of criticisms from people complaining she's lost her stuff.
Anyway, today you'll hear me ask Peters about that. She won't really answer.
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