Bernadette Peters Talks Virtual BROADWAY BARKS and More on Backstage LIVE With Richard Ridge

Nothing can stop BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge from bringing you interviews with your favorite Broadway stars! On July 14 at 12pm ET he chatted with Broadway legend Bernadette Peters!

Peters talked about the history of Broadway Barks, which is celebrating its 22nd anniversary this year.

"It came about when I was in Annie Get Your Gun and we had just won the Easter Bonnet. We were feeling so good, we said 'what else can we do?'" she said. She said that her assistant and the show's stage manager came up with the idea after that, and got Mary Tyler Moore on board.

She also discussed this year's virtual Broadway Barks, which is taking place this week!

"We had so many more celebrities that were not in New York," she said of this event, compared to the past in-person editions. "It's such a gesture of love, when anybody talks about their dog, all of this love comes out of them. These animals, they are all love." She mentioned some of the celebrities involved, including Lin-Manuel Miranda, Nathan Lane, Bette Midler, Carol Burnett, Betty Buckley, and many more.

Later in the interview, Peters talked about her concert that was streamed to raise money for BC/EFA. Peters' powerhouse performance at her 2009 one-night-only event, Bernadette Peters: A Special Concert, was streamed online for the first time ever Friday, July 10, 2020, and raised $252,575 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Throughout the interview, Peters also discussed what she's been up to in quarantine, including meditation, working out, and spending time with her pets, what BC/EFA means to her, her opinions on the social justice movement, and more.

Watch the full interview here!

Throughout her illustrious career, three-time Tony Award recipient Bernadette Peters has dazzled audiences and critics with her performances on stage and television, in concert, and on recordings.

In 2018, Bernadette completed a highly successful run as Dolly Gallagher Levi in the hit Broadway musical, Hello, Dolly!. Other recent theater credits include City Center's Encores! Production, A BED A CHAIR: A New York Love Affair featuring music by Stephen Sondheim and orchestrations by Wynton Marsalis and on Broadway, Stephen Sondheim's Follies and A Little Night Music.

She also enjoys a career which boasts an impressive list of television credits, including Amazon Prime's "Mozart in the Jungle", which won the 2016 Golden Globe for Best TV Comedy or Musical series. She also appeared in the CBS All Access series "The Good Fight." This year, she guest stars on the CW's, "Katy Keene" and NBC-TV's "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist".

One of Broadway's most critically acclaimed performers, she has garnered numerous accolades including three Tony Awards, a Golden Globe, three Emmy and four Grammy Award nominations (as well as performed on four Grammy Award-winning albums), and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 2003, she received her seventh Tony Award nomination for her electrifying portrayal of Momma Rose in Sam Mendes' record-breaking Broadway revival of Gypsy, and her brilliant performance was captured on the Grammy award-winning Gypsy cast recording. "Bernadette Peters is a revelation!" Ben Brantley of The New York Times declared of her star turn in the show. Peters' Angel Records CD, Sondheim, Etc., Etc.: Bernadette Peters Live at Carnegie Hall (The Rest of It), features never-before-released highlights from her historic 1996 highly anticipated solo debut at Carnegie Hall. The concert was a benefit for Gay Men's Health Crisis. This performance was repeated in Bernadette Peters in Concert, her London solo debut at Royal Festival Hall, which later was telecast on PBS and is available on DVD.

A native of Ozone Park, New York, Peters began her performing career at the age of 3 with appearances on "Juvenile Jury", the classic TV game show "Name That Tune", and "The Horn & Hardart Children's Hour". She made her theatrical debut in This is Goggle, starring James Daly and Kim Hunter, directed by the legendary Otto Preminger. Still in her teens, she appeared in The Most Happy Fella and The Penny Friend and performed in the national touring company of Gypsy.

Peters made her Broadway debut in 1967 in Johnny No-Trump, and in 1968 starred opposite Joel Grey in the musical George M!, earning a Theatre World Award for her memorable portrayal of Josie Cohan. That same year, she received a Drama Desk Award for her show stopping performance in the smash hit off-Broadway musical Dames at Sea, and quickly became one of the most sought-after stars in musical theatre.

Still, one of Broadway's brightest stars, Peters received both the Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for her critically acclaimed performance in Andrew Lloyd Webber's hit musical Song and Dance. In June 1999, Peters earned her second Tony Award, her third Drama Desk Award, and an Outer Critics Circle Award for her portrayal of Annie Oakley in one of Broadway's most popular musicals, the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of Annie Get Your Gun. Peters also received Tony nominations for her work in the 1992 musical The Goodbye Girl; Stephen Sondheim's Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Sunday in the Park With George; the Jerry Herman/Gower Champion ode to the movies, Mack and Mabel; and the Leonard Bernstein/Comden and Green musical On The Town. In addition to these honors, Peters earned a Drama Desk nomination for her memorable portrayal of the Witch in Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods.

Best known for her work in the theatre, her career doesn't end at the footlights. She boasts an impressive list of television credits including her guest-starring appearance on NBC-TV's SMASH. She has also appeared in the Lifetime-TV movie, "Living Proof" opposite Harry Connick, Jr.; a guest starring role in the two-hour season premiere of the ABC-TV hit series, "Grey's Anatomy", and a recurring role on the popular TV hit, "Ugly Betty". She has appeared in several performing arts specials such as PBS' "Evening at Pops" and "The Kennedy Center Honors" to early appearances in variety shows such as "The Carol Burnett Show" and an Emmy-nominated performance on "The Muppet Show". She appeared in the star-studded "Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall" and also played an opera diva-on-the-verge-of-a-nervous-breakdown in Terrence McNally's "The Last Mile", both for PBS' highly acclaimed Great Performances series. Other television credits include PBS' "Hey Mr. Producer!: the Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh" and the ABC-TV special "Quincy Jones: the First 50 Years".

Peters received an Emmy nomination for her performance in the FOX-TV hit series "Ally McBeal". She portrayed the wicked stepmother in "Cinderella" with Brandy and Whitney Houston, and also starred in "The Odyssey" starring Armand Assante, "David, Fall From Grace" and "The Last Best Year" with Mary Tyler Moore. She also appeared in the Showtime movie "Bobbie's Girl" (Daytime Emmy nomination) and "Prince Charming", a TNT movie co-starring Martin Short and Christina Applegate.

A performer of amazing versatility, Peters has lit up the silver screen in 17 films throughout her distinguished career. She received a Golden Globe Award for her memorable performance in "Pennies From Heaven". Her film credits include "The Jerk" with Steve Martin, "The Longest Yard" with Burt Reynolds, "Silent Movie" with Mel Brooks, "Annie" with Carol Burnett, "Pink Cadillac" with Clint Eastwood, "Slaves of New York" with Mercedes Ruehl, Woody Allen's "Alice" with Mia Farrow, "Impromptu" with Hugh Grant and Mandy Patinkin, "It Runs in the Family", starring opposite Kirk and Michael Douglas and "Coming Up Roses" with Rachel Brosnahan.