Mary Johnson Takes FANNY BRICE From New York City to Connecticut

Mary Cantoni Johnson will reprise her acclaimed portrayal of legendary entertainer Fanny Brice when "One Night with Fanny Brice," in which Johnson long starred in New York City, opens at the Square Foot Theater in Wallingford, CT, on November 10th.

The play's author, ASCAP Award-winner Chip Deffaa, notes: "Mary Cantoni Johnson did not quite originate the role in the New York. Another performer, K. F. Greenberg, played the role for the first five months at St. Luke's Theater, Off-Broadway. But Johnson, who took over the role when the show transferred to New York's venerable 13th Street Theater, has played the role far longer. The show became a staple at the 13th Street Theater, running in repertory with other shows for years. Audiences just loved it." And not just audiences. Joe Franklin (Bloomberg Radio) raved: "Mary Cantoni Johnson, as Fanny Brice, glitters hypnotically. Fresh, radiant, and authentic, she brings down the house."

Johnson became so closely associated with "One Night with Fanny Brice" that the producers recorded a cast album with her this Fall. (For more info on the album, or to order a copy, visit: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/marycantonijohnson .) Deffaa comments: "I've seen many different actresses play this show, from Washington, DC, to the Catskills. No one plays the show with greater warmth, heart, or authority than Johnson. It's a role Mary Cantoni Johnson seems born to play.

"And while Mary Cantoni Johnson has played most of the great roles available to female musical-theater performers, at one venue or another--starring in productions of 'Gypsy' 'Man of La Mancha,' 'Kiss Me Kate,' 'Jekyll and Hyde,' 'M. Fair Lady,' 'Evita,' etc.--this is her all-time favorite role. I'm a great believer in Johnson," Deffaa notes. "She's also featured--singing more Fanny Brice songs--on an album I've produced, 'Irving Berlin: Ragtime Rarities,' coming out November 20th, and other albums in my ongoing Irving Berlin series."

Published and licensed by Leicester Bay Theatricals, "One Night with Fanny Brice" is a 90-minute solo show, tracing the career of the legendary entertainer, and featuring songs she made famous, such as "Second Hand Rose," "Rose of Washington Square," and "My Man." Brice rose from poverty to become America's highest-paid singing comedienne.

Johnson, who loves playing Fanny Brice, comments: "She's a real person. She had struggles and successes, rewards and the heartbreaks that we can all relate to, even if we aren't famous. And I understand her as a woman--the heartaches she feels, the love-hate relationship with her mother, the tight bond with her father. She said her father was the most handsome man she ever saw until she met the man who became her husband. I'm just like her.

"But oh, my gosh! Every time I do the show, I'm frightened--it's such a humongous endeavor.... But then, you step out on stage and you lose yourself in the role. It's fantastic."

Like Fanny Brice, Mary Cantoni Johnson (who grew up in Naugatuck, Connecticut) began singing as a small child. "My mother says I was three when I began singing, "Johnson recalls. "When I was four or five, I used to go to neighbors, give them pieces of paper and say, 'These are your tickets; the performance will start in just a few minutes. They'd come, sit on lawn chairs, and I'd stand on the porch and sing 'People,' and other songs I'd learned from listening to Barbra Streisand." Johnson was--and still remains--a great admirer of Streisand.

Johnson started vocal training at age eight. By the time she was 11, she was studying voice at the University of Hartford School of Music.

Later, as a student at Long Island University, Johnson sang anywhere she could--from the elite chamber choir to a jazz a capella vocal group. After graduation, she found opportunities to perform at theaters throughout the Nutmeg State, including the Seven Angels Theater, the Warner Theater, the Bridgeport Cabaret, Beckley Dinner Theater, the Goshen Players, Tri-Arts Sharon Playhouse, the Thomaston Opera House, and more. She got married and raised a family, and her husband, Theron, and her children, Christian, Theron, and Veronica, all joined her in shows.

"It was director/producer Sharon Wilcox, and her indefatigable cohorts at Connecticut's Phoenix Stage, Ed Bassett Jr. and Agnes Duggan Dann, who first had the inspired idea of casting Mary Cantoni Johnson as Fanny Brice," Deffaa recalls. They licensed Deffaa's show and presented it at the Phoenix Stage, just before the show was set to open Off-Broadway in New York. "I heard from actor friends Rachel Armour and Jack Saleeby, while the production was in rehearsal, how sensational Mary was, playing Brice. I drove up to Connecticut to catch her performance, and from her first entrance, stunningly costumed by Rennee Purdy, I was just knocked out. I told Mary we'd already cast someone to open the show in New York, but I wanted New York audiences to be able to see Johnson as Brice, at the earliest convenience. And we made that happen.

Mary played the show a long, long time in New York, then returned to Connecticut's Phoenix Stage for an encore engagement. I hope she gets to play 'Fanny Brice' in many theaters in years to come. I'd also love to bring her to Korea, where we've done other work of mine, produced by KimYou-chul; I know that Korean audiences would love her work. But she could take the show anywhere. And I'm delighted she's doing this run at the Square Foot Theater."

For more info on the Square Foot Theater production, click here.

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