Exploring RHOSLC Star Britani Bateman's Musical Theatre Roots Before Bravo

While Bravo-lebrities like Erika Jayne, Ariana Madix, and NeNe Leakes made the jump to Broadway after finding fame on their reality show, one star of the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City ruled the stage before Bravo.

RHOSLC audiences know Britani Bateman for her on-again-off-again relationship with Donny Osmond's nephew, Jared, and fashion feud with Mary Cosby. However, many are unaware that she's always been a drama queen.

Update: BroadwayWorld sat down with Bateman to discuss her musical theatre past, also firing back at claims that she was never on Broadway. Read here.

Earlier on in the fifth season of the hit Bravo franchise, eagle-eyed musical theatre fans caught Bateman singing Into the Woods during a cast ski trip. Since then, her history with musical theatre has been uncovered.

Bateman graduated from Brigham Young University, as Britani Martin, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. While attending university, she received the critical acclaim for her performances in musical Anything Goes and Evita, as published in the newspapers Daily Herald in Utah and The Salt Lake Tribune.

Briefly, after graduation, Bateman signed a record deal with Disney to sing “Part of Your World” and “Celebrate the Magic of Disney”. The Walt Disney Company then signed her up for a one-year contract working in Tokyo Disneyland and recording their lip-synch tracks for their live performance stage shows.

Bateman led the second national tour of the Broadway production of Miss Saigon as Ellen in 1999 alongside Tony-nominee Will Swenson. 

She then played Nancy in Oliver and was cast in the first English adaptation of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg as Genevieve Emery.

While staying in Japan, she also landed employment as a commercial model and played small roles in Japanese soap operas. In the popular Japanese police comedy-drama Bayside Shakedown (踊る大捜査線, Odoru Daisōsasen), Bateman appeared as Nicole Stevens in several episodes. She also starred as a principal dancer in a Japanese music video for the pop artist Suzuki Masayuki.

Aside from acting, Bateman also has a career in music, recording songs and providing backing vocals for various artists. She hosted the Senior Olympics, sponsored by Jon Huntsman Sr., in October of 2003, 2004 and 2005. She has recorded two duets, “In Whatever Time We Have” from the Broadway musical Children of Eden (1991) and “A Light in the Dark” from Next to Normal (2008). She is also set to release a Christmas album this year.

Bravo viewers met the Utah native and practicing Mormon this season as a real estate developer, actress and accoladed singer. She was introduced to the women through her friend Heather Gay, but bumps heads with a few of the ladies from the jump.

The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City airs Wednesday nights on Bravo.

Photo by: Koury Angelo/Bravo