Video: Bernadette Peters Remembers First Time Meeting Stephen Sondheim

Tony-award-winning performer Bernadette Peters visited Late Night with Seth Meyers on Wednesday to preview her upcoming Carnegie Hall performance as part of their Originals Concert Series.

The concert, which takes place on Monday, October 28, will be her first performance at the legendary venue in nearly 30 years, her last having been recorded for her 1997 album 'Sondheim, Etc.: Bernadette Peters Live at Carnegie Hall'.

"I love that place because it's like a horseshoe when you're on the stage- it embraces you," shared Peters. During her last performance, she channeled Judy Garland by singing a number sitting on the edge of the stage. As for whether she will do that again for this concert, Peters admits that she's not sure if she has the right number for it, but is open to the idea.

Next year, Peters will be bringing the Stephen Sondheim revue Old Friends to Broadway, having originally performed it in London. The show first began development during the pandemic, as suggested by Sondheim itself.

"Steve said, 'It's time to do another revue!' So [he and Cameron Mackintosh] got together and made a list of songs." Peters added that many of the songs she sings in the show were her own suggestions, and are numbers that are usually sung by other people in the musicals themselves. 

She also recalled her first meeting with Sondheim at Joe Allen, years before Sunday in the Park with George. "[Sondheim] was with someone that knew someone that I was with and so he sat with us at the table. Of course, I was starstruck and couldn't really talk to him much," she recalled.

Her upcoming October 28 concert will begin at 8 PM, with Tedd Firth providing music direction and piano accompaniment. Tickets are available HERE.

About Bernadette Peters

Throughout her illustrious career, Bernadette Peters has dazzled audiences and critics with her performances on stage, film and television, in concert, and on recordings. She has garnered numerous accolades including three Tony Awards, a Golden Globe, four Emmy and four Grammy Award nominations and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Best known for her work on stage and one of Broadway's most critically acclaimed performers, Bernadette recently concluded a highly successful West End debut in the Cameron Mackintosh production of Old Friends, celebrating the life and work of Stephen Sondheim. The production will transfer to Broadway for the 2025 season. 

Bernadette has starred as Dolly Gallagher Levi in the hit musical, Hello, Dolly! She also starred in City Center's Encores! Production, A Bed and a Chair: A New York Love Affair featuring the music of Stephen Sondheim and orchestrations by Wynton Marsalis. Prior to that, she starred on Broadway in Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music and Follies.

Peters garnered both the Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for her performance in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Song and Dance. She also won a Tony Award for her performance in Annie Get Your Gun. She received Tony nominations for her outstanding performances in Sam Mendes' critically acclaimed revival of Gypsy, in Neil Simon's 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 unforgettable portrayal of the Witch in Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods.

She also enjoys a career which boasts an impressive list of television credits, most recently the Apple TV+ series, “High Desert” and a guest-starring role on the NBC-TV series, “Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist” for which she earned an Emmy nomination. The popular series was made into a TV movie musical titled “Zoey's Extraordinary Christmas” for The Roku Channel. Other TV appearances include “The CW's “Katy Keene”; CBS All Access' “The Good Fight”; and Amazon Prime's Golden Globe winning series, “Mozart in the Jungle”. 

Additional television credits include NBC-TV's “Smash,” ABC-TV's “Grey's Anatomy” and “Ugly Betty'. In addition to starring in the Lifetime TV movie Living Proof, Peters has lit up the silver screen in over 30 films throughout her distinguished career. She received a Golden Globe Award for her memorable performance in “Pennies From Heaven.” Other film credits include The Jerk, The Longest Yard, Silent Movie, Annie, Pink Cadillac, Slaves of New York, Woody Allen's Alice, Impromptu, It Runs in the Family, Coming Up Roses, The Broken Hearts Gallery and most recently, a surprise appearance in the popular Jonathan Larson biopic, tick, tick…BOOM!

Bernadette has recorded six solo albums, including the Grammy-nominated I'll Be Your Baby Tonight, Sondheim, Etc.: Bernadette Peters Live at Carnegie Hall, and Bernadette Peters Loves Rodgers & Hammerstein, in addition to numerous original Broadway cast recordings.

Peters devotes her time and talents to numerous events that benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Her “pet project” Broadway Barks, co-founded with Mary Tyler Moore, is an annual, star-studded dog and cat adoption event that benefits shelter animals in the New York City and tri-state area.

The American Theater Wing honored her efforts and awarded her with the Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award which recognizes an individual from the theatre community who has made a substantial contribution of volunteered time and effort on behalf of one or more humanitarian, social service or charitable organizations, regardless of whether such organizations relate to the theatre.

This past November, while in London Bernadette presented West End Woofs, a sister organization to Broadway Barks that she co-hosted with her good friend, Elaine Paige. The event is the first of its kind in the UK that fostered a spirit of community among animal shelters and rescue groups. 

She is a New York Times best-selling author who has penned three children's books: “Broadway Barks”, “Stella is a Star”, and “Stella and Charlie: Friends Forever”. All of her proceeds from the sale of these books benefit Broadway Barks. Peters resides in New York and Los Angeles with her rescue dogs, Charlie and Rosalia.

Photo Credit: Lloyd Bishop/NBC