Interview: Britani Bateman Heard 'Bravo' on Broadway Before RHOSLC

From Broadway to Bravo, no one can upstage Britani Bateman.

Long before Bateman was seen on the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, she was touring a musical theatre revue with her five siblings throughout the country. After several leading roles at Brigham Young University, she became the "Disney Darling," starring in theme park productions in Orlando and Tokyo.

Bateman's big break came when she played Ellen in the national tour of Miss Saigon, opposite Will Swenson as Chris. Following several stage roles, she moved to the comfortable schedule of television and film after starting a family.

Now, Bateman has joined Bravo's The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, entering that cast as a friend of Heather Gay. She's made quite the splash this season, specifically for her on-again-off-again relationship with Donny Osmond's nephew, Jared, and "high body count hair," which was coined by frenemy Angie Katsanevas.

BroadwayWorld caught up with Bateman to discuss her musical theatre experience, from her upbringing to starry scene partners. She also reveals if her performance background benefitted joining the show in any way, firing back at co-star Bronwyn Newport's recent allegations that she had never been on Broadway.

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Starting off, tell me about when you first discovered your love for the arts.

Well, when I was nine months old, I could sing an arpeggio. My mom and dad met in a "Battle of the Bands" in Park City in college. They're both musicians and both singers and they got together, they formed their own band and both being musical, my mom was a music major. She taught me how to sing in arpeggio, so that's how they knew that I could sing. I started singing with them in their band when I was four years old., that was my first public performance.

By the time I was 10, there were five of siblings. My mom started this kind of Osmond-esque like Broadway revue show that we toured in. It's ironic that I'm dating an Osmond because my family grew up idolizing Osmond's. My mom just thought, 'Well, we've got five singing children' and we all can sing an arpeggio by the time we were nine months old. So she formed this group called The Martins where we performed as a family. We danced and sang did original music and covers and then toured all over the US and that's how we made a living for about 10 years as a family called The Martins.

I broke up the Martin Family show because I left to go to college at Brigham Young University in Provo, where my parents met, and I studied musical theater. I graduated top of my class. By the time I was a senior, I was the lead in all the musicals. I played Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes and did summer stock during my summer breaks.

Right out of college I played Ariel and Belle at Disney World. That was my first job out of college, which is an equity contract. They called me the "Disney Darling" that year, I was always hired to do all the conventions that came through.

What was your experience like working for Disney? How was that for you?

Oh, it was dreamy. It was so much fun. I was in heaven, driving every day to my job or my little Florida convertible and then playing in the parks afterwards. It was the perfect job. I absolutely loved it, would recommend being a cast member to anyone.

So I just kept doing Equity productions after that. I did The Umbrellas of Cherbourg at Robert Redford Sundance Theater as Geneviève, opposite Maureen McGovern as the Madame. It was the first English adaptation of the Umbrellas of Cherbourg in the US, so the original writer and director converted it to English up at Sundance when it was an equity theater. Then I played Nancy in Oliver opposite Christopher Lloyd as Fagan. I was Nina in Dear World and reunited with Maureen McGovern, who played the lead.

Then I also took a stint over in Tokyo Disneyland. I played Ariel in the show over there. While I was at Disney in Orlando, I recorded the soundtrack for "Feel the Magic" and "Celebrate the Music of Disney" and The Little Mermaid. I played Ariel on the soundtracks over there. I was the voice that they would lipsync to in Tokyo. So when they offered me the part, I just went over and lip synced to myself. Then I did TV and film over there.

Was it any different performing over there as opposed to in America?

It was totally different. I did so much more extra stuff in Japan. I modeled and was on the Japanese TV show, Bayside. Then when I got back, I auditioned for Les Misérables and Miss Saigon at the same time within two weeks of each other. Miss Saigon offered me the role first to play Ellen. I took it, but then Les Mis offered me Fantine, like two weeks after that, but I had already signed a contract for Ellen. I was thrilled though.

So I did the second national Broadway tour of Miss Saigon. That was amazing. Will Swenson was Chris. I also got to play with John Arthur Hill, who's Andy Cohen's really dear, dear friend. So that was dreamy. Then after that I stopped theater because I got married and had kids. That was when I started doing TV and film because it lent itself more into families. I haven't done theater since.

Do you miss doing theatre? Do you want to get back out on stage?

Yes, I would love to play Roxie [Hart in Chicago] at some point. It would be such a great experience. 

So coming into The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, do you think that your background in performing and training in acting has benefited you in any way on the show? Is there any correlation there?

You know, I think I'm a good film actress just because I would never win an Academy Award because I'm just myself. I'm really good at just being myself and being comfortable in front of the camera. I feel in that way, it was easy to have cameras around just because I'm used to not looking in the camera and just being myself.

But in every other way, acting does not prepare you for reality TV because reality TV is not acting. It's real. It's real It's like your real life, but on steroids. You're doing things that you normally wouldn't do with your friends but you're absolutely naturally doing it with these particular friends. That's the only way I can describe it. It's like its own parallel universe that you can only understand if you've lived it. So, there's no acting involved. The only way it benefited me, like I said, was that I'm used to having cameras focused on me. So I didn't feel the nerves that maybe other new housewives would have. That's really all that benefited me. The rest, it was just as real as can be.

On the other side of it, did you ever feel pressure to perform like you would have while working on a scripted show? Did you ever have a moment of like, 'Oh no, there's a camera. What's my line?'

I guess the first few days of filming I probably felt like, you know, 'What do I do with my hands?' Right? Like, is there someone that's supposed to be telling me what to do? No? Like, what do I do with my hands? But after that, I got in the rhythm.

Another thing is, I didn't watch the show at all before I did it. I probably saw three episodes. I wasn't used to reality TV. I didn't know what it was. I just literally thought I was supposed to show up and make friends and just be myself. That's exactly what I did. It took a minute to settle into the rhythm of 'No, I just need to truly ignore the cameras and just be myself and be comfortable with whatever happens,' going with the flow of the moment of whatever that is. So yes and no.

I've love having you as a new addition on the show. You joined along with Bronwyn Newport. Bronwyn recently claimed that you weren't on Broadway and Whitney Rose was asking if you were marrying into it with the whole Osmond connection. Do you have a response to that?

I think Bronwyn wishes that I hadn't done Broadway because that lends herself more credibility. She has a tendency to just lead with lies and say whatever anyone wants to hear who's in front of her. She claims now that she contributes to Broadway shows as a producer. I think that she wishes she had my talent because anyone can spend their sugar daddy's money on a Broadway show. What she can't do is do what I do and be on stage.

What else can we expect from this season and the upcoming reunion?

I think you're gonna see a lot more confident Britani. Someone that knows all the ladies now and has a lot less social anxiety amongst the friend group. You're gonna see someone who's more confident in her own skin and says what's on her mind with more confidence and stands more comfortably in her own truth. 

I know you just released a Christmas EP, is there a housewife you'd ever want to perform a duet with?

Lisa! Lisa Barlow and I are gonna do some singing next season and Heather Gay is gonna do backups for us. We've got a duet coming soon.

Photos: Koury Angelo/Bravo, Fred Hayes/Bravo, Natalie Cass/Bravo