The role was well suited to her.  Reba is very funny, raised a cowgirl on an Oklahoma ranch, and sings very well.  Not sure I would want to see her as say Anna in the King And I....

Well, since I mentioned it in another thread, I might as well share my memories of The Secret Garden.  I believe it was spring 1991 so twenty years ago now.  Phew.

It was my best friend's first Broadway show and I was very excited to be seeing Rebecca Luker even though I had not seen/heard her before.  She was in Phantom at the time that I first saw it the previous year.  But since my mother had bought tickets to the Monday evening performance I had seen the alternate actress instead.

I was not disappointed.  Rebecca was wonderful.  The cast was phenomenal.  Daisy Eagan (youngest ever female to win a Tony), John Cameron Mitchell . .. ..  As with Follies, I saw it before they had made a cast recording (hint hint) and could not get the music out of my head.  Especially Rebecca singing "Come sweet child."  The note on sweet is chillingly beautiful.  I kept singing it over and over to myself and was very pleased when the recording was released.  I used "How Could I Ever Know" as my audition song for Evita and "Hold On" is another current favorite of mine to sing.

My best friend and I later saw Rebecca in Showboat and with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (long before I lived here.)  We met her after both performances and she is as sweet as she is talented.  Danny married well.

It is still one of my all-time favorite shows.  I even got to see my husband in it, years later, playing Dickon. 

The second one is my first Follies memory.

I was going to wait until my first Broadway memory to share these but what the heck.

I went to the first preview with my husband who has graduate degrees in dfifferent areas of academic theatre from two different universities.  Hence, when we go to the theatre, it is very much the fan (me) and the critic (him.)

Two of my memories from the evening include first visiting the gift shop where I checked out and even photographed so I could remember the EP merchandise they were carrying.  My husband, looking around, realizes something and says, "Um, hon.  Did you tell me Bernadette was in this?"   "Uhhhh pretty sure I did."    I really do remember sitting outside of Chili's in February waiting for our table, looking Bernadette up on my phone and realizing she and EP were quite close in age.  So I must have.

The other memory was our first impressions when we walked into the theatre.  Ben immediately did not like the set.  Love at first sight for me.  I knew little about the show at this point but I thought it looked fragile and dark and beautiful.

Later finding out I was also in a theatre with Sondheim is very cool.

If I forget to say again later, thank you EP for introducing me to this wonderful production of this wonderful musical.  Can't wait for Broadway.

First preview is always raw, if you will.  Rehearsals get you so far but then the response of a real audience is different.

I think I fell in love with it piece by piece, noticing more and different things each time.  So I feel quite lucky to see it many times. 

It is true Follies is one of those musicals that you seem to get more from every time you see it.  It also becomes more addictive with each time as well.

So that is what happened to me then???  Or are you saying it is all my fault???

LOL!!!!  Is this where I am suppose to say sorry????

Thank you!!!!