Sublime

She was cast as the understudy to the star, Laura Bell Bundy, in the off-Broadway musical Ruthless!

Martha Black and white, wide shot: filmed from the wings of a concert hall, the image shows a woman from behind, sitting at a piano in a black dress with white polka dots. She puts her fingers on the keys and starts to play.

Sunday ran for 604 performances, including previews, just shy of a year and a half. I happened to be at the theater one night after the show and the doorman told me that there was a group outside that would be thrilled to meet me. I walked out and was greeted by the St. Peter’s Girl Scout Troop No. 156 from Mansfield, Ohio. I visited with them and

this nurse was a prim Newfoundland dog, called Nana,

Elaine Stritch,

By then, I’d heard Bernadette speak the role, and the accent suggested to me Harold Arlen. He was a Buffalo boy who kept writing southern-inflected music, and I thought, southern inflection … hey, there’s my favorite composer. And I was off and running.

A Little Princess (greatest vindication story ever), The Golden Compass (greatest animal character ever), and Little Women

UNDER HIS WINGS