Pat Brady says she wouldn’t begin to think of singing opera, but she can fake it with the best of them.
‘Living on Love’
WHERE: Curtain Call Theatre, 210 Old Loudon Road, Latham
WHEN: Opens Friday and runs through April 30; show times are 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 3 p.m. Sunday
HOW MUCH: $24
MORE INFO: www.curtaincalltheatre.com, 877-7529
“God help me, I’m no opera singer, but I only have to do a few snippets,” said Brady, starring in Joe DiPietro’s “Living on Love” opening Friday at Curtain Call Theatre. “I know all these arias by heart and I sing them in my poor attempt, but I do understand my character’s passion for opera. I love it, and while I’m certainly no soprano, I can sing.”
Brady has demonstrated a fine singing voice in a number of musicals over the years, including “Musical of Musicals” at Schenectady Civic in 2011 and “Side by Side by Sondheim” at Schenectady Light Opera Company in 2010.
In “Living on Love,” she plays an opera diva who, after her egotistical husband decides to write his autobiography with the help of an attractive younger woman, sets out to produce her own life story with the help of a young and handsome ghostwriter.
“When her maestro husband gets sent a nice young woman by the publishers to help him write his book, my character gets a little ticked off,” said Brady, a Cincinnati native who lives in Glenville. “So I go out and get my own young writer to help, and craziness ensues.”
Patrick White is directing the Curtain Call production, which also stars Jack Fallon, Allison Tebano and Sean Baldwin.
A retired physician’s assistant, Brady didn’t start performing until she was 45. Along with her numerous appearances at SCP and SLOC, this is her second show at Curtain Call. She has also worked at Albany Civic Theater and Home Made Theater in Saratoga Springs.
Right circumstances
“You have to look around and see what’s appropriate and what’s right for you,” said Brady. “There are so many wonderful theater groups in the area that the venue becomes much less important. If the director is right and the show is right, and you’re right for the character, then I’ll enjoy working anywhere in the Capital Region.”
Her first stage appearance came back in 1990 at SLOC when she portrayed Lily St. Regis in “Annie.”
“It was always something I wanted to do,” she said of performing.
“When I was at the University of Cincinnati I got involved in a few skits that my sorority did, but I was in a demanding program and didn’t have the time to do more. When my second kid went off to college I said it was time. I had this little fire burning in my belly because it was always something I wanted to do. So I auditioned at SLOC, got to play Lily in ‘Annie,’ and I was really bitten by the bug.”
Brady will be joined on stage at Curtain Call by her dog, Ozzie, who plays Puccini, the diva’s pet.
“When Patrick offered me the part, I thought, ‘hmm, he knows I have a dog,’ ” said Brady, laughing. “I texted him, ‘if you’re looking for Puccini, can I consider the role cast?’ ”
New Jersey native
Playwright DiPietro is a New Jersey native and 1984 Rutgers University grad who won three 2010 Tonys for “Memphis,” including Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book. He was also nominated for a Best Book Tony in 2012 for “Nice Work if You Can Get It,” and enjoyed some off-Broadway success back in 1997 with “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.”
He based the play on Garson Kanin’s 1985 work, “Peccadillo.” In the summer of 2014, “Living on Love” was produced at the Williamstown Theatre Festival with opera star Renee Fleming. That production, which received generally good reviews, moved to Broadway in April of 2015 for a short run.
Reach Gazette reporter Bill Buell at 395-3190 or [email protected]
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