By Andrew Gans
13 Nov 2009

	Bernadette Peters
	photo by Pete Zielinski/ BCEFA

The nearly three-hour evening also managed to combine two of this writer's biggest passions: divas and dogs (if only a dachshund had been present)! At the start of the second act — backed by the music of The King and I's "March of the Siamese Children" — Peters introduced, one at a time, 13 dogs who were available for adoption. She also sang humorous rewritten lyrics to "Hello Muddah Hello Fadduh" about several of the pups. Then she offered a brilliant idea to spread the word about pet adoption: Peters invited everyone in the audience to take out their cell phones and digital cameras and take photos of all the dogs (who were accompanied by handlers holding signs that read, "Adopt me") and send those snapshots to friends around the world. A flashbulb light show that could rival one of Disney's Magic Kingdom ensued.

Other highlights of the evening: a rewritten version of the title song from Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods, which featured Mary Tyler Moore as the Narrator and original Woods stars Joy Franz, Merle Louise, Kay McClelland and Lauren Mitchell; Peters' definitive version of the standard "Fever," which she slinkily performed atop the grand piano; a heartbreaking delivery of the Sondheim ballad "Not a Day Goes By"; the gorgeous sound of her full-bodied upper register in both "Johanna" and "Shenandoah," the latter featuring harmonica accompaniment; a touching pairing of the Disney favorites "When You Wish Upon a Star" and "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes"; a belty "Being Alive" that built to a thrilling climax; and her superb delivery of the Gypsy anthems, "Some People" and "Rose's Turn." Her "Rose's Turn" was a potent reminder of how thoroughly moving and multilayered her portrayal of Rose was.

That said, the most touching offering of the evening was a song Peters had not performed in concert: Sunday in the Park with George's "Children and Art." For this number Peters sat in a chair and draped her Bob Mackie gown with a shawl and blanket. As she sang in the voice of the aging Marie and delivered Sondheim's beautiful lyrics, tears poured not only from her eyes but most everyone in the audience. That crowd included the song's composer as well as Hugh Jackman, Barbara Walters, Martin Short, Andrea Martin, Hal Prince, Arthur Laurents, Daniel Craig and more than 1,000 others who also floated home on a Bernadette Peters high.

For more information about the charities that benefited from Peters' sublime evening of song, visit Broadwaycares.org or Broadwaybarks.com.

The complete running order for the evening follows:
Act One
Into the Woods
Another Hundred People
No One Is Alone
There Is Nothing Like a Dame
Fever
Mr. Snow
Some Enchanted Evening
In Buddy's Eyes
Losing My Mind
Goodbye For Now
Some People

Act Two
Somebody, Somewhere
Shenandoah
Not a Day Goes By
Johanna
When You Wish Upon a Star/A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes
Children and Art
Being Alive
Rose's Turn

Encore : Kramer's Song

Well, that's all for now. Happy diva-watching! E-mail questions or comments to agans@playbill.com.