Interview: Sarah Uriarte Berry of FOR THE LOVE OF JUDY! at Coachella Valley Repertory

Sarah Uriarte Berry is a proud California native and Bruin graduate from UCLA . Sarah made her stellar Broadway debut as the tragic and fiercely loyal heroine, Eponine in ever popular Les Misérables during 1993, a role she reprised in 1997. She also starred as Belle in Beauty and the Beast in 1995 and again in 2006.  Her Broadway credits include Taboo (2003–2004) and The Light in the Piazza (2005) as Franca, which earned her nominations for Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards. She also starred in the title role of Cinderella for the New York City Opera in 2004, and served as a temporary standby for the role of Diana in Next to Normal.  National Tours & Regional Highlights with her touring credits include Sunset Boulevard and Carousel. Regionally, she has appeared in productions of A Little Night Music (Kennedy Center, 2002), The Sound of Music, Oklahoma!, West Side Story, and Thoroughly Modern Millie.  Most recently, she performed in Show Boat (2011), joined the Disney Princess – The Concert tour (2022), played Countess Charlotte Malcolm in a revival of A Little Night Music at The Pasadena Playhouse (2023), and starred as Glinda in The Wizard of Oz (2023).
 

Sarah took TEN QUESTIONS IN TEN MINUTES with Broadway World's Hollywood reporter, Gavin Glynn to share her journey as a noted and working musical theater star on Broadway: 

What constellation were born under and into what town o earth to you make your grand entrance?

 I was born May 31, in San Francisco, California. I’m a Gemini through and through.

Will you please share your ealiest recollection of attending your irst live performance?

One of my earliest memories watching a live performance was a production of H.M.S. Pinafore in San Francisco, California. I may have fallen asleep at some point – but I do remember loving the soprano.
My mother told me I began singing in tune, with all lyrics included, just around 18 months old.

How did you begin your traing for the live stage?

Regarding my training, I was given a little portable record player when I was two years old, so I started out listening to every album I could get my hands on. I would imitate anybody I listened to. Then when I was eight years old, I was sent to the San Francisco Conservative music to study violin, music theory, solfege, and participate in the children’s choir. I spent my childhood watching all the old musical movies. Once I figured out that wasn’t necessarily a huge career option in the 1980s, I turned my sites on music theater.

How did you earn your way into the union for your Actos Equity Association (AEA) card?

Immediately upon graduating UCLA, I auditioned for all the summer theatre seasons in the Civic Light Opera circuit in California. I had sneaked into the audition as a non-union member because there was a little room at the end of the day and they decided to let me sing 16 bars. I was cast as Nanette in No No Nanette at Starlight Music Theater down in San Diego. They wanted to give me a nonunion contract and said I had to find my own housing, but my college roommate at the time – who happened to be Susan Egan – said I had to call them and insist that this was not a hobby and that I needed a union contract plus housing. It was terrifying, but I followed her advice. I think the producer was probably not very happy with me, but they wanted me for the part so they gave me the contract! 

How do you describe landing the career trajecting role of "Belle" in Beauty and The Beast on Broadway? 

My first experience playing Belle was actually at Disneyland before the animated feature even came out! I was cast in a musical stage show created to introduce Disney’s newest princess to the park. Included in the cast were Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy, lol. We performed on the stage in Carnation Plaza, and the first three rows were tiny tiny chairs for the little kiddos. That’s when I first fell in love with the character of Belle. About 3 years later, I replaced my college roommate, Susan Egan, as the second person ever to play Belle on Broadway at the Palace Theater. I had been playing Eponine across the street in Les Misérables at the Imperial Theatre, and had originally auditioned to to play Belle in the Los Angeles Company. Chairman of the Walt Disney Co., Michael Eisner, decided he wanted to bring a few of the original Broadway cast members out instead, so so they needed a new Belle on Broadway, and I got the part! My first thought, honestly, was that I was so happy to not be covered with dirt! I would be nice and clean and pretty. (Fun Fact: Michael Eisner a theater major from Denison University in Grancille, OH currently the The Eisner School of Performing Arts)

How was the thrill of being conducted by the world renowned LA Philharmonic Conductor, Gustavo Dudamel, for the Steven Sondheim 80th Birthday Celenration at the iconic Hollwood Bowl especiallySondheim's favorite heartfelt composition, Send In The Clowns?

One of my favorite memories is singing Send in the Clowns at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by Gustávo Dudamel himself! It was a tribute to Stephen Sondheim, who, for health reasons, could not attend. However, the cast was just incredible! Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jonathan Groff, Vanessa Williams, to name a few. I have always felt a connection to Sondheim’s music and lyrics, and have been fortunate to perform a few of his roles, so this was an honor and a dream come true for sure! I remember looking out at the vastness of the Bowl, completely filled with adoring Sondheim fans, and feeling that duty to become one with the music,Dudamel, the Philharmonic, and give that perfect song to the audience. 

In your professional opinion how do you feel about Pop singers being allowed to riff in Broadway shows? Is it "carpetbagging or carpe diem"?

Regarding pop stars riffing out big final notes on Broadway: In the past, I may have had a slightly snobby attitude toward it. I was always taught that one would riff when one couldn’t hold out a note properly. However, I think I’ve changed my mind. I can hold a note forever, but I’m a terrible riffer. And if these amazing pop stars are willing to trudge through eight shows a week and bring audiences to the theater, and perhaps convert them into theater lovers, I’m all for it! Give the people what they want, and then maybe they’ll try something out-of-the-ordinary next time they go to the theater!

What inspired you to take desktop concerts to your front porch in the South Bay Area during the pandemic because it saved musical theater lovers from isolatio and deprivation?

When the pandemic hit, our family of five was quarantined like everyone else. However, in our neighborhood in Long Beach, California, we had it much easier than in other parts of the country. We have wide streets, individual houses, front and back yards, so we were never trapped inside our apartments like some of our New York friends. One night, shortly after the quarantine began, my husband and I went across the street to sing happy birthday for a neighbor. Another neighbor leaned out of his window and yelled down that he would love for somebody to sing for him, too. So we went home that night, and decided to test out the acoustics singing from our front porch. I put my little JBL Flip 5 speaker on the railing, hollered out a couple of songs, and my husband stood in the middle of the street. He said he could hear every word, so I let the houses directly around us know that I would be singing three songs that Friday at 5 PM. And that’s how it started! Word got out, we started posting online, and after a while 150 people started showing up. People donated lights and microphones, my friends’ dance studio loaned us all of their sound equipment, since they weren’t allowed to perform, and an out-of-work sound mixer/stage manager came to mix my shows. All in all we did 65 shows and had all kinds of guest stars. It brought the neighborhood together, and we were able to support and showcase a lot of the young singers from my daughter’s high school so that they could practice performing when so many of the arts programs had been shut down.

You are an established and noted performer who has performed live across the continet but what are some of your favoite venues here  in Los Angeles?

 I have performed on Broadway, with symphonies, in regional theatres, on tour in houses like the Pantages and the Ahmanson, in stadiums, in cabaret clubs and in massive outdoor theaters. I’ve even sung in theaters in the middle of the ocean, doing the Broadway Stars Series with David Burnam on the Disney ships! I love it all! I think I would love to do a show in the Walt Disney Concert Hall. We rehearsed the Hollywood Bowl show with the Philharmonic in that hall, and the acoustics are stunning! I would love to get in there again! Another Stage I would like to try is a Sound Stage! Since this all started with my love of musical movies, it is a lifelong dream to be cast in a film or television adaptation of a musical, and to sing and play a part in an animated feature. I think that would be my biggest dream!

Sarah Uriarte Berry will touch hearts and recall treasured memories during FOR The Love Of Judy!. This will be a lovefest. Uriarte has starred in five Broadway shows and three Broadway National tours, in the opera house, and concert halls. She received Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations for her performances in the Lincoln Center production of The Light In The Piazza. Music director and accompanist is Gerald Sternbach.

Gerald Sternbach is one of Los Angeles’ foremost musical directors, now starting his sixth season as musical director of Reprise! Broadway’s Best in Concert (Los Angeles' version of New York's Encores! series), which included ON YOUR TOES. He was presented in early 2007 the Joel Hirschhorn award for excellence in the musical theater by the LA Drama Critics Circle.

Coachella Valley Repertory 68510 E. Palm Canyon Dr. Cathedral City, CA 92234  Phone: 7602962966

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