Interview: Laura Bell Bundy Brings SONGS & STORIES to Marilyn Rodman Performing Arts Center

Laura Bell Bundy – who brings “Songs & Stories with Broadway's Laura Bell Bundy” to Foxborough’s Marilyn Rodman Performing Arts Center on February 22 – has been a performer since she was just nine years old and made her stage debut in the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall.

Since then, Bundy – who signed with the Ford Modeling Agency at age five – has earned Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk nominations for originating the role of Tina Denmark in the off-Broadway production of “Ruthless!” and she has originated the roles of Amber Von Tussle in “Hairspray” and Elle Woods in “Legally Blonde: The Musical,” the latter earning her a 2007 Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Musical.

In recent years, however, the actress and singer – a standby to Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda early in the run of “Wicked” – has also become a farmer. Indeed, Bundy tends 73 acres at her home in northwestern New Jersey, with help from her husband, television producer Thom Hinkle, and the couple’s six-and-a-half-year-old son, Huck. While the family’s goats, sheep, dogs, and vineyard, not to mention ongoing property renovations and an in-the-works restaurant, occupy a good deal of her time, Bell Bundy also still has a busy career.

A Billboard Top 5 recording artist and songwriter, with multiple albums including “Achin’ & Shakin’” (Universal Music) and “Another Piece of Me” (Big Machine), Bundy – whose series film and television credits include 1995’s “Jumanji,” the soap opera “Guiding Light” and primetime’s “Hart of Dixie” and “Anger Management” – has appeared in concert with her music all over the world.  Her most recent album, “Women of Tomorrow” (and companion podcast on the Broadway Podcast Network), delves into the issues women are facing today and has millions of streams on Spotify.

In addition to playing Sylvia Van Kipness in the 2023 Broadway production of “The Cottage,” Bundy, who was born in Euclid, Ohio, and brought up in Lexington, Kentucky, has been touring recently with “Hairspray” co-stars Marissa Jaret Winokur (Tracey Turnblad) and Kerry Butler (Penny Pingleton) in the musical revue, “Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now!”

The popular performer was at her home in New Jersey recently when she took time out for a telephone call to discuss her upcoming appearance in Foxborough, her farm, and more.

What can your Foxborough audience look forward to in “Songs & Stories with Laura Bell Bundy?

The show will be a mixture of story and song. There’ll be an interviewer and we’ll sit down and talk about how I got my start in show business and what’s followed since then. Since I always say I’m a gay man trapped in JonBenét’s body, I’ll also do celebrity impersonations of people like Julie Andrews, Carol Channing, Céline Dion, Judy Garland, and Dolly Parton. And, of course, with a pianist and back-up singers, I’ll also sing songs from “Hairspray,” “Wicked,” and “Legally Blonde” which are like my greatest hits.

What’s your process for creating so many different voices?

When I create a character based on a voice, what happens is that the mannerisms become obvious to go along with the voice. In “Hairspray,” for example, Amber had a very high, bitchy, and narcissistic voice that I would sometimes drop into a lower register when she was at her most cruel. Amber was a plastic little spastic after all.

Right after “Hairspray,” you joined “Wicked” as standby to Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda, becoming only the second person to play that part on Broadway. What was that whole experience like?

I would work all day rehearsing the show and then watch Kristin onstage every night to learn the role. I learned a lot from Kristin, especially as she was given license to add improv so that Glinda continued to change and grow after the show was up and running. I knew going in that I would be going on for two weeks when Kristin was out, and for other select performances, but that I wasn’t going to be first replacement in the role. It all turned out okay, though, because after “Wicked,” I got a break to explore film and television roles in Los Angeles. And then I came back to New York to start work on “Legally Blonde.”

What did you learn from starring in that show?

Rather than leave the production after a year as I did with “Hairspray,” I played the entire 19-month Broadway run, and later went out with the national tour, replacing Becky Gulsvig for a time after she injured her foot. I felt sorry for Becky, of course, but I did a better Elle Woods on tour than I had ever done on Broadway. In fact, I think I did my best work in “Legally Blonde” in St. Louis.

Are you have fun doing the revue “Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now!”?

Reuniting with Marissa and Kerry was an instant pleasure. We’re all keenly aware of our strengths and we’re like a younger version of “The Golden Girls.” Kerry is Rose, Marissa is Dorothy, and I’m Blanche. We’re different types but we fit very well together. In the show, we tell the origin stories of “Hairspray” and discuss when and how we all met and talk about our children through pop music. We joke, too, that in its next incarnation, the show is going to be called “Welcome to Our Sixties.”

What’s life like on the farm?

It’s great. I love living on a farm. We had three goats but the oldest, my favorite, recently passed away, so now we have two rescue goats, two sheep, two dogs, and a grape vineyard. We’re restoring the property and renovating some of the buildings and I’m loving that, too. In about six months or so, we plan to open a farm-to-table restaurant, which will be our latest project.

Between the farm and the soon-to-be restaurant, will you be able to find time to continue performing?

Absolutely, I love performing and I plan to keep going like Helen Hayes and Marian Seldes.