Valarie Pettiford on Fosse, McAnuff and More

Valarie Pettiford, who was last seen on stage at the La Jolla Playhouse performing in Des McNauff's The Wiz, recently spent the evening in the historic lobby of the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, singing a handful of showtunes and standards as part of the Actors' Fund of America's Musical Monday series.

I recently had a chance to talk with Pettiford about her successful career on television, film and Broadway, and her experiences working with some of the great talents in the entertainment industry.  Here is part of our conversation:

James Sims:  How did you come to be involved with the Actors' Fund Benefit and their Musical Monday's series?

Valarie Pettiford: I have done a lot of the Actors' Fund Benefits they put on every year, and David Michaels (Director of Specials Events and PR) approached me and said they were doing Musical Mondays and that Brian Stokes Mitchell was starting it off, Peter Gallagher was second, and they wanted me to end it off.  What an absolute pleasure.  I have never performed in a lobby that way, and it was exquisite.  There was a lot of history, and you could just feel it.

JS:  What do you think of the Broadway buzz surrounding your latest musical, The Wiz, which just ended an extended run at the La Jolla Playhouse?

VP:  Nearly 99 percent of the people loved it and everybody is excited about its future, although I don't know what will happen with it.  I know Des McAnuff is really busy, and they are of course waiting for an available theatre.  It's so nice to have Broadway packed with great theatre for a change.  It's so nice to have those theatres filled. That's what I love about Broadway, when all of those shows are up and running and everybody is doing their thing.  So we will see what happens.  It's also such a great family show, as you can bring your little kids all the way up to the eldest statesman.  You got the new technology thing happening for that mid-pubescent age group.  But who knows where the future lies.

JS:  And you were actually in the 1978 feature film adaptation of The Wiz, opposite Michael Jackson and Diana Ross.

VP:  I was one of the principal dancers.  The wonderful thing about that is it was my very first professional job, and my very first experience seeing a musical on Broadway was seeing The Wiz.  So it has come full circle for me, and it was a really wonderful experience.  I have been really blessed throughout my career… to work with some of the best in the business.  And that cast was one of the best, especially because there were so many of us, like 26 of or so.  It was regional theatre, so all the women had to share a dressing room, and all the men had to share a dressing room. It was an absolute pleasure working with that caliber of talent on stage and off stage.  I actually miss everyone so much.

JS:  How did you become involved with the La Jolla production?

VP:  My dear friend Sergio Trujillo (The Wiz's choreographer) had known this was coming about, so he kept an eye out for me.  He said they were looking for a Glinda and Aunt Em, and I got an audition, and I guess I did what Des wanted me to do, because I got the job.  And I know there were some incredible people that auditioned for the job, so it was wonderful.

JS:  Tell me about your experience working with the legendary choreographer Bob Fosse.

VP:  I started off as a dancer first, and I think that will always be my first love, although I don't get to do it as much as I would like.  And as a dancer, you find a choreographer that you are just connected with and Fosse was just it for me.  Doing his choreography was just euphoric and it still is.  To have been able to work that man twice in my lifetime, he taught me a lot, and I am indebted to him.  To sum up my Fosse career, I would say it was with the musical Fosse and being nominated for a Tony Award, and having Gwen Vernon tell me that "Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries" was his favorite song, which I opened and closed the show with that song.

JS:  When did you first meet Bob Fosse?

VP:  First time I met Bob, I auditioned for the movie "All That Jazz."  I was so young and so green, I think I was probably 16 going on 17 and I was really green, but I got down to the last group, and that was just a joy for me.  Jump to a year or so later, they were having auditions for the very first national tour of Bob Fosse's Dancin.  I auditioned for that and got it, so that was my very first experience working with him and also working very closely with Gwen Vernon along with the late Chris Chadman.  The next time I worked with Bob was years later, with his last big musical, Big Deal.  In that show, I could have died and gone to heaven, because I was part of his skeleton crew, in which he assembled five or six dancers to help him create the choreography for the show, and I was privileged to be one of those dancers.  I was also his dance captain.  He had me do a whole bunch of stuff in that show.  And then to top it all off, he had choreographed one of his famous trios, and I was part of that famous trio, so I have the privilege of saying that something of that was choreographed on me.  Fosse is always known for his famous trios and duets, so to be a part of that lasting creation, I could die and go to heaven.

JS:  Which choreographers do you see today that are in the same league as Fosse?

VP:  When you talk about Fosse, Jerome Robins and Michael Bennet, that's difficult.  The great thing about it for me and what I can say about the new crop of people, is that those I have danced with and kind of started out in the business with are now becoming the top choreographers in television, film and of course Broadway, which is Jerry Mitchell and my dear friend Sergio Trujillo.  I am just so proud of them, as they work hard and take what they do very seriously.  I look forward to seeing them grow.  And Wayne Cilento, whom I worked with in Bob's direction of Big Deal, so to see him go on and get nominated and win Tony's, I feel like I guess how Gwen felt with Bob because they were kind of the same age, and they started off as newbies on the block.

JS:  As you have now done Broadway, television, film, dance and music, is there one aspect of the industry that grabs your attention more than another?

VP:  At this point in my career, it is about the work, so whatever is going to give me the most satisfaction creatively as an artist.  Also, what's really important to me is the people whom I am working with and for.  I always ask God to not only give me a great job with great money, but great people to work with.  And he has done that for me.  My television series "Half and Half," once again had a great cast, great directors and great crew.  We laughed every day for four years.  We finished that season in February, and then I went to The Wiz with another incredible cast.  So it is the project that is going to get me creatively jazzed and hopefully challenge me.

JS:  What can you tell me about your latest film scheduled for release in 2007?

VP:  They just changed the name to "Stomp the Yard," which is a love story.  It is stomp dancing in black fraternities in black colleges.  It has some of the baddest dancers and choreography, the raw combined with acrobatics and all kinds of stuff.  These kids blew me away with the things they did on the screen, all combined with a beautiful love story.  And with these two young actors, who have been around, Meagan Good, is the female star and Columbus Short is the leading man, and they were just incredible and darling.  And I was also lucky to have Harry Lennix play my husband.  It is supposed to come out on Martin Luther King's birthday.

JS:  And as we are in Los Angeles, what are your thoughts on the state of live theatre here?

VP:  They are trying really hard and I so appreciate that.  What I always hear is that there is not good theatre in L.A., and that is so wrong.  There is great theatre in L.A., people just need to come out and see it.  Because L.A. and California is so big, you have to drive everywhere, as opposed to New York where you can hop on a subway.  So people dread taking that journey and then sitting in a theatre.  But for those people who say there is not good theatre in L.A., shame on you.  L.A. is really trying to be a force to be reckoned with, and I think people just need to give it a shot.

For more information on Valarie Pettiford, visit:  www.valariepettiford.com.

Photos by Bill Dow.

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