| Thursday, September 23, 2004; Posted: 7:32 PM - by Robert
Diamond
Laura Bell Bundy will be presenting her one-woman show,
Shameless! at Joe's Pub on October 4th at 9:30pm. The show has
already sold out, but the good news is that additional dates are
expected to soon be added.
Laura, who is 23 and most recently on Broadway as Kristen
Chenoweth's standby in Wicked, has already had quite the full
career. Her career began at age 9, starring in Ruthless! The
Musical, for which she was nominated for both Outer Critics Circle,
and Drama Desk Awards, and in which her understudies were none other
than Britney Spears and Natalie Portman. Later she starred on
Guiding Light (as Marah Lewis), and originated the role of Amber von
Tussle in Broadway's Tony-award winning show - Hairspray.
Shameless!, which Laura describes as being “cheaper than therapy”
will chronicle bits and pieces of her life, but not in the normal
“cabaret” fashion. Bundy rejected the idea of doing a
run-of-the-mill journey through life cabaret or song cycle. Instead,
she'll be playing a wide variety of characters, from her mother, to
Britney Spears, to Elvis to Judy Garland using wigs, cardboard
cutouts, vocal impersonations and lots more. As an added bonus, and
something we here at BroadwayWorld have always found to be missing
from solo shows, she promises to use a tambourine as well. The
evening, in addition to showcasing her talents as a performer will
also allow her to flex her lyrical muscles as well as she presents a
rewritten version of Hairspray's “You Can't Stop the Beat,” the new
title of which we'll leave as a surprise. Hairspray composer Marc
Shaiman approved the piece for use in the show, which Laura worked
on along with some help from “many of my talented friends.”
 The show is a nearly solo endeavor, but she will be
joined briefly on stage by Amber Rhodes, the other half of her aptly
named Laura and Amber country/pop band to present one of their
tunes.
Family will be covered in the show as well, as among all those
other characters, Laura will also be playing an exaggerated version
of her mother. The family (including her mom) got a preview of the
character along with some other bits at a recent gathering. Their
verdict? Hysterical laugher, something Laura tells audiences to
expect in advance, “because if you're not laughing, then I'm in
deep, deep trouble.”
The show will offer audiences the opportunity to see Laura's
creative side, and that's something she's been working on heavily as
of late in between appearances. On the table at the moment are two
potential sitcoms, (including one that would co-star Kerry Butler)
and a Broadway show that's developing, adamantly not for herself to
star in.
And of course, this won't be the last of Shameless! Even though
this first show is sold out, stay tuned for future performance dates
for the show, most likely at Joe's Pub.
The sky is indeed the limit for this talented young performer.
The show is being produced by Lynn Shaw, and directed by Jamie
McGonnigal. Musical direction by John McMahon. Source:
http://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=1246 |
