Q&A with Bernadette Peters

It seems impossible that Bernadette Peters just turned 62 -- until you realize she received the first of her seven Tony nominations in 1971 and made her first film in 1973. She still has the baby-soft voice and perfect rosebud lips, but Peters has achieved the kind of legendary status that comes only with decades of acclaim. Her last two times on Broadway, she was nominated for Tonys (winning her second in 1999 for "Annie Get Your Gun").

She just finished shooting a film scheduled for next year and has written another book for children about her passion for domestic pets.

Peters, who will appear with the Minnesota Orchestra on Friday and Saturday, called from her New York apartment last month to chat.

Q You haven't been on Broadway in six years?

A I'm talking right now [about a potential project], but nothing I can speak about. I'm being careful because it's hard work, so you want to pick something you want to do eight times a week.

Q The last two times out, you were shadowing Merman.

A Isn't that funny? I didn't think of Ethel Merman, though; I thought of the character. I was playing my version of Annie Oakley, and the same thing with "Gypsy." And actually Rose's daughter, June, who has just passed away, called me and said she had never spoken to anyone who had played the role but she would talk to me because I was the most like her mother. Her mother basically was little and blond and a mankiller. She wasn't the big battle-ax. So it gave me a lot of confidence in playing the role.

A Sometimes a song will come into my head that I love, so I'll add it.

Q No science?

A There's a science, also. If you're going to play the Palladium in London, you go "OK, let's think, what would I like to open the show with there?" So I move things around.

Q Say you're playing Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis?

A What's your baseball team?

A I'm going to sing a song about the Twins. No, I'm not. What am I singing? I've been singing Peggy Lee's "Fever," which is fun.

Q She's from North Dakota, right next door.

A Oh, really? Well, I'm going to say that. "From North Dakota, right next door." And I sing "Shenandoah," which people don't expect, but I just love it.

Q There you go. That evokes the Midwest.

A It's been in my head for a long time and that's what happens sometimes. And "Some Enchanted Evening," which I love, and "Nothin' Like a Dame" with a twist to it. And I do Sondheim -- "Johanna," which is a man's song. I do a lot of Sondheim.

A I don't do a lot of the songs I've sung in shows because they're character songs. In "Sunday in the Park With George," I'm in that dress and I'm posing and then I'm out of the dress and I'm dancing, then I go back in the dress. It's a great song, but it doesn't lend itself to singing outside the play. I love the songs in "Gypsy," but a song that I won't do is "Everything's Coming Up Roses," because to me that was a very dramatic moment involving [Rose's] daughter, and it's about her.

Q Do you sing any Kander and Ebb?

A They're a little off my radar. I did a workshop of their stuff. I like that one song of theirs at the end of "Chicago" You know, "Isn't it good, isn't it grand, isn't it great, isn't it swell." ["Nowadays."] It has a nice message to it.

Q Jerry Herman?

A I do "Time Heals Everything," which is a great song.

A "Johanna," I love it so much that I started singing it. "Not a Day Goes By." "Losing My Mind." The duet of "Too Many Mornings." I love "No One Is Alone."

Q Tell me about your new book.

A It's called "Stella Is a Star," about a pit bull who doesn't feel he's appreciated and poses as a pig. It's to benefit my work with animals.

Q Anything else you wanted to tell us about?

A Well, rescue dogs. Do you have any dogs?

A Cats are good, too. Rescue dogs and cats.