ON THE TOWN WITH CHIP DEFFAA… AT PENNY FULLER’S “A LIFE IN THE THEATER” AT BUCKS COUNTY PLAYHOUSE

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I drove down to the Bucks County Playhouse, in New Hope, Pennsylvania, to catch “Penny Fuller: A Life in the Theater.”  I’m sure glad I went. And I wish I could have taken every aspiring performer I know with me.  Not just because of the sheer entertainment value. (This was the best solo show—or very-nearly solo show—that I’ve seen in years.)  But because Fuller, through her stories, songs, and strong presence had so much to teach younger artists.  A successful career in the arts requires not just talent, but drive, self-confidence, determination, and focus.  And boy!  All of those qualities were abundantly on display.

Let me give you a brief report on the performance I witnessed….

Fifty-six years ago, I watched Fuller play the ambitious, scheming “Eve Harrington,” opposite Lauren Bacall (as “Margo Channing”) in the original Broadway production on Applause.  And now, in New Hope, we in the audience watched a vintage film clip of young Penny Fuller doing her big number from that show back then.  Then, midway through the number, the film clip was stopped.  The lights came up.  And we watched Fuller, now in her 80s, will herself into that character she’d played 56 years before.  Fuller became, right before our eyes, the steely, manipulative young “Eve Harrington”—and she performed the rest of the number for us “live.”  And the transition from the film clip of Fuller performing the number in her youth, to Fuller performing it now, more than a half-century later, was seamless.  I’ve never seen anything quite like that.  It took guts to do it.   And Fuller pulled it off brilliantly, with a kind of fierce concentration that compels attention.

That was just one high point of a show I enjoyed very much.  Host Alexander Fraser, Producing Artistic Director of the Bucks County Playhouse, said he’d sought for 12 years to bring Fuller—an old friend—to the theater for a show like this.  I’m very glad she said yes.

Accompanied by her longtime musical director Bruce Barnes, Fuller sang songs from musicals that she’d performed in over the years, ranging from the Gershwins’ Oh, Kay! and Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel, to Kander & Ebb’s Cabaret and Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George.  (My thanks to Barnes for providing the photo of Penny Fuller and him, relaxing backstage before the performance I saw. I took the other photo, of Fuller in the recording studio, earlier this month.)

Fuller noted that she’d started out as a dramatic actress, and her career included plenty of straight plays (everything from Neil Simon to Shakespeare) as well as musicals; her singing, throughout the night, was informed by her terrific acting skills.  I particularly relished her thoughtful, reflective interpretation of Noel Coward’s “If Love Were All,” which she added that she’d learned some 60 years ago from her lifelong friend, Linda Lavin (1937-2024), when they were both struggling young “unknowns” rooming together in New York City. (On a more personal note, I might add that Penny Fuller has done some recording for me, of Irving Berlin songs; I’d love to record her singing “If Love Were All” someday; she sure brings a lifetime of experience to that superb song.)

She made it clear that if you want a life in the theater, it’s not enough to hit the notes correctly and say the right lines.  Her Moxie, not just her talent, got her places.  She said “yes” to opportunities as they arose, even if—on a number of occasions—it meant stepping into a role with almost no time to rehearse.

Fuller noted that she was not the producers’ first choice for the role of “Eve Harrington” in Applause.  But when it became clear, during pre-Broadway, out-of-town tryouts, that the actress they’d chosen wasn’t cutting it, they abruptly fired that actress and had Fuller take over the role.  The actress who’d been fired watched Fuller perform the role, trying to figure out what she’d done wrong and what Fuller was doing right.  Fuller scored in the role of “Eve Harrington,” she felt, because she realized (as the actress originally cast had not) that she’d somehow have to match, each night, the strength that Lauren Bacall projected on stage, if audiences were to believe she posed a formidable threat.   For Fuller, that was the main goal—to somehow project on stage the same sort of power that Bacall did.  Then, and only then, would the show fully work.

She added that she had the highest regard, on stage and offstage, for Lauren Bacall.  She recalled the last time she chanced to see Bacall, before Bacall’s passing in 2014.  Fuller stopped by the restaurant Joe Allen for a late dinner.  She noticed Bacall, accompanied by her nurse, was dining there.  She snuck up behind her, and said “Ms. Channing, it’s Ms. Harrington.”  To which Bacall responded: “Jesus Christ, Fuller!  What are you doing out so late?”

There were many more stories and songs, and film clips of Fuller in All the President’s Men with Robert Redford (with whom Fuller had worked on Broadway) and The Elephant Man, for which she won an Emmy.    Alex Fraser’s questions were pertinent, and Barnes’ accompaniment fit her perfectly.   Penny Fuller was comfortable, relaxed, and clearly among friends.  Her energy brightly filled the Bucks County Playhouse’s Barn (its second, more intimate performing space).

It was a prestige booking for the Bucks County Playhouse—a night to remember.   And I’m very glad that Alex Fraser, who will be retiring shortly as Producing Artistic Director, made it possible.  In the last dozen years, Fraser and his colleagues have done a remarkable job in turning around the fortunes of the Bucks County Playhouse (which I observed go through a disheartening period of decline in the 1990s and early 2000s).  Penny Fuller is one of Fraser’s final bookings before he retires; I’m happy to see him ending his successful tenure on such a high note!