With a steely voice and the will to match, the brilliant Betty Buckley has been at the top of our wish list since we started “Cocktails at Table 7”. This week we finally got the chance to talk to her, and it was everything we hoped for (so much so, that we had to split this conversation into two episodes!) In part one, we cover Betty’s Broadway debut in “1776” alongside a few theater heavyweights who found her Texas moxie and desire to learn irresistible. We got the inside scoop on her time in Hollywood working on projects as divergent as Brian dePalma's screen version of Stephen King's Carrie and the seminal 1970’s family drama Eight is Enough. Finally, we learned how her commitment to study, including time spent in “cat school”, helped cement Betty’s status as a Broadway icon.
In an award-winning career that has encompassed TV, film, stage and concert work around the globe, Betty Buckley is probably best known as the quintessential musical theatre actress. Whether she’s breaking your heart with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Memory” in her Tony-winning turn as Grizabella the Glamour Cat in CATS, bringing down the house with “The Writing on the Wall” in a gender-bending performance in THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD, or simultaneously frightening and moving an entire audience as religious fanatic Margaret White in the cult-classic musical CARRIE, a Betty Buckley performance is one that remains indelibly etched into one’s mind and soul. Buckley’s film roles include Ms. Collins, the gym teacher, in Brian dePalma’s 1976 classic CARRIE, country singer Dixie Scott in Bruce Beresford’s TENDER MERCIES (which features her soul-piercing rendition of the Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe winning song “Over You”), and has regularly been featured in the films of M. Night Shyamalan. She has been seen as a guest star on dozens of popular TV series, was a regular for three years on HBO’s OZ, and also played the lead role of Abby Bradford for four seasons on the seminal 1970’s family drama EIGHT IS ENOUGH.
Cocktails at Table 7- Inside New York’s Joe Allen is produced and hosted by Jason Woodruff, Dana Mierlak and Sean Kent, with music by James Rubio and logo and artwork design by Christina D’Angelo. The Producers would like to extend a special thank you to the owners of Joe Allen, Orso and Bar Centrale Restaurants.