Friday, Oct. 3, 2003 | 4:22 a.m.
Once defined as a comedic brassy redhead with heart, Tony Award-winning Faith Prince has played her share of jocular Broadway roles.
She's been Miss Adelaide in "Guys and Dolls," Ella Peterson and the nosy telephone answering service operator in "Bells Are Ringing," and has performed in nearly a dozen other Broadway productions.
With a Tony Award and two Tony nominations, the 46-year-old Prince also crossed over into television, most notably as Claudia Sacks in "Spin City."
But one role Prince says she is pleased to be playing these days is that of herself.
Performing a concert of Broadway hits, an act she developed over three years at Joe's Pub in New York City and made into a CD, "Leap Of Faith," Prince has been honing her craft as a comedic songstress who dishes out anecdotal stories about her life and road to Broadway.
Accompanied by a three-piece band, Prince will perform Friday at Artemus Ham Hall at the University of Nevada as part of the college's Best of the New York Stage series.
Prince recently took the time to talk with the Las Vegas Sun from her home in Los Angeles.
Las Vegas Sun: How different is it performing as yourself?
FP: I found that I really liked it. At first I was telling the people who were helping me put it together, "Tell me what to say, tell me what to say." Then I got up there and they couldn't shut me up.
It was really fun. I think probably in another life I could have been a stand-up comedienne. It was just a natural sort of progression for me and I think it's probably the most fun I've had.
Sun: And this time you're the director calling the shots.
FP: Yeah. I really like it because it's all yours, you're in control. It's your show. It's also the pressure of "just you," but I take it as me getting to know the audience. You're talking to the audience. There's no fourth wall.
Sun: What will you be performing here in Las Vegas?
FP: I have some things from "Bells are Ringing." It's just an array of some things I've done on Broadway, some things that were my fancies and sort of a tribute to three women that I like: Betty Hutton, Judy Holiday and Barbara Harris.
Sun: You've often been compared to these women.
FP: I have. I think that's probably why I was drawn to them as a youngster. When most people were really into Ethel Merman or Mary Martin, people like that, I was always intrigued with those (other) women because I think I had a personality and they spoke to me and the parts they did spoke to me.
Sun: Any other inspirations?
FP: I also liked Barbara Stanwyck and Bette Davis, those broads who were great and bossy (laughs) and had the power, you know what I mean?
Sun: You talk about your road to Broadway in the show.
FP: I do, and how I was raised in a Southern town and how most people thought I was a New York gal ... I was brought up by a nuclear physicist and a travel agent. Nobody in my family was in show business. I had never even seen a Broadway show until I was 22. But I was drawn to it and it was in my nature, and I just kept listening to that voice that said, "You gotta do this."
Sun: And you went on to win a Tony. Did you feel any pressure after that?
FP: You work all those years and suddenly you're appreciated for it, which is great. It puts you on a different plateau and you think differently about your career and it certainly transformed me. It allows you through doors you were never able to get through before, or it was hard to, and what it really does is give you a credibility.
Sun: You pushed for the revival for "Bells Are Ringing," in which the role you played brought you a Tony nomination.
FP: Yeah, it hadn't been done in a long time. It hadn't been revived and I thought it was certainly worth reviving.
Sun: Why were you so interested in playing Ella?
FP: It was a part that was tailor-made for me. I have a personality similar to that. I kind of do quirky characters. It's sort of a quirky leading woman -- not the girl next door, but an appealing comic woman who deserves to get the things she wants in life.
Sun: Do you prefer older musicals?
FP: I like both. I have a great respect for some of the older pieces and I think if you can do them well, it's like opera: you should because it's our American history. It's one of the few things that are really American besides jazz that we have to offer the art world.
Sun: You're living in Los Angeles? I assumed you were a New Yorker.
FP: I was 'til two weeks ago.
Sun: Any special reason for the move?
FP: Yeah, I just wanted a different kind of lifestyle and my husband's from out here originally, my in-laws are in Sacramento and, uh, I don't know, I just thought it would be great to do TV work and not do eight shows a week.
I'm very familiar with the musicians here. I want to do another album, a different kind of thing.
Sun: Does that mean you're done with Broadway?
FP: No! It doesn't mean I'm done with Broadway. I'll go back if I'm needed for something. I've been doing my concerts and I'll probably get into a series. I did a pilot with Delta Burke over the spring ("Sweet Potato Queen"), but it didn't get picked up.
Sun: Do you have a dream role?
FP: One day I'd like to do "Hello, Dolly!"
Sun: Really?
FP: Yeah, I'd be a good Dolly. Interesting Dolly. Different Dolly than Carol Channing. I have lots of things I want to do. I've just begun.
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