SuperPops’ super start

Some know her as the incredibly talented Broadway star of dark, intense Stephen Sondheim musicals.

Others know her as Lily St. Regis in the movie version of “Annie.”

Still others know her as the sweet kid in “The Jerk.”

Now, that’s some artistic range.

Bernadette Peters is an increasingly rare breed, a star who is well-known in four different show-biz disciplines: stage, movies, TV and recording.

Her appearance with the Spokane Symphony on Saturday to open this season’s SuperPops series will naturally focus on the musical side of her talents.

The Grammy-winning Peters will perform many of the songs she has delivered on the Broadway stage. She has covered an astonishing amount of ground in a career that began back in 1967, as a standby in “The Girl With the Freudian Slip.”

Since then, she has played Josie Cohan in “George M!” (1968), Gelsomina in “La Strada” (1969), Hildy in “On the Town” (1971), Dot in “Sunday in the Park With George” (1984), the Witch in “Into the Woods” (1987), Annie Oakley in “Annie Get Your Gun” (1999) and Mama Rose in “Gypsy” (2003).

Was she any good on Broadway?

Let’s quote Frank Rich, the New York Times theater critic during the ‘80s and ‘90s: “As an actress, singer, comedienne and all-around winning presence, Bernadette Peters has no peer in the musical theater.”

She’s a two-time Tony Award winner for Best Actress in a Musical. The first was in 1985 for her role in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Song and Dance”; the second was in 1999 for “Annie Get Your Gun.”

Those Tonys probably look nice next to her Golden Globe and her numerous Grammys.

She even had a Top 40 hit in 1980 with “Gee Whiz.”

Peters’ movie and TV resume is nearly as long as her Broadway credentials – and contains a few surprises.

Many people remember her roles in “Annie” and “The Jerk.” But did you know she was Miss Toot in Burt Reynolds’ 1974 “The Longest Yard”? Vilma in Mel Brooks’ 1976 “Silent Movie”? Circe in the 1999 TV version of Homer’s “The Odyssey”? Judge Marianna Folger in this year’s “Boston Legal”?

The career of 59-year-old Bernadette Lazzara goes all the way back her childhood in Ozone Park, Queens, New York. She was only 3 when she appeared on a TV show called “Juvenile Jury.” She also made a youthful appearance on “Name That Tune.”

At age 9, she received her Equity card, under the name of Bernadette Peters (the last name taken from her father’s first name). She was still in her teens when she went on the road with the national tour of “Gypsy.”

That means she has spanned the whole range of “Gypsy” roles – from Dainty June understudy to brassy Mama Rose.

Music director Eckart Preu will conduct the symphony in this SuperPops kickoff concert.