Tuesday, May 2, 2023

Barbara Bryne obit

Sondheim Favorite Barbara Bryne Passes Away at 94

Ms. Bryne was a part of the original Broadway companies of Sunday in the Park with George and Into The Woods. 

She was not on the list.


British born Shakespeare and Sondheim favorite Barbara Bryne passed away May 2. She was 94. The news was confirmed by a representative of Minnesota's Guthrie Theatre, where Bryne performed several times.

Born April 1, 1929, Ms. Bryne trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts before emmigrating to Canada in the early 1960s. Once in North America, she became a regular fixture of Ontario's Stratford Shakespeare Festival and at Minneapolis, Minnesota's Guthrie Theater, performing in a wide range of Shakespearean productions, including starring roles in King Lear, Richard III, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and more.

On Broadway, however, she became a Sondheim favorite, originating two maternal roles: George's mother in Sunday in the Park with George, and Jack's Mother in Into The Woods. On the regional circuit, she completed the Sondheim Maternal triple crown, playing Madame Armfeldt in A Little Night Music at the Kennedy Center in 2002.

In 1982, Ms. Bryne was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for an Outstanding Actress in a Drama for her role as Kath in the first American production of Joe Orton's Entertaining Mr. Sloane. In 2011, she appeared as Queen Victoria in H.M.S. Pinafore, which was filmed for PBS in late August 2011. On screen, she appeared in the 1993 adaptation of Romeo & Juliet, Amadeus, The Bostonians, The Neverending Story, and The School for Scandal. Her onstage work on Into The Woods and Sunday in the Park With George was also preserved in recorded performances that were later broadcast on PBS.

On television she played "Mrs. Gaffney" on the Tony Randall series, Love, Sidney (1981–83). In 2011 she appeared as Queen Victoria in H.M.S. Pinafore, which was filmed for PBS in late August 2011. Among the films in which she has appeared are: Romeo & Juliet (1993 TV film), Into the Woods (1991 TV film), Two Evil Eyes (1990; "The Black Cat" segment), Sunday in the Park with George (1986 TV film), Amadeus (1984), The Bostonians (1984), and The School for Scandal (1975 TV film).

Following 2012, Ms. Bryne retired from public performance, with her final Broadway appearance being in the most recent revival of Noël Coward comedy Hay Fever, opposite Rosemary Harris.

Ms. Bryne is predeceased by her husband of 65 years, Dennis Spence, who passed in 2018. She is survived by their daughter, Susan.

 

Stage

Year     Title            Role(s)            Notes

1966    Henry VI            Margery Jourdan        

1966    Twelfth Night    Maria  

1966    King Lear     Goneril

1967    Richard III            Duchess of York         

1967    The Government Inspector            Locksmith's Wife, Korobkin's Wife    

1967    The Merry Wives of Windsor            Ensemble         

1968    Tartuffe            Mme. Pernelle           

1968    The Three Musketeers            Mme. Coquenard, Landlady of the Gilded Lily       

1968    A Midsummer Night's Dream            Puck   

1981            Cymbeline        The Queen 

1981            Entertaining Mr Sloane            Kath            Nomination: Drama Desk Award

1984-85            Sunday in the Park with George Blair Daniels, Old Lady            Broadway debut

1985    Hay Fever   Clara   

1986-89            Into the Woods Jack's Mother

1989    The Importance of Being Earnest            Lady Augusta Bracknell         

1992    Romeo and Juliet            Nurse  

1993    A Midsummer Night's Dream            Robin Starveling        

1994    Sunday in the Park with George Blair Daniels, Old Lady    10th Anniversary Concert[6]

1995    The Merry Wives of Windsor            Mistress Quickly         

1997    Into the Woods Jack’s Mother 10th Anniversary Concert[7]

2002    A Little Night Music            Madame Armfeldt       

2002    The Chairs  Old Woman           

2003    Three Sisters  Anfisa  

2006    The Birthday Party            Mistress Quickly         

2007    Our Leading Lady            Maude Bentley

2007    Jane Eyre     Mrs. Fairfax 

2009    When We Are Married            Mrs. Northrop         

2010            Macbeth          Weïrd Sister   

2011    H.M.S. Pinafore            Queen Victoria           

2012    Hay Fever   Clara   

2012    Embers            Nini     

 

Filmography

Year     Title            Role            Notes

1963    Festival            Gladys            (segment "I Spy")

1967            MisteRogers    Miss Paulifficate       

1975    Great Performances            Mrs. Candour          

1981    CBS Children's Mystery Theatre Blanche Guizot 

1982    Best of the West            Miss Hanratty          

1982    Maid in America            Aunt Melissa TV movie

1983            Svengali           Mrs. Burns-Rizzo            TV movie

1982–1983            Love, Sidney  Mrs. Gaffney           

1984    The Bostonians            Mrs. Tarrant

1984            Amadeus         Frau Weber 

1990    Two Evil Eyes            Martha            (segment "The Black Cat")

1986–1991            American Playhouse            Jack's Mother / Old Lady / Blair Daniels

1993    Romeo and Juliet            Nurse            TV movie

1995–1996            The Neverending Story    Urgl            Voice

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