Bernhardt on Broadway is a no holds barred exposé about the daughter of a courtesan who overcame countless obstacles to become the most famous woman in the world. Now, almost a century after her appearances in southeast Michigan, audiences can once again experience the wonder of Madame Sarah in the one-woman musical, Bernhardt on Broadway. The show opens with Bernhardt welcoming the audience to her drawing room, a warm and cozy setting for the audience to become rapt in intimate self-disclosures via story and song about the actress’ legendary life.

Dunitz is currently in discussion with a major producer to take ‘Bernhardt on Broadway’ to New York. The show premiered at Maxims in Chicago in October 2010. While it has played at large auditoriums up to the present, Dunitz plans to take the show from town to town in southeastern Michigan much the way it was done in the 19th and early 20th century. The Bernhardt on Broadway tour continues in metro Detroit starting March 7th at Central United Methodist Church in Waterford. The show is also booked in Detroit, Birmingham, Royal Oak, Troy, Wayne, downriver, Windsor, and Frankenmuth.

Before mass media and modern travel, Sarah Bernhardt ingeniously master marketed her meteoric rise to superstardom. She was the WORLD’S FIRST SUPERSTAR. Before Lady GaGa and Marilyn Monroe posed nude for national magazines, and Janet Jackson introduced the world to the concept of a wardrobe malfunction at the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show, Sarah Bernhardt shamelessly posed nude for renowned 19th century photographer Felix Nadar while still in her teens.
Before Britney Spears and Madonna French-kissed at MTV’s 20th annual Video Music Awards, Bernhardt spread rumors that she studied her parts in a coffin and played croquet with human skulls. Before Elizabeth Taylor was led to the altar seven times and Zsa Zsa Gabor sampled marital bliss with nine men, Madame Sarah received over 1000 proposals of marriage.

Before Joan Crawford and Bette Davis endorsed Lucky Strikes, Sarah Bernhardt touted Ogden cigarettes as well as Vaseline, Pears soap, and Guerlain perfume and got paid handsomely to do it. She was an unrivaled success in the first full length silent film, ‘Queen Eliabeth,‘ before Cate Blanchett and Helen Mirren offered their interpretations of England’s great queen. Before Richard Burton and Sir Lawrence Olivier performed ‘Hamlet,’ Sarah Bernhardt played the young prince at Stratford on Avon in French.
Mark Twain punctuated Sarah Bernhardt’s Avant Garde status when he identified five kinds of actresses: “bad, fair, good, great – and then there is Sarah Bernhardt.”

Nicknamed ‘The Divine Sarah’ by Oscar Wilde, Bernhardt was the undisputed queen of theatre during her lifetime. It is saidshe almost single-handedly revolutionized the place of women in the theater. Her bravery and bold abandon has become the archetype of successful women to this day.
Playwright, composer, lyricist and lead Carol Dunitz read over 100 books and articles on Sarah Bernhardt before writing Bernhardt on Broadway. Dunitz received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and holds a Ph.D. in Speech Communication and Theater from Wayne State University. She is the author of several books in addition to Bernhardt on Broadway as well as composer of the comeback song, ‘Detroit Detroit,’ that was introduced at the Detroit Economic Club several years ago. Her love of musicals dates to her childhood when her mother, who often told her she was ‘a little Sarah Bernhardt,’ took her to see Gypsy.

Tickets are available at www.BrownPaperTickets.com. For group sales call 734.864.3244. See video clips at www.YouTube.com.

‘Bernhardt on Broadway’ current bookings in southeastern Michigan:

• Wednesday, March 21 First Presbyterian Church of Royal Oak 1:30 p.m.
• Thursday, March 22 First Presbyterian Church of Royal Oak 2 p.m.
• Friday, March 23 First Presbyterian Church of Royal Oak (waiting for confirmation) 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday, March 24 Evening Hagopian World of Rugs, Birmingham 7:30 p.m.
• Sunday, March 25, 2012 Private Event Wayne 2 p.m.
• Thursday, March 29 First Presbyterian Church of Royal Oak 2 p.m.
• Saturday, March 31 Scarab Club, Detroit 7:30 p.m.
• Sunday, April 1 Scarab Club, Detroit 2 p.m.
• Saturday, April 14 First Presbyterian Church of Royal Oak (waiting for confirmation) 7:30 p.m.
• Friday, April 20 KordaZone Theatre, Windsor 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday, April 21 Fischer Hall, Frankenmuth 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday, May 5 Private Event Rochester Hills 1 p.m.

Source: Bernhardt on Broadway