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From Big Easy to Broadway:
Recently, BC/EFA’s 20th Annual Flea Market raised over $500,000 and brought more than 20,000 theatre lovers to Shubert Alley. Standing out from this packed crowd were two long-time BC/EFA celebrity fundraisers, big personalities whose similarities extend well beyond their big talent and theatrical resumes. Surviving Katrina For starters, Felicia Finley, currently stealing thunder as Linda in The Wedding Singer, hails from New Orleans, as does her friend and ours, Bryan Batt (Beauty & The Beast, Saturday Night Fever, Cats). But, whereas Bryan was born in The Crescent City, Felicia is a fourth generation granddaughter of Daniel Boone from the Carolinas whose family relocated to New Orleans when she was a child. Both performers, however, speak passionately about their beleaguered hometown, especially as Katrina’s first anniversary approaches. “Very little,” is Bryan’s take on the city’s progress, a problem he blames on a lack of local and national leadership – this despite such well-intended efforts as the September 25th reopening of the Superdome with a concert led by U2 and Green Day.. In addition, the Broadway veteran and his long-time partner Tom Cianfichi are donating some of the profits from the sale of original local “Toile” (classic French fabric) at their successful home décor shop in the fashionable, uptown Magazine Street to Second Harvest of Greater New Orleans and other disaster relief efforts. A skilled baton-twirler from a young age, at 8 Felicia was discovered by a talent scout at a recital (“I was fearless!”) and later enrolled as a dancer at the famed New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. Her first brush with fame came at Atlanta’s Six Flags Over Georgia when she was 15, and was followed by a couple of summers at Opryland in Nashville; “Taught me my chops,” she claims. Work on cruise ships led to an open call in Los Angeles where she was cast as a teenage Debbie Reynolds in a film biography that was scratched after the LA Riots. Bouncing back, the high-energy blonde landed a replacement role in Smokey Joe’s Café and had two weeks to move to New York. This past September, she celebrated her 10th year in town. Batt first hitched his star to Santa’s sleigh, playing Rudolph in a 3rd grade play. “My family was so supportive! Although, they did send me to a child psychologist because they found me playing with a hoop skirt. But, that’s another story!” After Tulane University, Bryan came to New York to train at the Equity Library Theatre, which led to an agent and a part in Starlight Express. But, of course, he had the usual assortment of survival jobs before hitting it big at the Gershwin Theatre. “Ladies, be the first to poison your husbands!” he would call out from the perfume department of Bloomingdale’s. Though Bryan is perhaps best known for his stage and film role as “Darius” in Paul Rudnick’s Jeffrey, his dream would be filling Jerry Lewis’s shoes in a musical version of Cinderfella. Felicia’s “dream job” arrived when she found herself taking over the role of Princess Amneris in Aida at the Palace in 2001. “I had Judy Garland’s dressing room! I got to see where Houdini escaped! This is home!” But, clearly she is now on the ride of her life as the runaway bride who left her betrothed – Robbie, the wedding singer – stranded at the altar. Felicia’s reviews have been smashing, with Ben Brantley of The New York Times calling her Linda, “… enjoyably trashy.” And while she’s certainly a known face around the Rialto these days, Felicia muses over the time the Forbidden Broadway people brought her in for an audition because they assumed she was black. “And most of my resume could be read as African American,” admits Aida’s African princess. When asked what part she would most love to take on, Felicia responds almost before the query is completed – “Evita…on a grand scale.” In 1995, Felicia lost Benny, her “best cousin,” to AIDS after a long, up-and-down battle with the disease. Only 33, Benny donated his body to science and, as Felicia tells it is one of the reasons we “have a ‘cocktail’ today.” Experiencing the scourge of AIDS first-hand made joining the ranks of Broadway Cares a natural move, and today Felicia is proud to celebrate 10 years on the team. “There’s nothing I don’t like about this organization, because it’s a family,” she says. And, as a valued family member, Felicia has donated her time and talent wherever duty calls. Indeed, her first words when enlistment arises are, “I’m in!” Bryan is perhaps best known as sidekick to auctioneer Lorna Kelly at the Flea Market’s Grand Auction and at the annual Broadway Bears Auction, events where his comic aplomb keeps things lively. “He’s unique - so nimble in his mind. We’ve done, what … 6, 7, 8 events together … and I’m always so amazed at how his mind just dances across the stage. He must have a terrific I.Q,” says Kelly. To Market Once Again Afternoon rains interrupted this year’s Flea Market, but once they cleared and the crowds regrouped, Bryan bounded onstage to emcee another successful Grand Auction, bantering effortlessly with Lorna, various guest stars and bidders in the audience for almost two hours. Earlier, Felicia waited backstage at the Booth Theatre for her appearance at the Celebrity Table, greeting staffers and volunteers as they trundled through the stage door off Shubert Alley with her trademark rallying cry: “Show me some love!” After years as dedicated volunteers, both these performers continue to bring incredible energy, commitment and unique “star quality” to the many BC/EFA events they attend.
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