This Mother’s Day, treat mom to Here’s to the Ladies Who Laugh.
Award-winning actor and singer Bridget Ryan brings her witty cabaret show to Anvil Centre. The 90-minute performance – which is part-musical theatre, part stand-up comedy – takes the audience on a knee-slapping journey. From her first high school dance in her teens, to moving to New York in her early ‘20s, to her relationship with food, each vignette explores life’s ups and downs through song. Expect to hear Broadway hits, ABBA tunes and classics from the world of jazz.
“It’s kind of a mashup and at the end of it, the intention is that you’re going to absolutely feel fantastic,” Ryan told the Record during a phone interview from her Edmonton home. “I’ve done the show about 80 times; rarely has the audience not joined me in song up on their seat holding each other.”
Ryan, who’s also co-host of Edmonton’s Breakfast Television on City, gained interest in cabaret in her early years. After graduating with a musical degree from the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, she eventually made a name for herself as an actor in New York. She performed in several national tours across the U.S. and has since worked at just about every single major theatre company in Canada, according to a press release.
The seven years she spent in New York were “awesome and awful, inspiring and at the same time, terrifying.” Lots of her on-stage material comes from that chapter of her life, according to Ryan, who considers herself “the everyday gal.”
“There was just constant inspiration,” she added, noting she always makes it a priority to go back to the city that never sleeps.
“It was a great city to be poor in. There’s so many museums. If they were too expensive for you, you could people watch, and you could live off pretzels and hot dogs.
“It’s one of those cities that’s unforgiving. Every day has to be an A-game kind of day.”
Here’s to the Ladies Who Laugh isn’t just Ryan’s story, it’s everyone’s story, she said, and the stories are like a common denominator.
“It’s basically about how laughter is a key element to health and longevity.”
Most importantly though, she hopes people leave inspired and empowered.
The Anvil Centre Theatre show is at 2 p.m. on May 8. There will be a dessert buffet at intermission. Tickets cost $50. Visit ticketsnw.ca.
