Bridget Ryan wears many different hats as a performer — figuratively and sometimes literally.
The performer is perhaps best known as host of CityTV’s Breakfast Television, but has a long an distinguished career in the arts as a performer on stages and screens — and as writer, too.
A throat infection forced Ryan to reschedule her Feb. 6 Cultural Arts Theatre Series performance of Here’s to the Ladies Who Laugh — an assortment of stories and showtunes — to this Friday, Feb. 20.
During her down time she was able to do an interview with the Westlock News, albeit via e-mail as she was still having trouble with her voice last week.
This show she’s performing is relatively young, having debuted at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton in January 2013, but draws a lot of subject matter and inspiration from her own very musical, very theatrical upbringing.
Ryan’s career as a performer got its start years ago when she took to the stage for the first time at just four years old — but growing up in a theatrical family this was totally normal in her house.
Her father was a musical theatre director and her mother a stage actress, so she spent many long hours during her formative years at their rehearsals.
“It totally changed and shaped me,” she said.
“This show is a dedication to my childhood, in fact, and being raised in a house where we were only allowed to listen to two kinds of music — classical and musical theatre.”
Many of the life lessons her father imparted were done via lyrics to popular musical theatre songs, which heavily informed her own philosophy when she pursued her own career in that field.
“You never stop hearing songs in your head, no matter where you are or what you are going through,” she said. “There’s a song for every situation.”
While Ryan has performed for some very formidable crowds during her career, including performances in several off-Broadway musicals in New York City and 11 years hosting a television show, she said the motivations and inspirations for performance are always the same.
“Both of these two ‘jobs,’ my cabaret and my Breakfast Television job, celebrate human nature,” she said. “Both are inspired by a curiosity in people. I love talking to people, finding out what makes them tick, what makes them laugh, cry and revolt.”
She said that’s exactly what she hopes to do with her show in Westlock and in any other show — connect with people in the audience.
“As much as it’s my story, so many people say to me after, ‘I can totally relate,’ or, ‘That was me too!,’” she said. “I think to myself, ‘Awesome, I connect.’ As corner as that sounds, it’s true. And laughter is usually the best way to connect with people.”
As far as the difference between performing for large crowds in big cities or smaller crowds in towns like Westlock, Ryan said while the shows affects audiences differently in each place, she loves the experience of touring rural Alberta and learning what “community” can really mean.
“These communities are amazing. I bought six chickens at an auction in Daysland. I had the best meal of my life in Consort. I was served lunch at the most wonderful hotel diner in Holden,” she said. “I’m going to have to write a show on the touring of this show!”
For CATS ticket information, contact the Flower Shoppe in Westlock.
