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| Once on Streets, Now Back on Broadway |
| Added 11/10/2009 |
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(Nov. 1) — When stage veteran Terri White, 61, found herself homeless last year, she was certain she was "all washed up."
A career that began as a child and included performing with Glenn Close in the Tony-nominated "Barnum" had dried up. A breakup and an eviction — the final straws — left her sleeping on a park bench for three months, reported The New York Times. |
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http://tinyurl.com/ydzygpa
But now, almost a year after she last spent the night in Washington Square Park, White is back home on Broadway, appearing in "Finian's Rainbow," a play she first performed in as a child. The musical opened recently in the St. James Theater in New York City.
White's saga seems written for the stage: the rise, fall and then triumphant comeback of a former child actress. The daughter of traveling performers, White first appeared in a musical at age 8 and once sang with Liza Minnelli.
When she was between jobs on Broadway, White had always been able to pick up gigs in piano bars around Manhattan's West Village, until one bar after another closed. The few surviving lounges weren't interested in White's repertoire of American standards, either; they wanted campy renditions of '80s pop tunes. "They want to bring in the younger crowd," White said. "And I'm old."
Then in July 2008, after recently breaking up with her longtime girlfriend, she was turned out of her apartment of 14 years. Still, White was able to manage one night a week singing at the Duplex in Greenwich Village, earning her just enough to cover her cell phone, Ramen noodles and some clothing.
When she wasn't crashing on friends' sofas, White quickly learned the best spot to sleep in the park: near the restrooms. She recognized some of the long-homeless residents of the park who once bummed cigarettes from her. And she got to know the "temporarily homeless," people like herself.
"Their clothes did not look like they were from Goodwill," she said. "They looked like they'd had jobs." |
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