THEATER : ‘Happy End’ May Be Just the Beginning : Actress Patricia Ben Peterson, Who’s Starring in SCR Play, Has High Hopes for TV and Film

When she left the New York theater world for Hollywood earlier this year, actress Patricia Ben Peterson didn’t expect to land back on the stage--in Orange County, no less. But after years of nonstop stage work in the Big Apple, she now finds herself at South Coast Repertory, in what she says “is absolutely the toughest role--and play--I’ve ever done.”

Peterson plays Sister Lillian--a.k.a. Hallelujah Lil--in “Happy End,” the Bertolt Brecht-Kurt Weill musical satire about bumbling gangsters and Salvation Army zealots in 1919 Chicago. It’s Lil who falls for handsome crook Bill Cracker (played by Christopher Allport), which leads to a metamorphosis for Bill and his gang, not to mention the play’s corny (andhappy) ending.

Written in 1929--largely to capitalize on the success of their earlier hit, “Threepenny Opera”--”Happy End” is considered among the oddest of the Brecht-Weill shows because of its mix of frivolity and politics. But it is typically Brechtian in its attempts to arouse the audience.

As Peterson (Patty Ben to her friends) noted, during a recent late afternoon interview at SCR, it was “murder” just to learn the jarring dialogue and atonal lyrics.

“Just when you think you’ve got a song down, you realize there’s an extra lyric in there. Or, a strange rhythm or modulation,” she said.

For instance, “The Sailor’s Tango” finds her singing soprano and then dropping to a baritone sailor’s shout. Peterson, who also sings “Surabaya Johnny,” said she’s using her “nearly four-octave” voice a bit differently for this show--”giving it an edge. I’m grinding it a little bit,” she said. “It’s not pretty, but I think it fits.”

Peterson, 29, who in the show wears a blond wig over her dark, closely cropped hair, admitted that when her agent called her about “Happy End,” she’d never heard of it. But she knew about SCR--and director Barbara Damashek, who co-authored and helmed the 1985 Tony-nominated “Quilters” (which has been performed at various times in Orange County).

To prepare for her role, she hit the library, researching Brecht as well as the Salvation Army. At Damashek’s suggestion, she also watched films such as “Broken Blossoms” (1919), starring silent star Lillian Gish, and “Marlene” (1984), Maximilian Schell’s documentary about Marlene Dietrich. In Gish’s performance, Peterson found “an exaggerated but truthful” acting style. As for the film on Dietrich: “She was totally Brechtian. She was so aloof. She seemed to strive for total alienation of the audience.”

Peterson combined these elements to play a character she didn’t initially like. “I didn’t know who she was--and I didn’t really like her holy-roller aspect.”

She has since come to have a different opinion of Lillian: “She’s reserved--but she can be passionate. When she’s spreading the word (about God), that’s her passion.

“Then she meets Bill, and all her buttons are pushed.

“She’s attracted to him. . . . He’s the guy who’s unattainable. She knows that if she can convert him, she can convert anybody.”

As with past characters (“I’ve played a lot of ingenues,” she explains), Peterson said she’s worked to bring “fire” and strength to Lillian.

Recalling her depiction of Cinderella in Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway musical “Into the Woods,” she said, “I played her as if she was an abused child who grew up to say, ‘I deserve better than this.’ ” As she noted, that play did not end happily ever after: After finding out that her prince-turned-husband has been cheating on her, Cinderella gives him the boot. “She’s left in this cottage in the woods, with her baby. But she’s also got strength.”

She grew up in Portland, where she regularly attended the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and “became the kid performer in all the shows” at the local civic theater. When she was about 6 she played out a scene--by herself in the family garage--imagining that “my baby was in a garbage can.” Explained Peterson: “I knew that as an actress, I’d have to cry.”

Just 19 when she came to New York (“Oh, gosh, I was as green as the Oregon trees”), she had an eye-opening stint playing “the sweet young thing” in an East Village production of Andy Warhol’s “Tinseltown Tirade.” Curtain was at midnight for the rock ‘n’ roll drag revue.

She went on to do a spate of dramatic plays--and to sing, on the side, with rhythm and blues groups. Then came a suggestion that she audition for musicals. She has since alternated between dozens of non-musical and musical roles. Credits range from the national touring company of “Sweet Charity,” directed by the late Bob Fosse, to dramas by Arthur Miller. “I like shows that are gritty--with meat on the bones,” said Peterson, explaining that she doesn’t do “tippy-toppy-tappy shows.”

She’s done some TV commercials, once playing Scarlett O’Hara in an ad that implored viewers to order cable TV today--”don’t wait ‘til tomorrow!” And she’s done lots of demo work, “singing songs from great shows that didn’t make it to Broadway.”

Peterson came to Southern California in January and immediately began making “the audition rounds” for TV and film. When “Happy End” completes its run, she plans to resume the auditions. Of her ambition to make Hollywood take note, she said, “I think it’s a matter of hanging on long enough.”

* “Happy End” continues through July 13 at the Mainstage at South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Performances: Tuesdays through Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 2:30 and 8 p.m.; Sundays at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $27-$34. Information: (714) 957-4033.