Back when redheaded Bethany Moore was a UB student doing her first professional shows here in Buffalo, she was a particular favorite of mine. For her performance in Urinetown at MusicalFare, I reached for every talented redhead in creation for comparison: “The role of Hope allows redheaded Bethany Moore to dance like Gwen Verdon, clown like Lucille Ball and sing like—well, there’s not a comparable Broadway redhead, and Renée Fleming would be too operatic.”

Bethany Moore with Chris Critelli in MusicalFare's 2006 production of Urinetown

The dancing like Gwen Verdon part has landed Miss Moore a role in the national touring company of A Chorus Line, which will open at Shea’s on Tuesday. She’s a true quadruple threat: She can sing, dance, and act—and she’s good-looking too.

Moore graduated from the musical theater program at UB in 2007. During her last two years at UB, she was seen on local professional stages a number of times. In addition to Urinetown, she did A Christmas Survival Guide, also at MusicalFare; Angels in America with BUA; and shows at Artpark, including A Chorus Line.

“I was supposed to play Judy at Artpark,” recalls Moore on the telephone from Chicago. “She’s the ditsy redhead I play in the tour. But when the girl playing Cassie dropped out, I stepped into the lead.”

Moore’s Artpark experience in A Chorus Line proved to be a real help later on. As graduation approached at UB, she skipped a final exam to audition for a national tour of Cats and got the job. After touring in Cats for about a year, she auditioned for A Chorus Line and found, to her delight, that the audition was the opening combination that she had performed before. Call-back after call-back, and she was cast as Judy again.

“I guess I am Judy Turner,” quips Moore. Judy Turner is the character who emulates Gwen Verdon.

Bethany Moore made a big impression in Buffalo, but she is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

“I was this strange artistic girl in a science family,” she says. “My father was a dentist. But I loved to dance and my mother forced me to audition for my first show when I was 11. It was Annie. And when I was offered the role of Annie, I said, ‘No!’ I was just too shy. That’s changed, but in those days, I would go to a dance class for the first half of the term and then quit when it came time to rehearse for the public recital.”

Moore remembers that she was always drawn to musical theater and even emulated another famed Pittsburgh native, Shirley Jones, star of many a film musical. “I dressed up as Shirley Jones as Laurie in Oklahoma one Halloween,” says Moore with a laugh. “I’m actually a natural blond. I’m a bottle redhead!”

Recovering from that shocking revelation, I ask Moore how she came to Buffalo.

The lure was Lynn Kurdziel-Formato, co-founder of the UB musical theater program, whom Moore met at a national dance competition. She found her master class astounding.

“I went up to her and said, ‘Where do you teach? That’s where I want to be!’”

Determined to study with Kurdziel-Formato and only Kurdziel-Formato, she only auditioned for one school.

“It was UB or bust,” recalls Moore. “I became a Steelers girl in Bills country. Lynn’s class was amazing. I felt such a connection with the way she taught, and studying with her was wonderful.”

Moore recalls the day when the new administration at UB decided that creative achievement was not to be considered the equal of publication—even for performing arts faculty—and denied Kurdziel-Formato tenure as the saddest day of her college career.

“We were among the students who picketed. It was horrible. Before that I had done shows like Steel Peer and She Loves Me at UB. After that, I began to venture out into the professional theater community,” she recalls.

Today, Moore considers Buffalo to be her home, and she has been sharing her tales of Buffalo with her fellow company members.

“There are so few cities that are so theater-friendly,” she enthuses. “There’s Chicago, of course. But Pittsburgh and Buffalo are like that too. I want to take them to Duff’s for wings. I want to take them to Butterwood for desserts. I want to take my friends to Q [a popular gay bar on Allen Street where local show folk hang out].”

At the Monday night “Hake-eoke” at Q, where musician Michael Hake would play and local performers would sing, Moore was well known for her renditions of tunes from Thoroughly Modern Millie. I remember her “Gimme Gimme” with particular fondness.

Moore is loving the national tour of A Chorus Line. In addition to the thrill of performing in her native Pittsburgh and Buffalo, she’ll get to tour to Japan.

“I love living out of a suitcase,” she says. “And I can’t wait to share Buffalo with the rest of the Chorus Line company. I keep telling them, ‘I just wish we were going to be in town for Curtain Up!’”

With her close Buffalo connections, Moore is particularly excited by the prospect of performing on the stage at Shea’s.

“This tour also played Pittsburgh,” says Moore, “and I felt such a thrill walking out onto the stage at Heinz Hall. I feel the same way about Shea’s. In college, we would have our end-of-the-year formal in the Shea’s lobby, and some students would try to sneak in and stand on that stage. But I said, ‘No! When I walk out onto the Shea’s stage, I want it to be for real.’ I never imagined that it would happen so soon!”

A Chorus Line opens at Shea’s on Tuesday.