Bryant will be featured

Belated curtain call

Courtesy Will Rogers High School alumna Anita Bryant joins the Round-Up revue as a special guest on Saturday.

By KAREN SHADE World Scene Writer
4/19/2007

Noted alum to perform in revue

The last time Anita Bryant appeared in her high school's end-of-the-year musical revue, nerves got the better of her.

"I had on this formal gown, real tight. I had a 19-inch waist, then, strapless dress and a hoop skirt, of course," she said by phone from her Edmond home Wednesday.

Bryant, a singer who gained notoriety in 1977 for her stance on gay rights, performed with the band that was led by another member of the Will Rogers High School class of '58 -- singer David Gates. Gates went on to perform with the '70s pop band Bread.

"I said, 'You came, I was alone,' " Bryant demonstrated in a low, smoky tenor. "I was so serious doing this song, 'Temptation.' I don't think I moved my arms out once, I was just as stiff as a board."

She felt anxiety then and probably will again when she joins that same Round-Up revue as a special guest on Saturday. But Bryant has been through too much to get too frazzled.

"When I got the call from Will Rogers Round-Up, I was real excited because I know it was not only the faculty, but mainly the students that wanted me to appear as a guest star," Bryant said.

Bryant was crowned Miss Oklahoma in 1958 and became a runner-up in the Miss America pageant. Then came the commercials for Coca-Cola and several hit songs, including "Paper Roses." She became a spokeswoman for the Florida citrus industry in 1968, but that ended after her controversial 1977 stand against a Florida ordinance protecting gay rights.

In more recent years, Bryant has been in and out of bankruptcy court in three states.

But she said all of that is behind her. She prefers to concentrate on her charity work for various youth organizations and on Anita Bryant Ministries International, headquartered in Oklahoma City.

"I'm 67 years old and enjoying my life as a 'kept woman,' " she said about her state of marital bliss, "but the thing is that truth is truth. . . . My stance has always been one out of love. . . . The word of God has always been my guideline and I can't change that, nor would I want to."

Bryant said her years at Will Rogers High School gave her the best training of her career.

When she rehearses for Saturday's revue with the students, Bryant plans to share some of her advice about life, entertainment and experience, she said. Those students are just as likely to hear her talk about the gospel as about harmonizing and sight reading.

"Well, I'm not getting paid for this. I am what I am," she said. "To me Jesus is either the lord of your life or not, and he goes with me everywhere. That's why I'm not shy about sharing what I belive in because I've been through some hard knocks, and I've made some stupid mistakes in my own life."

What kind of mistakes?

"I've already confessed those (to God)," she said, laughing. "So they're under the Lord."

The Will Rogers Round-Up revue, "Copacabana," will take place at the WRHS auditorium, 3909 E. Fifth Place, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. Bryant will be featured Saturday.

Tickets are $5-$20. For information and reservations, call the school at 833-9000 or go online to www.tulsaschools.org/schools/rogers.

By KAREN SHADE World Scene Writer