McCulloh:
That Brad is OK

By Rita Charleston
For the Times

The first time they met at Bristol Riverside Theater it was anything but love at first sight.
"In fact," said Barbara McCulloh, now the wife of Brad Little, "the first time I met Brad I thought he was possibly the worst actor I had ever been with. You see, Brad is dyslexic but that was about twenty years ago, so he was still in the closet, if you will. Therefore he had to memorize the lines. Sometimes that worked and sometimes it didn’t. So by the time I saw him, he couldn’t read the script and I wondered just how in the world I’d ever get through this."
But love conquers all — as do hard work and devotion. And the now real-life husband and wife and famous Broadway couple are starring once again at Bristol in I do! I do! through Oct. 23. This two-character play is a story that spans 50 years, from 1895 to 1945, as it focuses on the trials and tribulations, laughter and sorrows, hopes and disappointments experienced by a couple throughout their marriage.
Asked if it’s difficult to work with your husband, McCulloh says it is not. "In fact, working with Brad is good, very fun. The only thing is we have to set up house rules because we really are different people. But we are able to make it all work," she said.
Today, living in a house they bought in Bristol, McCulloh has definitely changed her mind and thinks her husband may just be the greatest performer ever, a notion shared by many others. Little is the recipient of numerous awards, has starred in many productions around the world, and may be best known for his performance in Phantom of the Opera.
McCulloh, who also has amassed numerous awards and appeared on stage, screen and in the concert hall, began her career in New York and admitted she never even saw a play until she was 9 years old, when her mother took her to see Sound of Music on her birthday.
"But even before that, we used to visit my Aunt Ruth, who lives in Cape May. When I was about six or seven, they used to send me out on the sun porch where Aunt Ruth had these Broadway show records," she recalled. "I’d listen to them over and over again. I didn’t know what I was listening to, yet I was so attracted to them that I’d sing along. That’s when I fell in love with show business."
Later, McCulloh was off to William & Mary College, enjoying the theater but thinking she might become a doctor, so she took the unlikely dual major of medicine and theater.
"Then, at the ripe old age of 19, I wrote a pretentious letter to the University of Exeter and won a scholarship to study Shakespeare," she said. "I was there a year before realizing I really had to make a decision about my future. Well, you see what happened. I committed myself to a year of being an actor and there was no going back to school after that."
She became a professional and has never looked back. "Being a performer is so wonderful because you never know who you’re reaching, who you’re really touching with your work," she explained. "Sometimes you have the opportunity to make someone stop for a moment and believe that this world is not just spinning out into the universe. That there is real beauty, love and hope out there."
McCulloh also works as a narrator for audio books. She has recorded more than 50 titles.
"So in many ways, both acting and recording, I feel as though I might begin to heal someone in ways traditional medicine never could," she said. "I guess I’m lucky and living out both my dreams at this point." ••
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