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Alice Playten made her Broadway debut in the original Broadway production of Gypsy, where she was cast as a replacement for Baby Louise, playing opposite the one and only La Merm at the ripe, old age of 13.  Then she was Bet, best friend of Nancy (Georgia Brown), in Oliver! (1963), before going on to create the role of Ermengarde in Hello, Dolly! (1964), opposite Carol Channing's Dolly Levi.  Playten's hysterical performance as Kafritz in the flop Henry, Sweet Henry (1967) not only earned her a 1968 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, but also won her a 1968 Theatre World Award.  She then went on to conquer off-Broadway, belting out "Capricious and Fickle" in the bizarre and wonderful Promenade (1968), an "absurdist musical" by María Irene Fornes and the Rev. Al Carmines.  From there she has been the recipient of two Obie Awards, the first for playing Mick Jagger in National Lampoon's revue Lemmings (1971), opposite Chevy Chase, John Belushi, and Christopher Guest, and then for playing Mamie Eisenhower in Michael John LaChiusa's First Lady Suite (1992).  She appeared in Christopher Durang's musical play A History of the American Film (1976) at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, thus confirming that she was indeed the "Queen of the Bizarre."  Her unique voice has been put to great use in films (Legend) and cartoons (Doug, My Little Pony), which made her a natural as Mrs. Mayor in Seussical  (2000), and she recently appeared on Broadway as Grandma Gellman in Caroline, or Change (2004).