In an interview with Billboard, Bette Midler had some very kind words for her Voice co-star Blake Shelton, going so far as to compare him to John Wayne.
When asked about how she’s finding her debut season on The Voice, Midler said she’s having so much fun. “The singers on the show have some of the most beautiful voices I’ve heard in public. This show has areal sweetness at its core. It’s not mean-spirited.”
She saved her highest praise for Shelton. “Blake is a hoot!” she said, “He is on the small screen, but I personally think—if I were his agent—I would get him on a big screen as quick as possible… He’s so photogenic, like a John Wayne Type.
Midler also revealed that she almost chose not to do The Voice. “What have I got to say to those Kids?” she thought. Someone she only describes as a well-known singer convinced her to do it, telling her, “You tell them what it means to be a performer.”
The interview also touched on Midler’s classic Halloween comedy, Hocus Pocus. The singer says she’d be open to a sequel. In fact, “for the life of [her],” she can’t understand why there isn’t one. When asked why it remains a classic, she responded, “You don’t get to see women doing slapstick too much, and in the movie you can see we’re having a blast.”
Midler is currently preparing to play the lead role in Hello Dolly! on Broadway, where she says she’s having a great time. “I’ve never had a part this big on Broadway.” The show, opening in March of 2017, has already broken Broadway’s single-day sales records, bringing in over $9 Million in advance tickets.
