By Seth Rudetsky
12 Jun 2007
Find a 16 that has a beginning, a middle and an end! I was also telling the kids not to look above the auditioners' heads (something I learned from playing piano for Sara Lazarus' brilliant audition class). It looks crazy. Look at the eye level but next to them…like there's a whole audience around them. This way they feel you connect, but don't feel put on the spot. When you sing a whole song looking the auditioner in the eye, they start to feel like they're Michael Douglas to your Glenn Close.
My boyfriend James told me how much he loved "Fame," and I readily agreed…till he specified he meant the TV series! What? How can you compare the film's Anne Meara to Carol Mayo Jenkins? James informed me that he never saw the film, so I forgave him. That TV show put the hack in hackneyed. My friend Ben used to make me laugh hysterically describing this episode: The President of the United States(!) is coming to watch a performance at the High School, and everyone is atwitter. The night of the performance comes, and a secret service agent comes backstage to inform the English teacher, the aforementioned Carol Mayo Jenkins, that the President had something come up and had to cancel. She is silent. After all, the kids worked so hard on the show. The Secret Service guy feels terrible and mutters, "I don't know what to say." She looks at him saucily and says, "I do." She then raises one eyebrow and quietly declares, "Places, everybody. Places." Amazing!
Tony night was fun as always, and my favorite win was Julie White for The Little Dog Laughed. She was so unbelievably funny in that show. I interviewed her at my Chatterbox, and she was a riot. She told me about meeting her husband for the first time. It was at a barbeque. He was in his twenties, and after they had been chatting up a storm, he finally asked her, "How old are you? Like 35?" She said, "I said yes. Because I was 39, which is 'like 35'!"
I loved the reveal of who the Tony hosts were by holding up photos Chorus Line-style, but the most shocking reveal was … Angela Lansbury has a head shot!? For what? When she goes to an EPA? Is there a resume on the back?
AEA, SAG, AFTRA eligible
MAME- Mame (original cast)
Which reminds me, I need a new headshot. Mine is essentially my prom picture. I'm calling Angela's photog ASAP!
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(Seth Rudetsky is the host of "Seth's Big Fat Broadway" on SIRIUS Satellite Radio and the author of "The Q Guide to Broadway." He has played piano in the orchestras of 15 Broadway musicals, and he can be contacted by visiting www.sethsbroadwaychatterbox.com.)
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| Tony winner Julie White in The Little Dog Laughed.
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| photo by Carol Rosegg |
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