ONSTAGE & BACKSTAGE: Sittin' Playin' Piano — With Andrea McArdle
By Seth Rudetsky
26 Jun 2007
Friday night, I went to the After Party at The Laurie Beechman Theater. Cute Brandon Cutrell was the host and sang up a storm with his pretty tenor voice. Then I heard a sasstress I hadn't heard before: Alysha Umphress. I want to give her a shout out, but since I can't pronounce her first or last name, I will give her a "write out." She sang "Where Are the Simple Joys of Maidenhood" and worked it! The arrangement was in a jazz style she put in the coolest riffs. Not the kind of riffs that make you turn off "American Idol," the kind that, if Julie Andrews had employed, the show would have run longer than the original 875 performances (thank you IBDB). I was there to play for Christine Pedi who's doing a new show at The Metropolitan Room. She was trying out her version of "And I Am Telling You" as sung by people like Joan Rivers, Bernadette Peters and Little Edie ("oh no, there's no way I'm living without you, Mother Dear…"). When I got there, I told Brandon that I was also gonna play for my boyfriend who was gonna sing a Valjean song from Les Miz. Brandon had a list of performers and asked for my boyfriend's name and I said James. Anyhoo, I finished playing for Christine (who brought the house down) and Brandon announced "Now, give it up for James." I was mortified because I realized I never gave James' last name (Wesley) but I figured it was too late and started playing. James sang Valjean's first big number, which is crazily high! ("This is all I have lived for…this is all I have known" has all these B flats! Hello? Has Claude Michel Schonberg ever heard of a matinee? Who has those notes at 2 PM?) Anyway, James finished with "…another story must begi-i-i-i-i-i-i-in" (on a high A…ow) and as the audience clapped, Brandon announced "Ladies and Gentlemen…James." It was crazy! Does he think I'm dating someone who thinks he's Cher? Madonna? Orfeh? I was mortified.
Saturday, we went to see LoveMusik. Donna Murphy and Michael Cerveris are such character actors. Sometimes it's great to see an actor you love playing a character he/she always plays. In this show, I found it so cool to see Michael/Donna playing characters I've never seen them play before. So specific, down to the vocal traits. Donna said all of her lines above a C sharp. Every time she'd say a word particularly high, I'd imagine her belting out the end of "Writing on the Wall" when she replaced Betty Buckley in Drood.
Also, the rest of the cast was so crazily talented! Annie Morrison! Judy Blazer! John Scherer doing pull backs!
Sunday night, James and I rushed down to the Vineyard Theater to see the All-Asian production of Falsettoland which is one of my favorite shows. Suffice it to say, due to someone in front of us slowly walking down the stairs we missed the Q train that would have gotten us there with time to spare. Instead we rushed into the theatre and the speaker in the lobby was broadcasting "This is the year…of Jason's Bar Mitzvah..." The show had just begun. We decided to leave because I need to see that show from the beginning so I can be crying for the full 90 minutes instead of 88. We're coming back Tuesday because there's one delicious week left. That means this upcoming week we're seeing Falsettoland and The Actor's Fund performance of The Year of Magical Thinking. I'm gonna need to balance that recipe for clinical depression with a hefty bluegobo.com showing of "I Had a Ball" with Karen Morrow. Watch it ASAP. It's like Prozac with vibrato!
(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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Donna Murphy in LoveMusik.
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| photo by Carol Rosegg |
