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ONSTAGE & BACKSTAGE: The Rosie Cruise, Part I
By Seth Rudetsky
17 Jul 2007
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Andrea McArdle and Seth Rudetsky at sea.
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I'm back from the Rosie cruise and I'm too scared to weigh myself.
My friend Tim said that we were doing Body for Life-style dieting on the cruise (six small meals a day) but changing the modifier from "small" to "mammoth." There was one dinner where I fully acted out during dessert and had two Tiramisu's and some chocolate cake. Of course, after 11, I went to the late night buffet just to meet my friends, thinking there was no way I would eat, but there was a crepe bar. I'm talking fresh-off-the-grill fresh crepes. Of course, I had to have one…but then I noticed the "make your own sundae" bar. Every since I saw a commercial for "Zips" when I was a kid (anybody remember?), I've been obsessed with making my own sundae. Suffice it to say, I made my own sundae as well as confirming my future outfits would include drawstring pants. But enough about my eating disorder, bring on the cruise details.
Saturday: Got onto the ship early (you're not supposed to call it a boat…it's like calling an "Original Cast Recording" a "Soundtrack") and started rehearsal for that night's show, "Rosie's Broadway Belters." The opening number had great lyrics by Michael Lee Scott sung to "Magic to Do": We've got cruisin' to do…just for you/We've got tons of events each day
Where the seas are serene" Rosie: "And no split screen!"
That was a sassy reference by Michael Lee to Rosie's last day on "The View" where she and Elisabeth Hasselbeck duked it out. When Rosie sang that line, the ensemble held up a pic of Elisabeth. I guess it was immature on my part, but I suggested we add a mustache to the photo. Of course, someone in the audience took a photo and it wound up in US Magazine. Where's my commission?
Some highlights included Sarah Uriarte Berry and her husband Michael singing "Evil" from Smokey Joe's Café. Even though they sounded hot together, the song seemed a little random. So I thought it should reference the hot romance they were having while they were both doing Les Miz. In the middle of all the Leiber and Stoller sassiness, they suddenly broke into "Do You Hear the People Sing" and "Castle on a Cloud" as the onstage turntable spun them and then went right back to the song.
Since a lot of couples get married on the boat, I thought it would be fun to do a marriage song with a twist. Hence, Jimmy Smagula and my boyfriend, James, sang "Old Fashioned Wedding." It sounds great with two guys, and I changed the key so both James and Jimmy had to belt B flats! When Rosie introduced the number, she talked about Jimmy being in the audience of her show and saying he wanted to be on Broadway, and since then he's been in three! Or, as Rosie said, nine.
The show closed with three singers doing an audience sing-along of "You Light Up My Life." After a few measures, Capathia Jenkins stormed onstage and said we couldn't end the show that way. She launched into the brassy "(Let a Big Black Lady) Stop the Show" from Martin Short's Fame Becomes Me. I'm obsessed with the lyric "Now if Julie Andrews had a black maid in that play, well then My Fair Lady would still be running today." Hilarious! If you don't have that CD, get it ASAP. The songs are so fun, and Capathia's voice is out of control. She sings "clap your ha-a-a-a-a-ands" and holds "hands" on an F sharp! No wonder she screen tested for Effie…Miss Thing has chops! The brilliant team of Marc Shaiman/Scott Whitman wrote it, and, p.s., I just hung up the phone with Marc, who told me that the workshop for their new musical, Catch Me If You Can, begins rehearsals this week starring Nathan Lane, Christian Borle and Tom Wopat. He managed to give me the information while also berating me for being so out of the loop. Kudos for double tasking.
Sunday: Egg White omelet for breakfast, counteracted by a "side" of oatmeal with a cup of brown sugar. Mmmm. That afternoon I did a Chatterbox interview with Andrea McArdle. Amazing. First of all, I hope you know that she wasn't cast as Annie originally. She was Pepper, the tough orphan, and the girl they had as Annie was adorable and sweet. When they started previews at Goodspeed, the creators realized that Annie wasn't adorable and sweet, she was sassy and street smart. Andrea was bumped up to the title role and played it on Broadway and in London where Molly, the youngest orphan, was Catherine Zeta-Jones and Daddy Warbucks was Michael Douglas! All right, the last part was a lie, but not particularly far-fetched.
I demanded that she talk about my favorite TV move "Rainbow" (the young Judy Garland story), and she said that she had a terrible time filming it. Jackie Cooper directed it and did things like tell her to look at the wall, which she would do. Then he'd say "Okay, we got the shot." She literally has certain close ups where she's supposed to be feeling something deep, and the feeling is actually "hmm … pretty wall." Continued...
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