By Seth Rudetsky
11 Sep 2007

Jack is also here because we're both doing the Actors Fund benefit of Celebrity Autobiographies. It's an L.A.-based show that was on Bravo last year where a bunch of actors get up and read sections of autobiographies. It's all real, and every excerpt is an amazing combination of narcissism and unawareness. I'm reading Star Jones' autobiography, where she describes her first long-term relationship. "He was an actor. He had no money. He was, it turns out, ten years younger than me." Sounds healthy. She also talks about where they had their first date. He picked the bar, and she describes it with no irony or hint of foreboding. "[It was a] wild place. Full of gays, straights, and even transvestites." Well, I guess I've had first dates in places like that, but, um....it's a little more appropriate for me. Anyhoo, go to Actorsfund.org if you wanna come...it's funny!

This week I interviewed Broadway's hottest couple, Jenny Powers and Matt Cavenaugh. Jenny is playing Rizzo in Grease, a role she first created in high school. Wouldn't it be great if we could all play our high school roles on Broadway? I'm still waiting for the next revival of Fiddler on the Roof, so I can show the world my Rabbi. Anyhoo, she fessed up that she was a pageant girl on the advice of Kate Shindle (Miss America '98 and currently in Legally Blonde). I kept dishing that line that pageant girls give: "It's not a beauty pageant, it's a scholarship contest." Really? I didn't have to sign up for my student loan in a bikini. Regardless, Jenny's pageant wins did actually wind up paying for her last two years at Northwestern. When she moved to NYC, she was asked to audition for the oldest sister in Little Women, but she didn't want to be pigeon holed as the pretty soprano ingénue, so she said no. They then offered her the part. It was like a live-action version of "The 'God why don't you love me, oh you do, I'll see you later Blues."

Essentially, "We'll deign to give you an audition. Wait, you don't want the part? Then it's yours!" She said Maureen McGovern, who played Marmee, was wonderful. Maureen would fly to different places in the world to do concerts on her day off, come back to the show on three hours sleep and still sound amazing. Maureen has had a lot of ups and downs in her career. After her first big single ("There's Got to Be a Morning After") won the Oscar, she couldn't get work and had to work as a secretary! Can you imagine? When I interviewed her, I asked, jokingly, if she disguised herself as "Maureen Schwartz." She said I was right! She would answer the phone with "Glenda Schwartz, can I help you?" Turns out, I'm psychic. But only if it relates to Broadway. It's true! I had a bad feeling about Bobbi Boland, and I was right.

Matt talked about doing Urban Cowboy and told me that even though he doesn't read reviews, he knew what they said because the day after it opened, he would walk in a room, and suddenly people would make a distinctive lack of eye contact. The show was going to close right after it opened, and at the last performance, the cast came onstage because they were going to end with some songs that were cut out of town. Suddenly, the producer came onstage and announced that she was gonna keep it open! Oy! Whose blood pressure can take such ups and downs? Speaking of ups and downs, Matt did Grey Gardens Off-Broadway and was psyched when he heard it was moving to Broadway. But then found out that he had to re-audition for his part! What's up with that? I said he should have told them to watch a bootleg of his performance on YouTube.

Jenny said that her final callback for Grease was a nachtmare. It was Kathleen Marshall, the British producer David Ian, and since Jim Jacobs was on vacation, he sent someone in his stead. While Jenny was singing "There Are Worse Things I Could Do," Jim Jacobs' replacement's cell phone went off! And kept ringing! She was so thrown — she thought that she blew her audition. I asked her if David Ian said, "You're...not Rizzo." Wouldn't that be an awful way to find out news? Ooh, speaking of the Grease reality show, turns out the blonde host (not Billy Bush) just got cast in the London Rent; yes, Denise Van Outen will be Maureen. And Joanne is "Top Chef" star Padma Lakshmi. . .

Okay, kids. Friday is the first preview! Can't wait! And Happy New Year!

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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. His first novel, "Broadway Nights," is due in the fall.)