ONSTAGE & BACKSTAGE: "Broadway Nights" and Days
By Seth Rudetsky
Secondly, I complained to my dresser because my dance belt was way too tight. All of our clothes are washed between shows, and I told him that someone must have shrunk it. Well, I'm devastated to admit this in print, but I will. After 15 minutes of complaining, I realized that I put it on backwards . Do you know what a dance belt looks like? The back has a single, thin strap. A thin, cutting strap. That strap was literally over my front and, let me just say, I'm not surprised that it hurt. Or that I can't have children.
Thirdly, the Studio 54 theatre has very little wing space, and during the opening scene my friend Jeffrey has to wheel on a bed. He was constantly warned by the tech crew to watch the scrim. The scrim tears easily and is incredibly expensive. Every time we ran the scene, the crew would tell him to be super careful and not be "that guy," as in "that guy" who tore the scrim. Poor Jeffrey, I thought, the pressure on him is enormous. Well, during the Sunday matinee, I was leaving the stage and carrying my walker with the bottom facing straight out from me to expedite my exit. I veered slightly to the right and got my walker caught on something. Hmm, I thought, "What's tangled around my walker?" Yes, people. I was "that guy." I tore the scrim, and the devastation you feel when that happens is second only to a dance belt cutting into your bladder.
The best news is that the audiences have been amazing all weekend. It's so fun to hear laughs throughout the show instead of "Hold, please."
Oh, yeah, my Chatterbox begins on TV this week! It's on every Thursday night on NBC during their "Must See TV" line up — I mean Tuesdays at 12:30 in the afternoon on Manhattan's Public Access Channel 56. Hmm. This week is Legally Blonde 's married couple: Orfeh and Andy Karl. Finally, I can appeal to the masses! And, by "masses," I mean anyone home in the middle of the afternoon who is channel surfing and actually gets up to the fifties.
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The only thing more awkward than the time of my TV
Chatterbox is some of the NYMF schedule. I want to go see
Yellow Wood , and they actually have performances at 4:30 in the afternoon. What do you call a 4:30 show? It's too late for a matinee… a dusk-inee? Maybe I'll ask someone from the cast of
Christmas Carol . They essentially had shows every 45 minutes on the 45 minutes.
This week is also special because my first novel, "Broadway Nights," just got shipped out from the printers! My publisher is sending me my copies this week, and I'll be selling them at the Broadway Flea Market on Sunday. Come by my booth and get an autographed copy or some Chatterbox DVDs. It's all for BC/EFA. There're also great items at the silent auction at www.BCEFA.org. I want to get the "Mein Herr" music signed by John Kander in honor of the hours I spent as an eight-year-old trying to choreograph it in my den (all I knew was to sit with the chair facing backwards…after that I was stuck).
Well, I'm off to the gym, everyone. Peace out and enjoy that delicious crisp weather!
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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.)
Seth Rudetsky and Jack Plotnick at the party for "Celebrity Autobiography."
photo by Aubrey Reuben
