By Seth Rudetsky
22 Oct 2007

Saturday between shows was a potluck, which I opted out of because (a) I had to do some work at Sirius radio and (b) there's been so much food backstage since opening that I'm literally growing out of my unitard. Anyhoo, apparently people in the cast really enjoyed themselves because at last count, three of them threw up: one after the whole show, one of them during intermission and one who rushed off the stage and aimed into the garbage. Was there something rotten served? Did they overeat? Were they thinking about the summer stock production of Applause that I saw? Only they know the answer, and I'm too grossed out to ask them.

I interviewed Betty Buckley this week, and she was so much fun! First of all, her "new" CD, "Betty Buckley 1967," is out! It's a recording she made with a jazz trio when she was a teenager that she sent to her boyfriend and NY agent. They played some of it on her Bravo special, and Phil Birsh, Richard Jay-Alexander and Andrew Gans from Playbill Records convinced her to release it. She sounds amazing. She said that she's learned something from listening to it all these years later. Nowadays, when she does a CD, she's constantly re-recording phrases and/or punching in notes she doesn't like, but all the songs on "Betty Buckley 1967" were done in one take! She wants to recapture some of that "singing for the sake of singing" and not the over-thinking/trying-to-make-perfect version of performing she sometimes does nowadays. She wants the spontaneity and joy of her early youth, not the arduous perfection-seeking so many artists fall into.

Betty talked about wanting to be in the original Pippin on Broadway because she had been obsessed with Bob Fosse ever since she was 12. Her agent also worked with Jill Clayburgh and told Betty that she had no audition because the Pippin people weren't interested in her. Jill Clayburgh got the part, and when she left, the Pippin people wrote Betty and said they were interested in her auditioning for the original but were told that she left the business! Hmph! "Not interested" indeed! She got the part of Catherine and stayed in the show for a year and a half. "Why so long?" I asked. She said that it paid for her therapy! Ironically, I was just made dance captain of The Ritz and told my boyfriend that extra cash would cover my therapy! Uh-oh…too much info? Um….physical therapy?

I asked her how she went from playing the step mom on "Eight is Enough" to starring in Cats. She said that when Cats was announced, a lot of women wanted to sing "Memory." Rumor has it, Cher was vying for the part! She would have sounded fantastic! (And, by the way, today is opposite day.) Anyhoo, at that point, Betty had hit it big with 1776 in the late sixties but still didn't really have a signature role/song like many of her contemporaries. She went in for many Cats auditions, and at her final call back she asked the director, Trevor Nunn, to come to the stage so she could say something. She told him that there were indeed other women who could sing the part as well as her… but there weren't any women who could sing it better… and it was her turn! She knew that could either backfire or pay off, and thankfully it was the latter! However, once she started rehearsals, it was a nightmare. Trevor wanted to make the other dancers really think of her as the rejected cat, Grizabella, so he didn't let her sing for the cast during the first weeks of rehearsals. Instead, he made her do dance rehearsals with the cast, knowing that she was not at their level. She remembers doing horrifying chaine turns across the floor but not being allowed to sing "Memory." It was à la Jerome Robbins separating the Sharks and The Jets during West Side Story rehearsals. I'm sure the desired result is achieved, but at what cost? Can't you just say to the cast, "Act like you don't like Grizabella," instead of making a belter do turns to the left?

Betty said her only job assignment was to "stop the show." Does the word "pressure" mean anything to you? "Your only job is to achieve world peace. And 'places'." Of course, she couldn't do it at first. She'd sing "Memory" and literally get tepid applause. Ouch. One day she said she saw a homeless woman walk by her apartment on 79th Street, who was dressed crazily with streaked lipstick, but walked with a fashion-plate attitude. She realized that was the key! She had been playing Grizabella as pathetic and self-pitying, but she instead decided to play it like she had something beautiful to share. This was near the end of previews, and she doesn't feel she finally got the hang of the role until a while after opening night, but thankfully she got it in time to win the Tony Award. It was her turn!

I heard that Betty's concert at Town Hall last Saturday was fabulous, and I wish I could have seen it. She came to The Ritz Thursday night and brought me delicious chocolates (which led to me opting out of the pot luck dinner…and the aftermath).

OK, this week I'm performing in a Theatreworks/USA with Kevin Chamberlin, my TV Chatterbox on Manhattan Neighborhood Network features Raul Esparza (Tuesday 12:30 PM, channel 56), and my live Thursday Chatterbox is with the legend Chita Rivera! Ole!

(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 is titled "Broadway Nights.")