By Seth Rudetsky
07 Nov 2007

After Nine won the Tony Award for Best Musical, a producer suggested that Maury do a musical version of The Phantom of the Opera. He completed it, and it was headed for Broadway. Then there was a little announcement in the paper saying that Andrew Lloyd Webber was considering doing a musical about The Phantom. Maury said that even though it wasn't definite, just a possibility, all the funding dried up immediately. People knew that Lloyd Webber's show would be a hit in London (if it happened) and then come to Broadway (PS, where it's now the longest-running show). So, Maury's show lives on regionally and in Europe (it's now at the Westchester Broadway Theater).

Tommy Tune called him in the late eighties and said that Grand Hotel (a musical composed by Wright/Forrest, who wrote Kismet) had opened in Boston, and the review said, "They might have saved My One and Only, but they can't save this one. Tommy asked Maury to come and help. Maury went out to eat with Wright and Forrest and said that he was mortified to be there because he knew that it was every composer's nightmare. Turns out, Wright and Forrest couldn't have been more gracious and said that they wanted him to help because they wouldn't dream of putting all these people out of work. They just wanted credit given for whatever song they wrote and vice versa. Maury realized that Wright/Forrest wrote a very old-school linear show, and Tommy was doing a non-linear/no-set show that needed a different type of music. Maury wrote an opening number (there wasn't one when the show started in Boston!) and many other songs, and Grand Hotel wound up being nominated for many Tony Awards (including Best Musical and Score). It also wound up running for more than 1,000 performances. Take that, Boston critic! Unfortunately, it also gave us that commercial where we found out that woman's husband "worked in the area." Anybody?

I brought up the brilliant performance by David Carroll, who played the Baron. I was so blown away by his performance and was so frustrated that he didn't sing the Baron on the CD. Turns out, Wright/Forrest were holding out on allowing a CD because they wanted a recording of the show they originally wrote, and not the Broadway version(!). So, it took a long time for them to come around and agree to a CD with a combo of Forrest/Wright and Yeston music. Well, by that point, David Carroll was very sick with AIDS, but the powers that be were going to record him singing to just a piano track and then add the orchestra later. David apparently was much sicker than anyone thought because he arrived at the studio, told everyone he needed to go to the bathroom, and died while he was in there. The beautiful part is that there's an added track at the end of the CD, which is David singing "Love Can't Happen" during his cabaret act at Steve McGraw's. The ending of that song is one of the most thrilling moments I remember experiencing in the theatre. He got the end of the song and sang, "When love comes, you'll know…" on an E flat. I remember thinking, "Surely, he's not going to go any higher," and then he sang "And… I… kno-o-o-o-o-o-ow!" on an A flat, and I almost fell out of my seat. It was unbelievable. And, even though he had to physically climb all around the set because his character was also a thief, he said that hitting that last note was the hardest thing he ever had to do onstage. You must listen to it and hear that man's voice!

This week during a performance of The Ritz, shockingly, I started laughing onstage yet again. But this time, I will not take the blame for it! I blame All Hallows Eve. Two guys showed up to see The Ritz and thought that it was a Broadway tradition to dress up in the audience. It isn't. They were the only ones in costume, and they were dressed as bacon and eggs. They looked adorable, but they were sitting in the front row! How can I pretend to be scared of Carmine Vespucci brandishing a gun when I see a delicious breakfast order inches away. And, it was even more bizarre because they weren't commenting on their costumes…they were just sitting there watching the show. An enormous fried egg and a side of bacon with Playbills in their laps. Normally, at the end of Act One, Rosie Perez shakes hands with someone in the front row, and during intermission we told her that we loved that she shook the hands of the bacon. She was shocked when we told her that he was bacon. She assumed he was a Rabbi! She thought the strips were his tallis. I politely informed her that there's a big difference between a Rabbi and bacon.

Here's some exciting news: Since my novel, "Broadway Nights," was just published, I've decided to do a book release party/show/Actors Fund benefit. I'm gonna read some chapters as the lead character and have some actors join me to be the other characters. I'm so excited that I got my comedy idol, Andrea Martin, to play the crazy governess! Plus, there's a whole chapter about the lead seeing Annie, and which makes him decide to ixnay opera for musical theatre, so I'm gonna cap that off by having Annie sing! That's right, I booked Shelly Bruce! Just kidding, Annie fanatics, I got Andrea McArdle! It's gonna be on Sunday, Nov. 18 at 7 PM at the Ars Nova.

Oh, yeah, speaking of "Broadway Nights," of course I keep obsessively checking to see my Amazon reviews. They've been going amazingly…every customer reviewer gave me five stars! until….I checked last night and saw that I got two stars (!) from a woman who flat out admitted to just skimming it! I was devastated! It pulled my whole ranking down. I decided to investigate and see what other books she's reviewed. Suffice it to say, she gave five stars to a book about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome because she's had it for 15 years…and she's also 82! An 82- year-old with chronic fatigue? I wasn't aiming for that demographic!

All right, I'm excited because this is a Joe's Pub week. I'm going Monday night (the 5th) to see the sweet-voiced and hilarious Andrea Burns (In the Heights) celebrate her newly released CD ("A Darker Shade of Red"), and then next Sunday I'm seeing another Diva whose hair is a lighter shade of red: Miss Coco. If you don't know who that is, get thee to YouTube and/or rent "Girls Will Be Girls." She's hysterical! Oh, and you can still use my Ritz discount code (RISETH) to get 30% off tickets at www.roundabouttheatre.org. If you come to the show, please leave your breakfast at home!