By Seth Rudetsky
20 Oct 2008
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| Lin-Manuel Miranda |
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| photo by Josh Lehrer |
A week in the life of actor, musician and Chatterbox host Seth Rudetsky.
Ooh, mid-October!
It's finally cold out and that means that the heat is not only on in Saigon, but also in my apartment. It also means that since I can't control the radiators, it's not only 110 in the shade, but also in my bedroom. And just to keep the musical references going, if I received a "little lamb" for my birthday and sang a song to it, it would be slow roasted by the bridge. Unless it was a puppet, but that's something I still completely don't understand.
Monday is usually benefit night in New York City, and I love it! Last Monday I did Kickin' It, which was put together by Lorin Latarro, who has the nerve to have done ten Broadway shows in the last ten years. She literally gets a new Broadway show every time I get my teeth cleaned. Not cool. Anyhoo, this was to help out Natasha "Nabba" Steinhagen, a Broadway dresser who's done tons of shows and is now struggling with ovarian cancer. The show was fantastic. Jim Newman (from Curtains) was the host and told people that he never likes people who host shows just to push their own agendas. He then complained it was hot, took off his jacket and revealed his boldly lettered T-shirt that read "McCain is 'Insain.'" Subtle, but blunt. Lorin directed the whole show and choreographed many of the numbers, and I love that her choreography had such humor. JoAnn Hunter and Noah Racey danced "Knock Me a Kiss," and Lorin's choreography showed them flirting by essentially beating the $%^# out of each other. There's nothing funnier than a romantic dance interrupted by a kick in the family jewels. Maybe the title of the whole night should have been "Kickin' it…in Noah Racey's crotch." The fabulous Josh Henry performed as well, and I expressed my sympathy to him. He was in the ensemble of In the Heights and understudied Benny. He was the first person to give his notice in the show, and he played his final performance in August. The cast was so sad to see him go but also very supportive because he was leaving to play a lead in a Broadway show. Unfortunately, it was Godspell, which wound up canceling its Broadway run. Of course, Josh couldn't go back to In the Heights because his replacement already took over, so he's been out of a gig. Ouch. He had a great attitude about it along the lines of "It's all good." Then, just a few days after I chatted with him, I found out that he's coming back to In the Heights because they need a new swing. Turns out, it is all good! On a related note, what's with the new "don't worry," now entitled "no worries"? What happened to "don't worry" or "no problem"? When did they become un-cool? Was it at the same time I was forced to replace "I'm devastated" with "It's all good"?
Speaking of In the Heights, Andrea Burns, who plays Daniela, scheduled her act for Monday night, Oct. 11 at 7 PM at The Laurie Beechman Theatre. Around a week before, her In the Heights stage manager reminded her about the Monday show. Andrea was like, "I know about the Monday show, since it's my act!" He was like, "I meant In the Heights. Don't forget, we added a show for Columbus Day at 8 PM." That's right. Her act was the same night as her Broadway show. So, she sent out an emergency email changing her start time to 11 PM, and we all hauled it out to see her. Her show is amazing. She sounds fantastic, and she's so hilarious. My favorite old-chestnut joke she does is about her five-year-old son (Andrea is half-Venezuelan and half Jewish). "His name is Hudson Rafael Flynn. Hudson because New York is where he was born, Rafael for his Venezuelan mother's side, and Flynn for his Irish father. And for those of you concerned that he's forgotten his Jewish roots, don't worry. The kid wrote half my act." It's no surprise that her grandfather was a headliner in the Borscht Belt.
At the Chatterbox, I had Lin-Manuel Miranda, Tony-winning composer/lyricist and star of In the Heights. He went to Hunter (public school for smart NY kids) and, turns out, didn't grow up "in the heights" but rather in Inwood. I asked him why he didn't write In the 'Wood and he said because Sondheim wrote it better. Quick answer! At Hunter, sixth grade pretty much just focuses on doing the big end-of-the-year musical. When he was in sixth grade, instead of one big show, they did six 20-minute musicals! He was a munchkin, an Oklahoma farmer, a son from Anatevka, Conrad Birdie, Bernardo and Capt. Hook. I asked him to describe how these mini-shows were done, and he said it was pretty much:
RIFF: Hey, Shark! Get out of here!
JETS: (sing) "When you're a Jet, you stay a Jet!"
MARIA: My hands are cold.
Etc…
One of the first shows he saw was Les Miz, and he and his mother would listen to the cast album all the time, specifically "Bring Him Home," which is similar to my mother except for one thing: My mother has the Jewish gene that turns everything negative. Once, I was putting on the Les Miz CD, and she (seriously) said, "Play my favorite song… He's Not Coming Home." It was a wonderful childhood. Continued...
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