By Seth Rudetsky
05 Jan 2009

	Julia Murney and Seth Rudetsky
	photo by Cortes Alexander

New Year's Day was the continuation of a long held tradition: Pancakes at Julia Murney's apartment. She's been doing this for more than ten years and it's stayed the same over all these years. Show up any time after noon and you'll get pancakes, bacon, juice and coffee, all served by Miss Murney. I ran into Jen Cody later on and she expanded on the story I wrote about last week featuring Sutton going to the open call of Grease! While Sutton was staying with Jen and Hunter, she looked in Backstage and said, "Ooh! There's an open call for Grease!! I'd better go to the corner passport store and get an 8 x 10." She got her photo (!) and announced, "I'm off to the audition. I'll be singing 16 bars of 'Oklahoma!'" Jen said at that point she finally shook her head and said to Hunter, "Sutton has to stop thinking she can get a job by going to an audition with a crazy photo and bizarre audition song. She needs to — " and that's the moment Sutton ran in and screamed, "I got it!"

	Kate Shindle
	photo by Seth Rudetsky

I also saw Kate Shindle (from Legally Blonde) at the pancake fest and we were laughing about a video of us put up on youtube. It's from an interview I did with her which she ended by singing. The video is crazy because a.) it keeps the first three minutes of us at the piano, slowly deciding what song to do, b.) the person who put it up didn't know how to change the video to "Portrait" so half of it is Kate belting, completely sideways. I posted it on my website (www.SethRudetsky.com) and you can also see a photo in this column for a reenactment.

A few weeks ago, Idina Menzel emailed me and asked if I still coached because she needed me. I had no problem coaching her, but I had a problem with her other request: keeping it a secret! She was getting ready to sing "Don't Rain On My Parade" for the Kennedy Center salute to Barbra Streisand and had been sworn to keep it under wraps. It was so frustrating for me not to reveal everything as it unfolded, but I kept my trap shut. She worked hard doing research, listening to so many different versions of Barbra doing it so she could do a proper homage. Finally, we picked what parts would be a tip o' the hat to Barbra (like speaking "It's me and not you!") and what would be her own (right before the bridge she changed the melody to go up to an E on "Who told you you're allowed to rain on my parade!"). Plus, since Idina did my Actors' Fund concert of Funny Girl, she remembered how amazing Lillias White's version was of the song so we added a tip o' the hat to Lillias' version (going up a minor third on the word know"Get what I want, I know how"). Finally, I couldn't keep how amazing Idina sounded a total secret so I had her sing it for James in our apartment (who loved it). Then I called my sister Nancy in Virginia, put the phone on the kitchen table and had Idina sing it for her! Nancy went crazy after the song was over and it actually helped Idina because it made her a little nervous so she could get used to how that felt. I was so proud of Idina when I watched the airing of the show last week. I warned her that the camera was going to cut to Barbra's reaction, which would run the gamut from staring to glaring. I was essentially right, but in reality, how is somebody supposed to look when they're watching a song being sung? I think people wanted Barbra to be smiling the whole time while muttering to James Brolin, "She sounds great!" What do most of us look like when we're listening? Do we have a smile plastered to our face the whole time? Isn't that crazy looking? The only reaction the Kennedy Center should be showing is the one after the number where you can see how happy the person is as they clap…or if they're pretentious, as they snap.

Last week I also saw Dividing the Estate, partly because I'm trying to force myself to see more plays that don't include high belting, and partly to see Penny Fuller, with whom I did A New Brain ten years ago. Of course, I got to my seat at "places" which I always do because I'm perpetually late and James handed me the slip that was inside the Playbill: At this performance, the role usually played by Penny Fuller will be played by Jennifer Harmon. I was devastated! Cut to: I loved the show and Ms. Harmon was great in the part! It's one of those theatre lessons: Don't immediately dread seeing the understudy…even if you're there to see the person playing the part. And the other lesson is for the person who was sitting behind me: Chew with your mouth closed. Thanks.

OK, big news! I just got a phone call saying that we got the three-bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side we applied for last week. Yay! I must start preparing to move ASAP! But any minute, Jackie Hoffman is coming over to rehearse for her hi-larious Hanukkah show I'm playing for tonight at Joe's Pub! Hmm…maybe I can convince her that helping me pack my enormous collection of Playbills in a box is a time-honored warm-up. Anybody? Nobody.

(Seth Rudetsky is the host of "Seth's Big Fat Broadway" on SIRIUS Satellite Radio and the author of "The Q Guide to Broadway" and the novel "Broadway Nights." He has played piano in the orchestras of 15 Broadway musicals and hosts the BC/EFA benefit weekly interview show Seth's Broadway Chatterbox at Don't Tell Mama every Thursday at 6 PM. He can be contacted by visiting www.sethrudetsky.com.)