By Seth Rudetsky
26 Jan 2009

Wednesday I was a mentor for the TDF Open Doors Scholarship Program. It was started in 1998 by Wendy Wasserstein, and it brings small groups of high school kids to Broadway shows. Afterwards, the mentor, who's a theatre professional (current mentors include Michael Mayer, Kathleen Marshall and Scott Ellis), lead the kids in a discussion. I was a last-minute replacement for Derek McLane, and I got to hang out with a great group of kids from Brooklyn's Edward R. Murrow High School and see Billy Elliot with them. First of all, the Billy I saw (Kiril Kulish) was a great dancer, and I was especially impressed by his acting. Of course, my main complaint is that the role doesn't have Annie-style belting. Why, whenever there's a little boy on Broadway, does he usually have to sing in that Oliver/Where is love/boy soprano style? Bring on the mini-Mermans! Speaking of mini-Mermans, I saw David Bologna play Michael, and he was fantastic. Where was that role when I was a kid? I easily could have done it...if the costume allowed for a 32-inch-waist. There were so many moments in the show that brought tears to my eyes. I'm such a sucker for a clean, solid-gesture at the end of a number, and there were so many songs that had Billy doing some crazy dance step (like 100 turns) and then he'd stop, and the last chord of the song would be played as he sassily hit his pose. And…tears! After the show, I talked with the very erudite Edward R. Morrow kids and turns out, their school has no sports programs and it instead spends all of its money on the arts! How great is that? They've done such creative shows in their school: Evita, Miss Saigon, and they were the first school to get the rights to The Producers! I wanna go to a high school where there's no sports and just the arts! What? I'd still get made fun of every day, and I wouldn't have the excuse of "I'm not good at sports"? Okay…I'll pass.

Wednesday, I did my Sirius/XM Live on Broadway show and started with Katrina Rose Dideriksen, who's about to star in the GLSEN benefit of Zanna, Don't! at the York on Feb. 3. First, let me say that I love GLSEN, which stands for the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network and focuses on ensuring safe schools for all kids…regardless of sexual orientation or gender expression. AKA, where were they my whole childhood? I'm so excited Zanna, Don't! is being done because just recently I was listening to it while I was unpacking and loving it! It's such a great CD. And, Marty Thomas, who was recently seen crouching under Shoshana Bean in Wicked, is gonna play Zanna. Katrina was the Tracy Turnblad standby on tour and on Broadway in Hairspray and said that the rats on the road were a nightmare. Not real rats, the fake ones in "Good Morning Baltimore." On Broadway when she sings "The rats on the street, all dance 'round my feet," toy rats were pulled across the stage on a string, but on the road they were remote controlled. One of the robot rats had a long antennae sticking out of its butt, and it got tangled in Katrina's skirt while she was singing. She kept performing and trying to get the rat out of her gams as it twisted round and round and she finally freed it. Unfortunately, she then saw two batteries roll into the pit. She realized that without the batteries, the rat was gonna stay dead-center onstage. So, while she was singing, she acted totally Tracy Turnblad-like, picked up the rat while wearing a big smile… and put it in her purse! Brava! I'm great friends with Anika Larsen, who was the original Roberta Off-Broadway in Zanna, Don't!, and she can't do the benefit because she's starring in the Avenue Q tour. I couldn't imagine anyone else playing that part, but Katrina sang "I Ain't Got Time" and tore it up. I can't wait to see the benefit! For tix go to www.glsenstore.org.

	Andrea Burns and Seth
	photo by Robb Johnston

After I interviewed Katrina, I had Andrea Burns from In the Heights on the show. I brought her on because after the interview, the audience gets to meet the performers, and I knew she'd sell a ton of her CDs …but I forgot to tell her about that part. So, after the interview, the audience came over to get autographs and buy stuff, and I suddenly realized I didn't tell Andrea to bring her CDs. Every time an audience person came up and asked what was for sale I felt incredibly guilty…but not guilty enough to not sell my two books. They flew off the shelf. I still got it! And by "it" I mean sullen glances from Andrea. PS, you can get her CD ("A Deeper Shade of Red") at http://www.myspace.com/andreaburnsmusic.

More stories about moving. Of course, I was supposed to clean out my old apartment when I moved, and I was certainly planning on doing it at some point. My landlord lives in California, but he told me that he was coming to NY to stay in the apartment and do some renovating. I had around a week after we moved out to get the apartment in order, and by the time I knew my landlord was coming, I had thought about cleaning the apartment many, many times. I waited 'til the last minute, but since he was flying in from the West Coast, I figured I had all day to get it spotless. Of course, my cell phone rang at 9 AM because he has taken the red eye. Ouch. I told him I would clean it out ASAP. I instead stopped to get a leisurely breakfast at a diner on 77th Street and at the table next to me…my landlord sat down. Hi! We chatted, and I told him I was off to clean the apartment. As I left, I realized that I had therapy so I hightailed it uptown. I sent him a text saying I would definitely stop by later…and he wrote back to say that I had left without paying for my meal. It's a good thing I have a new apartment because I would probably be evicted by now.

OK, this week I'm playing for the fantastic Norm Lewis at the Lincoln Center Barnes and Noble on Wednesday at 6 PM. He's promoting his CD "This Is The Life," and I'll be insisting he does all the songs that have amazing high notes (aka "Before the Parade Passes By," "This Is the Life" and "We Live on Borrowed Time"). Then I'm off to Salt Lake City, UT, with Paul Castree and Andrea McArdle. I’m going to do my deconstructing show (and feature them in it) and then do some audition workshops. I'm always doing these workshops out of town, so I've finally decided to do one in New York. On Feb. 8 I'm giving a workshop right here in midtown! You can register at my website (www.SethRudetsky.com) and learn to start enjoying auditioning. Why should the Mormons have all the fun? Peace out!

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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" 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.)