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Another week, another Southern city. Hello from Myrtle Beach, SC. I just did a Master Class at Coastal Carolina College with the musical theatre majors and then did my Deconstructing Broadway show. I was nervous that the turnout for the show would be zero because a half hour before my show began, we were issued a tornado watch. Thankfully, people still turned up and we were spared a twister. However, throughout the whole show I was trying to recall how to protect yourself during a tornado and couldn't remember if you're supposed to stand in a door frame or open windows on the opposite of the tornado or stop, drop and roll. It didn't matter because the tornado didn't bring the theatre down, but my comedy sure brought the house down! Anybody? Anybody for an obvious/unfunny pun? Nobody.

I began the week hearing the amazing Anne Steele at The Metropolitan Room. I L-O-V-E-D it! She got the gig after winning a city-wide contest sponsored by the Metropolitan Room and the show was called Strings Attached because it featured a violinist, a cellist, a bass player and a guitar, with great arrangements by Kenny Davidson. First of all, I'm obsessed with strings, and to hear them in a small setting like that was so exciting. Plus, she had a great song selection, including Britney Spears' "Toxic." Most of Britney Spears songs are toxic to me, but I loved hearing one Monday night. And Anne had a different spin on it than Britney's…that is, it wasn't lip-synched. I posted a video of her singing the mournful "Tennessee Waltz"…take a gander! (sethrudetsky.com)

Wednesday I had David Pittsinger, the new Emile DeBecque at my Sirius/XM Live on Broadway Show. He's performed opera all over the world and he told me about one night where the leading soprano couldn't reach her high notes…so she whistled the end of an aria! I'm sure that really fooled the audience. That reminded me of a Saturday Night Fever performance where Orfeh would usually do an amazing riff up the scale and it would end with her belting a high note. One night she was sick and as she was doing the riff, she felt that her voice was too tired to hit the high note. So, she did the riff and when the top note came, she just pointed above her head in a "I'm nailing it" pose. She had all the sass and body language of a diva hitting an amazing note…without the actual note. PS, I think that actually did fool the audience.

Back to David. I regaled him with the story of the brilliant opera singer Teresa Stratas who had the lead in Rags. When she began performances, she balked at having to wear a body mic. She was from the world of opera where everything is acoustic. Regardless, by the end of the first week, I was told that Teresa not only was wearing a body mic, but had tried to pull it down from her forehead (where it was taped) to directly in front of her mouth! She may be have been from the world of opera where they sing sans mic, but she was also from the world of opera where they do two performances every four months.

Speaking of performances, I also interviewed the wonderful Robin DeJesus who plays Sonny in In the Heights. He told me that he's hardly missed any performances of the show, but Priscilla Lopez hasn't missed any. She's never been sick and she's never taken a personal day. She is old school, people. Robin, however, may not have missed many shows, but he missed a crucial prop. In the middle of Act One, he's supposed to quickly hand Usanvi a coffee to give to Vanessa. She then that it's says that it's sweet with a little bit of cinnamon like her grandma used to make. That leads to Usnavi getting a date with her. Cut to Robin didn't look down when he picked up his prop, and instead of handing Usnavi a cup of coffee, he handed him a Coke! Lin-Manuel had no time to change it, so he just handed Vanessa the Coke and she was forced to ad lib a response which was "Oh….my Grandma used to like these." What??? as my father is fond of saying.

After my interview with David, he sang "This Nearly Was Mine" and the audience nearly fell off their chairs because it was so gorgeous! David has a delicious, rich voice and I've got to go see him in South Pacific.

Wednesday night I met up with my old High School friend, Terry Heyman. Terry was not only the nurse to my paralyzed artist in our 11th grade production of Whose Life Is it Anyway?, but she was also my prom date! And, yes, she knew I was gay. Please, people. It was the '80s. Anything went. Anyhoo, we met up at a reunion of the Stecher and Horowitz School of Music where I briefly studied. I say "briefly" because one of the caveats of me getting free tuition was me accompanying voice classes. Unfortunately, within months, they were getting complaints that I was making judgmental faces while the students were singing. Can you believe it? All right, folks…at least pretend to be shocked while reading this. Anyhoo, suffice it to say, my tenure was ended shortly thereafter. But many students I went to high school with studied there for years. Terry invited me to the reunion which was held at the ritzy/Upper East Side Lotus Club. She warned me that a tie was required but I am not fond of wearing them, so I sauntered in with a scarf casually flung around my throat thinking that no one would see there was no tie underneath it. Within five seconds I was stopped and asked to put on a tie. I had one with me that didn't really match but I put it on grudgingly. Then I was told I still couldn't be admitted. Turns out, even though I thought my outfit was cute, they don't allow jeans there. Finally, they called the Lotus club authorities and I was told that I could attend the reunion but I "may not leave the second floor." It was like attending a ritzy club under house arrest. Regardless, it was great seeing Mr. Stecher and Mr. Horowitz again and they were very friendly and welcoming. They began as duo pianists, ran their school from 1960 to 1999 (!) and now run an international piano competition http://www.stecherandhorowitz.org/. What's amazing is that they've kept records of every piece from every student recital and the recitals began way before computers. They reminded me that I sang "Apres Un Reve" on June 5, 1983, and I recalled that I chose that piece only because Barbra Streisand belted it on "Classical Barbra." That's right…even my classical taste derives from Broadway. Continued...