By Seth Rudetsky
30 Mar 2009

On Thursday night, I saw Blithe Spirit which I thoroughly enjoyed. The whole cast was excellent and my only complaint is that Angela Lansbury didn't have a song. I know that her character doesn't sing in the show, but before every scene, the curtain would come down and we got to hear the lovely voice of Christine Ebersole singing a Noel Coward song…so why couldn't Angela suddenly give us a smattering of "Haul out the Holly…" and a few of her signature high kicks. Speaking of Christine Ebersole, James and I went to visit her backstage and after I complimented her hilarious performance and singing, she told us she's going to release a CD of her singing Noel Coward songs! And we complimented her on how great she looked and she told us that she's on the "Don't eat that cookie" diet. I was so inspired I decided to try it starting then. Cut to: the next day I arrived in South Carolina and my hotel put out fresh chocolate chip cookies. Suffice it to say, I immediately modified the diet into: "Don't eat that seventh cookie."

On Thursday, I interviewed Sondheim stars Kurt Peterson and Victoria Mallory. They both grew up singing in their respective hometowns, but whereas Victoria got to play Maria in her high school production of West Side Story Kurt remembered asking his theatre teacher if his school could do West Side Story. Kurt was hoping to play Tony. His theatre teacher said that he'd love to do West Side Story but they had no one in the school to play Tony. Ouch! Cut to: Both Victoria and Kurt wound up at AMDA in the late '60s, and she asked her agent to let her audition for the Jones Beach production of West Side Story. He told her that she didn't have enough experience and she told him that perhaps the audition itself would be good experience. Well, she wound up getting Maria but before she began rehearsals, she heard that they were reviving it in the series Richard Rodgers ran at Lincoln Center. Again she asked her agent to get her an audition and she got the part! At this point, Kurt and Victoria were dating so he knew all about the revival, but he was too scared to audition because he remembered his theatre teacher lamenting the fact that he couldn't possibly play Tony. Kurt told us that he bought a quart of beer and went walking through Hell's Kitchen, looking at all the fire escapes to feel what it was like to be Tony. Then, he played the original cast recording and sang along with Larry Kert until the beer ran out (and he passed out). The next day, he got the nerve to ask his agent to get him an audition…and after four call backs…he got the role! What was his revenge, you ask? On opening night, he invited his high school theatre teacher and sat him between Leonard Bernstein and Richard Rodgers. Delicious!

Kurt got to play opposite Angela Lansbury in Dear World and said she was a delight to work with. The only "note" he ever got from her was through a stage manager. Apparently, after a Wednesday night performance, he was told that if he was going to eat between shows, he needed to lay off the linguine with garlic. I guess his breath was murder (she wrote). He also learned from her that when you're unsure whether or not you can hit a note, thrust your hand to the side with fervor. After one performance, he asked her why she did that sometimes and she said that the audience would be watching her hand, not listening to the note. Tricky (she wrote).

Victoria auditioned for Follies and after she sang, Hal Prince told her that she was wonderful but there as no role for her. She said that she didn't need a role and would do anything just to be in the show. He took her up on that offer and she was cast as part of the ensemble. She wasn't just saying that to manipulate getting a role eventually, she really was thrilled just to be in the same room as the creative staff. She remembered watching in awe as Michael Bennett staged the prologue. After a week and a half, Hal asked her to play a waitress in one of the scenes and she was thrilled. Then, Stephen Sondheim called her into a room and told her that he wrote a song, "One More Kiss," and she'd be singing it with Justine Johnston. She was thrilled. Then, Michael Bennett found out she could dance, so her put her into the Red number and the Loveland number, and she understudied Young Sally and was the swing for "Buddies Blues." She had the best time ever!

Finally, well into the run, Hal Prince called Victoria into his office. He told her he had a new show he was working on and asked her to read from the script. She remembers reading around one sentence ("Oh, Henrick...") and he told her she had the role of Anne in A Little Night Music!

During Night Music, Victoria was no longer dating Kurt, she was dating her onstage husband, Len Cariou (who played Fredrik Egerman). She remembers that she and Mark Lambert (who played Henrik, Fredrik's son) would wait offstage for their entrance, every night, and watch "Send in the Clowns." Ironically, in the show, there's a line near the end, "Have you heard? Henrik and Anne have run off together!"…cut to, in real life, Victoria and Mark ran off together! And they've been married ever since. They have a daughter Ramona Mallory who starts her run as Luisa in Off-Broadway's The Fantasticks this week. Brava, good genes!

Both Victoria and Kurt sang together and it was beautiful. They're starting work on a show starring both of them, loosely based on their past. Let me say that, judging by the audience turnout they got for the Chatterbox, they're going to run forever. I literally had to turn people away at the door because it was so packed. I uploaded a clip of them singing "Tonight" from West Side Story which they first did together in 1968. Listen how great they are! (sethrudetsky.com)

OK, this week I'm going to Café Carlyle to see Kelli O'Hara's opening night and on April 1, I've decided to start a youtube project: "30 Deconstructions in 30 Days." I'm going to do a new deconstruction every day instead of my signature one deconstruction, two months off. Go to my website for deets…and peace out!

(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.)