I'm starting this column in the Continental Airlines waiting area.

My flight to Charlotte was delayed, and instead of using the time to act out with food, I'm using it to write my weekly recap. And then reward myself with a Cinnabon. PS, when did I become Cathy Guisewite? Anyhoo, this week I began my second time doing a reading of Radio Girl, which used to be called Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, a title which, to me, had the implication of a girl entrapped in a mental institution. The hilarious Brooks Ashmanskas is one of the stars and had me laughing so hard when he was telling me about an older actor he worked with who had terrible timing: musically and pace-wise. Brooks said he had a scene where he'd be standing with his romantic lead and reveal his feelings:

BROOKS: Because…well….I love you.
And then the older actor was supposed to angrily charge on with Where the hell are you!?!?
Unfortunately, Brooks said that many times this would happen:
BROOKS: Because…well…-
OLDER ACTOR: (Charging on) Where the hell are you!?!?!?

I had a very Broadway experience when James and I went to see Desire Under the Elms right before it closed. As we sat down I heard, "Seth"! Turns out, right in back of us, was Betty Buckley! Then, after the show got out (and I was thoroughly devastated from the story), we went backstage and saw Raul Esparza hanging out. We all wound up going out for dinner, and Betty and Raul regaled us with Broadway debacle stories. Some cannot be retold in print, but at one point they were talking about techniques you can use if you forget lyrics, and Betty said that when cutie John Barrowman was starring with her in London's Sunset Boulevard, he told her about the technique he had up his sleeve. During Miss Saigon when he forgot a lyric, instead of singing nonsense syllables, he would mouth them in silence. Instead of the audience picking up that he was lost, it would look like he was singing the correct lyrics but his microphone went out! The poor sound guy would start frantically adjusting the sound board and when John finally remembered the lyrics, his mic would magically "work" again. Blimey, those Brits are tricky! Betty told us about an incident that happened during Sunset Boulevard in the scene where Norma calls Joe Gillis' girlfriend Betty Schaefer to tell her that Joe is now living in Norma's mansion. Joe Gillis comes storming in, grabs the phone, tells Betty Schaefer the address of Norma's mansion and hangs up. The rest of the play hinges on him giving the address or else Betty Schaefer wouldn't know where to find him. Well, at one performance, John stormed in, grabbed the phone from Betty ...and promptly hung it up! The phone hanging up was the cue for the orchestra to play crazy music as she and Joe struggle, but Betty realized that "Betty Schaefer" didn't know the address, and it would make no sense for her to suddenly show up. It's not like Norma Desmond is listed in the phone book. While the orchestra was playing the crazy music, Betty ran back to the phone, dialed it and said, "Someone wants to speak to you!" and handed the phone back to John. John didn't know what he was supposed to do…and then suddenly realized his mistake and yelled the address into the phone. Betty was proud of saving the plot…but then after the show, she was surprised that the stage manager tried to bust her for changing the blocking! As she left the theatre, however, a British girl who had seen the show many times approached her. She smiled at Betty and said, "Thank you for saving the plot." Speaking of Betty Schaefers, Betty said that she just saw Alice Ripley — Broadway's Betty Schaefer — in Next to Normal and was cheering wildly for her throughout the show. And, speaking of Betty, I'm so excited we get to do the Broadway By Request show we did at Feinstein's this summer at the Bay Street Theatre. We'll be performing July 3 (on Betty's birthday!) and doing two shows July 4 (on the USA's birthday!). And, Betty's going to be doing a four-day-intensive in Sag Harbor as well. Every day it's an all-day affair featuring a full Pilates class in the morning with Betty's movement coach from Sunset — who's a Pilates genius — and then Betty will work with students/educators all afternoon to learn the meditative skills she uses that make her a brilliant performer! Go to www.BettyBuckley.com for details. When you're there, listen to the amazing recording she has on her website of "Memory"…it's not the Broadway recording, and it's amazing!

At my Sirius/XM Live On Broadway show, I had beltress Kate Pazakis, who just came out with her new CD. Kate did an Off-Broadway show where she had to understudy a gaggle of Broadway ladies and one of the stars said, "Don't bother learning my part. I've never missed a show." Cut to, they added a Thursday matinee, and the star forgot about it! Thankfully, Kate learned the role despite the warning. When Kate was doing the CD, her producer asked her what her dream was for the song list. Kate said her dream was recording a song that Jason Robert Brown wrote just for her. Two weeks later, she was on a plane to L.A. to hear the song he wrote for her! And, not only did he give her a new song, he arranged an amazing version of Alanis Morissette's "One Hand In My Pocket." I love it! Get thee to www.katepazakis.com to get the CD.  Continued...