By Seth Rudetsky
08 Jun 2009

Lea Salonga and Seth Rudetsky
photo by Robb Johnston

A week in the life of actor, musician and Chatterbox host Seth Rudetsky.

I know you're reading this post-Tony Awards, but I'm writing this before they've happened, so keep your traps shut because I don't know who the winners are.

That's right, I can somehow hear you talking about who won and who lost through the computer screen. It's a combination of "Carrie," "The Net" and that Japanese movie that was re-made with Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Here's a re-cap of the last week: Last Monday I did a reading of Radio Girl… the Henry Krieger/Susan Birkenhead/ Daniel Goldfarb musical. The cast was so much fun to rehearse with. One time when we were learning music, I surreptitiously checked my Blackberry. It suddenly lit up with a text message. I looked and saw that it was from Kevin Chamberlin, who was across the room, and it said, "Pay attention." Brava! Kevin and I were talking about the upcoming Rosie Family Cruise to Alaska, and he told me that he is still feeling the effects of last year's cruise to Mexico. In one of the ports, he went to a beautiful Mexican beach, but when he got there crew members from the boat were coming out of the water and warning him that the surf was strong. He looked at their svelte-ness and tabulated that they all weighed a maximum of 150 pounds. Kevin chuckled at their weakness/baby-ishness and dove right in. The first wave that came lifted him crazily high in the air and then smashed him to the beach. He went from laughing at the crew to recently having surgery to fix his shoulder! Sometimes karma is immediate and severe… but also thankfully covered by health insurance.

Right after the Radio Girl reading, I played for Norm Lewis, who did an Actors Fund benefit at Feinstein's. His voice is so gorgeous, I can't take it. He welcomed the audience to his show and told them that the evening would be like hanging out at his house while he entertained. But, because it was Feinstein's, it wouldn't be in the den of his house, but the living room with the formal, uncomfortable chairs. He then admitted that the house in which he grew up had the so-called "blue room" that no one was allowed to go into unless they had company. He paused and confessed that, at one point, the furniture had plastic on it. I then shut down emotionally and only came out of it when he belted the B flat in "Before the Parade Passes By."

On Wednesday I had Anika Larsen come to my Sirius/XM Live on Broadway Show but forgot to warn her that there was a live audience, so when she showed up, she was devastated that she wasn't dressed up. She looked adorable anyway and was nowhere near as devastated as Tituss Burgess was when the same thing happened to him. He showed up at the show straight from the gym, wearing an old T-shirt and grey sweatpants that had been cut-off below the knee exposing his legs. The sight of his gams forced me to haul out one of the comments my old math teacher once made years ago to a skinny student in shorts: "That reminds me…we're having chicken for dinner." Tituss glared and then remembered that he had a change of clothes in his gym bag, so it all worked out. Except for me in math class: I literally got a 50 on my report card...twice! PS, that's a 50 out of a 100. Thankfully, my need for geometry in daily life has remained the same percentage as my caring about the marital problems of Jon and Kate Plus Eight (0).

Anyhoo, Anika made her Broadway debut in Rent as a swing, and we talked about the times she'd go on for Maureen. I'm so busted because I asked her how cool it was to enter on a motorcycle. Anika then informed me that Maureen never enters on a motorcycle. What? Turns out, many people have the same memory I do because first you see a crazy headlight shining into the audience and when Maureen enters, she takes off a helmet. It's such a trick your mind plays on you. I said it's like that optical illusion picture you look at and continually think, "Ah…what a beautiful young lady…wait a minute…that's a decrepit old hag!"

I remembered when Anika had her audition for Xanadu. The role was the "muse of dance," and she was mortified because she doesn't consider herself a dancer. Instead of trying to do the best she could, she decided that she would indeed be the muse of dance, but the muse would be a no-talent. So, she did all the dancing at the audition horribly and on the wrong foot, but after every section she would hit a sassy pose to imply, "I am in-cre-di-ble." It got her the gig! They then (thankfully) changed her part to the "muse of music," and she understudied Kerry Butler in the lead. Kerry's daughter was still very young at the time, so her contract had a stipulation that she had one show off a month to spend time as a mom. Anika went on her first time and didn't tell anybody because she knew she'd have many more times to go really nail the role. Turns out, once the show opened to such great reviews for Kerry, she felt that she shouldn't take off any more shows, so Anika never went on again! AKA, none of her friends ever got to see her! Anika said that you're called an understudy because you're always under-rehearsed. You never do it with the full costume, lights, orchestra, etc., so going on is always somewhat terrifying. The worst was Xanadu because roller skates were added to the mix, and Anika knew that if she fell early on, the audience would be nervous for her throughout the rest of the show. Kerry's character enters on an elevator that comes up through the floor of the stage. Anika remembers standing under the stage right before her entrance and thinking, "Hmm...what if I got off the elevator and just walked out the stage door." She decided to go on when she thought through how many people would find out (because it would sweep through the Broadway gossip mill…aka me).

For a few years Anika has been working on a one-woman show based on her childhood growing up with nine brothers and sisters…most of them from other countries. It's called Shafrika: The White Girl, and it's finally premiering in New York. The irony is, it's no longer a one-woman show. It's being produced by and starring the Jaradoa Theater Company (Don't get me started on their name…I dedicated half a column to it when they first formed) at Off-Broadway's Vineyard Theatre. Go to www.Jaradoatheater.org for tix and come to the show opening night…I'll be there!  Continued...

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