By Seth Rudetsky
05 Oct 2009

Then I welcomed Constantine Maroulis and Kerry Butler from Rock of Ages. Kerry was just doing Catch Me If You Can in Seattle, and she thought they were going to go right to Broadway. Suddenly, she heard other cast members talking about the shows they were doing in the fall and she was like, "Interesting. I guess I shouldn't have passed on those other gigs I was offered." She found out what she suspected: Catch Me If You Can is waiting for the right theatre and is going to open on Broadway later on. She then got a text from James Carpinello asking if she was going to take over the lead in Rock of Ages. She thought he was crazy until she called her agent, who told her he was in the middle of talking to the producers about it. Having an agent is sometimes like when you're four-years-old and your parents make a play date for you and don't tell you. Cut to: She took the gig and loves it. Constantine told us that some audience members take the free-for-all rules too far. There was a couple in the front row with an enormous plastic bag of candy…inside another plastic bag. During the one quiet scene in the show, the couple chose that moment to start rifling through the plastic bag(s) for a large, delicious handful of candy. Constantine couldn't believe the noise and in the middle of the scene, looked at them and said, "Dudes? Do you really think this is the best time to dig in your bag for candy?" Kerry also had her own issues with rowdy audiences. She said that at one point, early in the show, "when I'm not even slutty yet," she meets James Carpinello's character. Normally, he looks at her and says "hey," and she looks at him and says "hey." Well, one night, apparently that sexy exchange was enough to merit some guy in the audience yelling out to James, "You better **** that ****!" Fill in your own four-letter-words. You're probably right.

After the interview, I rushed back to the Sirius/XM building to interview pop music hit-meister, David Foster. It's well documented that David hates elevators and won't take them. So, he had to walk up the stairs to the Sirius/XM studios. Unfortunately, it's on the thirty-sixth floor! That's like my first walk-up apartment in NYC. Nevertheless, he seemed completely refreshed during the interview and was so fun. I immediately asked him about "The Bodyguard" because he produced the album and wrote Whitney Houston's songs as well. I mentioned the song "I Have Nothing," and he started playing the beginning on the piano. If you remember, right at the end of the intro, there are these loud chords, then a couple of beats of total silence...then the vocal comes in. I always thought that the silence was a very avant-garde beginning for a pop song and, turns out, David told me it was a mistake! He couldn't hear the click track through his headphones so he paused 'til he heard it again. After listening to it back, he decided he liked the space and it stayed! Listen to it at http://sethrudetsky.com/blog/.

On Nov. 9 I'm doing the tenth anniversary benefit concert for Only Make Believe, which is a great organization that brings theatre to hospitalized children. It's going to be at the Shubert Theatre, and the casts of Hair and Memphis are performing, along with Nellie McKay, Alan Cumming and some soon-to-be-announced Broadway sassters. I made up a theatre quiz and if you enter the contest and get all the answers right, you can win two $100 tickets to the show! Go to http://surveys.verticalresponse.com/a/show/356012/b3eb9fde69/0 to do the quiz!

Finally, tonight I'm seeing the Broadway in South Africa concert featuring three amazing beltresses: Deborah Cox, Kate Shindle and Shoshana Bean. It's at 7:30 at Symphony Space and all the info is at www.broadwayinsouthafrica.org. If you've never heard Shoshana's amazingness, go to http://sethrudetsky.com/blog/?s=bean&submit=Search. Go enjoy the beautiful fall weather!

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.