By Seth Rudetsky
30 Nov 2009

	Chester Gregory in Dreamgirls.
	photo by Joan Marcus

On Saturday I walked a few blocks from my house to the Apollo Theater and saw the object of my shrine: Dreamgirls. I thought everyone had a fantastic voice but I was especially obsessed with Chester Gregory as Jimmy Early. He sounded excellent and was so *&$% funny! P.S., my other expletive options were so "effing" funny or so "f-ing" funny but I chose the old-school comic book style. And on a related note, my sister Nancy in Virginia is obsessed with the fact that there's a road near her called Effingham street. Whenever you say you're going there you sound irritated even if you're not. Example: "Oh, no! I have to go to Effingham Street!" makes you sound annoyed. Yet the contrasting "Yay! I have to go to Effingham Street!" makes you sound sarcastic.

Back to Dreamgirls. I've loved that show since I was in high school and every time I interview someone associated with it, I milk them for any and all information. Here's some fun tidbits I found out when I interviewed Henry Krieger. The first song he created with Tom Eyen was "One Night Only" which was written on a napkin because they met in a diner. Yet, I heard a recording of the show from when it was doing its out-of-town tryout in Boston and "One Night Only" wasn't in it! Another song was in its place and it made no sense to me since I knew "One Night Only" had been around forever. Turns out, Michael Bennett wanted it cut because he thought it sounded too Jewish! First I was miffed when I heard that, but then I listened to it again and I totally know why he thought that. The melody is incredibly soulful yet has the essence of my Bar Mitzvah Torah reading and quite frankly, the real Judaica is the opening oboe solo. How can you hear it and not want Matzah brie? Regardless, the song is amazing and after Michael Bennett took it out everyone protested…including the ushers! They demanded the song be put back in and thankfully, it was. My other favorite story is about Jennifer Holliday. I've always loved her performance of "And I Am Telling You"…especially her amazing physicality. She has one moment where she grabs her left inner thigh, picks up her leg and places it down further to the left. I always thought it was some idiosyncratic move she did in the moment. Well, turns out, after I interviewed Brenda Braxton (who was in the original production as a performer and dance captain) she told me that move was staged! There was a big cable that ran across the stage and Michael Bennett wanted to make sure Jennifer didn't trip over it, so during the number, he told her to literally pick up her leg and place it on the other side of the cable! Watch here!

And finally, I just found out I'm going to be co-hosting the Gypsy of the Year Competition for the second year in a row! Last year, I was joined by Jonathan Hadary and Tyne Daly (who were at the very first one back in 1989), and this year I'll be with the brilliant Julie White. I'm working on some new deconstructions to debut as well as some of my old chestnuts. Go to BroadwayCares.org for tickets. Bundle up and Happy December!!!

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.