By Seth Rudetsky
11 Jan 2010

	Brent Barrett

Back to Brent. He also said that he was the standby for the great David Carroll during Grand Hotel and when David left the role right before the Tony Awards, John Schneider got the part. John was gearing up to perform on the Tony Awards, but right before the Tonys, Tommy Tune asked Brent to do the big number instead. Brent made his Tony Awards debut playing opposite the brilliant Michael Jeter...and the next day he was back to being a standby. The beauty of the biz. If you have never seen that amazing number, watch this link ASAP. Tommy Tune's staging is unbelievable, and Michael Jeter is phenomenal. Jane Krakowski told me that the genesis of the number happened during rehearsal. Michael was on a break, joking around and swinging his legs on a bar. Tommy Tune saw it and told him he was going to put it in a number. And, it turned out brilliantly.

I first heard Brent when he was in the show Closer Than Ever, which I listened to all the time on my walkman…yes, walkman. A few years ago, I got to work with the beautiful-voiced Lynne Wintersteller. Click here for my deconstruction of her stunning tone. Well, Lynne told me that there were a lot of shenanigans backstage between all four in the cast, and Brent was the biggest prankster. She had a song where there was an eight-beat introduction that happened behind the curtain, and she'd rip it open on the final beat and speak in rhythm: "All right, that's it, that's the one that does it, I've had it with that song and dance!" Anyhoo, one night she was behind the curtain waiting to go on and Brent was drinking water. The eight-beat intro began playing, and right on beat seven Brent took his water bottle and sprayed her with water in the center of each of her boobs! She had no time to dry it off because she had to immediately rip open the curtain and angrily start her "All right, that's it, etc…" while the audience wondered why she was lactating.

My Sirius/XM Live On Broadway show is finally back. We took a one-month hiatus so they could refurbish the Times Square Information Center…which turned into two months. Regardless, it's totally re-done, and the show is back now every Wednesday at noon. Last week I had three leads from Ragtime: Quentin Earl Darrington (Coalhouse), Stephanie Umoh (Sarah) and Christiane Noll (Mother). I asked Christiane to sing "Back to Before" and we talked about how hard it is for most women to belt the C sharp at the end of the song. Of course, Christiane has no trouble with it, so I told her she should take it up to an E! She laughed and then sang the song. After it ended she gave me a look and I knew what she meant: I played an intro and she launched into the end of the song again but this time, she not only went up to an E, but interpolated an F sharp as well! It was a brava. Click here for the real version and then the sassed up version.

And, finally, I recently had Kristin Chenoweth on my radio show. Afterwards we took some fun photos and then Julie James, who runs the Broadway channel, asked for a picture with Kristin. We were all standing in a hallway, and I wanted to make sure I wasn't in the shot with them, so I squeezed myself against a wall. Well, the photographer took the photo and kept me in it! I look cra-za-zy. Check out the photo and look for me as "Where's Waldo"…if he was a psycho stalker. And with that, peace out!

Seth Rudetsky has played piano in the pits of many Broadway shows including Ragtime, Grease and The Phantom of the Opera. He was the artistic producer/conductor for the first five Actors Fund concerts including Dreamgirls and Hair, which were both recorded. As a performer, he appeared on Broadway in The Ritz and on TV in "All My Children," "Law and Order C.I." and on MTV's "Made" and "Legally Blonde: The Search for the Next Elle Woods." He has written the books "The Q Guide to Broadway" and "Broadway Nights," which was recorded as an audio book on Audible.com. He is currently the afternoon Broadway host on Sirius/XM radio and tours the country doing his comedy show, "Deconstructing Broadway." He can contacted at his website SethRudetsky.com, where he has posted many video deconstructions.