By Seth Rudetsky
16 Feb 2010

	Seth Rudetky and Bobby Steggert
	photo by Aubrey Reuben

I also interviewed Nancy Anderson and Bobby Steggert at my Sirius/XM show because they're both starring in Yank at the York Theater. I, of course, asked Bobby about any past onstage mishaps, and he said that he was performing in high school in a play that featured both students and teachers. During one performance, he wound up hitting one of the teachers, Mrs. Luck, in the nose. She began gushing blood, and the show was canceled while she was rushed to the hospital. I pointed out the fact that it was ironic the injured lady's name was Mrs. Luck… and received a smattering of laughs. Hmm. Perhaps my joke was too "on the nose." And now, an even smaller smattering… fading out to silence.

Both he and Nancy had teachers whom I call "Mr. Carp" teachers, AKA totally unsupportive and undermining. One told Bobby that his voice would never be strong enough to do musical theatre, and another one told Nancy to not sing at all but instead, "Focus on the clarinet." Where were these teachers when Lauren Bacall was considering doing a musical?

Since Bobby also played Younger Brother in the recent Ragtime revival, we talked about its untimely closing. The devastating thing he said was that the producers were willing to keep the show running (!), but the theatre made them leave because they had another show that wanted to come in. So, Ragtime had to close to make way for The Orphan's Home Cycle to open at the Neil Simon…but then it wound up going to another theatre! So, now, the Neil Simon is empty. Wah! The other sad news is, there is no full cast album. But, the good news is there's going to be a Flaherty/Ahrens compilation CD coming out, and the new cast of Ragtime is going to record four songs for it!

Listen to this one: While I was at the gym, my trainer told me about his friend who lives in Queens in an area where all the backyards are connected. One day, his big bulldog ran up to him with a dead rabbit in its mouth. His friend realized that it was the rabbit that lived next door in an outdoor cage. He was mortified that his dog killed it but didn't want to admit it, so he just put the poor dead rabbit back in its cage. The next day his neighbor complained to him, "Do you know what some idiot did? They dug up my dead rabbit and then put it back in its cage!" I thought the story had an amazing beginning, middle and end…AKA, it seemed too delicious to be true. And all it took was one Google to find the proof of its Urban Legend-ness - http://www.snopes.com/horrors/gruesome/haredry.asp.

OK, everyone…this Friday I fly to Red Deer, Canada for my show and master class…so as I bundle up I also say, peace out!

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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.