By Seth Rudetsky
Peter's married to Andrea Burns (not to be confused with Andrea Martin) who plays Daniela in In the Heights, and she was in Ithaca with us along with Janet Dacal, who played Carla, and is now about to star in Frank Wildhorn's Wonderland. We had the best time at dinner because Andrea told us about this bit she's been doing with Martin Short for years. Essentially, it's an exercise to see how natural your acting can be in a commercial and to allow everyone around you to comment on your abilities. All you have to do is have someone say "Action" and then take a sip from a cup and remark, "That's a good cup of coffee." Let me officially say, it's the hardest thing to do. Andrea told us that she's awful at it because she's so self-conscious, and Martin Short is consistently terrible at it along with many other celebrities including Steve Martin. First of all, it's so hard to make the line sound honest and not sound like you're acting. And, it's so incredible stressful knowing that everyone else there is going to immediately critique your performance as soon as you say the line. Even before I said the line and I was just taking my sip, Andrea immediately piped up with, "What's with the eyebrows?" Then after Janet did it, Andrea nodded sagely and said, "That was excellent." Then she qualified it with, "If it were an independent film." It was hilarious. Andrea said that she and Martin Short always do it at dinner parties and inevitably, no one is good at it. Although one night, they were at a party with Tom Hanks, and he did it. Andrea then paused, telling us the story. She continued with "OK…if there were an Academy Award for commercials, he would have won — the most amazing line reading, speaking voice, facial expression. Completely likeable, real and honest. Brilliant."
Last week, I went to go see Next to Normal starring real-life married couple Jason Danieley and Marin Mazzie. First of all, people have to start pronouncing both of their names correctly. His last name is like the name "Daniel" and then you add an "ee" at the end. And her first name is not "Marion," which I've heard people say, and her last is not a short-voweled "Mazzie." It's Marin like the poison "Sarin" and her last name rhymes with "Crazy" (Insert Next to Normal joke here). Anyhoo, they were fantastic, and Marin gets an extra shout-out for an amazing acting job. By the way, speaking of incorrect names, Julia Murney told me a bit of Broadway lore that could be entirely exaggerated after years of it being passed down, but I still love it. Apparently, two women went to go see Cats when Betty Buckley was in it. One said to the other, "I cannot wait to see this show. It stars Betsy Buckles!". The other one, who was obviously an "Eight is Enough" fan, nodded and said, "She was wonderful in 'Enough is Enough.'" And I'm out.
Andrea Martin's good friend Robin Duke came to see her show. Peter and I were talking to her after the show and asking her about "Saturday Night Live." She told us that she and Joe Piscopo used to jokingly complain to themselves every night, "No one is writing anything for u-u-u-u-u-us. When do we get to go o-o-o-o-o-o-on???" Finally, Robin wrote a sketch based on that but when she gave it in, she then noticed it wasn't in the pile for a read thru. The producer told her that there weren't any laughs in the entire sketch. Robin explained that the laughs would come with the way it was performed and begged him to put it in for a read-thru. He finally agreed, Joe and Robin read it, and thus was born "The Whiners." I love that it was literally based on their own whining! Brava! Remember this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqGANTHX3hk
30 Aug 2010
Andrea Burns
Andrea Martin and Robin Duke
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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 be contacted at his website SethRudetsky.com, where he has posted many video deconstructions.
