It's September! What the-? When the-? The last few weeks of August were so hectic for me I didn't fully appreciate the end of summer. Now everyone is back-to-school and fall fashion-y, and I'm finally committing to working on my beach body.

Regardless, the end of August also meant They're Playing Our Song. I can't believe it happened. We had such limited rehearsal time culminating in me being in Massachusetts and then Canada (!) up to one day before the performance, yet the performance was more smooth than other concerts I've worked on for

Listen to Seth's Podcast: They're Playing My Song

months. One of the biggest shout-outs goes to Patrick Weaver. He's done production coordinating for many of my previous concerts, but the Actors Fund asked him to do sound for this one. When I heard that, there was a lot of muttering from me to no one in particular that I never knew Patrick was a sound designer and then smatterings of me throwing up my hands and saying, "Guess we'll see how it goes." Cut to: It was the best sound I've ever experienced at a one-night concert. I still remember after my first concert for The Actors Fund (Dreamgirls), Patti LuPone spotted me and told me how much she loved the concert but "the so-o-o-o-ound was so inconsistent." Then we chatted some more, and as I walked away she grabbed me again to implore, "Next time, make sure the sou-ou-ou-ou-ound is better!" Then I called her to do a concert of Evita, and her only caveat was "Please! Make sure the so-ou-ou-ou-ound is not like the Dreamgirls concert." (PS, we were denied the rights to Evita. Still devastated.) Anyhoo, it's sort of a given that at a one-night event, there'll be missing lines, or a too loud orchestra or feedback or whatever. Instead, everything was perfect. Patrick Weaver is a brava and my muttering was a complete waste of time except for serving as a vaguely hostile pre-show warm-up.

The day of the event began with the sitzprobe, which is a German word that translates as sit and rehearse. AKA, it's a sing-through with the orchestra. There's no staging at all. It's usually done at a rehearsal studio and, after the orchestra practices the whole score, it's the first time the cast sings with the orchestra. Since we had to condense all the rehearsal time for this concert, the first time the orchestra was reading the music was all also the sing-through for me and Sutton. First of all, Charlie Gordon has contracted (hired the musicians) for all of my orchestras at every Actors Fund concert and every Gypsy of the Year and Easter Bonnet I've ever done. As usual, he got me phenomenal players who are also super-nice people. The sitzprobe is always a magical time because the cast suddenly hears the music fully orchestrated instead of just played with a piano. As soon as the overture began, Denis Jones (the director) told me he got tears in his eyes and then I noticed that the crying spread throughout the cast and creative team. When we brought the orchestra onstage for the afternoon run-through, the cast kept commenting how amazing it was to hear a full orchestra play. I was thrilled and then irritated. Why? Because everyone who was blown away by the orchestra works on Broadway. Why are we surprised by the sound of a full orchestra? Why are almost all the shows we're involved in using half an orchestra? I could understand the surprise at hearing an orchestral sound if the cast consisted of people who have never done a Broadway show, but we're all major Broadway veterans. Why does it have to be shocking to us to hear the beauty of a full string section? Please! Broadway producers! Do more shows like South Pacific! (PS not the 'risk your life even though you have children because you're upset your girlfriend broke up with you' part, the '30-piece orchestra' part.)