By Seth Rudetsky
The most thrilling part of the week happened at the Sunday matinee of [title of show] when the real Hunter, Jeff and Heidi came to the show. I was much more nervous than I was for opening night. I was literally shaking! But it was a good audience, thankfully, and I loved performing it in front of them. When Tyler and I got to "Part of It All," which is about being on the "inside" of the Broadway scene, I got so emotional that I was performing it in front of the real Hunter and Jeff that I started to cry. Then, I had to immediately shut down my emotion (which I perfected in my teens) or else I would have sounded pre-steroid. The same thing happened to Tyler a week before. The night that Susan Blackwell came, he was thinking about how he met her when he was a kid. They both knew each other from Ohio where Tyler's mom was Susan's teacher! Susan has actually known Tyler since he was eight. At the end of the show, Tyler was standing onstage and he realized that not only was Susan in the audience but his mom was there, too! Then the character of Susan onstage (Susie Mosher) was singing "I am eight years old in Ohio…" and Tyler had to make a conscious choice not to get emotional and steal all the focus from Susie. Audience: Why is that guy who's not even singing weeping on the side? Let's watch him instead.
Hunter and Jeff were so gracious and complimentary to us. I've been obsessed with this show since it was at NYMF, and it was so unbelievably exciting to be doing it in front of them. Jeff said he had a crazy moment in the audience because he remembered meeting me back in 1994 when I was playing piano for Grease. His friend Tom Schultheis had just joined the show and introduced me to Jeff on the subway. Jeff remembered thinking, "Wow! That's Seth Rudetsky. He plays piano on Broadway" and said it was bizarre that now he was watching me play him. They were both so funny in the talk back after the show. They began by addressing the issue of "Is the show too inside?" Essentially, it's people on in the inside who are always saying the show is too inside. How come no one asks if A Chorus Line is too inside? It's about an audition for a Broadway musical and what it's like growing up as a dancer. Cut! They were talking about how the show was specific and therefore universal. Because they both love Broadway, the opening scene is them talking about theatre. Hunter said that if they instead loved sports, the opening scene would have been them talking about baseball teams. And Jeff specified with, "The Jets!" Brava.
Today and tomorrow I'm hosting Gypsy of the Year, and I'm so looking forward to it! Get thee to BroadwayCares.org for tickets. The opening number features Carol Channing, and I saw the rehearsal of it featuring just the ensemble and I literally got tears in my eyes simply watching them do the back-up for Carol! I can't wait to see it fully realized.
06 Dec 2010
Heidi Blickenstaff, Jeff Bowen, Susan Blackwell and Hunter Bell in Broadway's [title of show]
photo by Carol Rosegg
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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.)
