By Seth Rudetsky
31 Oct 2011
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| Seth with Andrea Burns |
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I've had it! I've always been obsessed with weather and natural disasters, and not only did I not feel any earthquake this summer, but the one time New York gets snow in October, I'm in Pittsburgh. Not cool, man. Not cool. Any to the hoo, I spent the weekend at City Theatre and did five performances of Deconstructing Broadway. I was sold out (except the Saturday matinee….synagogue?) and the audiences were great. I spent most of my time at Beehive, this cool coffee place in the 'hood, but on Sunday I went to Starbucks. A college student named Keaton who goes to Point Park asked me to take a picture with him. I had just come from the gym and hadn't taken a shower before or after my workout. I looked crazy and, even though I was at Starbucks for my coffee, my hairstyle was a tip o' the hat to the other coffee place I frequented: Beehive. It was literally standing up. As Tracy Turnblad said, "Welcome to the '60s." Part two: I always pull the "I don't read reviews" chestnut, but one particular review was copied and then put in my dressing room, so I have no choice but to put up the link here! P.S., I'm doing the show this Friday in Chicago at Mayne Stage and then giving my audition master class on Saturday! More info here. www.SethRudetsky.com.
I began my week doing a family outing with James, Juli, Tim Pinckney (from The Actors Fund), his partner Eddie Carlo and Andrea Burns, Peter Flynn and their son Hudson. We decided to go to a corn maze, which is pretty much what it sounds like. Once we were in, it was essentially James and Peter trying to find a way out while the rest of us followed in the background singing large sections of out favorite Broadway show albums from yesteryear. I don't know how we got to this particular one, but at one point, we were all doing Juan Peron's bizarre sprechtstime section from the top of Evita, Act Two — "Argentinos, Aregentinos! We are all shirtless now…"
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| Burns in Bye Bye Birdie. |
| photo by Larry Pry/The Muny |
This week I saw Judy Gold: My Life as a Sitcom, Judy Gold's Off-Broadway show at the DR2 Theatre on West 15th Street. Throughout it, I was made aware of the scientific question, "How can Judy and I both have the same mother?" Mind-boggling. Judy talks about how her mother went into a full depression when David Berkowitz was found out to be Son of Sam. "How could a young Jewish man do such things? I don't understand," muttered her mother, walking around in a daze. Then, Judy recalls that a few days later her mother sat down triumphantly at dinner. She looked at everyone with an I-told-you-so triumphant stare and announced her newfound knowledge with undisguised glee: "Adopted!" When Judy got into college, her mother walked through her dorm looking at the last names of everyone on her floor and then announcing whether or not they were Jewish. Of course, Judy pushes the humor when she imitates her. "Stein? Jewish. Hmm…next door to that, Goldman. Jewish. Berman? Probably Jewish. Who's next….Hitler? Not Jewish."
Continued...



