By Seth Rudetsky
24 Mar 2008
That night I played for Gavin Creel who did an act in the piano bar. As usual, his voice sounded glorious. If you have a minute, go to my website and watch me deconstruct his brilliant A flats, A's and vibrato (www.SethRudetsky.com). Hmm…That's actually a great name for an act I would see: A Flats, A's and Vibrato…I'm there! Gavin said he's planning on playing Jesus on Broadway in Godspell and he asked the audience to leave a note backstage if they're seeing the show. I sassily said that it was to remind him not to mark that night. He laughed and said he normally gives 40 percent but if he knew that a friend was in the audience he would give a full 100 percent…of 46 percent. Brava! He sang the audition song he did when he got out of college ("Today is the First Day of the Rest of My Life") and showed us the extra A flat he put at the end because the original version didn't show off his sassy high notes. He also sang a gorgeous version of "Hero and Leander" by Adam Guettel and when he tried to tell the story of the myth, he kept getting glared at by a so-called myth expert in the audience…my mother. I reminded her that taking a Greek Mythology class in '52 does not make her a myth expert…and asked her to stop breaking the fourth wall. Gavin said that one of his favorite composers was Sondheim and he proceeded to sing "What Can You Lose," which is the song from "Dick Tracy" that Madonna sang. It was very interesting to actually hear it sung with vibrato. (Madonna made the bold choice of singing it straight tone and just slightly under pitch…brava, trailblazer!) Gavin also sang Jimmy's big Act One song from Thoroughly Modern Millie and I mentioned to everyone that he was nominated for a Tony for Best Actor in a Musical (at 26!) What a coup! He said that Sutton performed "Forget About the Boy" on the Tonys but he made a delicious $2,000 for singing the end of the title song and lifting each arm once. (Run onstage) "Beat the drums 'cause here comes Thoroughly Mo-dern Mil-lie (one arm lifts = $1,000) No-o-o-o-ow! (Second arm lifts at button of song = another $1,000)."
The next day, I did a Chatterbox interview with Shoshana Bean and Julia Murney, or as I called it, "Dueling Elphabas." Julia said that she first met Wild Party composer Andrew Lippa when she was auditioning for the Stephen Schwartz revue called Snapshots. The director asked her if she could sing "Meadowlark" and she said that she could but didn't have the music. Even though Andrew was the music director and not the audition pianist, he got up and played it for her. He had just started writing Wild Party and put a note down about her on his audition sheet that said, "Queenie?" She got to do all the initial readings of Wild Party as Queenie, but then right before the big workshop of the show, they made her try out for the role. She said she walked in with a huge chip on her shoulder because she was annoyed she had to try out for a role that was pretty much written on her, and — cut to — she didn't get the gig, Marin Mazzie did. Before it came to Off-Broadway they asked Julia to try out again and she said, because the worst had already happened, she didn't have the chip anymore and she got the gig! I then, of course, ran to the piano and made her belt all of "Raise the Roof." She's still got it!
I asked Shoshana and Julia how hard it was going to a theatre conservatory (Shoshana went to CCM and Julia to Syracuse) and they said they all the girls were made to feel neurotic about their weight. At Shoshana's first evaluation they asked her how much weight she felt she needed to lose (!), and Julia said her school would post a "weight list"…which would have the names of students who needed to lose weight. That's great for the self-esteem of an 18-year-old. We talked about Sho having to go on for Idina Menzel on her final weekend because Idina got injured. She said she went on for the last five minutes of the show, but refused to think she'd be going on for Idina's last show. She didn't want to think that was possible. But it happened. People had flown in from around the world to see Idina do it one final time, and instead they got the dreaded "At this performance, the role of Elphaba..." But I'm sure once they heard one of Shoshana signature high notes/crazy flexible riffs they were like, "Bring on the Bean!" Julia said that her last weekend in Wicked was marred by the cherry picker not working. That's the thing that lifts Elphaba in the air so it looks like she's flying. Instead, during the big climax section of "Defying Gravity" she had to unhook herself from it and walk downstage. And to give the illusion that Elphaba is flying above them…the cast lays on the ground. Suffice it to say, I'm sure there was a lot of Les Miz "Turning" church laughter.
The final night of the cruise I hosted an all-'70s show. I started with Jimmy Smagula (from Phantom) who sang "Love Will Keep Us Together" and sounded great…in the original Toni Tennille key! I even put that weird back-up part in at the end… remember? "Bah….bah, dah, dah, dah….Sedaka is back…" Neil Sedaka told me that by the end of the '60s he didn't have any hit songs. Suddenly, the Captain and Tennille did "Love Will Keep us Together" and his income went from something like $50,000 to a $1,000,000! Sedaka was back…and rich! Then my friend Traci Lyn Thomas, who was in the Vegas Mamma Mia! sang "The Winner Takes it All" and I told the audience that I was annoyed she had moved to Colorado and after she sang, I wanted them to tell her whether they felt she should come back to Broadway. After she belted that last amazing C, they were all shouting with her to come back to Broadway. She later informed me of the irony in their shouts since she had never actually been on Broadway. Details, details. Shoshana Bean came out and sang "I Will Survive" which she should have re-titled "I Will Survive (And Interpolate Sassy High Notes in the Process)." Then I introduced James and said that we started dating late in life and I'm always jealous when he talks about his other boyfriends. I said that tonight I would allow him to talk about his first relationship and we'd see how jealous I get from the piano. He started singing. "Oh, What a Night…late December 1963…" when he got to the part about "Oh, I …got a funny feeling when he walked in the room..." Gavin came out in short shorts, high white gym socks and an afro. He was dancing all around James and working it, and finally near the end of the song, I got up from the piano, ripped off Gavin's wig as he scurried offstage…and James and I ended the song in a kiss. Awwww, cute!! You can watch it at http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZmDswJ6q5uU.
It wound up being the Gavin show when he came back out and sang the H-E-double hockey sticks out of "Enough is Enough" with the multi-talented Matt Zarley. Matt and I realized that we've known each other for 20 years! I met him when he was first doing Chorus Line on Broadway and I was trying to sub. Then we went on the Chorus Line tour of Germany , or as my mother still calls it, Nazi Germany. Matt and Gavin both sounded so great together and added a full layout to the middle of the song that had Gavin asking me for an aspirin the next day on the plane home. Kevin Chamberlin came up and sang the Barry Manilow classic (that I also sang in ninth-grade chorus) "Daybreak." In the middle of the song, all these kids filed onstage. They had been working on the song all week as part of the cruise's version of "Rosie's Broadway Kids" and they sang along with adorable choreography (no lay-outs.). Kevin sounded great despite the fact that he was hit with a 15-foot wave while body surfing in Puerto Vallarta. Ouch. Finally, Marya Grandy got up and sang "Last Dance" and sounded phenomenal on the signature Donna Summer F. Matt Zarley and Frankie Grande (who was voted Mr. Broadway last year) did a dance break in the middle of the song that had the moves of "Solid Gold," the tackiness level of "The Shields and Yarnell Show" and the hotness of an old '70s Colt video. It's so nice that so many non-gays come on the cruise…and so many non-parents! As a matter of fact, James ran into two couples who came on the last cruise just for fun, and were so inspired, they've now become parents! Brava, R Family Vacations!
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On April 14, Seth Rudetsky will appear in Broadway 101 with Jonathan Groff, Julia Murney and other Broadway celebs. Visit www.ActorsFund.org for tickets.
(Seth Rudetsky is the host of "Seth's Big Fat Broadway" on SIRIUS Satellite Radio and the author of "The Q Guide to Broadway" and the novel "Broadway Nights." He has played piano in the orchestras of 15 Broadway musicals and hosts the BC/EFA benefit weekly interview show Seth's Broadway Chatterbox at Don't Tell Mama every Thursday at 6 PM. He can be contacted by visiting www.sethsbroadwaychatterbox.com.)
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| Shoshana Bean, Seth Rudetsky and Julia Murney.
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| photo by Michael Warwick |
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