By Seth Rudetsky
Speaking of hilarious, I must go back to Ana Gasteyer to say that she has one of my favorite twitter accounts, @AnaGasteyer. The tweet this week I'm obsessed with all began when I made this video highlighting Idina Menzel in Wicked and Wild Party. At one point, I talk about how Brian d'Arcy James sings "…when we met, you were less than a dirty whore!" I love his vibrato on the last note. Watch! So, first one of my followers, Joe Halpin tweeted: "It's okay to call someone less than a dirty whore, just so long as you add a vibrato to whore. #StuffSethRudetskytaughtme." Then, BD Wong wrote: "I think 'whore' has to be up a fifth, like Joanne Worley. No?" I, of course, replied that everything should be up a fifth. Then Brian d'Arcy James wrote that he'd have to have the song down a fifth before he could sing it up a fifth. Finally, Ana tweeted my favorite tweet: "Drop the R in Whore, make it a dipthong, and KEY CHANGE mid-vowel. Always works. Yes, spin the end." I'm so obsessed with babbling that makes no sense, yet the capitals to show assuredness.
I'm gearing up for some shows this fall: Deconstructing Broadway on Oct 24 at Drexel in Philadelphia, and Oct. 27-30 at City Theatre in Pittsburgh, and then a big Broadway revue on Nov. 1 at the Westbury Music Fair in the afternoon. For Westbury, I'm bringing out my belter friends (and one high soprano) and we're doing tons of Broadway solos, duets and group numbers. It's essentially a cruise ship-style I Heart Broadway show on dry land. You can get tickets by emailing Tony@rendezvous.travel. P.S., that's the theatre I played last year that has a round stage that continually spins the whole time. Another cause of vertigo? Yay. Tonight, I'm headed to the Laurie Beechman room to see the fabulous Carole Demas do her act. Carole was the original Sandy in Grease on Broadway, and I spent many mornings in the 1970s watching her on TV because she and Paula Janis were the hosts of TV's "The Magic Garden." If you don't remember, take a gander and come see her tonight at 7 PM! Peace out!
17 Oct 2011
Brian d'Arcy James
ONSTAGE & BACKSTAGE: Texts, Tweets and Michael Urie's Secret to Booking a Job
(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.)
