Seth's Broadway Diary, Volume 1: Part 1 (19 page)

Betty said her only job assignment in
Cats
was to "stop the show." Does the word "pressure" mean anything to you? "Your only job is to achieve world peace." Of course, she couldn't do it at first. She'd sing "Memory" and get tepid applause. Ouch. One day she said she saw a homeless woman walk by her apartment on 79th Street, who was dressed crazily with streaked lipstick, yet walked with a fashion-plate attitude. Betty realized that was the key! She had been playing Grizabella as pathetic and self-pitying, but she instead decided to play it like she had something beautiful to share. She began applying this attitude towards the end of previews, and feels she finally got the hang of the role after a while. Sadly it was after critics came, but thankfully she got it in time to win the Tony Award. It
was
her turn!

OK, this Thursday’s
Chatterbox
is with the legend Chita Rivera! Olé!

Chita, Chamberlin and "Chad"

October 29, 2007

This week started out with a benefit for Theatreworks USA (which does touring children's theatre) at The Rainbow Room. It was a swanky fundraiser that Kevin Chamberlin hosted and where director Michael Mayer was honored. Years ago, Michael directed
Hansel and Gretel
for them… and now he's a Tony Award-winner! Michael said that when he was first an actor, he used to try out for Theatreworks, and "in keeping with their tradition for excellence, I never got a callback." Hi-lar! John Gallagher, Jr. made a great speech about Michael where he talked about getting his audition for
Spring Awakening
and being so excited when he heard it was gonna be directed by Michael… even though he had never seen one of his shows. John then told the audience what a great director Michael was… admitting that the only Michael Mayer-directed show he's now seen is
Spring Awakening
. By the way, John never considered himself a musical theater singer. He was shocked when he got a callback for
Spring Awakening
. He told me that when he showed up at Lincoln Center (where the callbacks were), he saw a ton of singer-types, which put him into a panic, so he fled! He called his agents to tell them forget it, and they convinced him that he had to go back. Cut to — he got the part and won the Tony! I wonder if there've been other people who've left auditions before they were seen, who, if they stayed, would have won a Tony.

This reminds me of my good friend Paul Castree. He had an audition for
Ragtime
when it was coming to Broadway and, even though he was mainly a singer, he had to go to a dance call. Graciela Daniele was teaching the combination, and it involved some classical ballet steps. Paul had definitely danced in shows, but only jazz. He had
no
ballet training and decided he should leave. As he was leaving, the casting director told him to stay because the artistic staff liked him. Paul was flattered but knew he would look super-awkward doing a ballet combination. The casting director told him that everyone's dancing could be at a different level and to stay and just do his best. Paul went back, and as he was learning the combo, he saw a guy in front of him who looked
awful
. He thought, "Oh, no! That's what I look like! I can't take the humiliation!" and he ran past the casting director and out of the audition. Months later he went to see the show on Broadway and (a) he loved it so much that he was devastated he wasn't in it, and (b) the guy who looked awful
was
cast! Paul was so mad at himself for not staying. The moral is, let
them
decide if you’re right for the show! You never know what they’re looking for!

The gala ended with me and Kevin Chamberlin singing a really cute duet by Joe Iconis called "Plants Make Wonderful Pets" from the show
The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks
.
Joe later went on to write tons of stuff for NBC’s SMASH
!
It was so fun singing with Kevin. I felt like Roger Bart in
Triumph of Love
. Or Anthony Blair Hall in
Seussical
(later replaced by Aaron Carter). Anybody? Nobody.

Thursday, I had Broadway legend Chita Rivera at the
Chatterbox
. I told her it was the 50th anniversary of
West Side Story
. "Why didn't anyone tell
me
?" she asked. "I've been living the life of a 35-year-old woman!" And she ain't joking. She looks amazing. I was talking to a stagehand who was touring a show and the green room windows showed the bottom of people's legs, à la Laverne and Shirley's apartment. All the stagehands were standing around and cruising the bottom halves of the women who were walking by. They saw a pair of legs walk by that made them all start shouting dirty things, and in walked Chita, age 65, attached to said gams! And she's still got 'em!

West Side
opened in 1957 and I told her how odd it was to me that day-to-day Broadway was the same 50 years ago. "You know," I said, "half-hour call, understudy rehearsal, eight shows a week — " and she interrupted with, "And we actually
did
eight shows a week." Ouch. She has a point. When I did
Grease!
in '94, there literally was a big congratulatory note on the callboard when there was a performance with no understudies on. Seriously.

Then we got into
West Side Story
. I complimented her on belting the D on "…and put
that
in!" in "America" and contrasted it with Tatiana Troyanos' version on the operatic recording in the ‘80s. Let's just say if Tatiana's tones were a mode of transportation, they would be a
covered
wagon.

I asked about the rumor that "America" used to have the male dancers in it. Chita said that Peter Gennaro (Jerome Robbins' assistant) did the Latin dances, and he first choreographed "America" with the Sharks. They presented it to Robbins, and the next day, the men were out. Chita liked it better that way because there was a sassy power to having all women. I was talking about the choreography at the end of the number and she started telling me about a bump she had on her forehead back then that she couldn't explain. Turns out, when she would leap and touch her foot to the back of her head, she was actually bringing her foot so far forward, it was hitting her forehead! Who has that kind of stretch?

As for the
West Side Story
movie, after she accepted that she lost the role of Anita, she said that she didn't mind seeing Rita sing her song or dance her dances. But it was torture for her to watch her wear the purple dress. That was
her
dress! She was taught how to use the under-colors. You let the audience think it's just a purple dress and then once in a while, give 'em a flash so they think, "Did I just see some colors underneath that skirt?"

We then segued to
Bye Bye Birdie
. The creative team was interested in her for the role of Rosie but she had heard the show was terrible! She didn’t want to appear rude, so she told her agent that she would listen to the score, be polite and then her agent would say, "We'll think about it." This way her agent could deliver the bad news later that Chita wasn’t available. Well, as soon as Chita heard the first act, she jumped and said, "I
have
to do this musical!" So much for the plan. By the way, so many great Chita stories are in the brilliant book
Supporting Player
by Richard Seff. He was the actual agent (as well as agent to Ethel Merman and Rex Harrison, and the man who introduced Kander to Ebb, etc…). It's an
amazing
read!

She also told us that Paul Lynde was hilarious. Mean sometimes, but hilarious. He played Mr. MacAfee and originally only had 13 lines. "But then Gower put that kid in front of him [the son, Randolph MacAfee], and the ad-libs started flowing! Lee Adams just started adding them to the script!" She loved working with Dick Van Dyke so much and they just did an Actors Fund benefit out in L.A. They performed the song "Rosie," and Chita got tears in her eyes talking about how she told him how lucky they are to have done what they love to do... and to still be doing it so many years later. On that note, she said that when she and Shirley MacLaine did a benefit together recently, they began by looking at each other across the stage and screaming with glee, "We're alive!!!!"

She mentioned doing some choreography with her back to the audience and, when I balked at a star turning upstage, she said that was an incredibly powerful position. She would come up the elevator at the beginning of "All That Jazz" in
Chicago
with her back to the house and then slowly turn around. She said she remembers doing it one night and when she turned, two guys in the front row freaked out yelling, "Oh, my God! That's Chita Rivera!"

Now, let's counter Chita’s years of brilliance with a little of my less-than-professionalism. One night at
The Ritz
last week, Patrick Kerr walked by me onstage and whispered "You're in the audience." Huh? I had to remain onstage for a while in a group scene so I couldn't question him, but then Brooks Ashmanskas whispered, "You're in the first row." There were a bunch of cute guys in the center front seats, but I couldn't figure out who was supposed to be me. The dark-haired muscle guy? The geeky, but super-hot hunk? How flattering! Then Brooks softly said, "Front row, house right, last seat." I looked past the cute Chelsea boys and let my eyes settle on an older white-haired woman, dressed completely in black with orthopedic shoes, AKA the opening outfit I wear as the aging Italian Grandmother. She captured my look so completely we could have toured in
Side Show
. I was at first mortified and then thought it was hilarious and did my signature turn-upstage-to-laugh routine. And, if my stage manager is reading this, I did that new move because my
character
thought of something very funny at that moment. I guess "Sheldon" thinks that seeing a man threatened by a mob hit man with a gun is a laugh riot. Note to self: Investigate how many times you need to be written up to Equity before you can be fired.

Finally, on Sunday night, my boyfriend, James, and his seven-year-old daughter, Juli, and I saw
The Drowsy Chaperone
. Bob Saget is the new Man in Chair and he was great! During the first scene he talks about the plot of
The Drowsy Chaperone
and mentions a "gay wedding." Juli looked at us excited and said, "Gay wedding!" Then Bob Saget explained what "gay" meant in the ‘20s. Later on, during the song where Janet sings "I Put a Monkey on a Pedestal," Juli asked me what a pedestal was. I told James that I love that she doesn't know what a pedestal is, but she knows what a gay wedding is. We're raising her with an open mind!

Okay, this week is a salon for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and I'm also going with Juli's class to the Bronx Zoo. Peace out!

You There in the Front Row

November 7, 2007

Whew! I'm exhausted from running the marathon.
Actually, the first part of that sentence is correct, but there's no factual basis for the second part. I was just too embarrassed to write that I have the nerve to be exhausted when we've all been given the gift of a Daylight Savings Time extra hour. I do have the right to be a little tired. My boyfriend, James, had to go to Houston so I've been taking care of Juli. Though, essentially, she's in school ‘til 3 PM, then she has afterschool programs ‘til 6 when the babysitter picks her up, and by the time I'm home from the show, she's asleep. So, Hollywood-celebrity-style, my version of "taking care of her" is not 24 hours of parenting, but 45 minutes in the morning when I get her ready for school.

Actually, I love getting her ready in the morning because all she wants to do is sleep in and only be woken up for something fun. So, I've found the best way to get her awake is to fully lip-synch something sassy. We both get what we want: She gets a show to wake up to, and I get to play Effie. On Friday, I did the
Dreamgirls
fight scene that happens right before "And I Am Telling You," and she was rapt! Thursday, I was blasting Neil Sedaka (whom I love!), and she asked if that was a boy or a girl. I told her that Neil is a great male singer with an amazingly high voice. Another Neil song came on and I said, "I love his voice!" She whirled around and said, in shock, "
That's
a boy?!?!" I guess she bought it for "Calendar Girl," but "Laughter in the Rain" was pushing it.

Last Monday, I performed in a salon for BC/EFA. That's right, a salon. No, I didn't travel back in time, I went to a very swanky apartment building located on Central Park South and took the elevator to the 26th floor. The apartment was loaned to BC/EFA, and people paid cash to hang out in the gorgeous living room with a full terrace overlooking the park and see a performance every ten minutes. It was so fun! Joy Behar was there and hilarious as usual. She commented on the Bush twins being named Jenna and Barbara, as in "J and B." Paul Shaffer played and sang and told us that he got his green card when Stephen Schwartz invited him from Canada to be the pianist for Broadway's
The Magic Show
! Who knew? Chris Sieber was the host and said he's getting ready to do
Shrek
where he’s gonna play the character that's super short. I wondered how they're going to create the illusion, and he said he's doing it old school: He's going to walk on his knees! It's nice to know that technology hasn't replaced the technique I perfected in seventh grade when I would entertain my friends imitating that woman from
Poltergeist
("Go into the light… there is peace in the light!").