Seth's Broadway Diary, Volume 1: Part 2 (21 page)

I ran into Lin-Manuel Miranda at the after party at Chelsea Piers, and I praised him on the hilarious trailer for his parody
Legally Brown
:
The Search for the Next Piragua Guy
. Hi-la-ri-ous. Watch it at
SethRudetsky.com
. I also hung out with David Saint (artistic director of The George Street Playhouse), who was great friends with Jonathan Larson. He said that he and Jonathan would drive around with Roger Bart (whom the character Roger was named after!) and Jonathan would sing songs from the show and teach them different vocal parts so he could hear how it sounded with three parts. It was very bittersweet for David and for so many others who knew Jonathan to see this performance. It was such a tribute to Jonathan's genius, but also marked the end of this show that was his legacy.
However
, for any of you that are dying to see this brilliant cast and performance, just remember it's going to be released as a film
.
And, of course, it then wound up re-opening Off-Broadway!

On a shallow note, I'm incredibly proud of the fact that James and I are both on diets and we didn't eat any dessert at the after party! I still got it! (And by "it," I mean love handles… therefore, no dessert.)
Will my dieting ever end? And will a difference ever be made? So far the answers are no and no.

September 15, 2008

Sunday marked the beginning of the fall theatre season with
Broadway on Broadway
or, as I called it after sitting in the direct sun for two hours, "Melanoma on Broadway." What a show!

The belting: fierce.

The UVBs: fiercer.

My favorite performances were by Cheyenne Jackson who, as usual, sounded
amazing
on his big song from
Xanadu
, and the cast of
[title of show]
, who re-orchestrated their songs for the event! Normally,
[title of show]
is accompanied by Larry Pressgrove, who sits on stage with a keyboard, but for this event they utilized the orchestra that was there, and it sounded
so exciting
!

This week at the
Chatterbox
, I had some members from the final cast of
Rent
. Renèe Elise Goldsberry, who played Mimi; Tracy McDowell, who played Mark's mom; Gwen Stewart, the
original
"Seasons of Love" soloist; and Eden Espinosa, who played Maureen. I told them how excited I was to see the upcoming film version of the final performance and I asked them how terrified they were knowing that every note they sang was being filmed. Turns out, there was more than one performance filmed! They filmed a full run-through at the end of August with the cameras in total close-up (no audience), and then they did a full performance with an invited-only audience where they stopped and started to get different camera angles. So, on that final night, there was no pressure to sing perfectly for the cameras… only for my glaring/judgmental face. Actually, Renèe said she did feel pressure because both Daphne Rubin-Vega (the original Broadway Mimi) and Rosario Dawson (the film Mimi) were in the audience. Wowza! All that was missing was Maria Callas (the opera Mimi).

Renèe talked about how she never gets depressed when she doesn't get a role. She's one of those "it's meant to be" people — whereas I'm one of those "I can't let go of my past resentments" people. Try to guess who’s more fun to hang out with? She said that she was doing a role on "One Life to Live" and after she'd been on for a while, her character went blind. Tip o' the hat to Mary Ingalls from
Little House On The Prairie
? You decide. Anyhoo, Renèe said that the writers got sick of her doing dialogue while "looking off in the distance," so they brought on a doctor character to restore her vision. He happened to be played by director Michael Greif's partner, and he told Renèe that Michael was a big fan of hers and would love to work with her one day. She revealed to us that she's "musical theatre illiterate," so she had no idea that Michael was the
Rent
director. All she knew was that he was a big, respected director so she hauled out the ol' "It would be such an honor," etc. A short time later, she got a call offering her Mimi! However, she couldn't do it because of schedule conflicts, and here's where the "it's meant to be" part comes: by the time she could do it, it was for the final company, so she got to be in the film!

Tracy tried out for
Rent
a lot but never got it. She finally gave up on ever doing the show. One day, Tracy's friend was going to a
Rent
open call and asked her to come along. Tracy reluctantly agreed… and got cast! And her friend didn't. Please! See all my previous warnings about bringing people along to auditions. They will always get the part over you!

Rent
was the first Broadway show Eden ever saw, and she tried out for Maureen over and over again when she first got to New York, but she never got it. Her only feedback was "Stop sounding like the CD." When she had yet another callback and heard it was going to be the same casting person from Bernie Telsey's office (who no longer works there), she stopped going. Years went by, and then a few months ago, out-of-the-blue, she got an offer to play the role. And when you see the film, you'll hear that she vocally makes the role her own! And, P.S., when you see the film, don't try to copy any of her riffs unless you want to put your trachea in traction.

I asked Gwen (who was in the original company) about her initial audition and she said that she was cast after the workshop had begun rehearsals because the woman playing that part got a cold and couldn't sing it. Of course, that woman just thought she was quitting a rickety-rackety downtown workshop. I'm sure that today she's totally at peace for leaving a Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning show — as long as she takes her double dose of Paxil. Gwen said that she was allowed to do anything in her "Seasons of Love" solo and came up with the high C herself. I asked her if she's regretted having to do it eight times a week, and the other cast members piped up to say that she's never missed the note. Brava!

I asked the ladies about any particularly memorable auditions, and Renée remembered her
Lion King
audition for Nala. It was scheduled for September 12, 2001, in Los Angeles. That morning she was at home, devastated (day after 9/11), and her agent called to confirm her audition! She was like, "Surely you're joking,"
and
she had no idea how the casting people got to L.A. from New York. Well, she said, even though all their planes were grounded on the way to L.A., they found other ways of getting there and were determined to have the auditions. Renèe showed up and sang "Shadowland." After she sang, they asked her to step out of her shoes (to ground herself?) and to sing it again, but this time they wanted her to really dig deep emotionally. She reminded me and the audience that the lyrics are "Shadowland, the leaves have fallen. This shadowed land that was our home. The river's dry, the ground is broken…" She remembers that she walked over to the table and said, "Are you
kidding me
? You want me to dig deeper emotionally?
Today
? I can do that, but we will all wind up on the floor, sobbing!" There was a slight pause, and they asked her to step outside. I asked her if she had to go in and sing again and she said, "No. Five minutes later, that casting director stepped into the hallway and told me I was cast. I guess I shamed them into giving me the part!"

We talked a little about her appearance in
Broadway Under the Stars
, a live concert in Central Park that was televised. They asked her to sing and she was so excited that she said she'd do anything… and then they gave her Sondheim's "The Miller's Son." She was like, "What the-!?" She couldn't believe how many words there were and how fast it was. Right before the concert she decided there was no way she could memorize it. She had a full panic attack, and (she was mortified to admit) she decided to call the producers and say she had been in a
car accident
! Before she hauled out that ol' chestnut, they told her that there would be a teleprompter. Phew! Of course, once she was up there, she didn't need it; she just wanted the security.

At Sirius, I got to interview one of the best singers on Broadway, Tony Award-winner Lillias White. What a voice, and what a spirit! We had an amazing afternoon. When she arrived, she told me that she was vocally exhausted because she was up the night before doing her gig at The Triad and singing 'til 2 AM. She needed to rest her voice so she couldn't sing on my radio show. Cut to: by the end of the hour, she tore through "Home," "Keepin' Out of Mischief" and the fight scene from
Dreamgirls
!

Lillias toured the country as the understudy for Dorothy in
The Wiz
and eventually took over the role. Then she toured the country as an understudy in
Ain't Misbehavin'
, but this time it was different… she was pregnant! However, she didn't want anyone in the cast to know because she didn't want to be replaced. She went on for the Charlayne part one day when the director was in the audience, and after the show, he told her that she did a great job… but she needed to lose 15 pounds. She agreed with a vague smile… and the costume people kept letting her costumes out. Finally, the doctor told her she had to stop doing the crazy high kicks and squats that were in the show. She told the cast she was pregnant (they were like, "We
knew
something was up") and left the show.

Then, when her daughter was a year old, she was asked to take over the role of Joice Heth, the "oldest living woman" in
Barnum
. Lillias said that when Jim Dale went on vacation, Tony Orlando was the vacation fill-in for the role of Barnum. I was waiting for some heavy-duty dishing, but Lillias said that he was amazing. He was "so saucy, so sexy and so strong!" Who knew? Attention Weisslers: Surely there's an opening for a Billy Flynn somewhere that Orlando can fill! Lillias said that the show was on closing notice for ten weeks! Every Tuesday there'd be a closing notice backstage, and then it was taken down. Finally, they knew for sure it was going to be the last week. Lillias was doing the song "Join the Circus" like she always did, but this time, her heel got caught on the stage. She fell on her face onstage and literally heard the audience gasp. She got back up immediately and didn't feel any pain. However, when she went to raise her arms above her head, one of them wouldn't lift. Turns out, she fractured her elbow, and her understudy had to go on for the last week of the show. The crazy part is, her understudy was the white Mary Testa!

In 1997, I did a benefit for the Gay/Lesbian Synagogue (Beth Simchat Torah) at Don't Tell Mama. It was a salute to gay Jewish composers, and I featured David Friedman and Henry Krieger's music. Well, at the last minute, my Effie couldn't do it, so I called Lillias, whom I didn't know very well, to see if she'd fill in. She said she'd come over right after her tech rehearsal for
The Life
. Well, she showed up and sang the end of Act One fight scene into "And I Am Telling You," and I was so
freaked out
by how amazing she sounded that I told her I had to do a concert of
Dreamgirls
with her playing Effie accompanied by a full orchestra. I knew that Audra McDonald had always wanted to be Deena, so I got her on board and shopped the idea around. After some rejection, I went to The Actors Fund and they immediately said yes. They also suggested I get Heather Headley to play Lorrell so we could have three Tony winners in the leading roles. Cut to 2001, it happened on Broadway, we made a CD,
and
the concert raised almost $1,000,000 for The Actors Fund! Go to my website to see me deconstruct the Effies of Jennifer Holliday, Jennifer Hudson and Lillias and footage from the concert!

Finally, Lillias recounted one of my favorite stories about the business. She was in rehearsal for a musical called
Rock 'N Roll! The First 5,000 Years
. The female understudy in the show decided to quit during rehearsals because she wanted to go into pop music. Lillias was mind-boggled and said, "Why would you quit a Broadway show to go into the uncertain world of pop? Stay on Broadway, make money and then later on, you can pursue pop." But Lillias' words went unheeded. Cut to: the show ran for one week and the understudy's name was… Madonna!

Heidi, Carey, Howie, Cheyenne, Bebe, Brenda, Derek and Ashley

September 22, 2008

I was working it this week in Times Square. And I mean legit work, not Donna Summer "Bad Girls"-style work.

This week was the launch of the new weekly interviews I'm doing at the Time Square Information Center for Sirius Radio and, to promote it, I did a different one every day!

Monday was the cast of
[title of show]
. I asked Heidi Blickenstaff about her Broadway debut. She did the national tour of
The Full Monty
playing Susan Hershey/understudying Vicki Nichols (played by Andréa Burns). Unfortunately, 9/11 happened, and the whole tour was canceled after just a little bit of time on the road. But then Heidi got an offer to do the show on Broadway! She was psyched that she only had three weeks to wait. A few days later, she got a call from Nancy Harrington, the stage manager, and Heidi thought it was to set up her first rehearsal. Nancy said, "How would you like to save a Broadway show?" Huh? Turns out, Emily Skinner (who was playing Vicki) was out and so were some other female cast members. There were so few women in that show that they literally ran out of people to play roles.
And
the woman who understudied Vicki was the only one who could go on for another role, so there was nobody available who could play Vicki. Heidi had gone on for the part a few times on tour but never had an actual rehearsal. Did she remember it enough to play it on Broadway? Did she have enough time to review? It was 5 PM! Of course, Heidi said yes and called her friend Ryan Perry to come see the show so she'd have a witness. It was all such a whirlwind that she didn't meet Marcus Neville, who was playing her husband, 'til she was onstage… kissing him! Heidi was used to doing the tour in
big
theatres, so her performance was geared towards that. After the show, Nancy, the stage manager, thanked her profusely for saving the show and then said, "Sister, you gotta dial it
down
." Apparently, the Eugene O'Neill Theatre isn't a 3,000-seat sports arena.