Happy almost Tony Awards! I鈥檓 not going to talk Tony's this column because I鈥檓 going to dedicate an entire column to inside Tony Award stories鈥攕o stay tuned for that. I will however say that I am hosting a Tony Award Watch Party during the show. It starts at 7 PM ET (鈥榥atch) and it鈥檚 at Asylum NYC. You can hang out with me and not only watch the festivities, but do singalongs, answer Broadway trivia, get some sassy prizes, and 鈥渕uch more鈥� (as Luisa sang in The Fantasticks). Get thee for tix.
Speaking of Asylum NYC in Chelsea, that鈥檚 also the theatre where I鈥檓 running my new show Seth鈥檚 Broadway Breakdown. I did a preview performance September 12 and it was so amazing. The show鈥檚 premise is that in order to never take Broadway for granted again, we need to break it down to understand what makes it amazing. My first performance had me emotional because there were people in the audience whose singing I played examples of. I talked about Cabaret and there was Joel Grey. Of course, because he directed the Yiddish Fiddler, I also felt the need to apologize when I played the Fiddler medley sung by The Osmonds. They do 鈥淭o Life鈥� with the groove of a Barry White makeout song. It鈥檚 a 鈥淪handa.鈥� #IfYouKnowYouKnow
I also do a whole section on belting and there was Beth Leavel and then there was Adam Pascal (I showed that his final note on his big song in my show Disaster! is the same final note as Ethel Merman鈥檚 as Mama Rose鈥�). And I did a whole section on riffing that, at one point, featured the amazing Orfeh and she was in the front row. Here鈥檚 me of Orfeh and Mariah Carey. Orfeh was there with her amazing Tony-nominated, Olivier-winning husband Andy Karl and they did fab posing with me on the red carpet with so many other peeps. Watch this TikTok created by TheBroadwayWiz that features some of the stars who came to my show doing sassy poses.
Most thrilling for me was the fact the Seth鈥檚 Broadway Breakdown features so much Betty Buckley, and she was right there in the second row. Incredible! If you don鈥檛 know, one of the notes I鈥檓 obsessed with is her sustained E in 鈥淭he Writing On The Wall鈥� from The Mystery Of Edwin Drood. It was originally written to be a B but Betty arbitrarily went up to the E during the backer鈥檚 audition and people flipped out. I actually have a recording of that very backer鈥檚 audition and did a breakdown. here.
We talked after the show and she reminded me that when I first met her, I had immediately told her that she devastated me in the early 鈥�90s. Here鈥檚 the story: when I was doing the workshop of A New Brain, it featured Alan Campbell in the role that Norm Lewis would eventually play in the Off-Broadway production. Alan was starring in Sunset Boulevard opposite Betty at the time and he knew I was obsessed with her (because I would relentlessly talk about her brilliant singing). She mentioned to him that she was looking for a pianist for her voice lessons, he recommended me, and I got the gig. Dream come true! However, I still had to bust her鈥擨 basically introduced myself by telling her that I would constantly listen to her high E at the end of 鈥淭he Writing On The Wall鈥� from the cast album and always be depressed because I never got to see her in the show. I fantasized I could travel back in time to witness it, but finally accepted I couldn鈥檛.
Then, I discovered the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. They have an archive of Broadway shows that have been filmed. And yes, they have The Mystery Of Edwin Drood. I freaked out鈥擨 could finally see Betty hit that E. I showed up at the archive incredibly excited. If you don鈥檛 know, it鈥檚 the final note of the final song in the show. Well, I didn鈥檛 want to immediately skip right to it. I wanted to savor the anticipation of what I was going to finally witness. I plugged in my headphones and started watching. The excitement built and finally, after two and half hours, the big number came. The song started, she sang and sang, and then she didn鈥檛 hit the E鈥攕he opted for the B, four steps down. There hasn鈥檛 been that big of a let down since Geraldo Rivera opened up Al Capone鈥檚 vault and found what amounted to a low B. It was a library with a code of silence, but I couldn鈥檛 contain my involuntary 鈥淣o!鈥� There was glaring from the other headphoned patrons; I鈥檓 still recovering.
Even though I was there to play Betty鈥檚 voice lesson, I 鈥渃onfronted鈥� her on what I deemed a betrayal. Instead of kicking me the hell out of her private lesson, she gave me the backstory. Betty explained that when she first hit the note, it was not a big deal to her. But everyone else in the cast flipped out. She realized it was impressive that she could belt and sustain an E. Then, the wonderful choreographer Graciela Daniele staged the number so that the entire cast would turn towards her right before the note. Betty said she would get to the moment where was going to hit the note and see the faces of her fellow performers in a state of panic, subtextually asking, 鈥淲ill she nail it?鈥� Betty wanted them to chill out, so she would opt back and forth between the E and a B so they would stop being so visibly nervous. End of story: she opted for the B on the day of the Lincoln Center recording. Even though I didn鈥檛 see it at the library, there is an amazing version of her hitting the note .
By the way, that鈥檚 not the last time Daniele pulled ye olde 鈥渙n the spot鈥� staging; back in the 鈥�90s, I was asked by Jason Robert Brown to assist him at the Public Theater on a new Bill Finn musical which turned into A New Brain. Jason left the future incarnations of the show because he was working on his own show, Parade, but the beautiful vocal arrangements he wrote were used when it finally opened at Lincoln Center. By then, Ted Sperling was the music director and he asked me to be his sub. It was a piano/conductor chair and, because Ted is multi-talented, the final number featured him playing violin. I learned the piano/conducting part and when I looked at the violin part, I saw that it was out of my skill set, but I knew I could fake it well enough to not force the show to close.
After all, I figured, who was going to really hear or see me? The 鈥減it鈥� was offstage and we could only see the stage on a video monitor, so I didn鈥檛 know what was happening during 鈥淚 Feel So Much Spring,鈥� the final song where I had to play. Ted just told me that when the number started, I should leave the piano, get my violin, come out onstage and stand stage left. I was not really nervous to have to play my violin in front of the audience, even though I knew I was not up to snuff, because the whole cast would be crowding the stage and I assumed I could stand out of sight, in the shadows behind them. So, it鈥檚 my first performance in Ted鈥檚 position. I play and conduct the whole show and finally get to the finale. I鈥檓 standing backstage and start walking on to play the first little violin solo I have.
Well, what Ted neglected to mention is that when the violinist comes onstage, Daniele directed the entire cast to turn away from the audience and make a space so everyone can see him. They then indicated towards me as if to say 鈥淗ere comes our amazing violinist! Attention must be paid.鈥� What? I came onstage to hide, not to be presented to the audience as the next Itzhak Perlman. I completely freaked out鈥攁nd let鈥檚 just say my violin playing was on par with the sounds our cat Romeo makes when he sees a sexy lady cat. A New Brain should have been immediately retitled A New Sub. If you think I鈥檓 exaggerating and I鈥檓 probably a good violinist and just hard on myself, please watch .
OK, enough with my personal trauma, back to Seth鈥檚 Broadway Breakdown. One of the other wonderful things about my first preview is that James and I got to meet people in-person whom we had only known virtually. One of our favorite TV shows ever (and definitely my favorite TV show in that style period) is Scandal. I can鈥檛 tell you how much we loved it. We got to know Bellamy Young from our two Scandal reunions on Stars in the House plus various game nights and political fundraisers, but had never met her in person. Along those same lines, James and I both watched every episode of Desperate Housewives and we were so happy to virtually meet Dana Delany on our SITH reunion show. We kept in touch with her and she also did political fundraisers for us as well as of my podcast Seth Rudetsky鈥檚 Back-To-School where we talked about her high school years. But again, we never literally met her. So it was super-fun to finally be with them in ye olde flesh.
Seth鈥檚 Broadway Breakdown officially begins its run October 15, with performances on Friday through Sunday. Get tickets . And finally, my live virtual concert series begins October 3, airing every Sunday at 8 PM ET. My first star is Shayna Steele from Rent and Hairspray. Here鈥檚 my 鈥淪hayna Steele Challenge鈥� where I dare people to try to hit those crazy notes she hit in 鈥淲elcome To The 60s鈥�. I tried鈥�.and wiped out. I love the applause immediately starts as she鈥檚 singing, before the song ends. , then peace out!
Betty Buckley in Sunset Boulevard (Broadway, 1995)
Betty Buckley in Sunset Boulevard (Broadway, 1995)
Betty Buckley in Sunset Boulevard (London)
