The trips keep a-happening! Right now, I鈥檓 on a plane over the Atlantic Ocean (more on that later). On Tuesday May 10th, I鈥檓 going to Santa Fe to do a and right after that, I head to Feinstein鈥檚 at the Nikko in San Francisco to do on Thursday May 12th and Friday May 13th. Yas, jet lag!
Last Friday, I flew to L.A. to meet James who had spent the last week there for some fancy meetings. Juli was on Spring Break from college, so she joined me on the flight. Juli is 21 and always showing me new things on my phone (aka TikTok) and, at this point, she鈥檚 the only person I know who 鈥渁ir drops鈥� me photos. Anyhoo, we鈥檙e sitting on the plane, and I receive an air drop notification which I accepted. If you don鈥檛 know, one can take a photo on their phone and 鈥渁ir drop鈥� it to a nearby phone. That person gets a notification and can accept it if they want. Well, when I saw an air drop notification while we were sitting on the plane, I naturally assumed it was from Juli. After I opened it, however, I realized it was decidedly not from her. It was a photo of the back of the photog/passenger鈥檚 seat and said, 鈥淭o the girl in the brown gap hoodie & grey sweats, you are fine asf.鈥� To get to the lady in question, this person had airdropped it to the entire plane! After I showed it to Juli, we both pondered who it could be. I first thought it was her because she was kind of wearing a hoodie鈥ut I myself was wearing grey sweatpants. Juli finally queried, 鈥淏oth of us combined?鈥�
I posted the photo and story on my social media and my favorite response was from Stephen Spadaro who commented, 鈥淵ou are fine asf. Learn to take a compliment.鈥� BRAVA!
After we got to L.A., we picked up our friend Jack and drove to Palm Springs
so I could do a benefit for Desert AIDS Project which is a fantastic
organization. It was hosted by Michael Urie and I played for Max von
Essen and Eden Espinosa. Max and Eden didn鈥檛 sing a duet but did play opposite each other a few years ago when Max played Marvin and Eden played Trina in the Falsettos tour.
While we were rehearsing, I asked Max about being nominated for a Tony Award for An American In Paris and he said that the whole experience was incredible. Some people I鈥檝e spoken to tell me that the month leading up the awards is exhausting, but Max said it was incredible! He loved the non-stop luncheons and nominee events. He was completely freaking out seeing stars he had always looked up to coming over him and tell him they loved his performance. And often people tell me that the whole thing was a blur, Max said he remembers every moment.
I have never been nominated, but there was a year the SiriusXM was sponsoring a contest which gave the winner two tickets to the Tony Awards and the opportunity to be escorted by me. Well, I鈥檒l never forget meeting the winners who were decidedly nonplussed at the 鈥渙pportunity to be escorted by me.鈥� We walked down the red carpet and they definitely kept their excitement upon meeting me in check. Basically, complete silence. Perhaps they were shy being around such a huge star as myself? Well, finally, at the end of the walk, they asked if I would take a photo. Finally! I thought. They鈥檝e gotten past their shyness and now they鈥檙e going to post this photo all over social media, bragging that they were escorted by none other than Mr. Seth Rudetsky. Well, I should have read the fine print. Or, more to the point, their subtext. When they asked me to 鈥渢ake a photo,鈥� they were literally asking me to take a photo. Their photo. Yep, they promptly handed me their phone and posed while I snapped a few shots of them. All in all, compared to Max, my experience was sub-par.
Max opened the event with some Lerner and Loewe and Rogers and Hammerstein and Eden came on later with an amazing 鈥淒efying Gravity.鈥� She, however, could not defy the heat. It was mid-90s in Palm Springs and the event was outside. Eden, unfortunately, thought it was going to take place inside and was sporting a top that had (faux) fur. She was basically a walking oven.
I haven鈥檛 finished recapping all the amazing things that happened during our Ukraine telethon on Stars In The House. I had written last week that we had a bunch of The Gilded Age peeps, and now I feel the need to share some Katie Finneran stories I love.
One of her very first movie roles was in You鈥檝e Got Mail, and she had a really hard moment in Riverside Park that wound up having a happy ending. In the scene, she had to run down a hill and talk to Tom Hanks, but when they started filming and she would get to the bottom of the hill, she kept being off her mark. Basically, she had to be in a very specific spot after running downhill or else the camera couldn鈥檛 film her, but she wasn鈥檛 allowed to look for that spot or else it would be caught on film. They did a few takes and she kept missing it and was mortified. Finally, the man who saved the day was鈥� Tom Hanks! No one seemed to be able (willing?) to help her until the star himself suggested a crew member get a sandbag. Apparently, that鈥檚 an old filming trick. The sandbag was put right next to Katie鈥檚 mark and that did it! When she ran down the hill, she was able to feel where the sandbag was without looking down and she landed right on her mark. Tom Hanks is an Oscar winner and a nice guy.
Katie is dyslexic, like my daughter Juli, and we commiserated about
how kids will often do anything not to admit they can鈥檛 read. When Katie
was in Elementary School, each of her classmates was assigned a short
little book to read. After it was read, they then had to do a short
verbal book report. Well, Katie got Cinderella and could not read it at all. So, when it was her turn, she got up and simply made up a story. Dyslexics can be very creative. Her teacher told her that, while it was an interesting story, it was decidedly not the
story of Cinderella. Instead of 鈥榝essing up, Katie told her that it
might not be the story of Cinderella鈥ut it was the story she read.
Katie explained that there must have been a problem at the factory and
that鈥檚 why her book was printed with that story. Brava on the 鈥測es and鈥�
Groundlings-level improv!
If you have a kid who is not enjoying school and hates doing homework, they might be dyslexic. Kids do not want to admit they are having trouble reading so they often act out. Thankfully, James鈥� mother is a dyslexia expert and taught Juli how to read鈥nd now Juli鈥檚 a sophomore in college! Check out my mother-in-law鈥檚 website:
Okie doke! As I said before, I鈥檓 over the Atlantic. I鈥檓 on a
flight to Portugal, and then a shorter one to Barcelona where I鈥檓 going
to be boarding a cruise around Italy. I want to go back to reading Randy
Rainbow鈥檚 new book, Playing With Myself. I love it!
I鈥檒l write next time from Europe!
-Matthew-Murphy.jpg)
