I鈥檓 another year older. My birthday was February 28, and I spent it in Las Vegas introducing the new season at the Smith Center. It was extra nice because my Dad and his wife, Gloria, live in the relatively nearby Palm Desert, so they were able to drive in and hang out with me. The day before that, I did my Seth鈥檚 Big Fat Broadway Show, and it was so fun to perform to a sold-out house. After my two days in Vegas, I hightailed it to Los Angeles, and James and I stayed with Jack Plotnick for a quick birthday visit. I鈥檓 so proud of Jack because he was just nominated for a Queerty award for his hilarious short film about The Shining. Watch!
Anyhoo, last week I did a concert with Rob McClure, and it was super fun. It was part of a regular livestream concert series that I do every week, but Rob was the first guest to bring props! He talked about being a teen and seeing a local production of Sweeney Todd. He was obsessed with the show, and especially with the big reveal at the end. (No spoilers. Let鈥檚 just say the Merle Louise track.) After he saw it for the first time, he couldn鈥檛 stop thinking about how cool it was that there would be future audiences who would get to enjoy that shocking reveal . . . and he began to go to the show nonstop. Yes, to see the show, but after a while it was mainly to watch the audience react to the act two twist. The cast became very aware of him since he was constantly there, and after the show closed, they gave him a cast jacket. Just to clarify, there weren鈥檛 cast jackets for the cast. Literally, they made one only for him. And he brought the jacket with him to the concert.
Rob also talked about winning the Rising Star Award at Paper Mill Playhouse and then working in the box office. While he was there, he auditioned for their production of I'm Not Rappaport that was first traveling to Florida. He didn鈥檛 get it, but when it came back to play Paper Mill, they told him that the young man who understudied the show was a Florida native and didn鈥檛 want to come up to New Jersey. They offered Rob the understudy position. It wound up paying half of what he was making in the box office, so he asked if he could keep his box office job and be on call if he had to go on. They said yes . . . and soon they told him the show was going to Broadway and he was going with it. That鈥檚 how he got his Equity card.
In our concert, he sang 鈥淚 Love Betsy鈥� from Honeymoon in Vegas. He told me Sondheim sent him an email saying, 鈥淎fter that opening number, I wanted to live in that theatre forever.鈥� Here鈥檚 a clip:
Rob wrote back and mentioned in passing that he was also a writer. Sondheim responded, 鈥淗ow nice. Take care.鈥� Just kidding; Sondheim wrote back and invited him to lunch. Can you believe it? While he was there, Rob told Mr. S that his favorite lyrics are from 鈥淢oments in the Woods.鈥� The Baker鈥檚 Wife sings:
鈥淢ust it all be either less or more?
Either plain or grand?
Is it always 鈥榦r鈥�?
Is it never 鈥榓nd鈥�?
That's what woods are for
For those moments in the woods鈥�
Sondheim told him that he also liked the lyrics because of the double meaning. Rob was like 鈥淗uh?鈥� And then Sondheim explained that 鈥渨oods鈥� also means 鈥渨oulds.鈥� Wha鈥�? Rob then told him that he had just performed the show at The Muny, and it鈥檚 spelled w-o-o-d-s in the score. And then Sondheim explained that that鈥檚 because 鈥渨oods鈥� is what the Baker鈥檚 Wife means, but he hoped the audience would hear the other meaning as well. At that point, Rob鈥檚 head exploded. Here鈥檚 the song with said double meaning:
On Seth Speaks, my SiriusXM radio show, I interviewed Anne Bobby, who鈥檚 on March 21. (It鈥檚 also streaming.) First, let鈥檚 discuss her name. When I was at Oberlin, I spent a semester doing an internship at the Equity Library Theatre. They housed us at the Century-Paramount Hotel on 46th street, which was kind of a dump. Now it鈥檚 the very nice Paramount Hotel. Anyhoo, it鈥檚 right down the street from The Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, and on the way to my (dumpy) room, I鈥檇 always pass the billboard for Smile and see all the photos outside. There was a large one of a young woman in a bathing suit that said 鈥�Anne Marie Bobby鈥� underneath. Well, that was Anne鈥檚 professional Equity name, but she was called 鈥淎nne鈥� by everyone she knew. She told me she dropped the 鈥淢arie鈥� after she was doing a show and the stage manager came looking for her and said he had called her name on the intercom nonstop. She realized that hearing the name 鈥淎nne Marie鈥� called numerous times had no effect on her. That鈥檚 when she realized she needed to go by just 鈥淎nne.鈥�
I then asked her about the original Les Mis茅rables casting I had heard about. I wanted the full story. Here it is: she had done the readings and workshops of Smile, a musical by Howard Ashman and Marvin Hamlisch. She knew it was coming to Broadway, but didn鈥檛 know when. In the meantime, she was asked to fly to London to audition for the Broadway transfer of Les Miz. She hadn鈥檛 seen Les Miz, but was asked to audition for the role of 脡ponine. She sang 鈥淥n My Own,鈥� and they told her to see the show that night. After act one, she had tears streaming down her face and turned around to see Trevor Nunn sitting behind her. He gave her the thumbs up. It seemed like a good sign. The next thing she knew, she was offered the role of 脡ponine in the show鈥檚 Broadway opening. But right after that, Smile was confirmed to come to Broadway. Argh! Yes, she had to choose between two musicals. Anne told me she felt loyal to Marvin Hamlisch and Howard Ashman, so she stayed with Smile. I totally get it. She had created the Smile role from the very beginning, of course she wanted to finally take it to Broadway. Sadly, Smile didn鈥檛 last very long; that fabulous photo I passed was only up for a few months. But Anne loves the fact that Frances Ruffelle, who originated the role of 脡ponine in London and then did Broadway, wound up marrying John Caird, the Les Miz co-director and having two children. So if Anne had done the Broadway version, maybe that fabulous showmance and those two kids would never have happened. And her daughter has a great career as 鈥淓liza Doolittle.鈥� Here they are together:
