Liz Callaway Was Cast in Godspell and Merrily We Roll Along in 48 Hours

Hello from somewhere between Salt Lake City and Palm Desert!

I’m on my way to perform a concert with Jessie Mueller at the McCallum Theater.

P.S. I love that she goes by “Jessie” and not “Jessica,” which is her full name. I always think it’s odd for people to be known professionally by a name they are never called by people they know. I remember talking to my friend Dev Janki, who worked with me on so many Actors Fund benefits (like Dreamgirls and Hair and choreographed Broadway 101 for me). He also brilliantly directed and choreographed one of my favorite shows, Zanna, Don’t! I asked him why he would always list his name as “Devanand” in Playbills when everyone called him Dev. He told me that “Dev” is a nickname, and that would be like me listing myself as “Sethy” Rudetsky. Hmph. 

“Sethy” is just one of my nicknames, and not even the main one. The nickname I was called throughout my whole childhood is based on a rock song. My parents told me that when I was a toddler, I loved the song “Honky Tonk Women” by The Rolling Stones, but I couldn’t sing the actual lyrics. So, I would just repeat “zonk zonk” a lot. Hence, my parents always called me “Zonk.” Or, on occasion, “Zink.” Maybe I should change my professional name to Zonk Rudetsky. I would finally attain “Chita” status, meaning I’d be the only Broadway performer with that name. Get me Equity on the phone, stat!

My point is Martin Short actually goes by Marty and Lauren Bacall was always called Betty. Speaking of which, when I was a comedy writer on The Rosie O’Donnell Show, it was an unspoken rule not to say Rosie’s name in public because the show was really popular and the powers-that-be were nervous that we would be overheard spilling show secrets. So, whenever we talked about her, we always called her “Betty” because she played Betty Rubble in The Flintstones film. Megan Mullally told me that when Madonna did Will and Grace, she found out that her circle would refer to her as “M” in public for the same reason. It reminds me of the chapter in Without Feathers by Woody Allen. Woody writes in old-school diary style where people would be referred to by the first initial of their name alone. I remember finding it hilarious when I read this line as a kid, “Should I marry W? Not if she won’t tell me the other letters in her name.”

Back to my travels!

I spent all last week on a cruise with James. We were checking out the ship we’re going to be sailing on next year when we do Seth’s Broadway Cruise with Lilli Cooper, Ann Hampton Callaway, and Liz Callaway. The ship is so great! And Callaway related, Liz just came out with an incredible live album dedicated to Stephen Schwartz. Fittingly, it’s called The Wizard and I. She covers so many of his very well-known hits like “Meadowlark” and “Corner of the Sky” as well as lesser known, but equally fabulous ones, like “Lion Tamer” and “West End Avenue” (YASS to rhyming “Zabars” with “gay bars!”) 

I went to her album release at 54 Below with my good pal and comedy idol, Andrea Martin. After “Lion Tamer,” Andrea told me that she was part of the early versions of The Magic Show!

In the early '70s, Andrea was the “Day by Day” singer in the famous Toronto production of Godspell that was chock full of upcoming stars: Paul Schaffer was music director, Victor Garber played Jesus and, besides Andrea, the rest of the cast had future comedy giants Eugene Levy, Martin Short, and Gilda Radner. After performing in the show for a while, Gilda was cast in an early version of The Magic Show but left to do Saturday Night Live, so Andrea took over! 

Stephen Schwartz came back into Andrea’s life decades later when she played Berthe and sang “No Time at All” in the revival of Pippin, for which she won her second Tony Award. Andrea and I did a really fun benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS last year and the video just went up. Take a gander!

Liz Callaway was also in a production of Godspell, but not in Toronto. Hers ran Off-Broadway in the early 80s and sang “Bless the Lord.” She sang the song in her show, and featured two fantastic back-up singers: Ethan Carlson and Cole Wachman. It is so good. Have a listen!

You can get the entire album autographed and with liner notes here.

At the 54 Below show, Liz told the audience that she found out she was cast in Godspell the day after she was hired for her first Broadway show, Merrily We Roll Along. Two gigs in 48 hours. Liz added, “That was a really good two days!”

This reminded me of Matthew Broderick, who went to his final callback for Brighton Beach Memoirs and found out he got the lead! On his way out of the theatre, the casting director ran after him and told him that the director (Gene Saks) was also working on a film that had a role he was right for. Matthew came back, read for it, and was offered the lead in War Games. Wow, getting cast in a Broadway show and a Hollywood movie on the same day. He told me that, naturally, he assumed the business would always be like that for him. I asked him if it was. His response was a succinct no. 

These casting stories also remind me of Randy Graff, who graduated college and was immediately given a role in the Broadway show Saravá! Getting a great gig like that so early in her career made her think, naturally, that she would go from Broadway show to Broadway show. Cut to waiting six years for her next Broadway musical! Thankfully, the show that finally came along was Les Misérables (she was Fantine) which had a much more successful run than Saravá.

Saravá was one of those shows where audiences looked to the critics to decide for them. I’m friends with the brilliant composer/lyricist David Friedman (he penned the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS anthem “Help is on the Way”), who was the music director of Saravá. David told me that audiences were loving the show, but the powers-that-be knew that critics would not. So, to prevent bad reviews, they refused to open officially! (This was kind of like Lillias White’s character in Romance in Hard Times who refuses to give birth until things become better.) The Saravá team decided to keep the show in previews perpetually so critics wouldn’t be able to come and give it negative reviews (which would cause audiences to stop buying tickets). The “previews” were selling well and audiences were enjoying but, finally, after around 40 previews, David told me that the critics “stormed” the show and reviewed it. As was suspected, it got bad reviews, the audiences stopped coming, and the show closed. Those of us that grew up in the tri-state area remember the commercial for the show that played relentlessly. It featured leading lady Tovah Feldshuh (who was Tony nominated for the role, brava!), and ended with everyone yelling the title: SARAVÁ!

A modern-day “Shipoopi”!

Interestingly, Randy Graff’s next show played out in the reverse. When Les Misérables first opened in London, it did not get good reviews. It probably would have closed if it had a commercial run, but the show had a guaranteed run at the Royal Shakespeare. That gave audiences time to forget about the bad reviews and start spreading their love of the show through word-of-mouth. It became the mega-hit we know today. Here’s Randy singing that classic song that starts with wistful sadness and ends even more depressingly, “I Dreamed a Dream.”

I’m now on my way home from Palm Desert and my concert with Jessie was so fantastic. When my sister Nancy heard I was going to be at the McCallum, she told me I had to invite Barry Manilow who lives in Palm Springs. I waited until the day of the show (!) to tell Barry and, of course, he already had plans he couldn’t break. But he told me loves Jessie. When I mentioned that to Jessie, she said we should do a Barry Manilow song. I asked Barry what song he thought Jessie should sing and he recommended “When October Goes.” Jessie didn’t know it, but learned it that afternoon and sang it that night. She sounded so wonderful. I’m so glad Nancy told me to contact Barry! 

The serendipitous part is “When October Goes” is Nancy’s favorite Barry song and my concert with Jessie was on Nancy’s birthday! So, it was a birthday present from the West Coast. I had an audience member film it so we could send it to Barry (and Nancy)!

I’m done traveling for a few weeks, and then I’m in Ft Lauderdale at Wilton Manors performing my deconstructing show. Get tickets here!

And then I’m in Provincetown with Audra McDonald. Come and see us!

Here’s a combo of both shows: Deconstructing Audra McDonald (and Barbra Streisand!).

And, finally, harkening back to Randy Graff and Les Misérables, here she is recreating her role as Fantine (post-death) while my husband James sings Valjean, facing off with original Broadway Javert, Terrence Mann.

Watch and, then, peace out!