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Countdown to Cleveland! Yes, I am returning to the city that I flew into many times while I was a piano major at Oberlin (only this time my flight is landing in Akron, cheapskate-style). I'm doing Seth's Big Fat Broadway on April 26 at PlayhouseSquare and it's not only a return to the state of my alma mater, but it's a return to the state where I music-directed Forever Plaid back in the mid-'90s. I have a strong visual image of the name PlayhouseSquare because a few years I was cleaning out an old wallet and found a check from them that I hadn't cashed, ADD-style. Of course, it specifically stated it was valid only for 90 days but I kept looking at the front and back of the check over and over again to see if there was another section that said it was valid for more than ten years. There wasn't. If you're in Ohio, here's where you can get info and tix.
The exciting news of the week began with a Facebook posting. Someone congratulated me about being in Entertainment Weekly. Huh? There's that new "Timeline" thing on Facebook that makes it impossible to tell when a posting was first put up, and I'm constantly seeing news about an upcoming event that I then find out was posted six months ago. It's making me crazy. Anyhoo, I had been in Entertainment Weekly last year so I thought the posting was old and/or the person was one those folks who are a year behind on everything (aka my mother: "I hear they're going to revive On a Clear Day…".) I asked for clarification and he wrote that I was in the Bullseye again. Ah!!! If you don't know, the Bullseye is inside the back cover of EW and it lists "pop culture's hits and misses" for the week. Well, my new book was a hit! There's a photo of the cover of my YA novel, "My Awesome/Awful Popularity Plan," and EW states, "All the awfulness and awesomeness of being a teenager wrapped up in a great young adult novel." So amazing! I took a photo of the bullseye (and here's the Amazon link to the book.)
I asked Corbin about auditioning for In the Heights, and it turns out he was originally brought in for Benny because he's half black/half Italian and not Hispanic. But at his audition, they asked if he spoke Spanish and he told them that he grew up surrounded by his parents' friends, who were Hispanic, so it was very much part of who he was. They ixnayed the idea of him playing Benny and he made his Broadway debut as Usnavi, the part created by Lin-Manuel Miranda. He said that Godspell is the completely opposite in terms of staging. In In the Heights there were so many characters walking in and out of scenes and/or dancing inches away from you that it was vitally important to know your specific placement on stage. There are numbers on Broadway stages that help people know where to be during dances; 0 is in the center and then it goes 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 towards the right and the left. Dancers have to know what number they're supposed to be on during songs so they don't block the person in back of them or crash into people etc. Corbin said that in In the Heights, people doing straight acting scenes also had to know what number they were on or they'd have someone crash into them! However, in Godspell, everything is pretty free-form. Throughout the whole show, he's been told to pretty much go wherever he wants. Of course, he's overwhelmed by the lack of boundaries now, but he knows he'll love the freedom once he gets into the run. Here's a section I put together for my show Broadway 101, in which I talk about the importance of being on your number and demonstrate with a little "Music and the Mirror" from A Chorus Line. Corbin and I talked about "High School Musical," and I asked if he saw the recent pictures of Zac Efron with his shirt off. Corbin laughed and told me that he often has pool parties so he's used to seeing Zac look like that. He then told me I could come to his next pool party. When I awoke from my self-induced coma, we concluded the interview and I wished him luck on his Godspell opening. Speaking of Godspell, my latest Playbill Obsessed! video stars Morgan James who can sing anything!
Photo by Robb Johnston |
photo by Robb Johnston |
In my life
There are so many questions and answers
That somehow seem wrong
In my life
There are times when I catch in the silence
The sigh of a faraway song.
Unfortunately, she panicked one night and could only remember the title. So she sang, "In my life, in my life, in my life, in my life….in my life etc…" However, the most awkward moment for her was during Jean Valjean's death scene. She comes onstage at the end of Act Two with glasses for drinking, puts them down and starts to sing. Unfortunately, one night she dropped the glasses. The sound of breaking glass wasn't the horrible part. That moment came when she started to sing soulfully to her dying father and three stagehands dressed in black came onstage to pick up the broken glass. With a broom? No. With a loud, battery-operated portable vacuum cleaner! I'm sure the audience felt they were right in the middle of France circa 1800s when all the bourgeoisie used "Le Dustbuster."
Photo by Carol Rosegg |
Learn more about Melissa Errico's Broadway career by visiting the Playbill Vault.
OK, everyone. This week I'll be seeing some of the slew of new Broadway shows that seem to be opening every day — and enjoying the amazing spring weather. Don't forget, the Easter Bonnet Competition is coming up soon! Get tix here at BroadwayCares.org. Peace out!
(Seth Rudetsky has played piano in the pits of many Broadway shows including Ragtime, Grease and The Phantom of the Opera. He was the artistic producer/conductor for the first five Actors Fund concerts including Dreamgirls and Hair, which were both recorded. As a performer, he appeared on Broadway in The Ritz and on TV in "All My Children," "Law and Order C.I." and on MTV's "Made" and "Legally Blonde: The Search for the Next Elle Woods." He has written the books "The Q Guide to Broadway" and "Broadway Nights," which was recorded as an audio book on Audible.com. He is currently the afternoon Broadway host on Sirius/XM radio and tours the country doing his comedy show, "Deconstructing Broadway." He can be contacted at his website SethRudetsky.com, where he has posted many video deconstructions.)