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ONSTAGE & BACKSTAGE: A Tale of Two Seths
By Seth Rudetsky
28 May 2008
He recently got a New Dramatists Lifetime Achievement Award, and they showed a clip of Harvey on "Sesame Street" singing "Everything's Coming up Noses." Afterwards, Arthur Laurents, who was sitting nearby, turned to him and said, "Not bad." That, of course, prompted Harvey to write a note to Patti LuPone, "Please enjoy your run. I'm next." Then Patti started sending over boxes of chocolates she'd get from fans…with her name crossed out and Harvey's written in. But she'd eat half the box first. Then Harvey sent her a bowling bag filled to the brim with his 90's CD of himself live at The Bottom Line called "This Isn't Going to Be Pretty." He wrote, "Dear Patti, Would you mind hawking these in the lobby?" She wrote back, "Dear Harvey, Thank you so much for sharing your talent. I've given one to each member of the cast. As a matter of fact, we're canceling the matinee today so we can have a listening session. And if anyone shows up for the show, we'll make them listen to it." Harvey then wrote back, "Thank you so much. And by the way, I wasn't kidding." And, he attached another whole bag of CDs! Then Patti took a cactus that she got as a gift from someone (referencing the beginning of Act Two of Gypsy) and sent it to Harvey with his CDs taped all over it with ugly red tape. That was what I saw when I walked in his dressing room. An enormous cactus covered in red tape and CDs. I thought it was a tasteless present from a fan, but when I found out it was from Patti, I exclaimed, "It's beautiful."
I talked to him about A Catered Affair whose CD just came out, fyi! He plays the uncle of a bride who wants to have a small wedding. He's outraged because he thinks he's being excluded because he's gay. I had heard at La Jolla that his character was totally anachronistic in the 1950's, and I was happy when I saw it on Broadway because it seemed so real to me. I assumed it was overhauled. The family knew he was "gay," but the word wasn't used. He had a very close male "friend," and he was a "confirmed bachelor." Then I found out that that's how it was at La Jolla! So what was anachronistic?! Were people saying there weren't gay people in the 50's? Ever hear of the Mattachine Society? Annoying!
Harvey told me that he feels one of the most pivotal moments of his career was when he was performing the second part of Torch Song Trilogy By the way, the only reason it was in three parts is because he got the first act booked at La MaMa, and it was normally so difficult to get space there, his director told him to say it was a trilogy so he could get the next dates lined up. Brava! Anyhoo, after he performed the second part, an older woman named Mrs. Gettleman, who came to all of his stuff, approached him. She had on a turquoise suit, Brooklyn beauty parlor-styled hair, and a rose from her backyard pinned to her lapel. He turned, and she hit him on the arm. "What!?!" he exclaimed. "Write a part for a mother so I can play it!" she told him. That gave him the idea for a third part of the show, and he gave her the role. She changed her last name and became…Estelle Getty! And, had he not written that act, he believes the show never would have come to Broadway and his career never would have become what it became. Because everyone identified — not with the disapproving mother, but with him! Apparently, everyone's parents disapprove of something, and that allowed the audience to identify with Harvey's character. No one ever said to him after the show, "That's me and my son." They always said, "That's me and my mother." Brava Harvey and brava Mrs. Gettleman!
Finally, he told me about the celebs he met backstage at Torch Song. He freaked out when he heard that Merman asked for tickets to Torch Song Trilogy. Or, specifically, she called a press agent friend of his and asked for tickets to "that trigonometry thing." Afterwards, she came backstage and, because she hadn't read this column on how to greet a celeb backstage, Harvey was forced to ask her, "What did you think of the show?" The Merm responded with her signature candor. "Ah, I thought it was a piece of s***. But the rest of the audience laughed and cried, so what the f*** do I know?" He loved it. His other idol (and mine) also came backstage during Torch Song...Barbra Streisand! He said that they chatted about Broadway, and Harvey feels that he and Barbra are opposites. For him TV and movies are a great way to make money, but his heart lies in the theatre. He told me that to him doing a movie is like going to a job in an office. He feels you can have a great office job, but theatre is where he lives. Barbra did Broadway, but it was never what she wanted. She loves to get it right and then move on to the next thing, plus she always wanted to reach as many people as possible. We should have seen the writing on the wall when she accepted her Emmy for "My Name is Barbra." On the pink four- CD set, she includes her Emmy speech, and she talks about how many people saw her television special and that she did the math and figured out that in order to reach that many people she'd have to do Funny Girl for 63 years. My question is, Why didn't she do Funny Girl for 63 years? She stopped doing it before I was even born. And, whenever she does sing Funny Girl songs in concert, it's always the one I'm not interested in hearing. Come on, already! Ixnay "Don't Rain on my Parade," and haul out "Private Schwartz." And, quite frankly, the last time she sang one of my other faves, "Coronet Man," she responded to "Mrs. Gould."
His other favorite backstage star was Richard Chamberlain. Harvey told him that he'd always had a crush on him, and Richard agreed to act out a scenario Harvey had always fantasized about. Harvey left the room, waited ten seconds, Richard turned out the lights and lay on the couch. Harvey walked in, said, "Honey, I'm home" and kissed him! Hmm…I thought. That was the fantasy? I'd call that the preamble to the fantasy.
All right, I'm out. This week I'm finally gonna see Sunday in the Park With George and then interview Jenna Russell at my Chatterbox! And, I'm going to go to beautiful Feinstein's on Sunday night and see the brilliant Emily Skinner sing up a storm: feinsteinsatloewsregency.com for tix! But first, some throat-coat tea, two Halls and a delicious malted. Purely for medicinal reasons.
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(Seth Rudetsky is the host of "Seth's Big Fat Broadway" on SIRIUS Satellite Radio and the author of "The Q Guide to Broadway" and the novel "Broadway Nights." He has played piano in the orchestras of 15 Broadway musicals and hosts the BC/EFA benefit weekly interview show Seth's Broadway Chatterbox at Don't Tell Mama every Thursday at 6 PM. He can be contacted by visiting www.sethsbroadwaychatterbox.com.)
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James visits Laura Benanti backstage at Gypsy.
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