ONSTAGE & BACKSTAGE: Mitzvah, Memorial and Mom
By Seth Rudetsky
Christopher Jackson and Eliana Berman
A week in the life of actor, musician and Chatterbox host Seth Rudetsky.
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Greetings from the American Airlines 9:55 AM flight to Dallas.
It's 10:30 AM and those people on the ground look like ants! Wait. They are ants. We haven't taken off yet. The right engine won't start, so we were towed (!) back to the gate and the mechanics are working right now to fix it. That gives me plenty of time to write my column and think of horrific images featuring the right engine failing mid-flight.
Here's a recap of last week: My older sister Nancy and her family came to visit. They're from Norfolk, and my niece Eliana wanted to celebrate her bat mitzvah in New York. Both of my nieces were obsessed with Legally Blonde: The Search for the Next Elle Woods and Eliana begged me to ask Denis Jones, the choreographer on the TV show, for a private dance class as one of her bat mitzvah presents. I texted Denis and right away he said yes. He wrote back, "I assume she'll be shaking her 12-year-old junk" to which I readily agreed. He knew she'd want to learn the section from "Positive," where Elle Woods tries to win back her man by "shaking her junk." Yes, I know it sounds inappropriate for a bat mitzvah present, but biblical scholars have taught that it actually dates back to an ancient Jewish tradition where Ruth got Isaac back from the clutches of the harlot Esther by shaking her junk. Of course, Jewish-style "shaking your junk" is roughly translated as "complaining."
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Anyhoo, we met at Ripley-Grier studios and Eliana was incredibly excited but a nervous wreck because she's never taken a dance class. Denis was
amazing . So supportive and helpful. We loved the fact that instead of saying "you're doing it wrong," he would say, "If I were to be nitpicky, I would say that your right hip needs to move at the same time as your hand." I learned the dance, too, and turns out, Eliana was super-coordinated and I was the clunker in the group. Nancy glared at me in my ill-fitting sweat pants and told me perhaps I was in the wrong room because the Jenny Craig weigh-in was down the hall. Speaking of which, she also busted me for writing non-stop about my eating issues and said, "Your column reads like someone's food diary from OA. Where's the actual Broadway?" Point taken.
Eliana Berman and Denis Jones
Eliana's next request was to see
In the Heights . Hers for the second time, mine for the ninth (!). The show is still
fantastic . Both Eliana
and Nancy are obsessed with Chris Jackson and as soon as he came onstage, there was non-stop poking of each other and saying "there he is" and a starry-eyed love staring. Of course, Nancy and I both have the same sense of humor, so when Chris started singing, she whispered to me, "Seth! How do I get this thing off?," and I looked over to see her frantically trying to twist her wedding ring off. After the show, we went backstage. I was so excited to see Cloris Leachman standing onstage because she had just seen the show. She was congratulating everyone and telling them how much she loved it. I had just interviewed her on the radio, so to prove how famous I was in front of my family, I strolled up to her in front of Nancy and Eliana and said, "Hi, Cloris! I just interviewed you on the radio!" to which she replied, incredulously, "You did???" I quickly backtracked to Nancy and Eliana. We said hi to everyone in the cast and finally, Chris came over to us. It was time to ask for Eliana's final gift request: for Chris to sing a section of "Home" to her. I asked Chris if he would do it, and for some reason he was surprised. Shockingly, it's the first time someone requested that of him for a bat mitzvah present. He started from Eliana's favorite section,
Then can I say…I couldn't get my mind off you all day… , which he sang right to her as she avoided his eyes and blushed uncontrollably…and I videotaped it all! Chris has just started recording his own CD, and I told him I was excited for the release party. Nancy asked, "Do you need a 48-year-old married woman and a bat mitzvah girl in your audience?" and he immediately answered, "Yes!" Eliana left in a state of delirium, and we exited the theatre and walked right into the
crazy storm that hit Tuesday night. We took shelter underneath the
Billy Elliot marquee with tons of other theatregoers. While we were there, Nancy ran into a friend from her hometown and started chatting. I wound up running into some fans of my radio show and signed some autographs as Nancy explained to her friend they know me because I have a show on Sirius/XM. PS, to understand this dialogue better, know that my show airs daily from 2-8 PM. In other words, six hours day.
NANCY'S FRIEND: Wait! I also have Sirius/XM! What channel is he on? The Broadway channel. OMG! That's my number one pre-set! I have it on all the time! (Pause.) When is he on?
Interesting. I guess she has it on the other 18 hours of the day?
The whole week began at a very sad, moving and, quite frankly, hilarious event: the memorial for actor T. Scott Cunningham. T. Scott was only in his late forties when he passed away a few months ago, and his partner, the super-smart, super funny actor Harry Bouvy put together a memorial at the Vineyard Theatre where T. Scott had performed many times. After hearing everyone speak, you got such a clear picture of what a fantastic life T. Scott had…full of theatre, travel, incredibly funny moments and love. His roommate from college spoke first… none other than Tony Award winner Joe Mantello. It was Joe's idea that they room together. They didn't know each other when they got to the North Carolina School of the Arts, but they both were assigned roommates who were not their style…AKA, as Joe put it, "dreaded techies." Joe finagled it so the techies could room together and he and T. Scott could move to his room. Joe said they became best friends and finally, after many nights of bearing their souls, they admitted to each other that even though "up until this point we'd both been totally straight…we might…possibly….(long pause)…be bisexual." Joe talked about what a fantastic actor T. Scott was and how happy they both were when Joe, making his Broadway debut as director, cast T. Scott in his Broadway debut, Love! Valor! Compassion! Joe told us that T. Scott was fantastic in everything he saw him in. Joe then paused and said, "Full disclosure….I did not see him in Mamma Mia! " So many people spoke, and every one showed us a beautiful glimmer of T. Scott's life. Someone talked about the time that T. Scott was working with a famous performer and came offstage, ranting, "She used up all the acting in the room!" I'm obsessed with that line. It's such a creative way to look at that kind of situation. His partner Harry talked about all the amazing women that T. Scott played opposite and how, for some reason, all of the ladies hit it big right after working with him. The list includes Amy Ryan, Jane Kaczmarek, Marin Ireland, Hope Davis, Julie White and Allison Janney. Harry said that it got to the point where T. Scott loved going to the first read-through of a new show, sitting down next to the leading actress and saying, "Get ready for your career to skyrocket !" It was a beautiful memorial and it's obvious T. Scott touched so many lives and will be terribly missed.
Continued...
