| Seth's Big Fat Broadway |
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| Written by Michael Portantiere | |
 Seth Rudetsky; photo by Michael Portantiere ************ TIMESQUARE.COM: I have several friends who are devoted fans of your radio show. Tell me about it. SETH RUDETSKY: I'm on Sirius every afternoon. The title of the show is Seth's Big Fat Broadway. I deejay all the music and once a week I do an hour-long interview. I've had Patti LuPone, Angela Lansbury, Nathan Lane... TS: What was your most amazing recent interview? SR: Well, I had Lin-Manuel Miranda from In the Heights, which I loved. TS: Every Thursday at Don't Tell Mama, you do your “Chatterbox” interviews to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. What guests have you had lately? SR: I had the strippers from Gypsy, and I had the casts of Glory Days and Cry-Baby. I think it's cool historically that I do these interviews with people from short-running shows, and that we videotape them. I also had people from Dance of the Vampires, Lestat, Urban Cowboy – all of the flippity-flops. TS: Another one of your charity endeavors is your Broadway 101 show, which benefits The Actors' Fund. I saw it the last time you did it, and it really seems like it appeals equally to people who know everything about Broadway and people who are completely clueless. SR: Yes, that's exactly why I wrote it! Either way, you get a big kick out of the show. We do get people in the audience who know nothing. We had a girl in the show whose parents were from Iran, and she told me, “Now they finally understand what I do.” I'm almost positive that we're going to do the show in a Broadway house for the first time this fall. The plan after that is to take in national and then do a commercial Broadway run, which I'm really excited about. TS: I have to tell you that I was thoroughly entertained by your novel, Broadway Nights. SR: Thanks. The audiobook version of it is just about to come out, and we've got an amazing cast: me, Richard Kind, Kristin Chenoweth, Andy Karl, the people from [title of show]. You can download it at audible.com. It's, like, 10 hours long. TS: What else do you have on your plate? SR: I've got a deal to write a sitcom about my childhood. The working title is Everybody Hates Fat, Gay Seth. TS: You also have the R Family Vacations cruise coming up, July 13-20. What have you got planned as far as entertainment? SR: Sheena Easton is the concert headliner. Christine Ebersole is coming, and Klea Blackhurst. The first night of the cruise is going to be Barbra Streisand Night, and Christine Pedi will be doing her signature Barbra. The final show of the week will be a modified version of Chicago, with Brenda Braxton as Velma and Lillias White as Mama Morton. TS: Oh. I guess I assumed Rosie O'Donnell would play Mama. SR: No, but I'm sure she'll be in the show somehow. Andrea McArdle is also coming; I think we may have her play “Billie” Flynn. But please don't ask me who Roxie's going to be, because we don't have one yet. TS: How do you feel about the cruise experience? SR: People have all these misconceptions about the cruise. They think it's nothing but lesbians and their kids, but that's not true. It's a total mix of people -- lesbians and gay men, young and old, straight people. That's what's refreshing about it. And every single night, there's a crazy, amazing show. I've been on other boats, but these cruises have the best entertainment of all. ******************** For more on Seth Rudetsky, visit his website, sethrudetsky.com. For more on R Family Vacations, visit rfamilyvacations.com. |
