Seth Rudetsky is back on Broadway and will also be returning this Sunday for his popular series of livestream special guests concerts. It’s tempting to write an article similar to this one by playing on the ubiquitous “Broadway’s Back!”Slogan. But “Rudetsky’s Back!” doesn’t work. He never really disappeared.
Rudetsky, along with James Wesley, kept the lights lit through their very popular and highly effective, but very busy, show business during the Broadway shut down. Stars in your House livestream series, raising well more than $1 million for The Actors Fund’s pandemic efforst by, among other things, reuniting Broadway casts from Annie Dreamgirls ToThe Jagged Little Pill, and Beetlejuice
The casts also include actors from many of the classic TV shows. ER (including George Clooney).Glee Frasier, Taxi and Taxi, This Is Us. Both iterations One Day at a Time. Game show episodes in which hosts and guests engage with one another in a freewheeling mashup Password, Match Game charadesFamily Feud Trivial Pursuit – routinely draw an assortment of the couple’s famous friends and the famous friends of those famous friends (a recent contest pitted the casts of Little House on the Prairie ForThe WaltonsOne saw, another saw Wicked‘s various Boqs go up against its Fiyeros. You can see them here YouTubeOder the Stars in the House Website.(*()Each
Stars in your HouseThe episode also includes the latest Covid updates as provided by Dr. Jon LaPook chief medical correspondent at CBS News.The show, more than anything, has helped to give a face and a voice to Broadway’s resilience and offered a place for the community to vent and find comfort. In the last 18 months, Stars in your HouseWith its weekly (sometimes daily) episodes,,, was a celebration of joy and loyalty during a time when both performers and fans were most in need.And
Stars in your House isn’t going away, even now that Broadway productions have resumed performances. Rudetsky talks about the need in this conversation with Deadline.Deadline spoke with Rudetsky – and, unexpectedly and too briefly, his husband James – about
Stars in your HouseCast reunions have a lot of appeal. His comical and hilarious humor is amazing Seth’s Broadway Breakdown performances at the Off Broadway venue Asylum in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, and his new round of the unmissable weekly livestream Seth Concert SeriesLive performance of Sunday evenings from the Upper West Side apartment Rudetsky and Wesley Rudetsky is a Broadway veteran, comedian, actor, producer, producer and co-author (with frequent collaborators).
StarsJack Plotnick (guest) in the Broadway musical Disaster!Among other things Seth’s Big Fat Broadway Seth SpeaksSirius/XM Satellite Radio will welcome one of his many famous friends and colleagues to perform intimate, largely improvised concerts – with Seth at the piano and viewers making requests – live from his his living room-slash-studio. This Sunday, October 3, 2008 at 8 p.m. ET, Rudetsky’s guest will be Shayna Steele (Rent, HairsprayThe first of a new line-up, which includes Justin Guarini (10 October), Jessie Mueller (17 October), Erika Henningsen (24) and Shoshana bean (31 October).And of course we spoke about all those little musical annoyances that Rudetsky so artfully deconstructs with hilarious precision in his solo show. Ticket information for
Seth’s Broadway BreakdownIt can be found here HereFor, and Seth’s Concert SeriesHere .Continue reading. Oh, and what the heck? Rudetsky’s Back!
This interview has been edited and condensed to ensure clarity and length.
DEADLINE: As if you don’t have enough to do with
Stars in your House, now you’re starting two new shows?SETH RUDETSKY
Stars in the House actually is better for us now than it was because we’re just doing two shows a week. We were going to completely stop when Broadway came back, but then we realized like basically no one’s really working. Brian Stokes Mitchell says it’s going to take five years for the artistic community to recover, and we realized we can’t just stop. Just because Broadway’s back doesn’t mean people have recovered.DEADLINE: Was this extra-busy for you with the Tonys?
RUDETSKY
It’s not the Tonys, it’s more about having to start my career again. First, writing. Broadway BreakdownNearly killed me. That was my first concert. James sold tickets and I wrote that. We moved in to a new apartment on Upper West Side two weeks ago. Now, the entire downstairs is my studio.So, I booked all these stars, like Jessie Mueller and Shoshana Bean, are they’re going to come over once a week and do these concerts with me. There are sound and lighting designers who will be coming to our concerts.
Broadway Breakdown. That’s what’s completely overwhelming. My career really stalled for a year and a half, and now, it’s like I’ve got to start again.DEADLINE: We keep hearing that Broadway is back, but for most people who work on Broadway, it’s not going to be back for a while.
RUDETSKY
Even in the best of theatrical and TV and film seasons, there’s tons of people that are desperate for money. Just because Broadway is back doesn’t mean suddenly everyone has money. I would say Broadway being back is best for audiences because they now have a plethora of Broadway shows to see, but in terms of helping out the artists and everyone that works in TV and film and Broadway over the last year and a half, it’s a very limited amount of people that are working now. That’s why Stars in the Housemust continue.DEADLINE: Let’s talk a bit about how you and James came up with the idea for
Stars in the House.RUDETSKY
James and I were in Texas, doing a political fundraiser, as is our wont, and that’s when Broadway shut down, which was a Thursday. We flew back to New York but we knew we couldn’t stay here because our daughter has asthma. We were afraid that she would get it. We went to our Upstate home and I told James that James was always being asked for help by The Actors Fund. It’s going to be horrific. It’s going to be a nightmare for The Actors Fund. So I said, I’ll record some piano music and send it to some of our Broadway friends, and we’ll have these mini-concerts online and ask people to donate, and James said a couple of songs really isn’t going to be enough. We host so many events together, why don’t we just host it like a normal event?WESLEY
Make it more like a talk-show format. We talked to Brian Stokes Mitchell, and…RUDETSKY
…he came up with the name. I really didn’t know how to do this. I thought what I was going to have to do is hold my phone up on FaceTime and put that to my laptop so our first guest, Kelli O’Hara, could be seen on my FaceTime. I’d never tried a Zoom or any other type of Zoom.WESLEY
I said I think it’s going to be really important during this time to have something very structured because everyone’s going to feel, you know, untethered, and since our roots are in theater, we should do a 2 o’clock and an 8 o’clock show, a matinee and nighttime show. We stuck to that schedule until June.RUDETSKY
Within a couple weeks, we heard from people that weren’t necessarily singers, like Tony Shalhoub and Brooke Adams, who wanted to do something, and then maybe two weeks or one week later, we said we can actually do a reading of a play. It was something I didn’t think would work. People reading into a screen could be very effective. We ended up with the original cast. The Heidi Chroniclesto recreate their roles. It was amazing, and we started. Plays in the HouseIt’s been a week, I believe.WESLEY
My idea was TV reunions. I didn’t grow up in New York like Seth did, watching Broadway shows. Although I did see shows on tour, that was all. I grew up watching a lot TV. So, I was like, okay, well, I know that if I saw familiar faces from the past TV shows, I would feel comforted in this time of great crisis, and if I’m going to feel good from seeing these people, I know other people will, too. We thought, “We all know someone from this, that, and the other show.” together, they’ll do it.[a reunion]And sure enough, that’s what Marilu Henner did with the cast of
Taxi, and we knew Chris Sullivan from doing benefits with him, and Kelli O’Hara, and so, we asked Chris, will you get people together from This Is UsAnd he did. Marcia Cross was someone we knew, and she got it. Housewives who are desperateTogether, and then Dana Delany was like “Well, I can get” after the show was over. China BeachTogether, and then when did we? China BeachBob Picardo was there, and he said, “Well, I can get.” Star TrekThey are all together. It’s kind of organically happened.DEADLINE: A post I did on Deadline was about the episode of Game Show with
The Waltons CompareLittle HouseIt was also one of our most popular posts. It is comforting and attractive to see casts from these shows once again. Do you have a favorite? Stars in your HouseEpisodes, or is it unfair?RUDETSKY
No. It’s not unfair at all. It’s not unfair at all. Saturday Night Live, where he’s obsessed with Paul McCartney, and he’s like, Do you remember the time you sang ? So, basically, with shows that I’ve just been obsessed with, like “Yesterday”The ComebackLisa Kudrow SCTV with Andrea Martin and Catherine O’Hara, I get to finally say to them, oh my god, do you remember how funny you were?Musicals reunions are often so moving because they can be so touching.
Ragtime. You could see the incredible talent on display by just watching everyone. I got to play in that orchestra on Broadway, so it was very emotional for me because I’d been there 20 years before.WESLEY
Ours is my favorite. It’s free to be you and meBecause I was raised with it, it makes me special. It was amazing and surreal to be able work with Marlo Tom, or to collaborate with Sara Bareilles to cover that song. Since I was a child, I can say that the TV show is my favorite. Fame – I was a little bit too young when the movie came out – I was obsessed with the TV show, especially Debbie Allen. So, for Debbie Allen to come on and all those people, I’m like, oh my gosh, I cannot believe I’m talking to them. As far as Broadway shows, probably one of my favorites is one I wasn’t even hosting, and that was Dreamgirls because it was Seth’s Dreamgirls and it was…RUDETSKY
…my concert version…WESLEY
…his concert version for The Actors Fund with Heather Headley and Lillias White and Audra McDonald and so many others. It was incredibly moving to hear, as Seth’s husband, the incredible words of support and love from these artists to Seth because the concert happened only days after 9/11 in 2001, and to hear how Seth, as a producer of this event, put it together and brought the theater community together in the first big event after 9/11 was incredibly moving and touching to me.DEADLINE: Reunion fundraisers seem to be the norm now, and this must have been your initiative. At the very least, I’ve never seen this many shows before.
RUDETSKY
You sound just like my mother. She’s like, WESLEY “Seinfeld stole your joke!”
I will say that I’m pretty sure that we were the first ones to do it as a livestream, as a charity. You can be sure that there will be more reunion game nights. The Waltons CompareLittle House on the PrairieWe are truly inspired by it DEADLINE – I was there the first night you performed [Wesley exits the conversation.]
Broadway Breakdown in front of an audience that included Betty Buckley and Beth Leavel and Joel Grey and Brian Stokes Mitchell and I’m sure I’m leaving many names out. Is it scary? Or are you used to them by now?[Ed. note: I was. Also at the Sept. 12 preview were Adam Pascal, Andrea Martin, Dana Delaney, Javier Muñoz, Bellamy Young, Andy Karl, Orfeh, David Burtka and Neil Patrick Harris ]RUDETSKY
After I had performed in front of Barbra in Los Angeles, it was like a dream come true. It was like an out-of-body experience. It was surreal. It was like all the things I envisioned as a child happening. I’m like, wait, I’m actually doing a breakdown of Barbra Streisand’s voice in front of Barbra Streisand, and she’s actually laughing?Do the following:
Broadway BreakdownNew York: I was moved by the ending in New York. It was almost like a thank you. They’ve meant so much to me in my life, and everything they represent. It was like I’m so glad I finally get to say thank you to these people and also have them understand why they’re brilliant. Because it’s very weird, but I’ll say to someone, do you understand how amazing you sound on this note because you’re adding vibrato to an E-vowel, and they’ll be like I didn’t even realize I did that. I love being able to say to someone, this is why you’re amazing. So, I wasn’t nervous. They were so kind and I was very happy to have them as my guests.DEADLINE: Did you make the Streisand joke before her about the D & the T?
RUDETSKY [One of the vocal recordings Rudetsky deconstructs onstage is the “Like a Straw in the Wind/Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home” medley from 1966’s The Second Barbra Streisand Album, in which the singer inexplicably pronounces – in fact, over-pronounces – the word “apart” as “aparduh.”]
Not only did I do it, but afterwards, she came backstage and she’s like The following are the “maybe they took the D from “Don’t Rain on My Parade,”Funny GirlAlbum, and they moved the album over to my second album. I was amazed. Reaaaally? That’s an StrangeRecording engineers should do this. Yes, she actually saw me do it, and was completely confused.DEADLINE: It struck meAs someone who certainly is not trained in technical musical terms that going to your show is like going to the doctor when you have some general ache, some vague pain, and you don’t know what it’s called, and when the doctor gives you a diagnosis it feels so much better just knowing that there’s a name for what you have. One of the examples in your show that really hit me was your explanation of the difference between open vowels and modified vowels – something everyone recognizes when they hear it even if they don’t know the terms. Great Broadway singers tend toward open vowels – singing, say, the word
as “baby”The correct pronunciation is the one used by pop singers. However, they often change vowels. “bay-bee,”It is “baby”Oder “bay-bay”There is nothing that anyone ever says “bay-beh.”In real life. In your show, you play a great example of the way it should be done – Betty Buckley singing “bae-beh” – “Memory”RUDETSKY “Touch meeeee, it’s so easy to leeeeve meee.”
That’s exactly the purpose of my show. Listen, obviously insiders will think it’s really funny just because it’s a comedy show and they get it, but Broadway Breakdown really is for people who just kind of generally love theater, and that’s why I say Broadway shows don’t want you to go see them and go, They want you understand “uh, it was good.”WhyIt was excellent. My show’s purpose is to tell you why you love it because of this, that, and this. I also love the fact that you can see how annoying it is for someone to sing. because it’s stupid.“Touch maaaee”DEADLINE: It’s annoyed me for years and I never knew that anyone else felt the same way. So, thank you, I’m glad to know that.
RUDETSKY
Look, when you’re in an audience, you want to believe that whatever’s happening in front of you is really happening. You don’t want to think, Because you can’t help but like as soon as your hear it “oh, there’s a performer that’s modifying their vowels because it’s easier on their larynx.” you’re like, “I love yeow,”What?What?DEADLINE – What are some common reactions that audience members have? Are they also annoyed by things?
RUDETSKY
Well, it’s interesting. Dana Delany said, oh my god. I thought that belting was easy, and that being a soprano was the best way to be a singer. . Betty Buckley responded, “And then right at that instant, Betty Buckley said. [In the show, Rudetsky praises the great Broadway belters like Buckley and Patti LuPone] I was like, wait, Betty, you didn’t realize how amazing you are? So that’s what I love, that I built a show that’s teaching people. And sopranos are incredible, too, and I show that whole Barbara Cook thing, but I think belters are overlooked as like, oh, they’re just yelling, and I’m like, No!“me, too.”Audiences also ask questions such as “Why would The Osmonds perform?”
Fiddler on the Roof? They ask valid questions.DEADLINE: WHY
DidThe Osmonds perform FiddlerWhat is the best way to get started? But my favorite clip is Bea Arthur’s weirdly angry rendition of [During his show, Rudetsky plays vintage audio clips to illustrate what should and shouldn’t be done on stage; in the latter category is a vintage recording of The Osmond Brothers performing an astonishingly bad and hilariously bouncy medley of Fiddler songs: “To life, to life, luck-i-em.”]What is the best way to remember these moments? These are the things you do research on, or just what sticks in your mind.“Don’t Rain on My Parade.”
RUDETSKY
My entire life has been about my friends coming over to me and us going, oh, my god, this is amazing! From “Do-Re-M”Sound of MusicThat terrible moment Friedrich is able to hit We literally do this for each other. Bea Arthur was one example of such a thing. We were watching that clip one night, and we’re like, Wait, why is she speaking the end of the song with such an angry line reading? I’ve been doing this my whole life. As I said in the show, I was actually workshopping. “la.”Broadway BreakdownWhen I was 11 years old, I used to hold my phone near the record player so that my friends could hear it. My entire life has been spent saying “Oh my God, just!” ListenYou can do it!