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ONSTAGE & BACKSTAGE: Broadway's 101 and Roger Bart
By Seth Rudetsky
21 Apr 2008
Roger is not a fan of kids who work in theatre and would essentially torment the little Tommys. He was supposed to roll Tommy in a garbage can, and the centrifugal force would keep the kid against the side of the can. Roger would stop it while the little Tommy was at the top of the can so he'd essentially fall from the top to the bottom. I'm curious to know what it sounded like when a nine-year-old called Roger the term first coined by the Big River dresser.
In The Secret Garden Roger was in charge of the wheelchair that the little boy character used, and he would always keep it a little further back than the boy thought so the boy would be about to sit and then stumble backwards. Maybe Roger should try out for the Bette Davis part in the remake of "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" Roger defended himself by saying he would overhear horrible conversations between child actors and their parents. During The Secret Garden, one little boy asked him mom for a dollar. She told him that she had just given him a dollar on the last break. He replied, "Mom, who makes the money in this family?" and the mother sheepishly gave him the money. Ouch!
I thought Roger was fantastic as the Harlequin in Triumph of Love, and he said that the rehearsal period was crazy because F. Murray Abraham would quit the show every day right at around 5:50. Then, that night, he would call the director, Michael Mayer, and rejoin the show. Speaking of Michael Mayer, he pushed for Roger to get the role of Snoopy in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown because it was a toss up between Roger and another actor. That's why Roger was so thankful to him in his Tony speech. And, speaking of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, whenever my friend Jack Plotnick wants to bust theatre people for abbreviating show titles, he'll say pretentiously, "That was back in '91 when I was doing "Good Man."
Roger said that it was hard show to get laughs in "Good Man" because it was really old-school sketches. At one point, one of the gang says "Hi, Snoopy!" and he's supposed to lament, "Nobody ever calls me sugar lips." (Silence). He said that he tried to solve it by beginning the scene by licking his genitals but that idea shockingly had the kibosh put on it asap. One of the ways he did get a laugh was when he would sing a really pretty phrase in the show… and immediately follow it by frantically gnawing on his arm. I remarked that the sound he made while gnawing was similar to the noises he'd make when he took over the role of Leo in The Producers, and he agreed. He said he always feels that you should add mouth noises for foreign audiences because even if they don't understand the show, they'll get that. We then segued to him playing Carmen Ghia and said that Mario Cantone originated it in the workshop, but passed on the show because he was planning on doing Assassins that year…which unfortunately got cancelled because of 9/11. The scene he had to audition with had written that when he opened the door, he should say "Yesss." At the audition, Roger took that idea but expanded it and held the S out for 30 seconds, like he wound up doing in the show. At the audition Mel Brooks laughed so hard that he turned purple. However, when Roger first tried it in rehearsal, Nathan Lane said sassily, "I can't wait to see that bomb in Chicago." But, the second time they ran it, Nathan played the "Where is that noise coming from?" bit, and the two bits combined made the moment always land.
When Roger did the workshop of Young Frankenstein, he wasn't Dr. Frankenstein, he played Igor. Then he got the call offering him the lead role! Everyone was giddy offering him the role, and they expected him to scream, "Yes!" But, instead, he told them that he wanted to think about it. He said that it was a tough decision because he's a major Marty Feldman fan, and he was so excited to play a role originated by him. Also, Roger loves playing the kind of role where you come onstage, get the laugh and the audience always wants more. But he decided to challenge himself… and now he loves it.
Last week I also did the reading of The Road to Qatar, the show by David Krane and Stephen Cole, who were commissioned to write a musical to take place in the largest domed soccer stadium in the world in Dubai. The reading went great, and Brad Oscar and I are going to do one of the songs tonight at Jim Caruso's Cast Party (at Birdland). The whole reading was a blast from the past for me. It featured the multi-talented Mary Birdsong, whom I first met in the mid-eighties when I was still in college working at the one-week-stock, Surflight, and she was next door, singing, at the ice cream restaurant, Showplace. Also, the brilliant character actor Ray Wills played the Arabian director, and I first met him in the first show I did right after of college, Kiss Me Quick Before the Lava Reaches the Village. And, the stage manager was John Sullivan, whom I first worked with when I took off fall semester during my junior year and was an intern at The Equity Library Theater. There were so many eighties references around me that I was waiting for Alf to walk in with a Rubik's cube. But apparently he's still non-Equity. I'm not surprised.
I went to my mom's house for both Passover Seders. Everything was at it was always is. The same story of Passover, the same delicious, traditional meal and the same jokes I've been peppering the Haggadah with since time immemorial. AKA, whenever the name Nahor came up, I acted offended and said, "Who you calling Nahor?," and whenever bitter herbs were mentioned, my sister and I would emphasize the word "bitter" and point to my mom. Ahh…tradition.
Okay, Chag Sameach everyone and next year in Jerusalem!
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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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Mary Birdsong, Ray Wills, Brad Oscar and Seth Rudetsky at the reading of The Road to Qatar.
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