CHATTERBOX WITH ANTHONY RAPP/BACK TO 'XANADU'
Some unfortunate news was revealed at this week's Chatterbox: there will be no Actors' Fund concert of a famed musical this fall. Since Anthony Rapp had to leave early for his Thursday night performance of RENT, Seth spontaneously broke into some of his stories, and also fielded some questions from his audience. I had already suspected for some time that there would be no such concert, since in the past they've been announced by now. I was also wondering what was left for Seth to conduct. I was thinking PROMISES PROMISES or EDWIN DROOD. Seth claimed that there are no musicals he's in love with left to do, noting how PIPPIN and a few others have already received concert treatments recently in other concert series.
I totally understand what Rudetsky is saying. If he feels the series is finished, that's understandable. His concerts included DREAMGIRLS, FUNNY GIRL, CHESS, HAIR, ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, and BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS. I've heard rumors that he himself did not pick TWENTIETH CENTURY or WHOREHOUSE. If there are no other musicals out there he wants to do, then it's probably not worth his time and effort. And besides, his career is truly taking off right now. He's about to make his Broadway debut in THE RITZ, for instance.
Rudetsky did note, however, that he will revive his SETH'S BROADWAY 101 in November. He didn't say whether it will take place at a Broadway or Off-Broadway theater this time. Last time it was at New World Stages in a very sold out performance.
Anyhow, Seth's conversation with Anthony focused on his childhood (including recounting a scary driving incident detailed in Anthony's recent book), starting out as a child actor, RENT, CHARLIE BROWN and the RENT movie.
One piece of news from Anthony: he is developing a cabaret based on the stories of his book. He also mentioned that he recently directed a production of RENT himself in South Africa. And in his creepiest anecdote, he mentioned how though he received countless fan mail in his first run of RENT, he only received openly sexual letters during CHARLIE BROWN.....
I returned to XANADU tonight in preparation for interviewing Cheyenne Jackson tomorrow by phone. Upon first seeing the show like a month ago, I was wondering how the other critics would react. I had loved the show, totally enjoying it, but wondered whether it was partly because I am also a fan of the film, in spite of how plainly bad it is. Again, I had a fabulously fun time.
And I thought: it was a very good thing that Kerry Butler replaced Jane Krakowski. Why? Because Krakowski is too classy for XANADU. Butler looks younger and is more freely and happily campy than Krakowski probably would have been. XANADU is essentially a big, gay batch of silliness for 90 minutes. And even if the film version was bad, the songs are fun and cathy.
Of course, I do wonder how the show will progress financially. Will there still be an audience for it in a few months? And if it can stay open through next year, how will it fare in terms of Tony nominations? Guess we'll see...
