Seth Rudetsky | |
---|---|
Born | Seth Dennis Rudetsky February 28, 1967 |
Education | Oberlin College |
Occupation(s) | Musician, actor, writer, radio host |
Years active | 1998-present |
Spouse | James Wesley (m. 2012) |
Children | 1 |
Website | http://www.sethrudetsky.com |
Seth Dennis Rudetsky (born February 28, 1967) is an American musician, actor, writer and radio host. He currently is the host of Seth's Big Fat Broadway and Seth Speaks on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio's On Broadway . [1] The show focuses on Rudetsky's knowledge of Broadway theatre history and trivia.
In March 2020, Rudetsky and his husband created a daily live-streamed web series Stars in The House to benefit The Actors Fund in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Rudetsky grew up in North Woodmere, New York. [2] He graduated from Hewlett High School in Hewlett, New York, and Oberlin College Conservatory of Music in 1988 with a degree in Piano Performance. [3]
He wrote and performed in a one-man show called Rhapsody in Seth in 2003. He often tours with variations on his one-man show. He appeared in the Series Finale of Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List . From November 27 through December 10, 2006, he starred in an Off-Off-Broadway production of Torch Song Trilogy . [4]
He appeared in the Roundabout Theatre Company revival of The Ritz from September 2007 through December 2007. Also in 2007, Rudetsky appeared as a contestant on Episode #111 of the US version of Cash Cab . [5] He also appeared in the MTV reality show Legally Blonde: The Musical – The Search for Elle Woods as a vocal coach for the contestants throughout the competition. He appeared in January 2008 in a regional production (Northport, Long Island, New York) of Lend Me a Tenor . [6]
On August 30, 2010, Rudetsky appeared with two-time Tony-winner Sutton Foster in a one-night-only concert performance of They're Playing Our Song at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater. On June 18, 2012. On Thursday evenings,[ timeframe? ] he hosts Seth's Broadway Chatterbox, a one-hour talk show, at a New York City club, Don't Tell Mama on 46th Street.
Rudetsky started a website called SETH TV. [7] The site had archives of video and a $5/month subscription fee for exclusive content. Rudetsky posts video "deconstructions" to his web site in which he deconstructs the singing voices of Broadway performers. [8]
On November 4, 2013, Disaster! , a musical comedy starring Rudetsky and written by both Rudetsky and Jack Plotnick, opened Off-Broadway at the St. Luke's Theatre. The show, which parodies 1970's disaster movies, has earned largely positive reviews, with The New York Times praising its "inspired lunacy". [9] After a three-year run off-Broadway, Disaster! opened at the Nederlander Theatre on Broadway in 2016.
Rudetsky was nominated for the Emmy Award three times for his work as a comedy writer for The Rosie O'Donnell Show . He was a writer for the Grammy Award shows of 1999 and 2000. Rudetsky also wrote the opening number for seven Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Easter Bonnet Competitions and has been responsible for many of their Gypsy Of The Year shows.
Rudetsky had his short story "My First Story" included in the 2005 anthology Fresh Men 2: New Voice in Gay Fiction. The next year, his book The Q Guide to Broadway was published by Alyson Books. [10] This was followed in 2007 by the release of his novel Broadway Nights, also published by Alyson Books. [11] In 2012, his first young adult novel, My Awesome/Awful Popularity Plan, was published by Random House. [12] In 2015, he released a sequel, The Rise and Fall of a Theater Geek, also published by Random House. [13]
In addition to being a writer and an authority on the music of the Broadway stage, Rudetsky is also an accomplished musician. Having majored in Piano Performance at Oberlin, he has gone on to perform in a variety of shows, including accompanying Patti LuPone in concert, where he also demonstrated a talent for on-sight transposition. In addition, Rudetsky has also displayed a skill for conducting, leading the orchestra for the November 30, 2007, special performance "Light the Lights--Broadway is Back" end-of-the-strike celebration. [14]
Rudetsky also composed the opening numbers for the 1998 and 2000 Tony Awards.
Rudetsky is gay. He married producer James Wesley in 2012 [15] and they have a daughter, Juli. [16]
His brother Michael Rudetsky died at Boy George's London mansion in 1986. The cause was reportedly heroin overdose, although no drug paraphernalia was found at the scene. Michael was 27 years old and a well-respected musician in pop music circles when he died. He was a keyboardist, guitarist and writer who had worked with Cyndi Lauper, Kool & the Gang, and Joan Jett. [17]
On Mar 18, 2024, Rudetsky signed an open letter [18] which criticized Jonathan Glazer's acceptance speech at the 96th Academy Awards. Glazer used his acceptance speech to denounce Israel's decades-long occupation of the Palestinian territories and the ongoing Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip. [19]
South Valley Stream is an unincorporated hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 6,386 at the time of the 2020 census.
North Woodmere is an unincorporated hamlet in the Town of Hempstead, New York, located in far western Nassau County on the South Shore of Long Island in the Town of Hempstead.
The Five Towns is an informal grouping of villages and hamlets in Nassau County, United States on the South Shore of western Long Island adjoining the border with Queens County in New York City. Although there is no official Five Towns designation, "the basic five are Lawrence, Cedarhurst, Woodmere, Hewlett and Inwood." Each of these "towns" has a consecutive stop on the Far Rockaway Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. All five communities are part of the Town of Hempstead. Woodmere is the largest and most populous community in the Five Towns, while Inwood is the second largest community in the Five Towns.
Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero, known professionally as Chita Rivera, was an American actress, singer, and dancer. Rivera received numerous accolades including two Tony Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, and a Drama League Award. She was the first Latina and the first Latino American to receive a Kennedy Center Honor in 2002, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. She won the Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2018.
Douglas Wright is an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. Known for his extensive work in the American theatre in both plays and musicals he has received numerous accolades including the Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award.
Christine Ebersole is an American actress and singer. She has appeared in film, television, and on stage. She starred in the Broadway musicals 42nd Street and Grey Gardens, winning two Tony Awards. In 1984, she appeared as Caterina Cavalieri in the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, and Directors Guild of America Award-winning period biographical drama film Amadeus.
[title of show] is a one-act musical, with music and lyrics by Jeff Bowen and a book by Hunter Bell. The show chronicles its own creation as an entry in the New York Musical Theatre Festival, and follows the struggles of the author and composer/lyricist and their two actress friends during the initial brief (three-week) creative period, along with subsequent events leading up to the show's production.
Kerry Butler is an American actress and singer known primarily for her work in theater. She is best known for originating the roles of Barbara Maitland in Beetlejuice, Penny Pingleton in Hairspray, and Clio/Kira in Xanadu, the latter of which earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical.
Tony Mordente is an American dancer, choreographer, actor, and television director.
Aaron Maximillian "Max" Crumm is an American actor and singer known for their work on the New York stage. They have originated starring roles on Broadway in both the revival of Grease as Danny Zuko, after winning NBC's talent search competition, Grease: You're the One That I Want!, and in Seth Rudetsky's Disaster! as Scott, after playing the role Off-Broadway. Crumm also played starring roles in The Fantasticks as Matt, The Evolution Of Mann as Henry Mann, Hot Mess as Max, Brooklyn Crush as Christian Mohammed Schwartzelberg, and in Jersey Shoresical as The Situation.
Jordan Gelber is an American actor and singer. He has performed on Broadway in the musical Avenue Q, in All My Sons and in Elf the Musical, among other shows. He has also performed in many off-Broadway productions. He has a recurring role in the CBS TV show Elementary and in other television shows.
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Marco Pennette is an American television writer and producer.
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Christine "Christy" Altomare is an American actress and singer-songwriter.
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Disaster! is a jukebox musical comedy created by Seth Rudetsky and written by Rudetsky and Jack Plotnick. Earthquakes, tidal waves, piranhas, infernos and the songs of the '70s take center stage in this comedic homage to 1970s disaster films.
Jennifer Simard is an American actress known primarily for her work in theater.
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