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Seth speaks: comic, writer, and accompanist to Broadway divas, Seth Rudetsky talks about his journey from high school "fag boy" to star of his own one-man show. (theater).


All Seth Rudetsky Seth Rudetsky is currently a host on Sirius Satellite Radio's Broadway's Best. In this role, Rudetsky is the voice of Broadway theatre for people across the United States.

Rudetsky was nominated for the Emmy Award on three occasions for his work as a comedy writer for
 has held on to longer than his grudge against a homophobic humiliation in high school is his collection of Broadway original cast albums. As he recalls growing up gay in Nassau County Nassau County is the name of two counties in the United States of America:
  • Nassau County, New York
  • Nassau County, Florida
, N.Y.--an experience that forms the basis of his one-man show, Rhapsody (1) A subscription-based online music service from RealNetworks that gives users unlimited access to a vast library of major and independent label music. Within a single interface, Rhapsody provides access to streaming music, Internet radio and extensive music information and  in Seth, currently playing off-Broadway at the Actors' Playhouse in New York New York, state, United States
New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of
 City--the playwright-performer breezily admits, "I knew I was gay when I was 4! By first grade everyone was calling me a fag. My only hope was to live long enough to get out of there and surround myself with really high belters--like Betty Buckley."

That's exactly what he did. Over the past dozen years, as a musical director, conductor, and pit pianist, Rudetsky, now 36, has accompanied such Broadway babies as Bebe Neuwirth, Audra McDonald Audra Ann McDonald (born July 3, 1970) is a four-time Tony Award-winning American actress and singer. Biography
Born in Berlin, Germany and raised in Fresno, California, the elder of two daughters, she began to study acting at a young age to counteract her diagnosis as
, and Megan Mullally.

Musicianship is only part of what makes Rudetsky so popular, explains Will & Grace's Mullally, for whom he served as musical director on a recent Actors' Fund benefit performance of Funny Girl: "His verbal mannerisms and sayings are so catchy that I've literally heard them translated into catch-phrases all the way out in L.A."

Rosie O'Donnell was so tickled by Rudetsky's sense of humor Noun 1. sense of humor - the trait of appreciating (and being able to express) the humorous; "she didn't appreciate my humor"; "you can't survive in the army without a sense of humor"
sense of humour, humor, humour
 that she put him on her TV show staff for two years--earning him three Emmy nominations for comedy writing.

So with all this success, what's still stuck in Rudetsky's craw? Two words: "fag boy."

During Rudetsky's senior year in high school, someone scrawled that phrase into the galleys of the school's annual yearbook, under Seth's "Nickname." Unchecked, it went to press. Rhapsody's retelling re·tell·ing  
n.
A new account or an adaptation of a story: a retelling of a Roman myth. 
 of the events--parental confrontations, student reactions, the lawsuit--are heartbreaking and hilarious. "They say that living well is the best revenge," Rudetsky deadpans, "but I've found that talking about the people who've traumatized your life--and using their real names--is better. Welcome to my show!"

Still, times change, as Rudetsky recently discovered. "The school actually invited me to tell my story for Human Rights Awareness Day," Rudetsky says. "And you know what the kids did there this year? They formed their very first gay-straight student alliance!"

Drake's latest one-man show is Son of Drakula.
COPYRIGHT 2003 Liberation Publications, Inc.
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Article Details
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Author:Drake, David
Publication:The Advocate (The national gay & lesbian newsmagazine)
Article Type:Interview
Geographic Code:1U2NY
Date:May 13, 2003
Words:357
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