for the love

Okay so yeah, there was a time and a place where I was a Shoshana Bean superfan. I am still definitely a fan of hers–but I must admit that the electricity of having Adam, Correy and Chris pump up the dramz of Sho’s riffing, Louis Vuitton mega-bag carrying, huge sunglasses at night sporting, just giving it vocally, total Broadway diva status was definitely fueling the superfanning. I mean, Radio City and Wicked both had tours in Toronto at the same time, she was staying at our hotel…the superfan status was sky high. And I’m pretty sure most of my gays loved her riffing as much as I did. “Taking it Seriously” gave me my first Broadway mix CD which was then followed by Adam W. who followed that up with a two-CD masterpiece, which has then been followed by another “Taking it Seriously” CD or 2.

The superfanning bordered on madness when at Hilary’s gingerbread making house party I made a Shoshana Bean gumdrop statuette complete with Elphaba costume. A little sketch, yes? Oh well. And then we actually gave it to her! Who does that? Someone with no shame. Me. Ahh! Good thing I’m just a normal fan now. But she did give me a thank-you card the next day–and yes, I saved it.

(Wow, actually posting the picture below is kind of embarrassing. It was a moment that fit the vibe of Toronto. Oh well. It illustrates the story and this blog must be self-deprecating if it is to be candid).

So I miss the days of going into their dressing and listening to the riffing debates of Correy and Adam W. Seriously, they are even more entertaining than even this presh kid’s entertaining blog below (he does have some true Shoshana superfanning under his belt).

So I hadn’t heard of Seth Rudetsky’s commentary vids before the kid above referenced them and I must say they are pretty amazing. He’s pretty genius and they are heartwarming reminders of the dressing room debates. OK, so I’ve now listened to several of his commentaries. I love this guy!

Okay, so “Defying Gravity” was the first Broadway song I ever fell in love with. It was THE song in THE musical that made me fall in love with THE genre of showtunes. And I still promised Stefan that I would learn even more showtunes before I made my second appearance at Musical Mondays at Splash someday. (And Stefan, I am totally on that–I am now listening to Playbill Radio! You proud?)

So you might not appreciate the wonder of the video triage above featuring Shoshana Bean, Megan Hilty and Eden Espinosa if you have never seen Wicked. The jokes, the jabs, the silly “mistakes”, the references will be lost on you. You should still be able to appreciate the splendor that is each one of their voices…but it is magnified when you have seen the musical. Myself I have seen it 3 times in a year–twice when I was on tour and once on my trip to NYC.

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PS. Watch the Seth Rudetsky video below for some laughs hearing about Barbara Walters trying to learn a Broadwayesque promo for the show with Rosie.  You can learn more about Seth here–I recognized his name as a writer, but didn’t know of his vast career.