The Inside World of Broadway

For many, the bright lights of Broadway connote a mystical place filled with ornate costumes and incredible talent. 

But for one man who has seen all sides of Broadway life, it is a subject matter worth deconstructing. Seth Rudetsky has performed on Broadway, played piano for more than a dozen Broadway shows and serves as a host on On Broadway, a Sirius/XM radio channel. Tonight, Rudetsky brings his acclaimed one-man show "Deconstructing Broadway" to PSI Theatre in Durham. 

Host Frank Stasio talks to Rudetsky about the inside world of Broadway. Rudetsky's  stories are fun. For example, he tells Frank about his obsession with Barbra Streisand.

"One of the things that I am obsessed with about her is that she gets away with stuff because she is so brilliant," he says. 

As an example, Rudetsky deconstructs a song from Streisand's second album. He notes that during the song, Streisand changes the pronunciation of a word so much that it becomes something else altogether. In the song, Streisand sings this line:

"Your world just falls apart."

But Streisand pronounces the word "apart" as "apard." Apard, of course, is not a word.

"I'm sure they were like, 'Barbra, that's not a word.' And she's like, 'Keep it. Sell it.' That's what I'm obsessed with, no one made her do a take two, because they are all terrified of her," Rudetsky chuckles.