The journeys follow one another! Right now I’m on a plane over the Atlantic Ocean (we’ll talk about that later). Tuesday, May 10, I’m going to Santa Fe to do a comedy/belts gig with Ana Gasteyer and right after, I’m heading to Feinstein’s at the Nikko in San Francisco to do Seth’s Big Broadway Show Thursday, May 12^and and Friday, May 13^and. Yesjet lag!

Last Friday I flew to LA to meet James who had spent the past week there for fancy meetings. Juli had been on spring break since college, so she joined me on the flight. Juli is 21 and always shows me new things on my phone (aka TikTok) and at this point she’s the only person I know who “drops” pictures on me. Anyway, we’re sitting on the plane and I get an airdrop notification which I accepted. If you don’t know, you can take a picture on your phone and “drop” it on a nearby phone. This person receives a notification and can accept it if they wish. Well, when I saw an airdrop notification while we were sitting on the plane, I naturally assumed it was from Juli. After opening it, however, I realized it was decidedly do not from her. It was a shot of the back of the photographer/passenger seat and said, “To the girl with the brown hoodie and the gray sweatshirts, you’re fine like that.” To get to the lady in question, this person had dropped her at the whole plane! After showing it to Juli, we both thought about who it could be. At first I thought it was her because she was wearing some kind of hoodie…but I myself was wearing gray sweatpants. Juli finally asked, “We two combined?”

I posted the photo and story on my social media and my favorite response was from Stephen Spadaro who commented: “You are well asf. Learn to accept a compliment. WELL DONE !

After arriving in Los Angeles, we picked up our friend Jack and drove to Palm Springs so I could donate to the Desert AIDS Project, a fantastic organization. It was hosted by Michael Urie and I played for Max von Essen and Eden Espinosa. Max and Eden did not sing a duet but played opposite each other a few years ago when Max played Marvin and Eden played Trina in the Falsettos to visit.

While we were rehearsing, I asked Max if he was nominated for a Tony Award for An American in Paris and he said the whole experience was amazing. Some people I spoke to said the month leading up to the awards was exhausting, but Max said it was amazing! He loved non-stop lunches and nominated events. He freaked out when he saw stars he had always looked up to come up to him and tell him they loved his performance. And often people tell me it was all a blur, Max says he remembers each moment.

I’ve never been nominated, but a year ago SiriusXM sponsored a contest that offered the winner two tickets to the Tony Awards and the chance to be accompanied by me. Well, I’ll never forget meeting the winners who were decidedly perplexed by “the opportunity to be escorted by me.” We walked the red carpet and they definitely kept their excitement up when they met me. In short, total silence. Maybe they were shy in the presence of a star as huge as me? Well, finally, at the end of the walk, they asked me if I wanted to take a picture. To finish! I was thinking. They’ve overcome their shyness and now they’re going to post this photo all over social media, bragging that they were escorted by none other than Mr. Seth Rudetsky. Well, I should have read the fine print. Or, more precisely, their subtext. When they asked me to “take a picture”, they were literally asking me to take a picture. Their photo. Yes, they quickly handed me their phone and posed while I took some pictures of them. Overall, compared to Max, my experience was poor.

Max opened the event with Lerner and Loewe and Rogers and Hammerstein and Eden came later with an incredible “Defying Gravity”. She, however, couldn’t defy the heat. It was mid-90s in Palm Springs and the event was outdoors. Eden, unfortunately, thought it was going to happen inside and wore a top that had (faux) fur. She was basically a walking oven.

I haven’t finished recapping all the amazing things that happened during our Ukrainian telethon on stars in the house. I had written last week that we had a bunch of Golden age peeps, and now I feel the need to share some Katie Finneran stories that I love.

One of his earliest film roles was in You’ve got mail, and she had a really tough time at Riverside Park that ended in a happy ending. In the scene, she had to go down a hill and talk to Tom Hanks, but when they started filming and she got to the bottom of the hill, she kept walking away. Basically she had to be in a very specific spot after running downhill or the camera wouldn’t be able to capture her, but she was not allowed to look for this place, otherwise it would be filmed. They did a few takes and she kept missing it and was mortified. Finally, the man who saved the day was… Tom Hanks! No one seemed able (want?) to help him until the star himself suggested a crew member get a sandbag. Apparently it’s an old filming trick. The sandbag was placed right next to Katie’s mark and it did! When she ran down the hill, she could feel where the sandbag was without looking down and she landed right on her target. Tom Hanks is an Oscar winner and a nice guy.

Katie is dyslexic, like my daughter Juli, and we complained that the children often go out of their way not to admit they can’t read. When Katie was in elementary school, each of her classmates was assigned a short little book to read. After reading it, they were then to give a short verbal report of the book. Well, Katie has Cinderella and couldn’t read it at all. So when it was her turn, she got up and just made up a story. Dyslexics can be very Creative. His teacher told him that, although it was an interesting story, it was definitely do not the story of Cinderella. Instead of confessing, Katie told her that maybe it wasn’t the Cinderella story… but it was the story she had read. Katie explained that there must be a problem at the factory and that’s why her book was printed with this story. Bravo for the improvisation “yes and” level Groundlings!

If you have a child who dislikes school and hates doing homework, he may have dyslexia. Children don’t want to admit they have trouble reading, so they often act out. Luckily, James’ mom is an expert on dyslexia and taught Juli to read…and now Juli is a sophomore in college! Check out my mother-in-law’s site: MasteringDyslexia.com

Okay doke! As I said before, I’m on the other side of the Atlantic. I’m on a flight to Portugal, then a shorter one to Barcelona where I’m going to board a cruise in Italy. I want to go back to reading Randy Rainbow’s new book, playing alone. I love it!

I will write next time from Europe!