Tony winner Jessie Mueller and Seth Rudetsky will be in town for Broadway in Worcester
Actor and singer Jessie Mueller is no stranger to Broadway but she will be making her first visit to Worcester when she teams up with pianist Seth Rudetsky for a one-night special event concert at 8 p.m. Sept. 22 as as part of the 2023-24 Broadway in Worcester season.
The show, which is sold out, will be in Luth Concert Hall at the Prior Performing Arts Center at the College of the Holy Cross.
During a recent telephone interview, Mueller said she has a couple of friends originally from here (now living elsewhere) who will be coming to the Sept. 22 show.
Broadway in Worcester, a new initiative launched by Eric Butler, has previously brought in Tony Award winners Laura Benanti, Chita Rivera and Kelli O'Hara to Worcester in separate shows in 2022 and 2023. Besides Mueller and Rudetsky, the 2023-24 Broadway in Worcester season will also include Santino Fontana ("Tootsie") performing at 8 p.m. March 1, 2024, in the BrickBox Theater at the Jean McDonough Arts Center, 20 Franklin St.
Mueller won the 2014 Tony Award for best actress in a leading role in a musical for her performance as Carole King in "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical." She has also received best actress in a musical Tony Award nominations for her leading roles in "Waitress" (2016) and the Broadway revival of "Carousel" (2018).
Songs from those shows like "If I Loved You" from "Carousel," King's "Beautiful," and "She Used to be Mine" from "Waitress," are likely to be performed during the course of her appearance, but the precise set list order may be as much of a surprise to Mueller as it will be to the audience.
Rudetsky is more than just the piano accompanist. He has teamed up with a number of Broadway stars including Chita Rivera with whom he performed at the BrickBox Theater last year for Broadway in Worcester, serving as a host/pianist and interviewing the singers between songs.
Among his many activities, Rudetsky is an actor, writer and musician. He has spent many years on Broadway as a pianist and conductor and is afternoon host on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio’s "On Broadway" as well as the host of "Seth Speaks" on Sirius/XM Stars.
It will be Rudetsky who decides the order of songs Mueller sings, even though they've agreed on a basic set list. The questions and anecdotes vary from show to show as well.
"No show's ever the same. I don't like anything that's too prepared," Rudetsky said in a separate telephone interview.
That's fine with Mueller.
"I love it because, in the best way, I never know what's coming at me," she said.
But, "It's always fresh and exciting. He'll change things up. It keeps it really exciting," she said of Rudetsky.
Rudetsky said, "Her voice can do anything."
When that remark was relayed to Mueller, she said, "That's very sweet of him. I have done all kinds of things."
Mueller said in high school she discovered she had a soprano voice and in college (Syracuse University), "I explored the belter thing (as in belting a song out)."
Going for a job in a show, it is very helpful to be adaptable, she said. "You need curiosity and necessity."
It might have seemed that Muller was destined to be on stage. Growing up in Evantson, Illinois, her parents were actors as are her two brothers and sister. Attending high school musicals she saw her older brother and sister in shows and that "piqued my interest," she said.
However, "I don't think there was a clear moment for me," she said, not withstanding making her Broadway debut in the 2011 revival of "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever."
"I think it was accumulative. I think it took time. I didn't have rose colored glasses (about an acting career)," she said. She had seen some of the realities with what her family had experienced.
"I think I was very cautious going into it," she said.
Mueller had success in Chicago and then New York City.
In "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical," she was playing a real person as the singer-songwriter and, "I was thrilled and terrified at the same time."
King did come to see the show "eventually" after being "very supportive of the project but hands off...It's very personal, it's her life. She had a lot of very challenging things in her life," Mueller said.
On the night that King did attend the show, "We didn't know she was there. She surprised us after the show."
The cast was giving a post show speech for a fundraising cause when King stepped on to the stage to wild applause.
"I doubled over in shock," Mueller said.
"We had a moment (together). It was kind of a blur." King said, "something about it was cool to watch the story" because she got to see how people saw her when she was younger, Mueller said.
Another blurred sort of memory for Mueller is winning the Tony Award for her portrayal of King. "It was a little out of body. A crazy, wonderful night."
With "Waitress "and "Carousel" following, along with some movie appearances, Mueller had been busy. She was getting ready for the Broadway opening of the Tracy Letts comedic play "The Minutes" in 2020 when it had to be shut down due to the pandemic. The play did have a run in 2022.
"I definitely slowed down," Mueller said of the pandemic. "I felt like amongst all the horror, sadness and loss there was a feeling of being reminded that work isn't everything, to pay attention to my life," Mueller said. "I'm trying that elusive thing we call balance."
Mueller said her and Rudetsky's paths have crossed on several occasions. Mueller's been on Rudestky's radio show and worked with him to support the LGBTQ+ community of Central Florida after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando. She also teamed with Rudetsky and his husband, James Wesley, to formulate the idea for "Concert for America," a series of concerts supporting various social justice organizations.
"We kept connecting," Mueller said. Then one day he said to her, "Hey, I do this concert series."
The two have been doing their show at different venues for a couple of years.
Rudetsky said his first time in Worcester was September, 2022, with Chita Rivera at The BrickBox Theater.
That show went well, he recalled. When Rivera, at the age of 89, got up to dance people could not believe it, he said.
The main things keeping Rudetsky busy at the moment, he said, are the radio show, Broadway cruise shows where he performs Broadway numbers including some in the format similar to his Jessie Mueller and Chita Rivera performances, and charitable work.
"I really love performing in a show," he said. Asked if he would like to be on the Broadway stage, he said if anyone has a show for him he's interested in hearing from them.
Speaking of Broadway, he noted that a lot of people are saying that audiences aren't coming and shows are too expensive.
However, "There are many ways to see shows for cheaper prices but a lot of people still unfortunately don't know that. It's unfortunate that all Broadway shows aren't sold out. A lot of it people think, 'Why should I take a chance on a show I don't know anything about?' There are ways to get cheaper seats and take a chance," he said.
"Risky theater was in danger before COVID. Now since COVID, it's much, much more difficult. But there's nothing like seeing a live show," he said.
Eric Butler said Broadway in Worcester fosters collaboration between Broadway talents and the area’s local high school and college students and their arts educators through educational programming.
Mueller will give a free master class from 10:30 a.m. to noon Sept. 22 at the Prior Performing Arts Center at Holy Cross. All Central Massachusetts areahigh school and college students and arts educators are welcome to participate. Registration is required.
"I love it," Mueller said of giving master classes and workshops.
"I really like performing but I like the work, rehearsals. That's what I pass on. It's not that I have anything profound to say but, 'Let's get to work.' I hope they learn something, but I always learn a lot," she said. "We're all just figuring it out. The work, the life. So I think think it's great to have that opportunity."
What: Tony Award winner Jessie Mueller with host and pianist Seth Rudetsky
When: 8 p.m. Sept. 22
Where: Prior Performing Arts Center, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester
How much: Sold out. For more information, visit .www.broadwayinworcester.com.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Jessie Mueller and Seth Rudetsky to be here for Broadway in Worcester
