BWW Blog: Andrea McArdle - Surviving Seth!

So what's a girl to do when Seth Rudetsky spirits you away to the Poconos to sing and dish, well, I don't have to tell you do I? You GO!

A quick word about Seth, first off I adore him, he's a massive talent, musically, artistically, and most of all, honestly! He LOVES what he does, so it's always a joy to play in the sandbox with him.

A little over a week ago we took a trip down to the Pocono Community Theatre Center and put on a show, basically we performed a number of songs and he made me tell stories, lots of them.

Seth loves to dig out all the early celebrity encounters I had when playing in ANNIE, the adventure was pretty amazing just by itself, but the greetings we had backstage were just stunning, I pretty much was in shock, but maybe it was just that I was too young to really "get it", I mean, every boldfaced name came, including the First Lady and her daughter, what a run!

One of Mr. Rudetsky's favorite stories is when I met the legendary, one and only Ethel Merman, I mean, hello, THE Madame Rose, THE Reno Sweeney, THE VOICE OF BROADWAY!

We were at a huge Tony season event, every stage star, past and present was there, every where you looked was an icon.

So there I was, backstage, meeting and greeting and I hear a voice yell out, "ETHEL, ETHEL!, here's the new you, this kids sings even BETTER than you..."

She turned that famous face of hers towards mine, gave a little smile and said, "Oh yeah?, C'mere kid.." I went over, she gave me a great big hug, a few photographers asked us to pose, we turned, and she DUG her fingers into my shoulders as we stood there, I can STILL feel her strength as she gripped me! Hah, but let's face it, there was, would never, CAN never be another Ms. Merman, it was an honor to even be chatted up in her vicinity. A memory I'll never forget.

I've included a few photos taken by my good friend Rachel Schwartz, my favorite is the billing, I'm between Seth and Indiana Jones! I think Ethel would approve, hah!

I wanted to also let you all know how excited I am to guest with Milly and Abigail Shapiro this week at their 54 Below show, these two sisters are the real deal, I can't wait to take the stage with them! Hit the search button right here on BWW for all the details, hope to see some of you there!