Seth's Broadway Diary, Volume 3

"Seth's Broadway Diary, Volume 3" is a collection of Seth Rudetsky's favorite "Playbill" column interviews. Entries begin on January 3, 2011, and end on Dec. 31, 2012. Locations range from Provincetown, MA to NYC to Los Angeles, and everywhere in between.

Rudetsky gives us a full year of articles and spanning just over 258 pages on 8.5" x 11" paper. There are more photos (by Robb Johnston) than in the previous volume. It's a hefty, but entertaining, book. This volume will look perfect next to Volumes 1 and 2. It available in softcover as a hard copy, or as an ebook via Amazon.

"Volume 3" opens with a warm, but characteristically quixotic, welcome from Seth. He highlights his favorite stories from the book. It isn't a summary of the contents, but an author's "best of" list. He teases to focus on the juicy, gossipy stories located within. The book ends with a brief "Acknowledgements" letter. Thank goodness it's brief because otherwise, it would be longer than the book itself.

Aside from the obvious gay icons such as Patti LuPone, Jonathan Groff (who starts the book off), Elaine Stritch, Carol Burnett, Bernadette Peters, Audra McDonald and multiple Sondheim stories, Rudetsky delivers the fan service. For example, New England favorite Varla Jean Merman (Jeffrey Roberson) tells the story of how she was handcuffed by police while in performances for "The Loose Chanteuse." Neither the enemas in her trunk nor the costumes in her back seat endeared her to her captors.

Elsewhere, Andrew Rannells dishes about his "Book of Mormon" audition with Josh Gad; there's a bit about prepping for Rudetsky's Terrance McNally tribute 2012, the 10th anniversary of "The Producers;" there are oodles of P-Town stories, featuring the stars that love to play there doing a show with Charles Busch; a dip into Sandra Bernhardt's theater aspirations; and even more from Varla Jean Merman.

Layered between Broadway star anecdotes, Rudetsky tells us about himself. Famous friends aside, he's had a fascinating life of intrigue as well as relative stability. It's refreshing that he's able to reveal his true nature to his audience. Readers will open the book for Rudetsky's connections, but his intelligent, often silly personality will get them to stay.

"Seth's Broadway Diary, Volume 3: The Inside Scoop On (almost) Every Broadway Show & Star"
by Seth Rudetsky
Dress Circle Publishing
www.dresscirclepublishing.com