Our upcoming cruise, still on as of this post, is one of Seth Rudetsky’s Big Fat Broadway Cruises (SRBFBC). “Seth is an American musician, actor, writer, and radio host. He currently is the host of Seth’s Big Fat Broadway and Seth Speaks on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio’s On Broadway. The show focuses on Rudetsky’s knowledge of Broadway theatre history and trivia.”
Bob and I are huge Seth fans, and we went on his Southern Caribbean SRBFBC back in March of 2019. Seth, his husband James, and 4 Broadway stars provide the entertainment each night on the cruise. (It’s nightly entertainment for his group only, separate from the ship’s regular entertainment.)
It’s no surprise that as a “Broadway guy” (and a gay man) Seth is a huge Barbra Streisand fan (as are we), and one of our favorite things he does is called a “deconstruction,” where he analyzes (he’s brilliant musically) a song by playing it and pointing out different musical aspects and quirks and brilliance of various parts of it.
And of all of his deconstructions, the one he does of two of Barbra’s versions of Stoney End is arguably our favorite.
When this upcoming cruise was originally rescheduled to April of 2022, I had posted this on Seth’s Facebook page:
On April 24, it’s one of our days “at sea,” and it’s Barbra’s 80th birthday. It would make my and my husband’s life to see you deconstruct a Barbra song for the entertainment that night!
to which he answered, “Remind me of this as it gets closer to our trip.” I just did. We’ll see if he responds this time.
While we’re waiting, treat yourself to his deconstruction of Stoney End: