![]() “We decided with my background in musicals, ‘Let’s do a musical.’ And that’s how Two’s a Crowd was hatched.” “We wanted to bring something to New York,” says Rudner. Other plays followed here and in the U.K. It was at Laguna Playhouse where the couple created their first play, from Rudner’s book Tickled Pink: A Comic Novel. I decided to go for comedy because women’s stand-up was a much less competitive field then (the 80s).”īergman produced tours for the Bolshoi, Royal Shakespeare Company, Moscow Circus, and skaters Torvill & Dean as well as Rudner’s 2003 syndicated Vegas series Ask Rita, which also featured Two’s a Crowd’s Bashar. I loved dance, but I’d been doing that since age four. I was taking acting lessons, but I knew I’d never be a great actress. You had to have the right look, the right size, be the right age. I’d hear the most fabulous singers and they didn’t get hired. “I’d been quite blessed working in musicals for ten years, but it got to the point where I stood in the wings, Number 67 or something, waiting for my turn. It was while she was appearing in Annie that Rudner was drawn to New York’s comedy clubs. My calling card, my gimmick, when I auditioned was doing a kick above my head, sometime kicking myself. “59E59 is not the biggest of stages, so I won’t be doing any triple grand pirouettes and grande jetés.”Īs far as her daily dance routines, the 5’ 4 ½” dynamo says, “I’m still quite limber and a good stretcher, but unlike the good old days, I don’t do any power kicks. With so many shows being aimed at youth, and as much as I adore young people, we also wanted to do something an older audience could enjoy.” The show gives Rudner an opportunity to dance again. “With the spate of jukebox musicals, Martin and I wanted to do something all original with Jason. Īnd now, Rita Rudner’s back in New York with Two’s a Crowd. Six shows followed: Promises, Promises (1968), Follies (1971), The Magic Show (1974), Mack and Mabel (1974), So Long 174 th Street (1976), and in 1980, joining Annie as Lily St. At 17, her first job was a 1970 Zorba tour, starring Chita Rivera, John Raitt, and Barbara Baxley. She appeared in them on Broadway for 10 years. Rita Rudner has quiet a musical background and a background in musicals. I couldn’t make that funny! In my act, I always made my parents happily married for a lot of years, but driving each other crazy.” She also proved that “clean” comedy didn’t have to be boring. I lived in the Barbizon Hotel for Women on East 63 rd Street, studied ballet, jazz, and tap and made the rounds.”Īs Rudner segued into her new career, was the family experience fodder for her stand-up? “No. Go to New York.’ He said he’d support me until I got a job, and that I could always come home. ![]() He sided with her on just about everything. Oddly, he was an attorney, but one who didn’t like confrontations. “You do what you have to do to go where you want to go!” she notes. Rudner did a number of special classes to graduate high school early. She informed her father and step-mother she was moving to New York to study ballet and pursue a career as a Broadway dancer. Rita Rudner, in her mid-60s, was born in Miami. The bright lights of the Strip convince them to take a chance on happiness.”Īlso co-starring are Kelly Holden Bashar (FX’s Fargo), and Brian Lohmann. They’re forced together by a computer error, ruminating on the happiness they gave up on long ago and doing their best to ruin their Vegas vacation. following, of her uptight Wendy and co-star Robert Yacko (L.A.: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Price)’s freewheeling Tom, “but theyhaven’t met yet. “They say opposites attract,” says Rudner, notable as one of our top comediennes and, in a rarity for a U.S. Music and lyrics are by L.A.-based Brit Jason Feddy. Rudner describes it as a “light –hearted musical comedy that’s a perfect summer confection” runs through August 25 at 59E59 Theatres. JDancer, singer, actress, New York Times best-selling author, Vegas top-draw headliner, TV and film star, playwright, and, above all else, one of our top comedy icon Rita Rudner returns to the New York stage after a much-too-long absence (40 years) in the new musical comedy Two’s a Crowd, which she co-wrote with husband Martin Bergman, who’s directs. To the Boards in New Musical, Two’s a Crowd
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