Hello, everyone. I'm Seth J Rudetsky here with Stephanie J. Block! Already you're annoyed
Her head is shaking no okay Stephanie J Block tell everyone why the pretentious middle initial
It is not pretentious. It's necessary, the J stands for Jeanette
And I'm sure several of you -several of you, all five of you have heard this before
the J stands for Jeanette and I had to put it in because there is a preacher in the
midwest and she calls herself the Razzle-Dazzle Preacher
So when you were to Google Stephanie Block it would come up, you know
With her and me kind of side by side
and then I started to get a lot of emails regarding my sermons, my theology, my beliefs, so
the J.
So the J was added because it stands for
Jewish
not a preacher. all right, so
Stephanie J Block we're about to go into the mystery of Edwin Drood. Have you sung through the score?
I have sung through the score
Do you have vocal damage yet?
Not yet, but eight times a week. (vocalizes)
Yeah, crazy crazy.
How you keeping the same keys dear?
well I haven't met with the musical director genius Paul, Gemignani
But I'm assuming we're gonna keep it in the same keys
Did you grow up obsessed with that show as I did?
I got to admit. I didn't know it
I honestly didn't know it. "Moonfall" is in my book and that's how much- (sings Moonfall)
Between the very dead of night and day, upon a steely sheet of light I'll lay
Never sing head voice again, I only want belting from you.
What did you hate it?
No it sounds amazing I'm just not interested in ever hearing that from you when you can belt so well
Hence, that's why I didn't know the show and I thought "oh, this is gonna be perfect for me this song there"
So it's tucked in in the back because people don't want to hear that, but I like it.
I enjoy singing that. So you may not like that but I'm gonna do it
So the question is when you first heard Betty singing were you like oh my God finally a role
that's in my key cuz you see everything
she's remarkable. She- that score for her fits beautifully
which was interesting to me and one of the question I asked when I was auditioning for Scott Ellis and Rupert Holmes
I thought this role is supposed to be a woman who is famous for dressing as a man?
True dat
True dat, yet all of the keys are in this range
Where you absolutely know as an audience member you're listening to a woman sing. Make sense?
She's not trying to sound like a man.
No, so I found that it's not like Betty wasn't trying to sound like a man
It's in a range that doesn't allow you to sound like a man, so
I asked him about that, both of them, and Rupert answered that it's very much like
Mary Martin or Cathy Rigby playing Peter Pan
We absolutely know you're women playing a man's role and that in the British pantomime or music hall
that was the whole gimmick, that was the whole joy of it, so
Yeah, her range is pretty remarkable and she belts that G at the end of the show
E
No, when she takes it full up, it's a G.
We will erase that because it was an E
Are you a hundred percent sure?
100% you know many times I listened to it ?
no
100%
An E doesn't scare me
Well then it shouldn't, then it shouldn't scare you
Check it out. Google this right now.
100%
but while you're at it check out the razzle-dazzle preacher Stephanie Block
writing on- we're gonna do this in fast motion hold on- the - wall
are we ready- you ready for this to actually happen in public
Why do I come to these things to do this crap with you.
Well, I need to fast forward
you didn't warn me! what just happened? what were you thinking of course- you're not gonna- stop-
that's what I'm gonna do!
(vocalizes)
So closes an up performance, okay, you're not here to do that. We are here to focus on
So many things okay Stephanie J Block, been obsessed with her voice for years. Who knew she was a tap dancer?
When did you begin tapping?
Okay, so I had I went to the high school the performing arts, Orange County High School of the Performing Arts
and you know we took tap there you had to take an hour here an hour there
I played Kathy Selden in my sophomore-junior- junior year, and now
An hour here, an hour there. Anything Goes
No, no, no, but regionally I had done Polly in Crazy For You
I'd done Will Rogers Follies with the fantastic Pat Boone in Branson Missouri
for like nine months so tapping, it was, I mean there's a language. I have some of the language of vocabulary
Okay
Mm-Hmm. I just want to tell everyone. She was phenomenal in the show saw it twice so obsessed with the tapping but can't stop rewinding the end
of Pirate Queen when she does the amazing placement "based out the storm not stay
below" the placement of below I'm obsessed with and it's an interesting balance, not "below"
It's" below"
yeah yeah, yeah, yeah
I do...sometimes every now and then I'll have to do a little something strange with my vowels to make it happen
Okay, obsessed with that
And then of course a phenomenal Elphaba in Wicked. so I thought you people built with the ADD as I do and the young people
That don't have you know a long attention span
I wanted to combine everything Stephanie does into one
So we're going to hear the phenomenal song from Pirate Queen, damn believable tap dancing, and her star turn as Elphaba in Wicked
I'm also a Bedazzler
I do a little bit of origami, but we won't be showing
we're gonna skip that and before I forget
Yeah for you fans of a Chorus Line
Look it. It's the pre J! pre J!
oh wow
now dear
How did you get a photo of yourself in the future? You're obviously around late 50s in this shot?
Believe it or not this is 16
And I thought that was so like soap opera to me Felicia Gallant from another world was
Totally what I thought was the epitome of you know, glamour and beauty, so I'm giving you full
soap opera. And I wish you could see, this is a leather blazer
and I thought you know that'd be great too if ever I needed to be
a newscaster or something of that...look at her look at her look at the brows
Okay, but I've been using hair product for a long time as you can see okay.
So here we go so don't forget
It's Pirate Queen, it's tap dancing,
And it's Elphaba all for you, but don't drop that mic okay.
I won't drop that mic okay.
I'm meant to fly
I'm meant to fly, sail unrestrained. Why is man free and woman chained?
is that my epitaph before I die
I should be free, free to to be grace so I can feel the wind on my face
and when life beckons I should go, face out the storm, not stay below. Am I to be just woman? No, no
oh
My God, what is wrong with us?
Finally!
She refused to do it and I forced her
Yay
Okay, oh, oh
Hey
You think the preacher could have done that? You think the razzle dazzle preacher could have given you that?
and cut
I'm a little rusty