Before New York took up her cause last year, former 30 Rock star Rachel Dratch was having trouble finding work. And now, if the economy gets any worse, she may be the only one left with a job — and maybe even one on Broadway! “I’m in a musical,†she told us last night at a party for HBO’s Le Cirque: A Table in Heaven documentary. “But don’t spin this like ‘poor Rachel finally got a job.’†(We’d never!) “I’m in this musical called Minsky’s that’s going to L.A., and then it’s hopefully going to Broadway,†said Dratch. “It’s by the writer who did The Drowsy Chaperone. And the music’s by Charles Strouse, who wrote Annie! He’s like 80, and he’s fit as a fiddle. And he’s at the rehearsal — I got to go up to him and say I used to dance around to Annie in my living room. He was very nice and gracious and said, ‘It’s so great to touch someone’s life.’â€
Dratch says she sings in the show, which is loosely based on the 1968 movie The Night They Raided Minsky’s. “It’s about a burlesque club the cops are trying to shut down. It’s different than Annie. It has crazy burlesque dancing and clever dance numbers. I’m not in them, I just watch. You’ll see. Hopefully it’ll come to Broadway.†She’ll certainly have her pick of empty theaters!
Related: Unemployment’s a Downer for ‘SNL’-er Dratch [NYM]