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Soap Opera Digest: You sure are the star of “Tabloid Truth.”
Michael Sabatino: J.T. is the one with all the goods on all these people! The show had a lot of fun calling me every week to ask if I sing or dance. I would always say no, of course. It went on and on. [Casting Director] Jackie Briskey would say, “Do you do ballet? Water-ski? Scuba dive?” So I had no idea what they would have me doing. Digest: You have a couple of singing and dancing skits. How long did it take you to learn those?
Sabatino: The first one, they had a pianist to accompany me when I sang it. The song was so fast. There is so much language that comes out so quickly. The pianist gave me the music to listen to on a tape and it probably took about six or seven days to set it in my head. So I had it for a week in my car trying to remember the words. Then we put it to the music.Digest: How many takes did you need?
Sabatino: We got it in one, thank God. I started to get tense because I don’t sing and I don’t dance. Digest: Did a choreographer help you?
Sabatino: No. I just made stuff up and they were cool with that. We tried to incorporate the waiter into it. It went by so quickly, we couldn’t get stuff with him. It was really fun, it really was. Digest: How about the second song that he sings on the wharf?
Sabatino: That one, I was totally on my own. When I came out there, they were like, “Okay, let’s see it.” There was no choreographer. So I was just like, “Where’s the camera? I’ll just do something.” Then the money and gold started floating down and they said, “Don’t look up because the gold is actually little aluminum flakes and if you get it in your eyes, it’s not going to be good.” My mind was reeling and rolling there. I was thinking, “What do I do? Do I kick, step, kick?” That one, we also got in one take, but I know I messed up some lines somewhere because it was fast and furious. I never expected to be doing that.Digest: How long does it take to get the song out of your head?
Sabatino: It was the first thing I’d hear in my head when I woke up and it kept playing all day long. It took a little while [to go away]. I don’t want to remember it right now so that it happens again.Digest: Which is your favorite “Tabloid Truth” chapter?
Sabatino: The first song that I had to do. It was silly and it sent a message and it was goofy, like J.T.Digest: How do you feel about tabloids in real life?
Sabatino: Ha! It depends. I guess if you’re the target of them, it’s not so fun, is it? I used to enjoy it when they had a lot more of the World Reports. It was fun to stand in the check-out line and look at that stuff. My favorite was a huge bee and the headline read: “Farmer Kills Giant Bee!” And there was a picture of a farmer with a shotgun and he’s got his leg up on the nose of the bee. The subhead said, “Experts say stinger could stun elephant.” Sometimes they are really fun. Digest: Just like J.T.Log on to www.nbc.com/Passions/tabloidtruth to see all of Sabatino’s Web-only scenes.
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