Let’s be honest. It’s been a long time since the phrase “musical theater” has been synonymous with the word “cool.” Yet, with television shows like ratings winner Glee and the much anticipated Steven Spielberg-created Smash and celebrity Broadway advocates like Hugh Jackman and Neil Patrick Harris, musical theatre and theater geeks are becoming almost, dare I say it, hip.

So when I heard that SiriusXM radio host and playwright Seth Rudetsky, a bona-fide expert on Broadway and an ultimate theater geek, would be in Houston for two special events this weekend, I couldn’t pass up a chance to get his views on the current state of Broadway.

Rudetsky’s first event on Saturday is a reading at Blue Willow Bookshop of his recently published young adult book, My Awesome/Awful Popularity Plan, the story of high schooler Justin Goldblatt’s strategic schemes for popularity and the heart of the school’s quarterback.

The character of Justin is based loosely on Rudetsky’s own adolescent self, and some of the difficulties he faced as a gay teen. Still, Rudetsky wants potential readers to know, “I’m happy that the book is realistic about what it’s like to be unpopular, but it’s a pure comedy book. It’s not a depressing book, but it certainly states what it’s like to have a whole school think that you’re a loser.”

At the same time he thinks the novel holds some universalities when it comes to teen years. “I think pretty much no matter what, you feel like a loser in high school. I think there are very few people who truly feel popular. Even if they are considered popular there’s always some group that doesn’t accept them.”

The second reason for Rudetsky’s Houston visit, is to be one of the special guests — along with actors Brian Stokes Mitchell and John Benjamin Hicke — at the Texas Educational Theatre Association’s TheatreFest, where Rudetsky will be performing his Deconstructing Broadway show for the audience of educators.

Theatre education and the arts in general are not fields of study we can afford to neglect, according to Rudetsky. He says, “It’s very depressing to me that whenever anything is cut [in schools] it’s the arts, when the arts are the things that make you a whole person, and really develop so many senses. Musical theatre takes us across the board in so many different educational aspects. It helps you educational. It helps you socially. I think theatre is such an incredibly important thing.”

And that leads us back to the capital of theatre in the U.S: Broadway.

Yet for all his enthusiasm for live theatre, Rudetsky finds current Broadway trends to be a mixed bag. "The worst, most tragic thing about Broadway is that they’re cutting the orchestras. It’s making Broadway sound like a Las Vegas show or a Six Flags show. And the amazing thing about Broadway is that unique sound, and you come to Broadway to hear it. But the more it’s similar to a horrible show on Vegas or a tacky Six Flags show the more there’s nothing unique about it.”

He gives the example of the show Priscilla Queen of the Desert ,which makes do with a nine-piece live orchestra and uses a recording for the violin sections. He says that unfortunately audiences haven’t been educated enough about musical theater to know they “are being duped. . .They’re playing more money than ever for a small orchestras and a horrible sound. And it’s going to kill Broadway.”

Rudetsky tries to use his radio show to educate the public and persuade them to demand that producers do better than a paltry nine piece orchestra that sounds like “shite.” He does see examples of hope, citing the recent revival of Follies and its 28-piece orchestra.

When I brought up another relatively recent trend, the rush to turn big movies into live musicals, Rudetsky was quick to refute the belief he thinks some producers cling to, that the only way to get audiences into a theater is to give them recognizable titles by turning movies into musicals.

“People make up these theories that don’t exist," Rudetsky explains. "It is very frustrating that these producers think that the only thing they can do that is a sure thing is to make a musical version of a movie, but it’s not even a sure thing because there’s been a million flops based on movies.”

He continues, “The good news is the biggest hit show on Broadway this year is The Book of Mormon and it has nothing to do with a movie. So hopefully people will realize that if you write a good show it can become successful.”

And what about the television shows that are helping to make musical theater and Broadway cool again?

Rudetsky has a mixed reaction to those shows as well. He hates the lip-syncing and auto tuning Glee is infamous for, but at the same time he says he’s “actually very happy that shows like Glee and Smash are happening because it is making people realize that Broadway is great, that it’s a great viable thing and that it’s thrilling to listen to. I guess my answer it that I’m happy-ish.”

Seth Rudetsky will be reading from his book, My Awesome/Awful Popularity Plan, at the Blue Willow Bookshop, 14532 Memorial Drive, Saturday at 11 a.m.