Loose Lips

Take note all of you who bemoan the frequent absences of Broadway stars. Nikki Snelson, who plays fitness queen Brooke Wyndam in Legally Blonde, has yet to miss a single show. “When Andy Karl recently took a vacation, I became the only person to have done every single performance, so they gave me a bottle of Veuve Cliquot champagne,” she notes. Nor has Snelson ever missed her cue, even though she’s offstage for almost the entire first act after a brief appearance in the show’s opening number. “Sometimes, I do take a nap, but I always set the alarm on my phone and I’m up.”

Given that Snelson’s big number, “Whipped into Shape,” requires the actress to show off her jump-roping skill, you would think that’s what got her the role. Not even close. “When we first started working on the show three years ago, it was going to be a step-aerobics number, but then [choreographer-director] Jerry Mitchell changed his mind,” she recalls. “And not only wasn’t I good at jump-rope as a kid, I wasn’t even good when we started the show. I am now, but it’s destroying my knees. The great thing, though, is that sometimes women come up to me and say that since seeing the show, they’ve bought a jump rope to try to get into shape. I suggested to the producers that they make a video of that number to sell in the lobby.”

How much longer Snelson will be jumping around the Palace remains to be seen; at the moment, she is in the midst of a five-week “casting camp” with A Chorus Line director Baayork Lee, which could result in Snelson taking over the role of Cassie. “Let me tell you, it’s been whipping my butt into shape more than Legally Blonde,” she notes. “It’s been a good experience because since I’ve been with the show, I haven’t been taking dance class, and this is really forcing me into recapturing my technique.”

THE SPRINGERIZATION OF EMILY
Emily Skinner has a lot of empathy for Andrea, a woman who discovers her husband wears diapers on a national talk show. Andrea’s not a real person, but a character the former Tony Award nominee is playing in the concert version of Jerry Springer — the Opera, being presented at Carnegie Hall on January 29 and 30. “She’s the one person in the show who gets her life decimated in front of a live audience, and I really think she has no clue,” says Skinner. “She’s naive; she probably thinks it’s going to be a show about great relationships and her husband is going to surprise her with a second honeymoon in Hawaii. Of course, there have probably been signs, but she just doesn’t want to look at them. We’re all like that.”

Skinner first saw the piece in London in 2004 and was blown away. “My first reaction was that if I was a producer I would’ve brought it to New York so fast it would make your head spin,” she says. I’ve never seen a better written first act in a musical in my life. It’s a perfect comic gem. I think the fact that the second act is a little more surreal and more like modern opera might throw some people off. But I love the idea that we get so much variety in one evening.”

Skinner’s career has a lot of variety as well, including starring in the well-received Signature Theatre production of The Witches of Eastwick, a busy concert schedule, and even the occasional directing gig. In June, she’ll be helming the Broadway by the Year series’ Broadway Musicals of 1979. “It’s a lot of fun, since I just ask my friends to come and sing these great songs. And 1979 was a great year. It’s got Evita and Sweeney Todd,” she notes. “I remember I got the cast album of Sweeney right after it came out and I played it so much my parents would yell at me to stop. I could sing every part. Now, I’m hopeful that somewhere down the line, there’s a Mrs. Lovett in my future.”

LEIGH’S WAY

Given its strong reception in London in 2005, it’s not surprising that Mike Leigh‘s play Two Thousand Years, about an assimilated Jewish family’s quiet life in suburban London which gets turned upside down when their son becomes seriously devout, has finally made it to New York. And given Leigh’s long history with director Scott Elliot of The New Group, which has produced five of his plays — including Ecstasy and Abigail’s Party — it’s not surprising that the esteemed company is producing the work stateside.

Still, Leigh admits that this wasn’t his original game plan. “We talked about the British cast coming to BAM, but the dates didn’t work out,” he says. “But I trust Scott completely, and I think it’s absolutely great to have a brand new cast. In the end, Scott’s job is to get his head around my play and my job is to respect his production. And we always end up finding common ground. I just come in to look at the beginning of previews in case it needs a little tweaking.”

Leigh says he has made only the most minor of changes to the original script. “There would be no point in updating it; what’s really important is the attitude of the piece,” he says. “I know some people will find it offensive or think that Judaism is being ridiculed. But it’s really a play about commitment, belief, and faith — in the broad sense of the word. And that’s something I want the audience to debate, reflect, or ponder on after they leave the theater. Ultimately, it’s a play about family, which is why we were able to tour it successfully in England in cities where there was no Jewish population.”

STAR POWER
Symphony Space’s 30th Birthday Bash on January 10 brought out dozens of the theater’s longtime supporters out to entertain an SRO crowd for a three-hour variety show. Among the all-too-numerous highlights: Theodore Bikel singing “If I Were A Rich Man” in Yiddish; Joanna Gleason sardonically reciting four Dorothy Parker poems; Melissa Errico’s gorgeous rendition of “That’s Him,” Ivy Austin‘s hysterical parody of Hillary Clinton; Rene Auberjonois‘ hilarious reading of Allen Woodman’s short story “Wallet”; and Donna Murphy‘s stunning version of “Losing My Mind” that closed the first act.

Looking ahead, there are plenty of superstars performing around the country this month: Marc Kudisch, Norm Lewis, Bebe Neuwrith, and Anthony Rapp will be among the special guests at Don’t Quit Your Night Job at theZipper Factory on January 17; Lorenzo Lamas will play the Orange Performing County Arts Center’s Samueli Theater, January 17-20; Scott Bakula will star in a benefit for D.C.’s Ford’s Theatre on January 18; Tony winners Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin will bring their duo concert to the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert, California on January 18-19; Tony winner John Gallgher Jr. and Annie Golden will guest star at the Joe Iconis Rock n’ Roll Jamboree at The Laurie Beechman Theatre on January 19.

Moving on,Kevin Short and Morenike Fadayomi will perform selections from Porgy and Bess with the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall on January 25; the hilarious Peter Schickele will bring the P.D.Q. Bach: What’s Your Sign tour to the Community Theatre in Morristown, New Jersey on January 26; Billy Joel and Blue Man Group will perform with the Philadelphia Orchestra at their 151st Academy of Music Concert and Ball on January 26; The Acting Company will serve up Shakespeare’s The Tempest at the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts on January 27; Jersey Boys star Jennifer Naimo will appear at The Triad on January 27; Kathleen Chalfant, Bill Camp, and David Aaron Baker will present excerpts from the new play Dead Man’s Cell Phone at the Guggenheim Museum’s Works and Process series on January 27-28; and David Hyde Pierce, Sutton Foster, and John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey will perform at An Intimate Night, Manhattan Theatre Club’s annual gala, at the Rainbow Room on January 28.