These changes have left no joy in Whoville, but a certain amount of terror. Quite understandably, the survivors of the cast can't help wondering Who will be the next to go. Apparently, originating a role on Broadway doesn't have the cachet (or the security) it used to have and ought to have; as one disgruntled cast member groused, "This is the Year of the Snake, and the Weisslers are celebrating." According to this informant, the producers have been less than kind in affecting the Seussical cast changes. They do not call the actor in and inform him that he's out; rather, the actor reads about it in the newspaper or on the internet.

Shiner has been twice dragged across the coals. When he was originally asked to take a vacation so that Rosie could come in and goose the box office, he obliged. When he was asked a second time, he declined and was told that, if he didn't leave, the show would have to close! His response was that the producers would have to buy him out of his contract, so some settlement was arrived at--apparently, with difficulty. Shiner's going-away party on Sunday evening is said to have gone totally unnoticed by Mrs. and Mrs. W.

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A RAGTIME RE-MATCH

Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, who wrote the score of Seussical and the far more successful Ragtime, have progressed to another hit, it is fervently hoped. On Monday, a reading was done at Lincoln Center of their latest collaboration, A Man of No Importance, based on an underseen 1994 film that was cheered and championed by the critics. Albert Finney, who seems destined to win an Oscar for his role as Erin Brockovich's boss, played (in the movie) a middle-aged Dublin bus conductor who, while directing a little-theater production of Oscar Wilde's Salome, is forced to investigate his repressed sexual feelings for the leading lady--and the handsome young bus driver he works with.

For the musical, Flaherty & Ahrens have re-teamed with Terrence McNally, who wrote the Ragtime book. Allan Corduner (a.k.a. Topsy-Turvy's Arthur Sullivan and the noble first-class steward in the Broadway musical Titanic) had the title role in the reading. Jim Dale, Judy Kaye, Sally Murphy, and Will Chase dispatched the parts that Michael Gambon, Brenda Fricker, Tara Fitzgerald, and Rufus Sewell performed in the movie. And, as if opening another show about a love triangle on Broadway this week (Noël Coward's Design for Living) wasn't enough to keep him busy, Joe Mantello directed. The reaction to Round One is said to have been very positive.

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ROSES FOR PORTIA

A song on that album, "Come Away with Me," was written by William Roy, who accompanied Portia on many distinguished occasions. Over the past weekend, as several of us were comparing notes on the lady, I phoned Billy down in Florida, and he spoke warmly of their association. Early in the '50s, when he left film-performing in Hollywood for cabaret-accompanying in New York, he happened upon Portia singing in a little bar called Celeste, with Bart Howard at the piano. "Right on the spot, I said: 'Now, that is a singer I would love to work with!"

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WHAT'S UP, SCOTT?

Fellow TheaterManiac Scott Siegel is initiating yet another series to celebrate the glories of the Broadway musical, and will be serving gamely as producer, writer, and host of the first installment on Monday, March 16 at 8 pm at Town Hall. That evening will celebrate The Broadway Musicals of 1943, leafing lightly through the songs that were introduced on The Great White Way from Something for the Boys in January 1943 to Carmen Jones in December 1943.

On April 16, Scott will follow up by presenting The Broadway Musicals of 1957 (you know, West Side Story, The Music Man, etc.). But, meanwhile back to 1943: Scott notes that "many beginnings and endings happened in that year." Most notably, Richard Rodgers changed partners. His first show with Oscar Hammerstein II--a little thing called Oklahoma!--opened on March 31, and his last with Lorenz Hart--a revisal of their 1927 A Connecticut Yankee--opened on November 3, just 19 days before Hart died of pneumonia. Hart's last beat, ironically, was "To Keep My Love Alive." That year also marked the first musical sighting (hearing?) of Lerner & Loewe. The show was called What's Up, and it flopped; two songs from it will be done at Town Hall. Oh, and One Touch of Venus also bowed on Broadway in 1943--speaking low, of course.

To dispatch ditties from these shows, Scott has hired a powerhouse cast of three: Sally Mayes, Jason Graae, and Heather McRae (whose pop, Gordon, rates "as high as a elephant's eye" in the history of Oklahoma!). Graae, who blew them away at this year's Bistro Awards, will be doubling on ballads and comedy songs; he is, in fact, preparing a comedic rendition of Carmen Jones' take on the Toreador Song from Carmen, "Stand Up and Fight."

If this goes over, The Broadway Musicals of... could become to Town Hall what Lyrics and Lyricists is to the 92nd Street "Y." Hold that thought, and get those tickets. They're on sale for $35 and $30 via TicketMaster (212-307-4100) or at the box office (212-840-2824).