Loose Lips

THIS BOY’S LIFE
Having become one of musical theater’s most reliable leading men, Tom Wopat is returning to his dramatic roots in the world premiere of Steven Dietz‘s Last of the Boys at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton. In this comedy-drama, he and Joseph Siravo play a pair of Vietnam War buddies who finally deal with their past some 30 years later. “It’s an excellent play,” says Wopat. “While it does rehash some of the Vietnam War, I think it’s applicable to today. Vietnam isn’t a really raw memory for me; I was in high school for most of it. The amazing thing is that there were seven boys in my family and none of us went.”

He is really enjoying this experience under the direction of Emily Mann, but he stresses that he is hardly turning his back on musical theater. “I just did Michael John LaChiusa‘s R. Shomon at Williamstown,” Wopat says. “It was very different, very intelligent, and highly intricate. I don’t know if it will have a further life. It’s hard enough for a traditional musical to make money, but stuff like that deserves to be seen — and stranger things have happened than this one coming to New York. No matter what, I had a blast doing it, especially working with Audra McDonald.”

Wopat’s singing voice will be getting quite a workout in the coming months. On September 27, he’s scheduled to participate in the Broadway Unplugged concert at Town Hall, produced by TheaterMania’s own Scott Siegel. Then, at the beginning of October, he will head into the studio to record an album of Harold Arlen songs with the popular jazz composer/performer Ben Sidran. “I’m a big fan of Ben’s,” says Wopat. “We’re going to do it pretty much like a live record.” He will also be singing some Arlen tunes when he returns to the McCarter on December 18 with his jazz trio. And, in January, Wopat and Tony Award winner Faith Prince begin a two-month cross-country tour of a concert of Arlen songs in honor of the composer’s centennial; the pair will participate in an all-Arlen night at Carnegie Hall on Valentine’s Day.

AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER
Karen Finley can always be counted on to be resolutely political and extremely provocative. Both things are true of her new play George & Martha, which begins performances tomorrow at the new Collective Unconscious space in TriBeCa. The title characters are George W. Bush and Martha Stewart, who are having a secret rendezvous in a New York City hotel room during the recent Republican convention. “They’re both from Connecticut, and I think they met in the Rye Hilton in 1975 and have been having an affair ever since,” says Finley. “Their shared pathos is that neither one feels they were loved by their parents.” The two also share a particular fetish — and it’s not honey or chocolate. “He’s her baby,” Finley tells me. “She even makes him a feather diaper.” And how much of that will we see on stage? “This is a Karen Finley show, so there will be nudity and sex and intimacy.”

The President is being played by Neil Medlin, whom Finley saw in a show at the old Collective Unconscious in the Lower East Side. “I was blown away by him,” she remarks. “He’s only 29, but I am casting Bush’s psychological state of mind, so the age is right. Plus he’s from Texas, and he does that stupid Bush look very well.” Finley herelf is playing the Domestic Diva, about whom she wrote a well-known parody book called Living It Up. “I had to leave my publishing house because of that book, since it was also Martha’s publisher,” she says. “But I do have sympathy for both her and Bush. I think he’s sold his soul in order to be president and she clearly wants to go to prison in order to be protected and taken care of.” As for the show’s title, the reference to Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is far from accidental. “They yell at each other a lot,” Finley says, “and yes, the phantom child issue will be brought up.”

Unlike many playwrights, Finley would be thrilled if this production had a limited run. (It’s scheduled through October 30.) “I was hoping the play would be outdated by November 2, but it may have to run longer than I thought,” she says, sadly.

IN THE COMPANY OF SONDHEIM
Where you going? Hoboken. Do you have to? Yes, you have to, on September 18. That night, the DeBaun Auditorium will house the Stephen Sondheim musical revue Simply Sondheim, starring three of my favorite singers — Karen Mason, Jana Robbins, and the newly married Barbara Fasano — among other talented artists. (Closer to home, Robbins will talk about her experiences in the 1989 revival of Gypsy when she opens the three-week-long Midtown Cabaret Festival of Stars at the Where Eagles Dare Theatre on September 16.)

Later this month, the much-awaited Sondheim revue Opening Doors plays NYC’s Zankel Hall from September 30 through October 9. Old friends KT Sullivan and Mark Nadler will present their salute to the maestro, Sondheim’s Broadway — a big hit this summer at London’s Pizza on the Park — for two shows on October 1 at the Algonquin Hotel’s Oak Room. On the Main Stem, Sondheim’s The Frogs continues at the Vivian Beaumont through October 10, while his 1976 masterpiece Pacific Overtures begins previews at Studio 54 on November 12.

GETTING MARRIED…FINALLY
Not every actress would want to get married during the same week that she’s preparing to play one of the theater’s most celebrated and most difficult roles, but that’s just what the aptly named Elizabeth Marvel did. Last Saturday, in San Francisco, the OBIE-winning performer tied the knot with her OBIE-winning companion of 14 (yes, 14!) years, actor Bill Camp. On September 10, she begins performances as Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler at the New York Theatre Workshop under the guidance of Ivo Van Hove, the Flemish director who teamed with Marvel in 2000 for a controversial, award-winning production of A Streetcar Named Desire at NYTW. Good luck to her on both fronts.

YOU GOTTA HAVE HART
Kitty Carlisle Hart turned 94 last Friday — and, to tell the truth, she doesn’t look a day over 70. If you don’t believe me, just over to Feinstein’s at the Regency on September 21, 22, or 23: Mrs. Hart is throwing a very special “birthday party” that will include her fascinating reminiscences of her famous friends and former co-stars. She will also sing standards by Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, and Kurt Weill, accompanied by David Lewis.

Following Hart at Feinstein’s, comedian and Broadway star Robert Klein will check in for a 10-day stint on September 28. Next up, in October, Broadway musical composer and jazz performer Cy Coleman will show off his chops. Scheduled for gigs in the room thereafter are Melissa Manchester, Patti LuPone, Karen Mason, and Michael Feinstein himself.