Loose Lips

“It’s so nice to be working — and to be clean,” says Ian Somerhalder as he sits in a rehearsal room at the Century Center for the Performing Arts, where the play Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead is set to begin performances on December 1. As is well known by fans of television hottest show, Lost, Somerhalder spent most of last year covered in mud in Hawaii, until his character Boone was unexpectedly killed mid-season.

“It was really intense,” says the actor. “You’re covered in bug spray and dirt and makeup, and it’s 95 degrees with no wind, and you’re on a beach surrounded by fire. By the end of the episode, you would have to go home and get scrubbed. But I love Hawaii. I will absolutely live there some day. In fact, I almost bought a house there — but, two days before I was going to fly back to look at one, I found out that my character was being killed off.”

Now he’s thrilled to be in New York, joining such other Young Hollywood types as Eddie Kaye Thomas, Eliza Dushku, and Logan Marshall-Green. They all play unhappy teens in Bert V. Royal’s dark-edged spoof of the famed Peanuts comic strip. “I’m so happy I’m not 15 right now,” says the almost 27-year-old star. “We didn’t have metal directors in our school, and the Internet wasn’t what is now. I think the kids in this play, which is pretty raw and wildly provocative, are dealing with real kid stuff for this day and age. It’s definitely going to rock a few boats.”

Not that Somerhalder had an entirely normal childhood; he began modeling in New York City at age 10 and eventually worked for some of the world’s biggest fashion houses. By his early 20s, he was attracting attention for such films as The Rules of Attraction and My Life as a House. “That was the first studio film I was part of,” he says of House, “and it was amazing. I remember, after some takes, Kevin Kline would just walk around singing.” So, did Somerhalder do the same on the set of his next film, Pulse, which he shot this summer in Romania? “I only sing in the shower,” he laughs.

PARTY PLANNER
The great British director and playwright Mike Leigh usually lets his work speak for itself, but he’s willing to share some insights into Abigail’s Party. His landmark 1970s drama is finally getting its New York premiere thanks to his longtime friends at the New Group. “It contains one of my ongoing preoccupations, the dangers of consumerism and aspiration,” says Leigh of his tale of middle-class Britons in the 1970s. “These people are under pressure to be what other people want them to be; they’re very much conformists.” The play was originally created — as is all of Leigh’s work — completely through improvisation, but its structure and tone are extremely specific: “I wanted to write a play with the outward appearance of a boulevard comedy but then subvert it by putting all this domestic violence and death underneath.”

Despite its very British setting, Leigh feels New Yorkers will totally relate to the work. “I think everyone has been to or has hosted the kind of cocktail party that Beverly is throwing,” he says. It also helps that director Scott Elliott has cast an American movie star (and longtime friend of Leigh’s) as Beverly: the fabulous Jennifer Jason Leigh. “Jennifer is the kind of actress who can play anything,” the playwright enthuses, “and I think she’s bringing out Beverly’s vulnerability and insecurity.” While the role was originally created by Alison Steadman, who was married to the author at the time, he says that he won’t be making mental comparisons between the two ladies — no matter what Leigh does onstage: “I always think of the original production as the definitive one; to me, any other production is just a byproduct. So I don’t mind if they’re done differently. I might get pissed off if someone wanted to do an all-male production, however.”

Right now, Leigh has plays running on both sides of the pond; his newest drama Two Thousand Years recently opened to rave reviews at the National Theater in London. “I wanted to deal with my own Jewishness,” he says. “It’s about my left-wing Zionist background and all my frustrations with it. I also insisted on all-Jewish cast because I’m getting a little tired of watching non-Jews play us. There’s talk of bringing it to New York, which would be great. I’ve always wanted to have a show on Broadway.”

IMITATION OF LIVES
Old celebrities don’t die, they just get impersonated on the stage. The fabulous Ashlie Atkinson takes on Norma Jean Baker in Making Marilyn. Meanwhile, in A Very Bette Christmas, the hilarious Tommy Femia switches gears from Judy Garland to Bette Davis. And The Rat Pack is Back at The Supper Club, with the dynamic Eric Jordan Young as Sammy Davis Jr. (The show was co-written and directed by former teen heartthrob David Cassidy, who also makes a special appearance as the fictional Bobby.)

KNIGHT MOVES

After creating two highly successful television sitcoms, Who’s the Boss? and The Nanny, what are long-time spouses Robert Sternin and Prudence Fraser doing for an encore? The musical Knight Life: The Girl Who Would Be King, which recently began its world premiere run at the 700-seat Riverside Theater in Vero Beach, Florida.

Given the authors’ roots, it isn’t surprising to discover that the idea for the show had its genesis in TV-land. “When we were just starting out as writers in the early 1980s, one of our agents asked to pitch the networks an original idea,” Sternin relates, “so we come up with this idea for a buddy comedy about a bunch of knights. And the agent, said, ‘No, I meant something in the real world.’ ”

Eventually, the idea of goings-on in a castle provided the basis for their short-lived sitcom The Charmings. Then, after a chance meeting about four years ago with songwriter Jeff Barry (their kids all attend the same school in California), Sternin and Fraser decided to expand the knights-just-want-to-have-fun concept into a stage musical. They soon discovered that their biggest challenge was to craft a script that would appeal to both teens and adults. Says Fraser, “The story is about this teenage girl who believes that women are equal to men, so we really want people to bring their daughters; but the show does have some bawdy elements for the adults.”

As anyone who watched The Nanny knows, the pair is no stranger to off-color humor. How did they get some of that show’s more risqué lines, most of them uttered by the priceless Daniel Davis as Niles, past the censors? “We knew they would object to some things every week, so we put in even more objectionable lines as sort of a bargaining chip,” Sternin explains. “When they would say, ‘That line has to go’, we’d say, ‘Fine, if this other one stays’ — which was the one we always wanted.”