Loose Lips

Leah Hocking is much nicer than Velma Von Tussle, the witchy television station owner she plays in Hairspray, but the two ladies have at least one thing in common: beauty pageants. Although Velma won her crown (as Miss Baltimore Crabs), Hocking wasn’t so lucky. Or was she? “I was Miss Marquette County in Michigan,” she tells me. “I entered the pageant as a joke, sort of egged on by my friends, and then I made it to the state pageant for Miss America. When they were announcing the winners, all of a sudden I thought, ‘Please don’t let me win. I’m only 18, and I can’t smile like this for a whole year.’ So it was a good thing that I was only third runner-up.”

Her role of Velma marks the first time that Hocking, who was last seen as the va-va-va-voom librarian in All Shook Up, is playing a villain. “It’s a different kind of fun than I’ve had before,” she says. “Some nights, the audience hates you so much that they won’t even give you a laugh — and then it’s not fun. But on the nights when they come around, I like being the bad girl. I have to say, it always fascinates me when I meet someone who’s self-absorbed like Velma. Of course, they’re usually actors.”

Two actors whom Hocking dearly loves, her pals Liz McCartney and Ann Harada, will be joining her in Three Loud Chicks, the show she’s doing as part of The Winter Season at Birdland on Monday, January 9. What can audiences look forward to, other than a lot of volume? “Liz and I are going to do our famous duet from Dance of the Vampires,” says Hocking. “I’m going to sing one of my favorite Gwen Stefani songs, ‘Backwater.’ And we’re all going to do what we call the ‘Fat Chance Medley’ — you know, songs from roles we would never ever get to play. For example, I’ve always wanted to do Ti Moune in Once on This Island, but it’s not going to happen.”

Come March, however, Hocking will get to do one of her all-time favorite roles: Cleo in The Most Happy Fella at New York City Opera. “The score is just glorious,” she says. “Frank Loesser was so ahead of his time and such a smart composer. Plus, one of my favorite things to do is dialect, and I can’t wait to be a Texan again. The only thing is that, during the run, I’ll be doing some split weeks between this show and Hairspray — so it’s possible that Velma will end up with a Texas accent or Cleo will become a real bitch. If anyone asks, I’ll just say it’s a choice that I made!”

FRESH FROM THE FESTIVAL
Some past festival favorites are poised to reemerge in 2006. Gersh Kuntzman‘s New York International Fringe Festival tuner SUV: The Musical will roll into the Wings Theater for 10 performances, January 5-21; Give Up! Start Over!, a Fringe First winner at this year’s Edinburgh Festival, comes across the pond and lands at 59E59, January 10-15; Steven Fales‘ solo show Confessions of a Mormon Boy, which premiered to great acclaim at the 2004 New York Fringe, moves to a commercial run at the Soho Playhouse on January 27; and Indoor/Outdoor, a comedy by Kenny Finkle that was a big hit at this year’s Summer Play Festival, will move to the DR2 on February 2 with a cast led by the lovely Keira Naughton.

LIKE MOTHER, LIKE DAUGHTER
Lorna Luft , daughter of the late, great Judy Garland, will bring her celebrated cabaret act to the Empire Plush Room, December 27-January 8; Amanda Carlin, offspring of the fabulous Frances Sternhagen, will co-star in Michele Lowe‘sThe Smell of the Kill at North Hollywood’s Noho Arts Theater, January 6-29; and Prentiss Benjamin, whose mom is the wonderful Paula Prentiss, will be one half of the cast of Tour De Farce at New Jersey Repertory Company, January 26-February 26.

SHOR ENOUGH

You might think that being friends with the playwright and the girlfriend of one of the stars of a show would mean you wouldn’t actually have to audition to get the part, but you’d be wrong! Miriam Shor landed her role in actor-turned-playwright John Cariani’s Almost, Maine the old-fashioned way. “I don’t mind auditioning,” she says. “I’m willing to show someone what they think they haven’t seen from me before.” Shor says it was worth it to play the romantic comedy’s four interesting, small-town characters and to work opposite real-life squeeze Justin Hagan. “It’s amazing to look across at this person with whom you have all this history, ” she remarks, “and it doesn’t hurt that he’s a brilliant actor.”

Shor has nothing but praise for Cariani, who received a Tony Award nomination for his role as Motel in Fiddler on the Roof. “John is not only the sweetest human being on earth but, as a playwright, he really welcomes you into talking about your ideas — which is not always the case. If it was my work, I’d probably tell the actors never to speak to me,” she laughs. “And because John and our director, Gabriel Barre, are both actors, they never demand anything from us that they wouldn’t go through themselves.”

As much as Shor has learned from these guys, it doesn’t quite compare to the education she got while working on her last project, Dedication or the Stuff of Dreams, with Nathan Lane and Marian Seldes. “Nathan is just fascinating to watch,” she says. “I was surprised at how subtle he could be, and I’d love to see more of that in the future,” she says. “And every actor should get to work with Marian at some point in their career, not to mention share a dressing room with her. It is the greatest gift you can experience, and it reminds you why you chose this profession in the first place.”

Audiences who’d like to see Shor in another musical — she co-starred in the Kennedy Center production of Merrily We Roll Along and the original Off-Broadway production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch — may be in for a long wait. “I really enjoy singing, but I just don’t like a lot of musicals that get done these days,” she comments. “And they are so much more work physically that I feel, if I’m going to make those sacrifices, I have to really love the part. But I keep telling Justin that maybe we can become the next Kiki & Herb, or at least the next Captain & Tennille. I change my mind about things every week, so who knows; maybe I’ll be trying out for the camel in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular next year.”

ALL ABOUT EVE
Speaking of Hedwig: That show’s star and creator, John Cameron Mitchell, and drag king Murray Hill will host the New Year’s Eve Afterparty 2006 at Joe’s Pub, following Sandra Bernhard‘s late show there. Other festive options for the big night in the Big Apple include pop singer Nellie McKay (soon to be seen in the Roundabout’s Threepenny Opera) at Ars Nova; The New Year’s Whirl, a multi-level party at 59E59 that will be catered by super-chef David Burke; The New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players’ New Year’s Eve Champagne Gala Performance at Symphony Space, featuring excerpts from beloved G&S operettas; and the one and only Elaine Stritch at the Carlyle Hotel.

If none of those events suit your fancy, you can indulge in one of New York’s most festive traditions: the Metropolitan Opera’s charming production of Die Fledermaus. We don’t know yet who this year’s surprise party guests will be, but you are guaranteed a hilarious (non-singing) performance by Tony Award winner Bill Irwin as the drunken jailer Frosch. This is your last chance to see Irwin on these shores for quite a while; he’ll head to London in mid-January to re-create his Tony Award-winning role of George in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, along with fellow Broadway cast members Kathleen Turner, Mireille Enos, and David Harbour.