KERRY BUTLER
Xanadu Tony nominee Kerry Butler, who possesses a clear-as-a-bell, rangy belt, is back on Broadway in the crowd-pleasing, Tony-nominated musical Rock of Ages at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. Butler, whose Broadway resume also boasts the original cast of the Tony-winning Hairspray as well as roles in Little Shop of Horrors, Beauty and the Beast, Blood Brothers and Les Misérables, has stepped into the role of good-girl-turned-stripper Sherrie, the part originated in this production by Amy Spanger. The role gives new mom Butler the chance to reunite with her Xanadu co-star, James Carpinello, who was inured during Xanadu previews and now plays the role of Stacee Jaxx in Rock. Butler also has the chance to rock out on such tunes as "Harden My Heart," "Don't Stop Believin'" and "I Want to Know What Love Is." It's been a busy few months for the much-in-demand singing actress, who was also part of the out-of-town tryout of the new Jack O'Brien-Jerry Mitchell-Marc Shaiman-Scott Wittman-Terrence McNally musical Catch Me If You Can, which debuted at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre in August. Earlier this week I had the pleasure of chatting with the good-humored Butler, who spoke about her work in both Rock of Ages and Catch Me If You Can; that brief interview follows.

Question: How did the role in Rock of Ages come about for you?
Kerry Butler: Well, I was doing Catch Me If You Can . . . I had thought maybe it was going to go [to Broadway] shortly after we were there. No one knew what was going to happen with Catch Me If You Can, and then I guess they figured out it wasn't going to happen right away. So, I [was asked if I would] be interested in doing Rock of Ages. I said I would think about it, because I really wanted to work with James [Carpinello] again since it was cut short when we did Xanadu. James was like, "You have to do it!" He was really pushing me to do it all along and, I think, pushing them to have me do it. [Laughs.] So then I came back [to New York], and I went to see the show again. I wasn't even sure whether I could do it. I had gone to see it, and I remembered it being really dance-heavy, so I was nervous. I went to see it again and I thought, "Okay, I can do this!" Then we just started negotiating, and the people there are just so nice. My agents and managers [said], "This is like nothing you've ever done before." It's more rock than anything I've done and, you know, [the character] becomes a stripper. [Laughs.] All of those costumes — I'm usually more the good girl. I have done the bad girl in a bunch of things but not really on Broadway.

Question: What was the rehearsal process like?
Butler: It is fast. It's really fast. Adam Hunter, who is the stage manager, and Robert [Tatad], who is assistant choreographer, and Kelly Divine, they put me in. They were basically playing all of the different parts! I didn't work with the cast that much, although Constantine [Maroulis] did come in and they even brought the director in — Kristin [Hanggi] — to work with me and Constantine, so that was really great toward the end. And, James always volunteered to work with me and a bunch of the cast. I did get to work with [everybody] at least one day before my put-in, which was really nice. I remember being in shows and thinking, "Oh, I have to go to this put-in." Oh gosh, I'd better be nicer about it [now]! This is only the second time I've ever been a replacement in a show. It's so hard. You don't know what anybody's gonna give you onstage, and you don't get the lighting and the actual orchestra until you're actually onstage that night. My first night on, after my first entrance, I was just standing there. They had said to me there was going to be a blackout, and I'm waiting for the blackout to happen. It wasn't a real blackout, it was kind of a half-blackout. I was standing there for a really long time and I'm [thinking], "I guess I'd better get offstage now." [Laughs.] It's just so weird.

Question: It's amazing that you don't really get to do the show until you're actually in the show. It sounds a bit nightmarish.
Butler: The only thing that made me calmer about the show was just thinking that maybe the audience is drunk, and they won't notice any mistakes I make! [Laughs.]

Question: That's great. It seems like a much better schedule for a working mom. How was your first night on in the show after that first blackout?
Butler: It went better than I thought. It was pretty fun. I wasn't nervous, which was really good. I've done three shows now, and I already feel like I'm getting much more into the swing of it. I did make some mistakes, but I didn't make any big mistakes. After that first night, it has gone pretty smoothly, but I have never been so tired in my life doing a show [after that first performance]. My entire body hurt, my voice hurt. I was almost crying. I was thinking, "I don't know if I'm gonna be able to do this all the time." But I realized that everyone loses weight [to be in the cast] because it's so scary to be onstage in those costumes. So I had not been eating and working out like crazy [prior to the first performance]. I realized that I didn't eat enough before the show, and that was the main reason why I was so tired. I almost couldn't get through the dance number at the end of the show because I was so exhausted. So then the next day, I ate some carbohydrates before the show, and I did much better. [Laughs.] It's all a learning process!

Question: How are you finding singing the rock songs?
Butler: I love it. The only one . . . [I'm still] trying to figure out is "I Hate Myself For Loving You" because that's when I'm doing the most physical stuff. I'm just trying to figure out how to place that [song] and be able to do a lap dance [at the same time]. [Laughs.] All the other stuff fits really well in my voice. I really love getting to wail on those songs. And, Constantine is amazing, so just to get to sing with him when we're both singing in each other's faces is kind of fun.

Question: How would you describe Sherrie?
Butler: I think of her as super innocent. She does have an appreciation for rock music, but I think that that probably is because her old brother played rock music, and she wanted to be like him and be cool like him. I am making her a little bit nerdy. [Laughs.] So then she doesn't really know how to be a stripper at all, so when she's doing it, she's petrified and not so good at it in the beginning. And then throughout the show she does become hardened and does become a different person. By the end she still has that hard side, but she's able to see the world in a broader view and still be able to hold onto that sweetness that she had in the beginning.

Question: Do you have a favorite moment in the show yet for her?
Butler: I am still so much going from moment to moment in my head. I'm like, "Okay after this number I'm going offstage and I'm taking off this…" You know? [Laughs.] I can't think of a favorite moment yet. Maybe my favorite moment is when it's over, because I've gotten through it! [Laughs.] I'm still definitely just trying to get through it.

Question: How have the audiences been?
Butler: Unbelievable. My favorite audience, actually, is Saturday matinees because I'm more of a purist. That's more like a normal [Broadway] audience where they still laugh a lot and clap and scream. All of the audiences go crazy. The cast will be like, "Oh, this isn't a good audience." I say, "I'll take this audience any day!" [Laughs.] I kind of like when they're not that crazy.

	Kerry Butler in Catch Me If You Can
	photo by Chris Bennion

Question: You also mentioned that you recently were in Catch Me If You Can. Tell me about the character you played in that musical.
Butler: Gosh, I have to go back. It seems like so long ago now. [Laughs.] She kind of represents openness and love, kind of like Sherrie in Rock of Ages. I'm so much in Rock of Ages I can't even think of the characters' names right now. [Laughs.] Aaron [Tveit]'s character Frank is lying to everyone and manipulating everyone, and she's kind of the first person he meets who he doesn't want to manipulate. She wears her heart on her sleeve and will tell you exactly what she thinks and is very fragile and vulnerable. He meets her, and she's crying hysterically. She has these amazing parents who are so loving, so he kind of sees love through her and sees that that's the life he wants to have. It kind of is the first step in him changing and leaving that lifestyle.

Question: What is the score like?
Butler: Oh, my gosh. It's Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. They're unbelievable. The music is so good. I took that job because I believe in all of them so much. That team – I worked with them on Hairspray. I think the show is going to be really good.

Question: Did it feel a bit like a family reunion?
Butler: It did! Jerry [Mitchell] and Jack [O'Brien]… and in the cast we had Linda Hart and Clarke Thorell, so it was really fun.

Question: What was the audience response like out of town?
Butler: It was great. We had standing ovations every night. We were still working on it there, but the audiences loved it. It really has a lot of heart. It's unlike a lot of the shows I've done because it really is a grown-up musical, and the acting style is very real. It's not campy at all. It's just this beautiful human story about fathers and sons.

Question: Do you know what the game plan is for Broadway?
Butler: I've heard that it's going, and I think they are trying to find a theatre at this point. I think Broadway is booked up. . . . I think they're doing a lot of work on it, too, so I guess it depends on people's schedules, but it's either going to go in this spring or the summer. That's what I've heard.

Question: Will you be involved on Broadway?
Butler: I don't know. We'll see what's happening, when it's going to happen and what's going on, but I do love the show.

Question: How long are you scheduled to be with Rock of Ages?
Butler: I'm scheduled to be there for six months.

Question: How old is your daughter now?
Butler: She's four.

Question: How has it been combining working and being a mom?
Butler: It's been good. She loves going to the theatre, although I don't think she will be going to Rock of Ages. She's dying to see it. I may let her see the last 15 minutes of it. At Xanadu she would hang out backstage all the time. She loves being around everybody. Catch Me If You Can — oh, my gosh, she loved that cast. She loved being there. But, yeah, I turned down a lot of stuff after Xanadu because I just don't want to miss that time with her. I adopted her, so I only got her when she was 13 months old, and I worked the entire first year-and-a-half that I had her in Xanadu. So I really felt like it was important to be there with her. That's why I was so happy that Rock of Ages gave me Sundays off. She is the most important thing to me. I'm nothing if I'm not a good mom . . . . Shows come and go, but I'm going to be responsible for her when she's grown up. [Laughs.] With Rock of Ages, it's been great that they let me have this time. And the show is really fun to do. I think it's going to work out well. After my first few shows, my husband and I were like, "I think this is going to be a really good job!"

[Rock of Ages plays the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, 256 West 47th Street; for tickets visit Ticketmaster.com or call (212) 307-4100.]

	Bernadette Peters
	photo by Kurt Sneddon

DIVA TIDBITS
Two-time Tony winner Bernadette Peters helped Playbill Magazine celebrate its 125th anniversary earlier this week at a starry to-do at the Bon Appétit Supper Club in Manhattan. The amazingly youthful Peters, who was a knockout in a shimmering gold gown, delighted the invited guests with a three-song set. Peters, who will perform a benefit concert for Broadway Barks and BC/EFA Nov. 9 at the Minskoff Theatre, opened with her thrilling take on Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Nothin' Like a Dame" and then preceded to dazzle with a fiery rendition of the classic "Fever," perched atop the grand piano played by long-time musical director Marvin Laird. She closed her short set with the delightfully touching lullaby ("Kramer's Song") that she penned for her best-selling children's book, "Broadway Barks." The evening also boasted one song from the up-and-coming 13 star Allie Trimm, who currently plays Kim MacAfee in the current revival of Bye Bye Birdie. Trimm wonderfully belted out "How Lovely to Be a Woman."

Tony Award winners Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin will bring their acclaimed concert act to Chicago's Cadillac Palace Theatre in 2010. The former Evita co-stars will play the Illinois venue March 2-7, 2010. The engagement is part of the 2010 Broadway In Chicago Season Series. An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin, press notes state, "reunites these Tony Award-winning virtuosos (and lifelong friends) for the first time since Evita. Much more than a concert, this is a unique musical love story told entirely through a masterful selection of the greatest songs ever written for the stage. Funny, passionate, intimate and utterly unforgettable, this is An Evening no fan of musical theatre – or of these two acclaimed performers – can afford to miss." Musical director Paul Ford will be featured on piano with John Beal on bass. Initial 2010 dates also include Jan. 30 at the Von Braun Civic Center in Huntsville, AL; Feb. 6 at the Proctors Theatre in Schenectady, NY; Feb. 27 at EJ Thomas Hall in Akron, OH; March 19-20 at the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert, CA; and March 25 at the Long Center in Austin, TX. For tickets visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com or call (312) 977-1717.

	Kristin Chenoweth

Congratulations to Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth, who won her first Emmy Award this past Sunday night. Chenoweth was awarded the Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work as Olive Snook in the now-canceled ABC series, "Pushing Daisies."

A host of theatre favorites will take part in Standing Ovations 5, which will be presented Nov. 1 at Town Hall in Manhattan. Richard Jay-Alexander will direct the concert, which benefits Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and is themed "The Bronx Is Up And The Battery's Down." The 7:30 PM event will feature the talents of Cortes Alexander, Joey Arias, Michael Arden, Gary Beach, Justin Bond, Laura Bell Bundy, Liz Callaway, Mario Cantone, John Cudia, Melissa Errico, Ellen Greene, Melora Hardin, Gregory Jbara, Robert Marien, Will & Anthony Nunziata, Rosie O'Donnell, Nicholas Rodriguez, Jennifer Hallie Rosen and Jarrod Spector. Richie Ridge — of "Broadway Beat" fame — will host. Kevin Stites and Ben Toth are musical directors; James Kinney will choreograph the musical numbers. Sabrina Gordin is the production stage manager. For tickets visit www.ticketmaster.com. Town Hall is located at 123 West 43rd Street.

Joan Collins , the stage and screen star best known for her work on the ABC nighttime soap, "Dynasty," will present her one-woman show next month in Long Beach, CA: An Evening with Joan Collins will play the Carpenter Performing Arts Center Oct. 16 at 8 PM. "The internationally acclaimed actress, author and columnist," press notes state, "shares an intimate, playful, and entertaining evening, taking an irreverent look at the highs and lows of her remarkable roller coaster life and career. From her early pin-up model days, to her infamous you-love-to-hate-her role as ‘Alexis Carrington Colby’ on the hit television series, 'Dynasty,' Joan Collins offers her unique perspective on working with some of the biggest names and legends in Hollywood." For tickets, priced $45 and $50, call (562) 985-7000 or visit www.CarpenterArts.org.

Five Tony Award winners will take part in Star Chats: Broadway Leading Ladies Sept. 30 at TheTimesCenter. Part of Back2Broadway Month, the 5:30 PM chat will feature Tony winners Laura Benanti, Sutton Foster, Beth Leavel, Bebe Neuwirth and Alice Ripley. American Theatre Wing's Howard Sherman will moderate the hour-long discussion. The early evening event will be taped in front of a live audience as the opening program of American Theatre Wing's 31st season of "Working in the Theatre." TheTimesCenter is located at 242 West 41st Street. For more information visit www.ILoveNYTheater.com.

Songwriting duo Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich — whose musicals include Junie B. Jones, Ever After and Dear Edwina — have recorded 14 of their songs on a new CD that will be released in November. Entitled "Marcy & Zina: The Album," the recording is due Nov. 3 on the Yellow Sound Label. Jill Abramovitz and Scott Coulter are guest vocalists on the new disc. To celebrate the release of the new disc, Goldrich and Heisler will perform at Birdland Nov. 2. Special guests will include Alan Cumming, Stephanie J. Block , Coulter, Abramovitz, Elena Shaddow and Stephen Bogardus. For more information visit www.birdlandjazz.com or www.marcyandzina.com.

Well, that's all for now. Happy diva-watching! E-mail questions or comments to agans@playbill.com.