Deborah Yates, the original Tony Award-nominated Girl in the Yellow Dress, will join the national tour of Contact for three cities, beginning May 7.

Yates created the silent role of the saffron-clad temptress who brings suicidal ad man Michael Wylie out of his existential funk in the final and longest segment of the Susan Stroman-John Weidman dance musical. She appeared in the role when the piece premiered Off-Broadway in late 1999 and stayed with the Broadway production until Sept. 2, 2001.

Yates will begin her brief tenure at Baltimore's Morris Mechanic Theater, May 7-12, and remain through dates at Houston's Jones Hall, May 28-June 2, and Dallas' Music Hall, June 4-16. Her co-stars will be Daniel McDonald as Wylie, and Meg Howrey as the repressed housewife in the "Did You Move?" section.

McDonald starred in the short-lived Broadway musicals Steel Pier (choreographed by Stroman) and High Society.

The tour is currently sitting in Chicago at the Oriental Theater, where Holly Cruikshank plays the Girl in the Yellow Dress. It will be there through May 5.

After Dallas, Contact will embark on another season of touring. Among cities and dates announced are:

• Cincinnati Dec. 17-29, 2002.
• Louisville Dec. 31, 2002-Jan. 5, 2003.
• Atlanta March 18-23, 2003.
• Palm Beach April 8-13, 2003.
• Ft. Lauderdale April 15-27, 2003.