It looks like it will be Bierko and Levering again in Thou Shalt Not, the Susan Stroman-Harry Connick, Jr. musical due on Broadway this fall. The two co-starred in the Stroman-directed The Music Man, Levering as Zaneeta Shinn, Bierko as Prof. Harold Hill. Variety recently reported that Bierko is poised to enter Thou Shalt Not, which is based on the novel "Therese Raquin" by Emile Zola. Levering, meanwhile, is currently starring as Peggy Sawyer in the Broadway revival of 42nd Street and states in her program bio that she "is slated to play Therese Raquin in....Thou Shalt Not, coming to Broadway this fall."

Variety said Bierko was in "final negotiations." He would play Therese's lover Laurent. A spokesman for the show confirmed that Bierko was in talks to star in the show. No contracts have been signed.

The production, based, is scheduled to open sometime this fall on Broadway. Lincoln Center Theater produces. The book is written by Tommy Thompson. Stroman will direct and choreograph. Actress Debra Monk has gone on the record as being part of the cast.

* Speaking at the 2000 Theatre Hall of Fame ceremony on Jan. 29, Monk said "Harry [Connick] is perfect for it. He has written a beautiful and wonderful score, and Tommy's book is lovely, so it's very exciting."

Monk added that, though the novel took place in the 1800's in Paris, the musical is set in the 1940's in New Orleans.

The show had a workshop at Lincoln Center Theatre on Sept. 18. LCT helped foster Stroman's last project, Contact, which went on to win the best musical Tony and is still playing at the Vivian Beaumont. Monk appeared in the workshop. Stroman and Monk worked together on Steel Pier.

First published serially in 1867 under the title "Un Mariage d'Amour," Zola's harrowing tale of passion, hatred and the ultimate destruction that can come of lust was later published in 1867 as a novel. In "Therese Raquin," a sensual wife and her lover murder the woman's husband and remarry, only to be haunted by the victim's ghost.