Actually, the first part of that sentence is correct, but there's no factual basis for the second part. I was just to embarrassed to write that I have the nerve to be exhausted when we've all been given the gift of a Daylight Savings Time extra hour. I do have the right to be a little tired. My boyfriend James had to go to Houston, so I've been taking care of his daughter, Juli. But, essentially, she's in school til 3 PM, then she has afterschool programs til 6 when the babysitter picks her up, and by the time I'm home from the show, she's asleep. So, Hollywood-celebrity-style, my version of "taking care of her" is not 24 hours of parenting, but 45 minutes in the morning when I get her ready for school.

Actually, I love getting her ready in the morning because all she wants to do is sleep in and only be woken up for something fun. So, I've found the best way to get her awake is to fully lip-synch something sassy. We both get what we want: She gets a show to wake up to, and I get to play Effie. On Friday, I did the Dreamgirls fight scene that happens right before "And I Am Telling You," and she was rapt! Thursday I was blasting Neil Sedaka (whom I love!), and she asked if that was a boy or a girl. I told her that Neil is a great male singer with an amazingly high voice. The song changed and I said, "I love his voice!" She whirled around and said, in shock, "That's a boy?!?!" I guess she bought it for "Calendar Girl," but "Laughter in the Rain' was pushing it.

Last Monday I performed in a salon for BC/EFA. That's right, a salon. No, I didn't travel back in time, I went to a very swanky apartment building located on Central Park South and took the elevator to the 26th floor. The apartment was loaned to BC/EFA, and people paid cash to hang out in the gorgeous living room with a full terrace overlooking the park and see a performance every ten minutes. It was so fun! Joy Behar was there and hilarious as usual. She commented on the Bush twins being named Jenna and Barbara, as in "J and B." Paul Shaffer played and sang and told us that he got his green card when Stephen Schwartz invited him from Canada to be the pianist for Broadway's The Magic Show! Who knew? Chris Sieber was the host and said he just got back from filming "Pushing Daisies." Who is the casting director for that show? Talkin'Broadway.com? Every scene consistently features an Equity member. Chris said he's getting ready to do Shrek where he gonna play the character that's super short. I wondered how they're going to create the illusion, and he said he's doing it old school: He's going to walk on his knees! It's nice to know that technology hasn't replaced the technique I perfected in seventh grade when I would entertain my friends imitating that woman from "Poltergeist" ("Go into the light…there is peace in the light!")

I chatted up Norm Lewis, my favorite male Broadway singer. He's shirtless as King Triton in The Little Mermaid, so he had to get his body back into the shape it was when he did Wild Party on Broadway, aka, woof! He looks great! Also, I'm kvelling because he said he's halfway through with his first CD. Finally! I've always said that he should have one of those Andrea Bocelli/Josh Groban careers, without the sappy ballads. When I play the recording of him singing "We Live On Borrowed Time" by David Friedman on my SIRIUS radio show, I am always deluged with letters, more than for any other artist. I'm so excited because his CD will be a trip down memory lane for me. We first met when I cast him (non-Equity) in a production of Joseph. . . at the Candlewood Playhouse. His audition song was from Hello, Dolly! … and it was sung by Dolly. He did "Before the Parade Passes By," and he was amazing! He told me it's going on the CD. Brava! Hopefully, he won't begin it with her monologue ("Ephram…lemme go").

Tuesday I interviewed the brilliant composer/lyricist Maury Yeston for my SIRIUS radio show. First of all, I was shocked that he went to Yeshiva! Who knew he was Jewish? I guess "Maury" should have been a tip-off, but the Yeston always through me. He said that his grandparents' last name was Yes, and they emigrated through England. The English knew that they would get whiplash from constantly swerving their heads every time someone said "Yes," so they added an English suffix (i.e. Wellington, Harrington etc.)

He was a Professor at Yale, and some of his students are now part of what's called "The Yale Mafia". David Loud (who left mid-term to be in Merrily We Roll Along), Scott Frankel (composer of Grey Gardens) and Ted Sperling, (Tony Award winner for orchestrating The Light in the Piazza).

In the beginning of the eighties, Maury had written a musical version of one of his favorite Fellini movies "8 1/2" and, because he added music, upped the number in the title to Nine. He did a reading at Yale but didn't have the rights to the film. Someone who saw it loved it and thought Fellini should give Maury the rights, so she wrote Fellini a letter. That someone was Katharine Hepburn! I love that she had his address (Fellini, Villa #5, Italy).

Maury won an award that gave him money to do it Off-Broadway, and someone who knew Tommy Tune gave Tommy a copy of the show. Tommy called Maury and said that he should give back the award money. "What?" said Maury, "The Simpsons"-style. Tommy felt the show shouldn't play Off-Broadway, but should go right to Broadway!

During auditions, Maury said that all the women had such a European look/attitude, but all the guys had a "I just got back from dinner theatre in Indiana" look. They couldn't find any men who were right for the show (besides the lead, Raul Julia). Tommy asked Maury if he could write out all the male roles except for the lead, and Maury loved the idea! First of all, it made Raul seem much more like a powerful movie director because he was the only man on that stage, and secondly, Maury loved the vocal stuff he could do with so many women. That's how he decided to have them all sing the overture. I asked about the song "A Call From The Vatican" where one of Guido's girlfriends calls him and says very suggestive things and Maury said that people think that he invented phone sex! Hmm…I've never had phone sex where the person on the other end hits a high C. Then again, Beverly Sills never returned my phone calls. Continued...