By Andrew Gans
25 Sep 2009

	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.