One way or another, Betty Buckley is going to do some Tennessee Williams this fall. Earlier this year, Playbill On-Line reported that Buckley was considering taking the role of Alexandra Del Lago in a fall production of Sweet Bird of Youth at La Jolla Playhouse. Now the actress is leaning toward an autumn revival of Williams' Camino Real at Hartford Stage, said Buckley's agent Matthew Sullivan.

Sullivan told Playbill On-Line the Camino dates better suit Buckley's concert schedule. The Broadway performer would essay the role of Madrecita de los Perdidos. Hartford artistic director Michael Wilson would direct. No dates or other cast members have been set.

The expressionistic Camino Real is experiencing an unlikely rash of popularity. High profile productions of the play are planned for the Williamstown Theatre Festival, D.C.'s Shakespeare Theatre and the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival. Ethan Hawke is set to appear in the Williamstown staging this summer, while Michael Hayden will star as Kilroy, the doomed boxer, in the D.C. mounting in spring of 2000.

If Buckley accepted the role, it would mark her second non-musical assignment this year. She's primarily known for her musical credits, including Cats and Sunset Boulevard. Buckley recently starred in the Vineyard Theater's staging of Nicky Silver's The Eros Trilogy, in which Buckley played two different mothers.

Buckley is currently performing her cabaret act at the Cafe Carlyle on New York's Upper East Side. -- By Robert Simonson