Broadway musical star Betty Buckley, seldom seen doing comedy, straight plays or Off-Broadway, has been doing all three since Jan. 21, when she began performances in Nicky Silver's The Eros Trilogy at the Vineyard Theatre. The show officially opens Feb. 8.

The role represents a departure for Buckley, best known for her glitzy Broadway turns in Cats , Sunset Boulevard and The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Buckley plays mother to both T. Scott Cunningham and Zak Orth, though not necessarily the same mother.

Act one of the play consists of two solo pieces, one for a mother, the other for a son. Act two is a duet between another mother and her son. According to Silver, the four characters are "trying to figure out whether physical or emotional connection offers them greater refuge in this world."

Cunningham is an old hand at Silver, having starred in Pterodactyls at the Vineyard and Fit to Be Tied at Playwrights Horizons. Orth made a splash last season as a nervous, would-be assassin in Misalliance at the Roundabout Theatre Company.

Eros is directed by longtime Silver interpreter, David Warren. Warren has previously piloted the Silver works Fit to Be Tied , Raised in Captivity and Pterodactyls. His other credits include Holiday at Circle in the Square and Minutes From the Blue Route at the Atlantic Theatre Company. Silver's other plays include The Food Chain and Fat Men in Skirts.

-- By Robert Simonson