Well, you have nearly a year to ponder weak and weary, but if you can hold out until next October, you can catch John Astin once again as Edgar Allan Poe in Once Upon A Midnight, a one-man show about the poet's tortured life.

Astin staged Midnight in Rolling Hills, CA, and at Chicago's Mercury Theatre, and in 1998 (Oct. 15-18) will come to the 360 seat Company Theatre in Norwell, MA.

Just in time for Halloween, Midnight mixes Poe's somber poetry, short stories (The Fall Of The House Of Usher, The Tell-Tale Heart) with stories of his turmoil. Star Astin is best known for playing Gomez on the original TV "Addams Family," and he had a recurring role as a shady salesman on the recent animated series, "Duckman." In 1993 he starred in the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players' HMS Pinafore.

For tickets ($29-$34) and information on Once Upon A Midnight at the Company Theatre, 30 Accord Park in Norwell, call (781) 871-2787.

-- By David Lefkowitz