Tonight, June 23, is the opening night of Queens Blvd., a gay comedy by Paul Corrigan playing at Off-Broadway's Players Theatre. Vincent J. Cardinal directs this nutty piece, about a male couple in a tiny Queens apartment trying to figure out their hunky new roommate. "How can they keep him in their gilded birdcage," the press release asks, "after he's seen Fire Island?" Russell Leib, Steve Hayes and Tony Meindl comprise the Queens Blvd. cast. Leib appeared on Broadway in Amadeus and Big River; Hayes is a Backstage Bistro Award-winner for his cabaret work, and Meindl appeared Off-Broadway in Party.

Author Paul Corrigan is the director of PBS-TV's "Theatre Talk" program and has served as a resident writer for Off-Off-Broadway's La MaMa ETC. Director Cardinal wrote the play, The Colorado Catechism, which was staged at the now-defunct Circle Repertory in Manhattan.

Designing Queens Blvd. are Bill Clarke (set), Brian Aldous (lighting) and Mary Myers (costumes).

As a special promotion, Queens, NY dwellers who showed proof of residency were treated to a free look at the show's first preview, June 9. Official previews began the next day.

For tickets ($20-$35) and information about Queens Blvd. call (212) 239-6200.

--By David Lefkowitz