Imagine how excited I was to find an e-mail from West Coast gal pal Ellen Greene gracing my in box the other day. Certainly we've all been thinking a lot about Greene since Little Shop of Horrors opened on Broadway last summer--in fact, Greene may have earned some of the best reviews of her career in 2003 from critics who couldn't get her performance as Audrey out of their heads.

Greene shared some exciting news in her e-mail. First of all, she recently got hitched to her musical director and piano player Christian Klikovits! Now, to share their love with all of us, the happy couple is returning to Joe's Pub (located in the Public Theater, where Greene first got her start in shows like In the Boom Boom Room and The Threepenny Opera) with their acclaimed show Torch! on Valentine's Day, February 14, for two special shows at 7:30pm and 9:30pm. Tickets are just $20, so call now and reserve your spot (212-539-8778).

"Tell your readers to come and keep me warm on Valentine's Day!" Greene wrote. Now there's an offer that's hard to refuse. I'll definitely be there, valentine or not! Will you?

EVERYTHING'S BETTER THAN FINE!
Speaking of Audreys that I know and love, I had a chance to catch up with Alice Ripley last week on the telephone. Faithful readers will remember that I flew down to Coral Gables, Florida, last summer to see Ripley in Little Shop of Horrors. The talented Tony nominee (who took Broadway by storm in shows like Sunset Boulevard, James Joyce's The Dead, Les Miserables, Side Show and The Rocky Horror Show) invested her trademark talent, warmth and humor into the role and got great notices from the local papers for her efforts. But Ripley got out of Skid Row--the production came apart at the seams when New York producers fired original director Connie Grappo in place of Jerry Zaks (whose slicker, but still not ideal, redo is currently running at the Virginia Theatre).

Even though she left Audrey in Coral Gables, Ripley's thankfully back on the boards, flexing her dramatic muscles in the new play Five Flights opening Monday at off-Broadway's Rattlestick Theater. Written by newcomer Adam Bock, Five Flights tells of siblings who must decide what to do with a giant aviary in the wake of the death of their father, who originally built the structure in honor of his wife. Ripley plays Olivia, a woman who thinks that she was chosen by God to start a religion based on the belief that birds reveal all about God's love.

"This play is smart and sexy and muscular," she told me. "And the project fits in beautifully with my ideas right now about where I want to invest my creative energy. I've always wanted to work in a small theater. I don't know how many small shows in a row I can do before I get kicked to the sidewalk, but while I'm here, I'm gonna make the best of it!"

Since Audrey, Ripley appeared regionally in Jeffrey Hatcher's new version of the Kaufman and Hart play The Fabulous Invalid in Boston and as a bitchy blonde in Ken Ludwig's farce Shakespeare in Hollywood, which she starred in at Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage last fall. "I learned so much," she admitted. "I really went off the edge as an actor and they let me do it! It was really fun. It was hard to leave that company. We became good pals during the run."

It was also hard for Ripley to leave her original Little Shop company (which included Broadway Seymour Hunter Foster, Billy Porter, Reg Rogers and Lee Wilkof) when the family was torn apart over a year earlier than expected. "I don't think what happened had anything to do with the cast," she stated. "The cast was really great. The only way that I can look at it is that it was supposed to be this way. And I was released from it because it was supposed to be. I can now see that it was a gift to be released from it. So many incredible things have come to me since that. But it doesn't make it any easier. It doesn't take away the pain that we went through. It sucked, basically. It sucked."

Clearly, Ripley doesn't mince works when talking about the demise of the Florida Little Shop. "It was the single most excruciating experience I've been through in this business," she stated bluntly, adding that she's moved forward with clearer focus about her career. "It was the moment I said, 'Oh yeah, it is a business.' Artists just don't think that way."

Now Ripley's passing on what she's learned to the next generation of theater stars. "I've taught master classes at colleges and universities," Ripley said, "and I say to the students, 'Look, I know you're excited about graduating and auditioning for Rent. That's great--you should be excited but plant the seed now that you're an artist, not just a musical theater performer. You have a responsibility to contribute in some way. Not just to the public, but to yourself."

In addition to appearing in Five Flights (scheduled to run through February 22 at Rattlestick), Ripley is focusing on her other art: her music. Her first CD, Everything's Fine (2001, Sh-K-Boom Records) was a folksy triumph, exposing Ripley as a passionate singer/songwriter with something to say. She and musician husband Shannon Ford are hard at work on a follow-up, which they hope to record together later in the year. "People will be surprised by how different it sounds," Ripley says, mentioning artists as varied as Rufus Wainwright, Elvis Costello, John Mayer and the Go-Go's as influences.

Hopefully Ripley will be booking some club dates soon to show off her new music and my fingers are crossed that someday someone can convince her to headline another big-budget musical. But until then, I'll just rejoice in her presence on the New York stage. Welcome back, Miss Ripley!

ZIP IT!
An Intimate Night, a one-night-only benefit at the Plaza Hotel, was hands down the best thing Manhattan Theatre Club has produced all season. Of course, I'm kidding (Hey, I'm one of the few that actually liked The Violet Hour!) but it was a helluva show and let's face it, between the star walkouts and subsequent critical dismissals on both Rose's Dilemma and Richard Greenberg's Hour, it's hardly been the banner season MTC anticipated. (Here's hoping Biltmore show #2, Drowning Crow, tops the dreary Goodman Theatre staging that I groaned through last year!)

For this year's Intimate Night, MTC landed three of my favorite talents: the always-adorable Kristin Chenoweth, the always-ideal Jane Krakowski and the always-effortless Tom Wopat (who should be the go-to guy for any producer looking for a leading man in the tradition of John Raitt-are you listening to me Pajama Game people?!). I chatted with all of the stars before the show about upcoming projects--Wicked gal Chenoweth cooed about the upcoming movie musical Asphalt Beach that she just landed while Krakowski swooned over the love scenes she recently shot with Jude Law for the fall remake of Alfie. As for Wopat, he doesn't exactly coo or swoon, but he was happy to report that he's about to hit the road as Billy Flynn in Chicago, with a Broadway run possible for summer.

As for the entertainment, Chenoweth and Wopat, who regularly do concert engagements around the country, offered snippets from their solo recordings. On the other hand, Krakowski doesn't usually perform in this sort of environment, but based on her three-song set, she should pull together a nightclub show of her own! First, very much still in character as Carla in Nine, she lazed on the piano, appropriately and stylishly crooning Cole Porter's "The Laziest Girl in Town." She followed that up with the Porter standard "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" and a new version of Pal Joey's Rodgers & Hart classic "Zip!" with hilarious and timely lyrics by Hairspray Tony winner Marc Shaiman spoofing the goings-on of the current Broadway season (based on a Hollywood version he and his partner Scott Wittman wrote for Alison Janney last year). Oh, and despite the crowd, Jane sang the song word-for-word, Jasmine Guy dig and all!

I enjoyed the song so much that I asked Shaiman for permission to reprint the words for my readers. Graciously, he agreed, although he wanted me to remind everyone he wrote it with a smile and great love of the theater community, which he's proud to be a part of. So I leave you with this truly timely tune. Imagine you're Jane--get naked, wrap yourself in a sheet and sing it yourself, to the tune of "Zip!," which I'm sure you already know!

"ZIP!"
Music by Richard Rodgers, original lyrics by Lorenz Hart
Special material lyrics by Marc Shaiman

On television I was working
While the theater crowd just sat here smirking
But Broadway's such a "stop and go" world
That between Grand Hotel and Ally McBeal
I had to take a gig at Show World

The things I learned there, stage can't rival
And I used them in the Nine revival
Though my entrance was grand
It was lonely there at top
Waiting for my bump and grind

What was I thinking as hung there in that sheet?
As I swung, these thoughts kept crossing my mind…

Zip!
Michael Riedel wasn't brilliant today
Zip!
Nathan Lane and Matthew sure make them pay

Zip!
Barry Weissler thinks Miss Piggy is chic
Zip!
She'll be starring in Chicago next week!

Farrah Fawcett, Jackie Mason
Stages are no longer gracin'
Zip!
Broadway's quite blood thirstin'

Polly Bergen and Mark Hamill
Left in six weeks on a camel
Zip!
Led by Ellen Burstyn!

Zip!
At the Biltmore actors came and they went
Zip!
How does Jasmine Guy pay rent?

Zip!
Tovah Feldshuh's got group sales up the can
Zip!
I hear next year she'll play Moshe Dayan

Zip!
Take Me Out caused quite a scandal, you know
Zip!
It took balls to take a part in that show

Wireless modems brought transition
Online chats at intermission
Zip!
Gossip dark and shady

Though we act like we don't love it
Broadway stars are not above it
Zip!
Shut your hole, Ned Beatty

Zip!
Harvey Fierstein sure spoiled Macy's big day
Zip!
When he said the turkey's gay!

Zip!
Rosie O stormed Broadway with Brit Boy George
Zip!
But the critics fought back like Valley Forge

Zip!
Av'nue Q puppets and chorus boys have class
Zip!
They work cheap and like a hand up their ass

Kristin Chen'with dressed up scant'ly
Late one night with big Ben Brantley
Zip!
That's the backstage story

Donna Murphy also musta'
Rode him like a bronco busta
Zip!
Aah, the price of glory

Zip!
You may ask, how doe she know all that's true?
Zip!
Well, did you read my Nine review?!

Yeah, every night I rode Ben's rack 'til daylight came
Oh, zip!
Zip, zip!
And now you all can pronounce my name!

Hope you all enjoyed that dirty little ditty much as I did. That's it for now. Talk to you next week. Please e-mail me any of your questions, comments or critiques!

Paul Wontorek
Editor-in-Chief

For an archive of old Stage Note columns, click here.