To billions of TV viewers around the world Rue McClanahan is that sharp-tongued tart of a southern belle Blanche Devearoux on the '80s mega-hit—and perpetual re-run riot—The Golden Girls. Nowadays, McClanahan can once more be found snapping one-liners like they was pancake batter crackling up from a sizzling hot griddle as Madame Morrible in the mega-hit Broadway musical Wicked. Still, with the phenomenon of Golden Girls, plus nearly 200 other TV and film credits to her resume, folks forget that in the Oklahoma native actually got her start on the New York stage. After a Broadway debut opposite Dustin Hoffman in 1968's Jimmy Shine, TV producer Norman Lear tapped McClanahan for recurring roles on his classic shows All in the Family and Maude. In the early '70s, McClanahan juggled east and west coast lives—appearing regularly on television in LA, as well as replacement duties on Broadway in Neil Simon's California Suite and David Rabe's Sticks and Bones—before settling down with an Emmy Award-winning career (and quite a few husbands) in Hollywood. Triumphing over breast cancer several years ago, McClanahan finally returned to the Great White Way, playing the Countess de Lage in the Roundabout's 2001 revival of The Women. The experience excited her so, that, this season, McClanahan accepted the invitation to wow the crowds at the Gershwin each night. We recently caught up with Rue—on her day off, no less—to chat about her first Broadway musical, how the Big Street's changed since the '60s and just how difficult it was to keep Dustin Hoffman on script.

So, how are you enjoying doing the show?
Oh, I'm having fun—not as much fun as a real play would be, you know, with a challenging role—but for a musical, it's pretty spectacular.

Of course you've done many musicals in stock, as well as the Nunsense TV movies. How come it's taken you so long to do one on Broadway?
Well, I was so lucky and successful in television that it kept me busy out [in LA]. Then I met this wonderful man that I'm married to [Morrow Wilson] and moved to New York. Actually, it took a while for people to realize that I was here—that I really wasn't still in LA. I mean, I've been in New York since '97! Then I did The Women and The Vagina Monologues and a lot out-of-town stuff. Finally I did a play for the director, you know... [Joe] Mantello out at Sag Harbor a few years ago. And when I was suggested for the part [in Wicked] he said, "Oh, yeah! She'd be perfect!" And they just offered it to me.

What have you been enjoying most about playing in a musical on Broadway?
Hmmm... What's most enjoyable about it? Well, I just take it as a whole. I don't divide it into categories. But I like the humor of it, of course.

I can imagine, with nearly 2,000 people in the audience—all that energy coming at you each performance.
Ha! That's certainly one of the best things! It's nice to go into a huge hit that's already running.

Are your Golden Girls fans coming to see you?
Oh, yeah. I'm getting a lot of fan mail at the theater. They offer to meet me out front before I go in—to sign this and that, say "I love you"... And they haven't even seen the show yet [Laughs]. But they'll say "I'm getting tickets," or "Yes, I've seen it and love it." They're still mixing Blanche with Madame Morrible.

There must be whole families who've grown up with you on television coming to the show.
They're mostly grown-up kids and their parents. It's really a lot of 14 to 20 year-old boys... and their mothers.