Worshipping Broadway Diva Sherie Rene Scott at the Church of Pizza

Broadway folks of all stripes gathered on March 31 at John's Pizzeria on West 44th, site of the after party for Sherie Rene Scott's one-woman show You May Now Worship Me. They crowded the open bar. They wolfed down free brick-oven pizza. But mostly, they were still smarting from how a show with such a cheeky, wink-wink title could cut so darn deep.

"When I first saw that title, I laughed out loud," said Actors' Fund of America president Brian Stokes Mitchell. "I thought, 'That's one of the funniest titles for a one-person show I've ever seen.' But now that I've seen it, I understand what it really means. It's ingenious!"

A one-night-only benefit for the Actors' Fund's Phylllis Newman Women's Health Initiative presented by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS at the Eugene O'Neill Theater, You May Now Worship Me certainly showcased the Little Mermaid star's brassy, larger-than-life stage persona—a force that could make even the stuffiest killjoy bow down and kiss her toes. But the show's autobiographical elements—like its funny and poignant monologues about her Kansas upbringing and her local pastor, who was none other than extreme Christian fundamentalist Fred Phelps—portrayed how Scott is still trying to reconcile her humble religious convictions with her undying love of show business.

"You're supposed to think the title is some diva joke at first," said writer/collaborator Dick Scanlan, who has polished and re-polished the show with Scott for a couple of years now. Spring Awakening's Michael Mayer directed this incarnation. "She talks a lot about there being two sides of her, and that's actually true, since part of her doesn't want to be seen, and is really embarrassed about the attention."

Those split personalities make a head-on collision during the night's most memorable number, which transforms "My Strongest Suit" from Scott's first big hit show, Aida, into a side-splitting dialogue between Scott and a young YouTube star, played by rubber-bodied Tyler Maynard. Scanlan got the idea for it during an offhand conversation: "Sherie was talking about this kid who'd posted clips of himself lip-synching to her. And how she e-mailed him, and then he refused to believe it was her." He laughs. "I thought, 'That would be really funny…'"

Naturally, anyone at the party had their own insights about Broadway in the age of YouTube. "It's insane, isn't it?" said Maynard, who's currently performing alongside Scott in The Little Mermaid. "When we were younger, we'd live the fantasy all by ourselves in our bedroom—like I'd sing along to Tommy. Now kids put it on the computer, and everybody can see it! It's not really a private moment anymore, so can be very awkward. But it's beautiful at the same time, since they're so just puttin'-it-out-there."

Yes, Maynard admits to he watches clips of himself, too. "I'll check myself. But then I'll be on for three or four hours, watching everything from Jennifer Holliday to people farting. You get sucked in. You get hooked!"

Scott's old friend Kelli O'Hara, who's gearing up to open in South Pacific this week, confessed to being technologically illiterate, and just plain busy: "When I do get a chance to go on the web, I'm trying to just keep up with my freakin' e-mails. I don't get a lot of time to surf, to be honest. People make fun of me, since I only just now joined Facebook, and I hate it. All I'm doing now is confirming friends!" Still, don't expect O'Hara to ditch the laptop. "I know it's the way of the world now. Plus, when I have kids one day, I don't want to be the nerdy mom who can't move forward with the times."

Norm Lewis—another of Scott's co-stars in The Little Mermaid—said YouTube blew his mind when he found footage of himself performing in a tour production of Once on This Island back in 1992: "And I was a swing! So it was rare that I was ever on." As for a found clip of someone else singing a song he recorded, Lewis took the dignified approach. "It was interesting," he offered, half-smiling. "Really interesting. But their heart and soul was in it, so…you gotta give 'em that."

And then, there was Sherie. Still wearing her cream-colored stage ensemble, she did a double take when a man stepped up and said he loved her rendition of "Elevation," a song by U2 that opened the show. "You're the only one who knew what that was!" she shouted. "Are you, like, straight? Only straight guys know that's a U2 song."

Hmmm, could Worship have presented a third side of Scott? After all, she did drop Bruce Springsteen's name in one of her monologues. When guests entered the restaurant earlier, the sounds of the Boss's "Rosalita" filled the room. And speaking of John's, didn't the space itself used to be church? "Oh, that's all just coincidence," said Scott, who seemed ready to take a five-minute break from so being worshipped. "I don't know what the rumors are, but I can't control everything."

With that, she was off to claim her share of that free pizza.