Who among us doesn't think that Helen Hunt is cool? From a stage lovers POV alone, the woman wins an Oscar, goes backstage and, holding her trophy, announces she'll play Viola in Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" for director Nicholas Hytner at Lincoln Center with a bunch of other theater hounds.

That was back in _ whew! _ 1998? My time doth fly.

"It wasn't like I was doing 'Twelfth Night' in some obscure place. I grew up going to the theater in New York," Hunt, the daughter of director Gordon Hunt told me. "For me it was as exciting to play that part in that place and that city. I heard somebody say there was great nobility in choosing to do a play. For me, I felt like I was cashing in this momentary set of chips while I had them to do what I really wanted to do."

Hunt returned to Broadway a few years later for a quickie run of Yasmina Reza's "Life (x) 3." In the summer 2002, she also kicked off the L.A. run of "The Guys" opposite Tim Robbins at The Actors Gang. More like a staged reading, but, briefly, she was back on the boards here in L.A.

Now a devoted mom to a 4 year old daughter, Hunt doesn't see a lot of stage-work in her immediate future. She was offered a role in a Broadway production last year and turned it down.

"The whole time I read it, I was nervous, and in the end it didn't feel like the right thing," says Hunt, who took three years off from film to write and be home with her daughter. "I didn't feel scared I would want to do it. I don't like not being home. I don't feel comfortable. I'm envious of those actresses who can just say, 'Here we go. It will work out,' and I don't mean that in a roundabout way."

"I know mothers who are good friends of mine who have mostly stayed home, and they don't walk around feeling sure they did right thing. It's important to me to feel happy and fulfilled enough to never cross that line."

My favorite Helen Hunt story -- with which I will bore you readers _ is actually a skipped generation Henerson encounter that happened during the summer of 2002 while Hunt was in the run of "The Guys." As it happened, Hunt was living one street over from where my parents lived in the San Fernando Valley. Her house had a cool sort of bridge walkway that my son, Jeremy, then 3 years old, found interesting.

Well, one afternoon, Jeremy and his grandfather took a walk on that street and paused in front of H.H.'s house. The actress herself came out to see what was going on. My father asked if she would mind if my kid walked across the bridge of her house a few times.

"Go for it," was Ms. Hunt's, I thought, quite gracious response.

When that tale was related to me, I vowed to thank Helen Hunt if I ever interviewed her. Which I did, and which I did.

When I interviewed Alexander a few months back, I asked whether he would be acting any of his company's productions. "When appropriate" was his reply in a nutshell (When appropriate, the former "Seinfeld"-ian also directs. "You probably won't be seeing my Don Quixote anytime soon."

We might, however, see his Sancho Panza when "Man of La Mancha" bows Feb. 17, 2009 at the Freud Playhouse, UCLA. I sometimes scratched my head when Reprise! (as it was formerly called) would stage musicals that were anything but undiscovered gems like "Brigadoon" or "Anything Goes." "Man of La Mancha," the musical Don Quixote tale by Dale Wasserman, Mitch Leigh and Joe Darion with the song "The Impossible Dream," can get a little ubiquitous (A Noise Within did a great scaled down version last season), but it's nothing if not a trusty warhorse.

"Once on this Island," on the other hand, is a horse of a different stripe. The season opener (yes, we frequently take things out of order here at TCiC), is a reggae and calypso fused "Little Mermaid" tale about a West Indies village girl who saves the life of a Prince. Music and lyrics are by "Ragtime's" Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. Sept. 2-14 at the Freud.

Billy Porter will direct, Bradley "Shooz" Rapier of the Groovaloos will choreograph and -- aren't they optimistic -- Reprise has even announced partial casting: Yvette Cason, Vanita Harbour, Patina Miller, Jesse Nager, Leslie Odom Jr., Nita Whitaker and 2008 Grammy nominee Ledisi.

Alexander will act in "I Love my Wife" along with Vicki Lewis and Steven Weber for director Larry Moss. The Michael Lewis and Cy Coleman piece is set amidst the sexual revolution of the 1970s. Dec. 2-14 at, not the Freud, but the Brentwood Theatre on the V.A. grounds.

And more than a year from now (May 5-17), the company wraps the season with "Chess." With music by the ABBA B's (Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus) and lyrics by Tim Rice, "Chess" was a London hit and a Broadway flop. It's a Cold War love story between a Russian chess master and an American woman, set amidst a series of chess tournaments. Remember "One Night in Bangkok?" Yeah, from that musical.

More info: www.reprise.org

And so it will, albeit in August of 2009.

What else is coming? Well...

"Phantom of the Opera," Jan 21-Feb 21. Gotta love repositioning. Apart from the usual boilerplate about "Phantom" being the musical juggernaut it has been since, shees, the mid 80s, the B/LA folks are reminding us that this is the first time "Phantom" has played the PANTAGES, in "over a decade."

For the record, I've seen the play four times, one of which was a work obligation. The only way I'll see it again, and with great reluctance, is if I decide to take the kid.

"Grease," March 10-22. I was dubious that this was indeed "direct from Broadway" as advertised, until I checked and was reminded that, yes, "Grease" has recently been revived. And there was a reality TV series that helped cast the leads. So Kathleen Marshall's production is kinda new, albeit a conventional choice.

"Mamma Mia," April 7-19 See, here's what you can do when your theater is "Wicked Free." Close one show and open another two weeks later. And not just any show, but "Mamma Mia" the ABBA fluffer that will be at the Pantages for "the first time in five years" and the first L.A. engagement since the release of the movie. Remember my earlier remark about promotional repositioning? Well, double it here.

"Dirty Dancing,– the Classic Story On Stage" April 28-June 14. A West Coast premiere, hanging around for longer than the quick one week and offs. Not sure how this will translate. Hoping DD film star Patrick Swayze will be in good health when it gets here.

"Fiddler on the Roof," Jul 22- Aug. 9. The rare announcement that can also include a confirmed cast member, Topol, who stared in the movie and who will be a 73 year old Tevye when he takes the stage.

The aforementioned "Blonde," Aug. 12- Sept. 6.

"Dr Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas," Nov. 10-Jan. 3-2010, a perennial down in San Diego where it was birthed, and now on Broadway. Somebody got the bright idea to take it regionally.

Bonus productions,

"Rent" with Adam Pascal and Anthony Rap, March 3-8, 09: the original Roger and Mark return. Aren't they a little old to be bohemians?

"RAIN: the Beatles Experience" March 31-April 5, 2009 because no season is complete without some sort of a rock flashback cum tribute event.

OK, so I snark from time to time, but this lineup certainly beats the Ahmanson piggyback of last year to accommodate the "Wicked" hoards.

Out goes one play by Donald Margulies: the world premiere of "The Elephant in the Room" to be replaced by "Shipwrecked An Entertainment: The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont (As Told by Himself)." Apparently you can do this when you're an established playwright in possession of a commission with a given theater company. I give you Center Theatre Group, which has subbed the David Mamet musical "A Waitress in Yellowstone" a couple of times, but will slip in a couple of Mamet one-acts wherer "Waitress" was supposed to go.

Back to Margulies, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of "Dinner with Friends," "Sight Unseen," "Collected Stories" and "Brooklyn Boy." Daniel Sullivan, who has directed many of the playwrights' premiers both in New York and at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, was not available to tackle "Elephant" until next season. So the Geffen will hold onto it, and produce "Shipwrecked" instead. I suspect this is a cost saving maneuver as well as a creative necessity.

Shipwrecked," which is apparently something of a tour de force by actor Gregory Itzin, played Costa Mesa's South Coast Repertory last Fall. It will now transfer, with Itzin and director Bart DeLorenzo (who helmed the mess that was "The Joan Rivers Theatre Project"). I didn't see it, figuring that Margulies -- with two plays on the horizon for the 07-08 season _ was getting positively ubiquitous. (Plus I hated his last play, "Brooklyn Boy.").

The Geffen and SCR seem to have Margulies in common as both venues routinely stage the man's work. Fair enough.

"Shipwrecked!" opens June 25 and runs through Aug. 3. Visit GeffenPlayhouse.com or call (310) 208-5454 for tickets.

I ask because the third play in Gibbons's 3 play trilogy, titled "A House with No Walls," will arrive at the New LATC Theater on Spring Street starting May 9.

The production is courtesy of the Robey Theatre Co. which co-produced "Permanent Collection." That's the company co founded by Danny Glover and Bennet Guillory who will both direct and star in "A House with No Walls."

This one doesn't synopsize easily. The press release takes about four paragraphs. But what the hey, we've always got room...

Cadence Lane has so much going for her. The young African American woman is gifted with striking beauty, superior intellect, abundant charm, noted accomplishment, social prominence and affluence. She could almost be a role model for everything a young Black woman wanted to be. If only she wasn't a conservative.

She's a historian, and takes issue with people, especially those who try to cast African Americans as victims. She can somewhat afford to take this position as an educated, successful woman who has never known the sting of poverty. At the start of the play, she heads a committee concerned with planning the Museum of American Liberty in Independence National Park in Philadelphia, where George Washington's Executive Mansion originally was.

Cadence is about to lock horns with Salif Camara, an old school radical Black activist who is trying to have a reconstruction erected of the tiny shack where Washington's slaves resided when not at Washington's main home in Mount Vernon. His objective is to ensure that the Slaves of Washington the slave owner are not forgotten, abd is not above exaggeration to make his point. At one juncture, he asserts that Washington whipped and chained his household slaves, when in fact he did not.

Steven Gardner, a bureaucrat and a Republican, is charged with getting the museum opened in time. On his team is Allen Rosen, a white liberal. Meanwhile, somehow, some way, Cadence has established a mystical connection with Oney Judge. Oney, the subject of a historical volume penned by Cadence, is one of Washington's slaves, living in Philadelphia in 1797. Oney falsely believes the President will free her. Will she run away to freedom if given the chance? More importantly, what is Oney trying to communicate to Cadence across the chasm of 211 years?

Anybody still with me? Too much information?

So check out the production itself starting May 9 and continuing through June 15 at 514 S. Spring St. downtown. (213) 489-7402, www.robeytheatrecompany.com.

I interviewed Guillory for a feature prior to "Collection" at a Marie Calenders in the Valley. At the time we talked ab out his dream that the Robey would eventually get its own permanent space. I recall him asking me to print his fervid hope that Eli Broad would see the article and volunteer $10 million or so for the space.

The Robey may be nomadic, but it's an important company. They certainly could do a lot worse than housing at LATC for a month or so.

You know "Blonde" is coming, of course, a big pink MTV wave of musical fluff in its wake. And here's something else just announced: "Wicked" which has occupied the Pantages Theatre since February of last year announced that it must play its last performance Jan. 11 of 2009 so that Broadway/L.A.'s subscribers can actually watch other shows in the Pantages. I'll bet you any Elle Woods article of clothing in your wardrobe that "Legally Blonde" will be one of the shows on the B/L.A. menu.

Incidentally, I've been asked to EMPHASIZE that "Wicked" would have played on, were it not for those subscribers who no longer want to catch their entertainment at the Ahmanson or the Wilshire Theatre of Beverly Hills.

This from James M. Nederlander, chariman and CEO of the Nederlander Organization which owns and runs the Pantages:

"Although WICKED could continue to run for some time in Los Angeles, the Pantages Theatre is also home to Broadway L.A. and its subscription series. And, while we've been happy to send our subscribers to other venues during WICKED's run, we felt it was time to bring them back to the Pantages for our upcoming productions. So it is with reluctance, but great pride with both the success of WICKED and the strength of our subscription base, that WICKED will conclude its run in January 2009.”

Barring yet another extension then, (not out of the question), I will finally get people to stop asking me how to get "Wicked" tickets by Jan. 11 of 09 having run 791 performances and 12 previews.

Apparently for some people it really IS easy being green.

Summer at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga is always something of a hoot. You'll always see a Shakespeare play or two, and another classic, and usually something contemporary (though not this season) on that same barely alter-able outdoor set. You'll watch in a lovely outdoor amphitheatre from benches that can send one's backside into the equivalent of cardiac arrest.

This year's lineup includes Shakespeare's "Macbeth," "As You Like It," the perennial "Misdummer Night's Dream" along with Sheridan's 18th century comedy "The School for Scandal" and Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night."

Now, the announcement I received _ nor indeed, the Theatricum website, www.theatricum.com _ breathes not word one about directors or any casting information. The venue has a stable of classical actors, AD Ellen Geer among them, and they can often draw from some of A Noise Within's players since the Glendale troupe is dark during the summer.

I've got to believe Geer and Co. have somebody formidable to take on James Tyrone in "Long Day's Journey," and I greatly hope they're not going to subject us to four hours of O'Neill-ian misery on those benches. You figure they also have to have a powerhouse Macbeth and Lady M ready to bloody their hands, so to speak.

Period dramas have been done before at the Theatricum, although gussying up that space for Sheridan's comedy of manners, "Scandal," could prove a challenge as well.

It should all be interesting. The season kicks off June 1 with the opening of "As You Like It" and wraps up Sept. 28.

Where else -- make that nowhere else -- but at the Odyssey Theatre.

Ron Sossi's gem on Sepulveda Blvd., now in its 39th year, can jump between a one woman show about Sylvia Plath to "The Brig," Kenneth H. Brown's too realistic depiction of life in a Marine corps military prison to Brecht's "A Man's a Man" to the two person Alberta Hunter tribute "Cookin' at the Cookery." The Odyssey website, www.odysseytheatre.com further boats guests productions of David Auburn's "Proof" and Ibsen's "Hedda Gabler" with Dina Rosenmeie and Seymour Cassell.

Truly, the most surprising thing on the Odyssey schedule is, in fact, the Neil Simon play. I wouldn't have expected anything so conventional/popular to take up residence amidst the Brecht/Plath/Brig, etc. Then again the director, Jeffrey Hayden (Mr Eva Marie Saint to you), brought in some pretty decent audiences with his productions of August Wilson's "Fences" and Eugene O'Neil's "Desire Under the Elms."

Mr Sossi's program introduction, then makes a certain amount of sense. "Don't worry," he writes, "If you ever hate something we do, rest assured you won't see more of the same!"

Amen, brother!

"Spring Awakening," the slightly scandalous 2007 Tony Award winning best musical about the, er, blossoming of a group of 19th century German students, will be at the Ahmanson Theatre October 29. Center Theatre Group will, in fact, present several musicals at the Ahmanson during the upcoming season including the previously announced "9 to 5," (opening Sept. 3) and "Minsky's," (Jan. 21-March 1, 2009) a new musical based on the film "The Night they Raided Minsky's" set in prohibition era New York and a revival of "Ain't Misbehavin'" (April 18-May 31, 2009)

Based on the Frank Wedekind play, "Spring Awakening" has a score by rocker Duncan Sheik, book and lyrics by Steven Sater and direction by Michael Mayer ("Thoroughly Modern Millie"). In New York, you can sit on the stage as those randy kids are rocking around you. That likely won't be possible at the Ahmanson.

The national tour of "Spring Awakening" is actually slated to kick off in San Francisco from whence many musical tours originate (Producer Carole Shorenstein Hayes has three theaters and a lot of clout). Except, the "Spring Awakening" tour is getting a pre tour tune-up at the newly reopened Balboa Theatre in San Diego Aug. 15-31.

So for those who don't want to wait for October, "Awakening" is a season _ and a car ride _ away.

OK, I realize that the L.A. premiere isn't as sexy as the West Coast or U.S. premiere, but it was kind of cool to note the West Coast Premiere of one major playwright and the L.A. premiere of another coming downt he pike in the (818).

They are:

"Lady" -- WC premiere of Craig Wright's play, opening April 25 at the Road Theatre Co. in NoHo. There are actually no females in "Lady" which deals instead with three boyhood friends on a hunting trip linked together by the war i Iraq. Wright, who wrote for "Six Feet Under" and created "Diryt Sexy Money" is the author of "The Pavilion," "Orange Flower Water" and "Recent Tragic Events." www.roadtheatre.org or (866) 811-4111.

The Lonny Chapman Group Repertory Theatre, meanwhile, got its hands on the L.A. premiere of Terrence McNally's "Prelude & Liebstod" which, as I understand it, is largely a monologue star turn for a single actor (in this case Larry Eisenberg) who confronts his inner demons while conducting Wagner's "Prelude and Liebestod." There's not much written about it either on the LCGRT website, or even on the web because _ I suspect _ the play isn't often performed.

McNally can be hit and miss. For every "Master Class" and "Love! Valour! Compassion!", he can also serve up a "Perfect Ganesh." One of the worst productions of anything I've ever seen was a world premiere of McNally's "Up in Saratoga" down in San Diego. With Mary-Louise Parker, no less.

Nonetheless, our city hasn't yet seen "Prelude," neither have I and now we can. The production opens April 12. LCGRT is at (800) 700-4878 or www.lcgrt.com.

I attended the latter. I probably could have burrowed my way to the front of the pack at some point, shook Sondheim's hand (never met him) and uttered a few inane things, but -- and perhaps this makes me a lousy reporter/interviewer -- I honestly couldn't think of a thing to say in this situation beyond "Are you enjoying yourself" and "What do you make of what some of the people in this room are doing to/with your songs (more on that in a minute).

Now I suppose if you're Stephen Sondheim, and you're attending an event that is somewhat in your honor, you're accustomed to fawning people coming up to you and saying, "My daughter has wanted to be an actress since she saw 'Into the Woods' when she was 8." At one point I planted myself in a chair fairly near the entrance of this very lovely private home in Bel Air and listened as Sondheim did the obligatory meet and greet. Once he arrived, of course, the man barely got past the entry way before the hoards descended. Sondheim appeared gracious, honest and open. He told a few stories, smiled a lot.

And he listened. Head cocked, the wryest of smiles on his face as some of L.A.'s musical theater luminaries sang songs from "Sweeney Todd," "Gypsy," "Company" etc. A rather brave Jason Graae sang a song about not singing a Stephen Sondheim song. And Sondheim smiled at that too.

Now I've seen performers Graae, Rachel York, Kevin Earley, Vicki Lewis, Norman Large and Jean Louisa Kelly perform on many occasions. They're every one of them talented (Lewis, who had to be on stage later in "Dickie and Babe" at the Blank, especially so).

As far as I know, they're all based out here on the West Coast, meaning -- the occasional Broadway foray notwithstanding _ they probably don't get in a room with Stephen Sondheim very often, let alone get to sing in his presence.

Given the degree of, shall we say, gusto with which certain of these performers attacked their songs (I'll take my critic's hat off for this occasion), I can't help wondering whether they didn't view this event as a sort of audition. By God, I'm going to make an impression on Stephen Sondheim if I have to reverberate up to Mulholland to do it!

Still, an actor isn't an actor if s/he doesn't seize an opportunity (Mama Rose would certainly approve), and bless the Festival of New American Musicals for bringing Sondheim in. It was certainly cool to see him.

Check out the festival lineup, by the way at http://www.lafestival.org. I'll talk more about the event as it draws closer.

No, forget what you would think. I, me, Evan Henerson think Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal have no career.

And the reason I think this is because of an announcement that the two actors would revisit their roles of Mark Cohen and Roger Davis in a national tour of "Rent" to kick off in 2009.

Revisit roles that they recently took up again on Broadway during the summer of 2007 and in the 2005 Christopher Columbus film.

Revisit roles that they created back in 1996 when Pascal was 26 and Rapp was 25. The musical, for those who live under rocks, is about young bohemians living and loving amidst AIDS and poverty in NYC.

Young bohemians. Not bohemians who are on the back end of 40.

The curtain rings down on the Broadway company of "Rent" in June bringing, yes, an end to an era and eliminating what was apparently an off-and-on steady gig for Messrs. Pascal and Rapp. I suspect the tour will take them through L.A. yet again. Pay the rent. One more (yawn!) time.

Bohemians never really die. They just go on the road.

You try to be professional. You try to do your job and take the good and the bad. I didn't truthfully get much work done that Friday, or during the days leading up to it. Kinda hard to sit there and try to be productive when you don't know whether one of the top dogs is going to come tap your shoulder and say, "we need you in human resources for your exit interview." No, like everyone else, I chatted with friends who were leaving, hugged people, tried to say some semblance of the right thing, and got the hell out of the building to spend the weekend thinking about how and why I was still standing. It's a day I'd like not to repeat.

I did get a couple of phone calls that day, though. One from a pushy publicist -- he knows who he is -- urging me to see the magic themed show he's repping.

And on that awful day, I got a call from a man who had seen my rave of "Almost, Maine" at the Colony Theatre, had taken a friend's extra seat, had seen the show and proceeded to spend a perfectly miserable evening at the theater. He called me up not to berate me, but to ask what I had seen in the play? Was he crazy for detesting it? I believe he used the phrase, "Was it just me?"

Now, whenever I get a disagreeing phone call or e-mail (not a DISAGREEABLE call. There's a difference), I try to get the reader talking. This gentlemen wasn't calling me an idiot or a loser unqualified to occupy a dark room. He disagreed with my opinion, politely, and wanted to know where I was coming from. I turned the question around. "Why did you hate it?" I asked, and listened to his answer. And I told him that, in my book, his opinion was as valid as any other. Part of what makes theater criticism -- or any criticism -- a kick, is the freedom to hold opposite views, and to disagree. I conveyed as much. The conversation ended as politely as it began. I hope to God I remembered to thank him.

Yeah, I like to know that people are reading, particularly when they care enough to let me know they're reading, keeping an eye on me. That was a day from hell, but that phone call made me feel just a little bit better about the work I do.

I guess this is my umpteenth way of saying, for pity's sake, bring on the feedback. If you go to the theater. If you AVOID the theater, tell me why. No comment is unwelcome. Well, OK, maybe that spam from the porno sights is unwelcome. Everything else, bring it on.

Sentiment and plea over. We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.

However...

I happened to notice a couple of developments reported on Playbill.com regarding Broadway's Lyceum Theatre. A production is leaving. Another is moving in.

I wonder. Oh, how I wonder, if either of them might come here.

The departing production is the David Ives adaptation of the Mark Twain play "Is He Dead" with Norbert Leo Butz (the greatest name in showbiz in my books) doing drag. If you happened to catch him in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," you'll know the man is not above drag or anything even remotely humiliating. Anyway, the show got good notices and, when it closes March 9, will have played slightly more than 100 performances.

Short run. Respectably cast. Not sure that something like this would tour, but perhaps Michael Ritchie over at Center Theatre Group might inquire about remounting it -- cast intact -- at the Taper.

Replacing "Is he Dead" is another short run, the Pond-hopping production of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" with Patrick Stewart ("X-Men," "Star Trek: TNG") as the bloody thane. It plays through May 24.

That one, I hope, could also travel, maybe to UCLA or, again, the Taper.

Admittedly, there's a certain pie-in-the-sky, "If I programed the landscape" disorder to this, but that's what blogs are for.

In (same venue, same dates): "Cats," also an ALW show. And if you don't know what this one's about (singing cats), please go away. You have no business on this blog.

June 10-15. wtbh.org, (323) 655-0111