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Added: January 24, 2008, 11:30 am	Share    Print    Email

The Real Housewives of New York City - Roman Singer, Jill Zarin, LuAnn de Lesseps, Bethenny Frankel, and Alex McCord.

Hamptonites, and indeed the entire country, will get a sneak peek this week at Bravo TV's latest spin off "The Real Housewives of New York City" which might be more accurately titled the Real Housewives of the Hamptons, as all the ladies profiled are regular fixtures on the social and business scene out here.

The show is billed as an up-close and personal look at a lifestyle where private chefs, Au Pairs, front row seats at Fashion Week and Hamptons estates are part of everyday life, "The Real Housewives of New York City" follows five glamorous Manhattan women (well mostly Manhattan, one lives in a plush Brooklyn nave), as they balance motherhood, demanding careers and a fast-paced social calendar, and shows what life is like in the most exclusive areas of New York.

I must confess that when I first learned of it from fabric queen Jill Zarin I was a tad apprehensive as to how the probing cameras would treat some of my favorite ladies. But at the recent "Hooray for Hollywood" benefit for The Auditory Oral School of New York, I had a chance to watch the Bravo team in action as they filmed the lovely LuAnn, Countess de Lesseps, whom I usually bump into while shopping at Loaves & Fishes. LuAnn and her dashing husband, Count Alexandre de Lesseps, were being honored for their long record of philanthropy, as well as LuAnn's burgeoning career in television. From what I could see it was all very innocuous and the Bravo team seemed earnest in getting the true picture, but who knows what'll happen in the editing room.

In case you are unfamiliar with the cast of characters, he's a little bit on each of the Real Housewives:

Alex McCord, an up-and-comer in New York society, is a high-powered career woman juggling two children, a husband, and a thriving social calendar. Her children take music, art, swimming and French classes, and their live-in Au Pair only speaks French to them, in hopes the kids will soon be bi-lingual. In addition to her busy career and social life, Alex is a former actress and model, and currently a graphic designer within the visual merchandising world.

Bethenny Frankel a single socialite in her 30's with a growing career as a natural foods chef, a wealthy Wall Street boyfriend - three children, and a staple on the New York social scene. She is a celebrity chef who owns her own company, Bethenny Bakes, has a health column in a local magazine, is a TV spokesperson for Health Magazine and for Pepperidge Farms' new line of healthy foods, and was a runner-up on "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart." Her main focus these days is settling down and starting a family.

The ebullient Jill Zarin is the quintessential New York woman. She is a regular on the Manhattan social circuit, as well as an accomplished businesswoman and a talented photographer. Jill is married to Bobby Zarin, a successful entrepreneur, and together they operate Zarin Fabrics and Home Furnishings. Jill is also involved in numerous charities and counts many celebrities among her friends. A regular fixture in the Hamptons where she entertains frequently, Jill juggles her career with being a wife and a mother to her daughter Allyson and her stepchildren David, Jennifer, and Jonathan.

LuAnn de Lesseps is a real-life Countess. Her husband, Alexandre Count de Lesseps, is a French aristocrat (of the Suez Canal dynasty). With LuAnn's Countess title comes a great sense of pride - the de Lesseps presented New York City with the Statue of Liberty. She uses her title to help with her various charities and is a socialite very much in demand, as well as a busy mom of two. The de Lesseps travel extensively around the world, with trips to exotic locales in Italy, Switzerland, France and Africa. She also teaches etiquette on morning television shows and has a local cable show on WVVH-TV in the Hamptons called "The Countess Report."

Ramona Singer is a busy entrepreneur. She owns her own business: R.M.S. Fashions, a jewelry line, truefaithjewelry.com; a clothing line "True Faith," and is developing a skin care line as well. She and her husband Mario, a third generation jeweler, and their 13-year-old daughter, Avery, live in a striking four-bedroom condo in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. They also have a beautiful second home in Southampton directly on the water. Ramona is an avid tennis player and loves to entertain and is constantly organizing dinner parties and social events.

Now that you have the skinny on all these fabulous ladies, tune in to see if they emerge unscathed - with reputations and dignity attached. Delish!

Not faring so well are the former co-stars of Amagansett's most famous movie star, Kathleen Turner. True to her "tell it like it is" attitude Kathleen pulls no punches in her upcoming autobiography, "Send Yourself Roses." She writes that her "Peggy Sue Got Married" co-star Nicholas Cage was a real pain on the set of the Francis Ford Coppola (Cage's uncle!) directed film that snared her an Oscar nomination.

In her book, now being serialized in the UK, she states "Everything Francis wanted him to do, he went against to show that he wasn't under his uncle's wing. Which was ridiculous. Oh, that stupid voice of his and the fake teeth! Honestly, I cringe to think about it. He caused so many problems."

Comedy legend Mel Brooks signed copies of his Broadway "Young Frankenstein" soundtrack at the Lincoln Center Barnes & Noble on Tuesday. He regaled the crowd with his famous "Dancing in the Dark" joke and sang a few bars, to the delight of swooning seniors.

Talking theatre, I am so totally impressed with the trend in non-traditional casting that's happening all over Broadway and Off-Broadway this season, and I have very appropriate news to report, which I might add in the week we celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King.

My pal Gary Springer, who's done a masterful job putting the Hamptons International Film Festival on the map, is back to his Broadway roots representing the revival of Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer Prize winning "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."

No ordinary revival this - the classic tale of greed and lies in a wealthy plantation owning family features an all black cast. And what a cast - Terrence Howard makes his Broadway debut playing the pitiful Brick, the role created on film by Paul Newman. Tony Award winner Anika Noni Rose scooped everyone to score the plum of Maggie the Cat, so brilliantly essayed by a young Elizabeth Taylor. Add Phylicia Rashad as Big Mama, the stentorian James Earl Jones as Big Daddy and Gian Carlo Esposito as the money hungry Gooper and you've got a piece that has Tony Award stamped all over it. Debbie Allen is at the helm of this great Southern melodrama and is sure to wring every bit of bitterness and agony out of her team. I can't wait to hear James Earl Jones snarl, "I smell the air of mendacity". This is sure to be winner that hits the Broadhurst Theater in early February.

According to the producers, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" has been revived on Broadway four times before, [but] this production marks the first African-American production approved by Williams' estate for the Broadway stage. This revival of 'Cat' is not only making Broadway history, it is making American theatre and black theatre history too!

One of my long-time favorite tough gals with a heart is S. Epatha Merkerson, who plays Lt. Anita Van Buren on "Law & Order," and will reprise her acclaimed Los Angeles performance as Lola in William Inge's classic drama "Come Back, Little Sheba." Epatha, one of the leading African-American actors on stage or screen, will star opposite actor Kevin Anderson as her husband Doc. What's the twist here? Kevin is a handsome white man - a casting idea that would have never been realized 50 years ago when the play shattered critics and theatergoers with its poignant look at an empty marriage. The Manhattan Theatre Club's production drama is now in previews at the Biltmore Theatre. The production, which will be directed by Michael Pressman, will open officially on Jan. 24.

Not all the groundbreaking casting is on The Great White Way. Off-Broadway, which long ago pioneered multi-racial casting, will see a retelling of the Biblical epic about David and Bathsheba this winter. In the new musical "Bathsheba," the title role is played by African-American actress Valerie D. Wright (which by the way is true to historical fact). King David, her husband and passionate lover, is portrayed by striking Greek actor Theo Theodoridis, and their son, King Solomon, is played by the devilishly handsome young Southampton actor Emanuel Sylvano who hails from Paraguay. Trinidadian Patty-Anne Ali directs the musical, which features a veritable United Nations cast. This love story filled with passion, treachery and mystery fittingly opens on Valentine's Day at the 411 Theater at 300 East 43rd Street.

More news about the young Emanuel, he just picked up a quick role in an upcoming episode of "Lipstick Jungle" starring #1 polo fan Brooke Shields.

The East Hampton producers of "Legally Blonde," Stewart Lane and Bonnie Comley, are partnering once again with MTV. The cable network, which broadcast "Legally Blonde" last year, will conduct a search for an unknown actress to play Elle when the very talented Laura Bell Bundy leaves the show later this year. MTV's passing out flyers on college campuses all over town, urging young women to audition. The flyer says: "No theatrical experience necessary". Where do I sign up? I want Elle's wardrobe!

Indiana Jones fans take heart. After a very long wait Harrison Ford, under Steven Spielberg's direction, will be swinging that lasso once again in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," the fourth in the Indiana Jones film series. Set in 1957, the film is intended to invoke a 1950s B-movie rather than a serial, pitting Indiana against agents of the Soviet Union for the crystal skull. Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen, Ray Winstone, John Hurt, Jim Broadbent, and Shia LaBeouf are part of the supporting cast.

The film was in development hell since the 1989 release of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," because Spielberg and Ford initially disagreed over producer George Lucas' choice of the skulls as the plot device. Several screenwriters, including the estimable M. Night Shyamalan, wrote countless drafts, before a script by David Koepp satisfied all three men in 2006. In order to keep aesthetic continuity with the previous films, there will be minimal use of computer generated imagery and more of a reliance on traditional stunt work. Though Ford's now approaching 65, I'm not sure just how much of the stunt work will be done by the dashing hero much as I love him. For your calendar note the film is scheduled for a worldwide release on May 22.

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