“We have the best babka in town!” cries Bebe Neuwirth, which seems odd on several counts: She calls sugar “the devil,” she’s probably a size zero — and her giggly self couldn’t be further from Lilith, the poker-faced intellectual she played on TV’s “Cheers.”
Yet here she is at the Prodigy Coffee bar on Carmine Street, looking up lovingly at the other part of that “we”: Prodigy proprietor Chris Calkins, Neuwirth’s ponytailed husband of four years.
“I don’t drink coffee, but since I met Chris, I love the smell,” she says over a cup of tea. On New Year’s Eve, Neuwirth turned 55 — and, by her own account, “aged into” the role of grizzled jail matron “Mama” Morton of “Chicago,” a part memorably played by Marcia Lewis and a pre- “Modern Family” Sofia Vergara on Broadway, and Queen Latifah on film.
“I can’t tell you how surreal this is!” Neuwirth says. “I was in my 30s when I started that show, and I was in the room when we put it together, so I feel pretty comfortable with it.”
If anyone should feel at home in “Chicago,” it’s Neuwirth: Starting in 1996, when Kander and Ebb’s 1975 musical was revived, she was the vampy, high-stepping Velma; years later, after a hip transplant, she returned as Roxie (more singing, less dancing) and now — with a second new hip — she’s Mama. Here’s what the longtime West Villager told us about the show, her sense of style — and the (faulty) perception people have of her as a hard-edged snow queen.
Tell us about your first glimpse of “Chicago.”
I saw it when I was 15, with Gwen [Verdon as Roxie] and I thought, “Oh my god! What’s she doing with that chair? How is that even possible?” It just blew the top of my head off.
And now you’re Mama.
Yes. Mama doesn’t jump on or off a chair. Velma used to, but I sprained my ankle in previews!
Why is it that, when we Google you, one of the first things that comes up is “Bebe Neuwirth feet”?
My feet? They’re flat. But, oh! I was once in a tabloid — they loved the way I dressed, but there was a close-up of my feet in open-toed sandals, and I’ve got huge bunions. And their comment was, “Oh God, those awful feet! Put them away!” [Laughing] And I’m like, “Wait, I’m proud of my bunions — they’re my battle scars! I’m not ashamed of them.”
Bunions aside, you look mar-velous. What’s your secret?
I was looping a scene from [the CBS series] “Blue Bloods” the other day and saw my face on the giant screen. I said to the guys, “No one could accuse me of using Botox!” I don’t sleep well — I don’t think any woman in her 50s sleeps well, and if she does, I want to know how! I do love RéVive skin care. The ladies at Bergdorf’s, their skin is so beautiful, and they all use this stuff. I’ve been using it for years.
Any dressing do’s and don’ts?
Well, I wear flat shoes. I don’t wear sleeves. I still have good arms, so I’m showing whatever works. But I like to keep an eye on dressing for my age, without looking matronly. I like elegance and polish, but I still want to look like myself. If I’m stumped, I’ll ask my husband. He’s actually a man I can ask, “Does this make me look fat?” and he doesn’t go running for the hills. And if I’m really stumped, I ask myself, “Would a French woman wear this?” When all else fails, use the French test!
You have an album titled “Porcelain.” Did you name it after your pale skin?
[Laughs] Porcelain is both very, very strong and very, very fragile. The songs I chose are like that. Probably the same could be said about me as well. A lot of people think I’m very strong, but the fact is, I’m very, very fragile.
Interesting you should say that. When I told a musician friend we were meeting, she told me, “Wear shin guards.”
[Recoiling] Really? Well, she’s full of s–t. That really hurts my feelings. Wear shin guards!
Maybe, because most people know you as Lilith, they think you’re cold and aloof.
If you actually watched [“Cheers”] and paid attention, that wasn’t who she really was. She was socially awkward . . . she was sexually on fire but she didn’t know how to be with people, and that’s what made her an interesting character.
Do you keep in touch with the folks from “Cheers”?
We don’t have a monthly chat or anything, but I do see them and it’s wonderful. A year ago, I went out to LA for a 30th reunion party, and it was so warm and delightful. [Reporters] kept pulling us away to talk, but it’s like herding cats, interviewing the “Cheers” cast!
Anything else we should know about you?
I hope you don’t perpetuate any incorrect stereotypes about me. Do you remember that show on PBS, “Inspector Morse”? There’s this fantastic British actor in it, and at one point he was accused of looking smug. He said, “I’m not being smug — it’s just the unfortunate configuration of my face.” I always feel that if someone thinks I’m being aloof, or hard, or tough or something bad, I just think, I’m not feeling that, but I look kind of hard. And that’s just the unfortunate configuration of my face.