IT is a truth universally acknowledged that a Broadway producer in possession of a good show must be in want of Kristin Chenoweth.
The actress, who just won an Emmy for “Pushing Daisies,” was being courted by some heavy hitters — Bob Boyett and Kevin McCollum wanted her for “Minsky’s,” while Craig Zadan and Neil Meron were after her for “Promises, Promises.”
The deal hasn’t been signed yet, but it appears Zadan and Meron got her.
Expect to see her back on Broadway this spring, knocking those great Burt Bacharach-Hal David songs — “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again,” “Knowing When To Leave” and (my favorite) “Whoever You Are” — out of the park.
She’ll be playing suicidal secretary Fran Kubelik opposite Sean Hayes‘ ambitious junior executive, Chuck Baxter.
Based on Billy Wilder’s movie “The Apartment,” “Promises” has a book by Neil Simon and was first produced on Broadway in 1966.
Rob Ashford is directing and choreographing the revival.
It’s the backup at the St. James Theatre, now home to “Finian’s Rainbow,” a charming show but not exactly a hot ticket.
The people behind “Minsky’s” are, of course, disappointed they didn’t get Chenoweth; she did a reading of the show a few weeks ago and told everybody she loved it.
Bob Martin, who created “The Drowsy Chaperone,” is writing the book to “Minsky’s,” and has been retooling scenes with Chenoweth in mind.
“We got a lot of e-mails from ‘KC’ saying she wanted to do it,” says a source. “Call us naive, but we believed her.”
Boyett says: “She was brilliant and funny at the reading, and we were supposed to hear from her agents and managers today. But I got a quicker answer from you,” he adds, laughing.
Boyett and others see the hand of Chenoweth’s agency, Creative Artists, at work here.
“I smell a package deal,” says Boyett, a Hollywood veteran who produced such TV shows as “Laverne & Shirley” and “Mork & Mindy.”
“I think there’ll be a television version of ‘Promises, Promises’ and then a DVD, and I’m sure they’re offering her a lot of money.”
Zadan and Meron, two of the most powerful producers in Hollywood, put together popular TV versions of “Annie,” “Cinderella” and “The Music Man.”
Chenoweth was also attracted to “Promises, Promises” because the role of the secretary will require her to be more than cute, funny and bright, her stock in trade.
The secretary, played by Shirley MacLaine in the movie, is in love with her married boss. He treats her shabbily, driving her to attempt suicide.
This is a long way from roles such as Sally in “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” and Glinda in “Wicked” that made Chenoweth famous.
Encores! produced a concert version of “Promises, Promises” 12 years ago that starred Martin Short and Kerry O’Malley.
It was great fun, as snappy as a gin and tonic on a summer afternoon.
Simon loved it so much, he was prepared to pay for a Broadway transfer. But critic Ben Brantley threw cold water on it, complaining of the “groaning, antiquated quality of the sex jokes” and the “tediousness” of the show’s “sexism.”
Times have changed.
The world of “Promises, Promises,” in which corporate executives smoke in the office and pick out their after-hours playmates from the secretarial pool, is the world of “Mad Men.”
So “Promises, Promises” is back in style.
May I fix you a martini, Kristin?