Entertainment

Baldwin’s star re-‘Born’

Alec Baldwin, who rivals the late, great Jack Cassidy in his ability to play smug and arrogant, is in the hunt for a Broadway show.

Baldwin was in “serious actor” mode early this summer as the psychiatrist in Peter Shaffer‘s “Equus” at the John Drew Theater in East Hampton. There were rumblings the production might move to New York, even though Daniel Radcliffe and Richard Griffiths did the play on Broadway a couple of years ago, with mixed results.

A fleet of limos carrying producers and theater owners clogged the LIE one weekend. Riding high from “30 Rock,” Baldwin is thought to be box-office gold, and everybody wanted to see how his “Equus” stacked up.

But a lukewarm notice in the Times put the kibosh on talk of a transfer.

So Baldwin’s moved on to another old play — the classic 1946 comedy “Born Yesterday,” by Garson Kanin.

In a reading on Monday, Baldwin played Harry Brock, a corrupt tycoon who bribes congressmen. Nina Arianda, who made her mark early this year with a terrific performance in “Venus in Fur,” played Billie Dawn, Brock’s ditzy blond girlfriend, a role made famous by Judy Holliday in the 1950 movie.

Rounding out the cast was Josh Charles of TV’s “The Good Wife,” as a journalist Brock hires to give his girlfriend etiquette lessons.

Baldwin and Charles gave first-rate performances, guided by British-speaking director Doug Hughes. But the standout was Arianda, who, several sources say, managed to be Judy Holliday without doing a Judy Holliday imitation.

Baldwin has yet to commit to a full production, but if he does, look for “Born Yesterday” to open on Broadway in the spring.

I’m taking Jan Maxwell as my date. She’s been a big fan of Baldwin’s ever since he screamed at her — and punched a hole in the wall — backstage at the Roundabout during the run of “Entertaining Mr. Sloane” a few years ago.

PLENTY of Broadway bigwigs were at the Delacorte Theater Monday night to check out the concert version of Paul Simon‘s infamous flop, “The Capeman,” about convicted killer Salvador Agron.

Critics and reporters were asked not to review what Oskar Eustis, the head of the Public Theater, described as “a little workshop concert.”

But no such “restrictions” have been placed on gossipy theater producers. So I canvassed a few to see if there’s any chance of reviving the show on or off Broadway.

“Are you kidding?” one said. “I like the music, but who’s going to pay to see a show that glorifies a murderer?”

Another said: “I still think the show is morally reprehensible. The most hateful character is the mother of the boy who was killed by the Capeman. She’s a racist, which I guess is worse than being a murderer.”

A third producer bluntly says: “Great score, great cast, great band — leave it in the park.”

The cast was indeed exceptional, the standout being Natascia Diaz as Agron’s long-suffering mother.

Diaz is a remarkable performer, as anyone who saw her in the fine documentary “Every Little Step,” about the casting of “A Chorus Line,” can attest.

As I was leaving the park, I heard a critic singing her praises, adding: “Why don’t we see more of her?”

Hear, hear!

ANOTHER Broadway snapshot:

The scene is the elegant and spacious Madison Park apartment of critic Charles Isherwood.

The phone rings.

“Hello,” Isherwood answers, languidly.

“Charles!!” barks a voice so loud that the phone shakes in the critic’s hand. “It’s Elaine! Elaine Stritch!”

“Yes?”

“I read your review of ‘A Little Night Music.’ Thanks for the kind words. But I want to talk to you about that part where you said I spoiled the moment with a ‘wicked grin’ when they wheeled me away in the chair.

“Listen, kid, I’m keeping the grin. It gets a laugh.

“Live with it!”

michael.riedel@ny
post.com