Who Weekly

13 October 1997

THE ONE THAT THEY WANT

From Warrior Princess to Pink Lady: Lucy Lawless storms NY in Grease!

I think Rizzo's a less evolved form of Xena," says Lucy Lawless, who, while on a seasonal break from her role as Network Ten's toughtalking, leather-clad butt kicker, is playing the tough-talking, leather-clad vixen in a Broadway production of Grease! Lawless, 29, landed the role after one of the show's producers caught her impromptu rendition of "I'm an Old Cowhand" on The Rosie O'Donnell Show, a US talkshow.

"Lucy brings with her an aura," says Grease! producer Barry Weissler. "Before she even walks on stage, we're already wondering what the Warrior Princess is going to act like as Rizzo." One-upping her predecessors (including O'Donnell and Brooke Shields), Lawless adds sexuality and menace to the role, slaying audiences --made up largely of
Xenaphiles -- like so many rampaging Visigoths. And the New Zealander is having a ball in the limited run limelight (her stint ends later this month). "My maxim is 'Risk all'," says Lawless. "I want to get to the end of my life and just go, 'I knocked the [bastard] off,' which is what Sir Edmund Hillary said when he elimbed Everest. There's no more time to be afraid. I won't be young long."

MIKE FLAHERTY

 

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