Get the latest Hollywood scoop from CNN's Dennis Michael! Windows Media: 28k or 56k Real: 28k or 56k

Web posted on: Friday, September 25, 1998 5:17:44 PM

• 'Cabaret' to haunt old Studio 54 digs
• White Zombie splits up
• MTV in Russia, finally
• Midler reveals the inspiration for 'Bathhouse Betty'
• Ray Romano: 'Accept your cluelessness'

"Cabaret"

NEW YORK (CNN) -- "Cabaret," the revival of the hit Broadway musical will move November 12 to Studio 54, the 1970s disco that attracted the trendiest of jetsetters, says Sam Mendes, director of "Cabaret."

The Tony-winning revival was acclaimed last season for its staging, which places the audience in a fictitious 1930s Berlin nightspot, the Kit Kat Klub, created last season inside the old Henry Miller Theater.

"Once again we are taking a club that used to be a theater and turning it back into a theater in order to create a club," says Mendes of the switch to Studio 54. "In addition to its rich and varied history, (Studio 54) also happens to be the most atmospheric, theatrically viable space that I've seen in New York." The club has received a lot of attention recently, due to the release of the movie "54" set during its heyday.

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- The heavy metal rock group White Zombie says after more than a dozen years in the business, it's time to break up.

"After 13 years, White Zombie has accomplished everything we set out to do and we all felt it was time to move on," band members Rob Zombie, Sean Yseult, John Tempesta and J. said in a statement announcing the group's breakup Thursday. The statement did not elaborate.

The band's dozen albums include "Supersexy Swingin' Sounds," "Astro Creep: 2000" and "Songs of Love." Rob Zombie's latest solo release, "Hellbilly Deluxe," is currently listed at No. 30 on CNN's Worldbeat Global Album Chart.

MOSCOW (CNN) -- It took 17 years, but Russians are finally getting their MTV. MTV Russia will debut Saturday at midnight Moscow time, and will be seen daily in more than 10 million households throughout Moscow and St. Petersburg. The free-to-air channel will be tailored to the music tastes and lifestyles of Russians 14 to 34 years old.

Along with artists like U2, Madonna, Bjork and Backstreet Boys, the network will also showcase some of MTV's more popular programs, such as "Beavis & Butt-head," the MTV Video Music Awards and the MTV Europe Music Awards. MTV debuted in the United States on August 1, 1981.

Midler

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- A disturbing brush with an excited fan led to the title of Bette Midler's latest album, "Bathhouse Betty." She tells Billboard magazine that she was at home in Orange County, California, when someone knocked at her door. "It was a fan," she recalls. "He started shrieking, 'Bathhouse Betty! Bathhouse Betty!' and I thought, 'Oh my God! How mortifying.'

"It was pretty scary, but I said, 'I'm going to call the cops!' and he ran away," she recalled. "But he left me with Bathhouse Betty, and how could I forget that? He was giving me an homage to my days playing the bathhouses." The album, Midler's first in three years, was released last week.

(CNN) -- Actor Ray Romano says the secret for married men to get along with their wives is to appear "likably clueless." The star of the CBS sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond" tells USA Weekend that when he gets home from work he just wants to "vegetate." But his wife Anna, who spends her days with the couple's four children, usually wants adult conversation with Romano.

He says most men are "clueless" about how to handle these type of trials in relationships. But he has the answer: "Accept your cluelessness," he says. "Don't fight it. Just try to be likably clueless. Ask for her help and appreciate it. That's endearing to women."