HOT now Sizzles with Goitti

[BKLYN_FAN]

Posted: 3/22/05 at 8:16am

With Musical Ambitions, Gotti Takes On New Role
By JESSE McKINLEY


Victoria Gotti rehearses for her role in the show "We're Still Hot."

Here are some things you may or may not know about Victoria Gotti: she's a neat freak and a perfectionist. She wears a pacemaker and has a fondness for animal prints. And in addition to her talents as a pulp novelist, tabloid newspaper columnist and reality television mom, Ms. Gotti can actually sing and dance a little.

And that was apparently enough to land Ms. Gotti a part in "We're Still Hot" an Off Broadway musical that opened late last month at the Theater at St. Luke's on West 46th Street. Ms. Gotti - daughter of the mob boss John Gotti - asked to audition for the musical and won over producers with a tentative soprano, a lithe body and a willingness to try anything once. And beginning in early April, she will replace Deirdre Kingsbury, who producers promise is leaving of her own volition.

"Honestly, since I was 7 years old, I wanted to be on the stage," said Ms. Gotti on a rehearsal break. "But at first I thought: 'Absolutely not. I'm not good enough.' But then my assistant said, 'If you don't do it, you'll regret it.' "

So last Friday, the show's creative team traveled to Ms. Gotti's mansion in Old Westbury, N.Y., for a rehearsal in her living room, a highly decorated nook complete with polished wood floors, floor-to-ceiling mirrors and a collection of porcelain and plastic figurines.

On the wall over the baby grand piano is a handsome portrait of the Dapper Don himself, who no doubt loved the musical theater. (He, in fact, bought her tickets to her first Broadway show - "Chicago," the gangland musical.)

The house is part of a sprawling compound run by Ms. Gotti and her assistant, Robert (he goes by only a single name); it has a pool, a big guest house, a children's playground and a couple of empty barns that used to have horses in them.

"What happened to the horses?" asked this reporter.

"She'll have to tell you that," Robert responded.

Enough said. The compound is also the setting of Ms. Gotti's reality show on the A&E network, "Growing Up Gotti," which follows her daily life and that of her three pout-prone teenage sons. That gig follows several other career incarnations for Ms. Gotti, including writing a column in The New York Post, a handful of novels and a book about living with mitral valve prolapse, a cardiac condition she has.

Not unlike Ms. Gotti, the character she plays in "We're Still Hot" is an ambitious, if lonely, businesswoman looking for love. (The musical tells the story of a group of friends at a high school reunion.) Ms. Gotti, who was born in 1963, divorced her husband, Carmine Agnello, who is in prison for tax evasion and racketeering, in 2002.

Ms. Gotti's rehearsal was being held in her living room because of a physical therapy appointment related to her heart problems and because it was the last day of shooting for her series' latest season. This made her late, something she was not proud of, and nervous.

"No, please, stay and watch," she said. "I meant that sarcastically."

Then, Ms. Gotti - dressed in a black unitard and sporting a diamond ring the size of walnut - gamely set about singing "Fool for Love," a little country-and-western ditty that is her first big number in the show. When she hit a wrong note, the show's musical director, Alan Plado, gently reminded her to remember the key change.

"I remembered it," Ms. Gotti said. "I just didn't sing it."

Ms. Gotti seems aware that some are not expecting much from her stage debut but says she hopes to prove them wrong. Producers do too; the show received some mixed-to-negative reviews the first time around.

"I'm sure there's people curious to see if you choke, because it's a cruel business," she said. "But you know because of that I won't."

Ms. Gotti, in fact, seemed remarkably committed to getting things right, gaining confidence as she sang, even amid distractions like her son Carmine listening to loud hip-hop in the house's leopard-skin-loving office and an ominous buzz at the front door.

"You never know who's coming to the door," said Robert, answering it. And sure enough, it was a man delivering smoothies.

After song practice, Ms. Gotti moved on to her first dance number, an Ashlee Simpsonesque jig. Meshelle Diment, the stage manager, walked her through the routine, marking off the steps and offering encouragement.

"It's country," Ms. Diment said. "It's not supposed to be graceful."

"Which is good, because it's not going to be graceful," Ms. Gotti said. "I'm about as graceful as a drunk ballerina." Still, by the third time, she appeared to get it. Then, Ms. Diment asked her to do it faster.

"What do you mean, faster?" Ms. Gotti laughed. "You looked like the Rockettes compared to what I did."

Yet, she did it and did it pretty well. Then, just as she was hitting her stride, rehearsal ended, called off by Robert, who said that the television crew needed to start shooting. "She's the boss," he said. "But I'm more of the boss here."

With that, Ms. Gotti reluctantly stopped dancing and starting getting ready for more time in the spotlight. (In the kitchen, her two other boys - Frank and John - were arguing over their smoothies. "I have never, in my life, ordered banana," John protested. "Never.")

There was time for just one more question: will "She's Still Hot" be the something new or just a pleasant diversion?

"I might get bitten, and then who knows?" she said, speaking of the acting bug. "Like I need another career."

[Thesbijean]

Posted: 3/22/05 at 11:03am

Goitti? She's not JEWISH!!!