The stars dazzle, while familiar faces remind you of home

DATELINE NEW YORK: Just back from a show-viewing trek to The Big Apple, where stars were a-twinkling. Took in "Spamalot," this year's big Tony winner, and Liza Minnelli — looking marvelous, with no sign of stress — was enjoying the outrageous antics three rows away, in the company of singer Sam Harris and an unidentified gent. We dined afterward at Angus McIndoe, where the Minnelli party also showed up. Ditto David Hyde Pierce, a star of "Spamalot," who collected applause. Michael Chiklis, from TV's "The Shield" and The Thing in "Fantastic Four," also popped in — sans makeup. ...

Backstage at the Shubert Theatre, home of "Spamalot," we visited with the show's assistant director, ex-Islander Peter Lawrence, whom many will remember as executive producer for "Miss Saigon" and "Les Miserables." His Playbill bio includes a few of his favorite "credits": He taught drama at the University of Hawai'i and Transylvania College and was the drama critic for The Honolulu Advertiser (for real!). Mike Nichols showed up backstage, too; Lawrence has worked on seven Nichols productions and on this particular night, they were going to take show notes — so we got together with Lawrence and his family on another night at the Joshua Tree. ...

Over dinner at Thalia's, producer Richard Jay-Alexander, who was between trips, said he had been in Greece to huddle with Diana Ross, who wants him to produce her next outing, thanks to his successes with Bette Midler, Bernadette Peters and Barbra Streisand. He's now off to Brazil to confer with actress-friend Amy Irving, whom he'll direct when she stars in Marta Góes' solo play, "A Safe Harbor for Elizabeth Bishop" (the Pulitzer Prize-winner), in an off-Broadway run in March 2006. Also coming up for Jay-Alexander: Lea Salonga's Carnegie Hall debut Nov. 7 and a retrospective five-disc collection of earlier Streisand milestones, for which Jay-Alexander's doing liner notes. His Peters stint at Carnegie has been a CD hit, so a related disc of unreleased material is just out. ...

THE BUZZ: We lunched with Craig Schulman (Jean Valjean from "Les Miserables") and his wife, Monica, who subs (starting this fall) as an alternate maestro of the "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" orchestra; and had dinner with Cris Groenendaal, the earlier Phantom from "Phantom of the Opera," and his wife, Sue Anderson. Schulman (who's played the Phantom) and Groenendaal are expanding their "Three Phantoms" tour (with fellow ex-Phantom Kevin Gray), with a San Diego Symphony gig shortly, but plans are solidifying for a Ballet Hawai'i benefit at the Hawai'i Theatre this January. Sarah Richardson, president of the Hawai'i Theatre Center, saw Schulman and Groenendaal in a Manoa Valley Theatre benefit two years ago and has been nudging theater manager Burton White to book 'em. ...

After the final performance of "Brooklyn: The Musical," at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, director-producer Jeff Calhoun told us, "We will bring the show to Hawai'i." Easier said than done, but with a national tour launching next year, a ranking voice like his could get it here. ...

Robert Nolan, company manager of "Phantom of the Opera," says the show has been enjoying remarkable new life at the Majestic Theatre as it approaches a Jan. 9 milestone — that's when it bypasses the longest-running record of "Cats" (7,485 performances). We revisited "Phantom" and noted that attendance has been buoyed by the tepid film version, which speaks volumes about live theater, as well as publicity of the impending 90-minute sit-down show due at the Venetian in Las Vegas next spring. ...

PERSONALITIES: Pals of Joey Caldarone (the Engineer in Army Community Theatre's "Miss Saigon"), who was visiting family in New Jersey, will be surprised by his new look. At 28 and prematurely gray, he dyed his locks and he looks fabulous. We dined with him at Angus McIndoe, in the company of publicist Lisa Josephsohn and her sister, Debbie Koerner, who, with hubby David, has relocated to North Carolina. ...

And Yvonna Balfour, former Islander, is wardrobe supervisor for the hit musical "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" at Circle in the Square. She also still works with "Law & Order" when it is in production, and the CBS Saturday morning news show. We had lunch together at the new MOMA restaurant on West 53rd, and did our flea market Sunday ritual together. ...

We traded N.Y. show and shopping stories over breakfast at Carnegie Deli with Shari Lynn, Jo Pruden and Tina Doty — familiar faces from home. ...

And that's Show Biz. ...