It was yesterday once more when Loretta Ables Sayre, the Hawai'i actress playing Bloody Mary in the Broadway revival of "South Pacific," and her Tony Award-winning colleagues Kelli O'Hara (Nellie Forbush) and Paul Szot (Emile de Becque) met Golden Globe nominee Mitzi Gaynor backstage at Lincoln Center this week. Gaynor played Nellie in the 1958 film version of the Rodgers & Hammerstein hit.

The current production's stars, including Tony nominee Ables Sayre, have been interviewed for the "South Pacific" movie's Blu-ray version, coming out next year to mark the film's 50th anniversary.

— Wayne Harada, Advertiser entertainment writer

CRUISE ROASTS MATT LAUER

NEW YORK — Tom Cruise took some shots at Matt Lauer yesterday — this time in fun.

The actor was a surprise guest at a Friars' Club roast of the "Today" show host. He joined Martha Stewart, Brian Williams, Katie Couric and Meredith Vieira to sling insults. Cruise called Lauer the man "we wake up to every morning — only because we had the channel on NBC before we fell asleep."

Three years ago, Cruise berated Lauer in a "Today" interview for suggesting that psychiatric treatment might help some patients. It was the same year he jumped up and down on Oprah Winfrey's talk-show couch, excited about falling in love with Katie Holmes.

Cruise joked that Lauer had given him some advice before that Winfrey show: "Go crazy. Trust me. Trust me. People will love you for it."

'VIEW' CO-HOST IN PALIN CAMPAIGN

NEW YORK — "The View" co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck will stump for vice presidential contender Sarah Palin in Florida this weekend.

"Gov. Palin asked me to be with her this Sunday to introduce her at the rallies in Florida. I am more than honored to be there," Hasselbeck said Thursday on the TV talk show. "I'll have some stories, I'm sure, on Monday."

Co-host Joy Behar couldn't resist tweaking her conservative colleague on the air with "I want to see her wardrobe," a reference to the GOP's $150,000 expenditure on designer clothes and beauty services for the Alaska governor. Hasselbeck smiled but didn't respond.