People in the News for Jan. 2, 1998

Friday, Jan. 2, 1998 | 10:22 a.m.

It's Wish Fulfillment Day here at People in the News, and where better to start than with last week's fairy tale wedding: Sure, Soon-Yi Previn is now the Bride of Frankennebbish, but her marriage to Woody Allen just might pay off on the old resume. December 1997 to present: Woody Allen's muse. Word has it Woody is writing a play with a role specifically tailored for Soon-Yi. She has reportedly been taking acting lessons for months, and all that running around the house moaning What's my motivation? seems to have worked. Producer Julian Schlossberg tells the ever-reliable New York Post that he plans to meet with Allen about the project when the happy couple returns from their honeymoon in Paris. It must seem like a wish come true for Soon-Yi, going from mere Woody Allen love interest to Woody Allen love interest-slash-star of Woody Allen extravaganza. It's a coveted role assumed only by a select few -- Diane Keaton and Previn's adopted mom, Mia Farrow. "I don't know whether she can act or not," Schlossberg says, "but she speaks beautifully."

Park bash

Once you've achieved hip-hop currency of a magnitude that allows you to call yourself Puff Daddy without embarrassment, what dreams are left to dream, what wishes still need fulfilling? Plenty, if you are, in fact, Puff Daddy. He's wishing for a rocking New Year's Eve in 1999, for him and a few hundred thousand of his closest friends. "I want to rent Central Park for all the kids of Harlem, Brooklyn and the Bronx," he says of his welcome-the-new-millennium plans. "I'm going to throw them a big ol' party and invite the whole world. If I could have a dream, that's it." Just save a spot for Dick Clark.

Playing fast and Lucy

Since we don't follow Brazilian film the way we should -- there are only so many hours in a day, darn it -- we don't know whether the Brazilian star Xuxa can act or not, but we do know this: Speaking beautifully is not a requirement for her next project. The Rio thing will assume the title role in a Spanish-language version of "I Love Lucy." The show will be based on original "Lucy" scripts and will be filmed in Spain. Xuxa, I'm hoooome! Well, it'll take some getting used to, all right. At least the new show won't be a carbon copy of the old; producers are giving it a clever '90s twist. Whereas Ricky Ricardo would spout Spanish whenever Lucy drove him nuts, now, in fits of comic pique, Xuxa will rant in Portuguese! That, we can tell you, is serious wish fulfillment, even better than being Mrs. Woody Allen. Have a Ball, Xuxa!

Compiled by Scott Dickensheets