Country star McEntire may be Broadway bound

Steve Morse

Friday, Sept. 15, 2000 | 9:46 a.m.

Who: Reba McEntire.

When: 9 p.m. today through Sunday.

Where: Las Vegas Hilton.

Tickets: $101.50, $112.50.

Information: Call 732-5755.

Slowing down a runaway train might be an easier task than slowing down Reba McEntire, who always seems to have a thousand projects waiting for her.

McEntire, who performs through Sunday at the Las Vegas Hilton, is a self-professed workaholic who can't stay in one place for too long, but she's trying to cure herself of that so she can star on Broadway in "Annie Get Your Gun," a role that would appear tailor-made for her.

"I guess timing is everything. They have asked me several years in a row about 'Annie Get Your Gun,' but I just kept saying, 'Naah, I don't think so yet.' But the timing is right now," McEntire says.

The Broadway offer is for February to May of next year. "I just never felt I could stay in one place for that long," McEntire says. "I have never stayed in one place for more than four months, except when I was a kid and that seems like another lifetime ago.

"We're still in negotiations, but I'm really hoping that it will pull through," she adds of the Broadway experience. "I'd love to do that part. I love Broadway and I love the stage. I love that immediate response from the audience. And instead of me going all over the world touring, the audience would come to me in New York. I think it would be a lot of fun living in New York for five months. I think it's going to be a blast."

Meanwhile McEntire has been working internationally more than any country artist in recent memory.

"Getting to go out of the country has been a lot of fun," she says. "We have toured Australia and all of the UK and most of Europe. We haven't done Asia yet, but we want to do the Orient as soon as possible."

What prompts her to keep such a hectic pace? "I guess just the new things that we can do. And the thing that always gets me going is curiosity," McEntire, 45, says. "If you're talking money, I can't make this kind of money anywhere else. And if you're talking adventure, I can't think of a job that would take me to as many places. I just get a big kick out of it."

McEntire and her husband/manager, Narvel Blackstock, also spend plenty of time with their son, Shelby, who will turn 10 soon and doesn't quite know what to think of his busy parents. "Shelby was with me (recently) in Milwaukee and I couldn't get him up (the next) morning," McEntire says. "I said, 'Come on, Shelby.' He said, 'Mom, I'm tired.' I said, 'Hey, me and your dad do this every night, so get up!' "

Like McEntire, her road crew is also apparently tireless.

"They love their work as much as I do," she says. "We work hard all of the time. The only time I have ever taken three months off is when I had Shelby and that was 10 years ago. So it's not a laid-back vacation spot out here. Of course, we do have our vacation time, but as soon as we get back, we hit the road again. And the people that are touring with me, they get a little antsy at home. They love their home and they love their family, but they were meant to be on the road just as I am."

Oklahoma-born McEntire's dad was a rodeo competitor, so she learned all about the road from him. "I think it's just something you've got to have in your blood," she says. "And I honestly think we're going faster now than we did 15 years ago."

McEntire has released 26 albums that have sold an overall 40 million copies. Although her turf has been invaded in recent years by the likes of Shania Twain, the Dixie Chicks and Jo Dee Messina, McEntire has still scored two country hits from her latest album, "So Good Together," with a third likely.

And even when she pulls back from recording and touring, she rarely stops, because that's the time she reserves for making movies. She has made nine films and just finished another, "One Night at McCools," in which she plays a psychiatrist and stars next to Michael Douglas, Liv Tyler and Matt Dillon. She expects it will come out early next year.

"It's about a bar named McCools and Matt Dillon works there and his cousin, played by Paul Reiser, is in there, also. It's about Reiser, John Goodman and Matt Dillon all falling in love with Liv Tyler. They don't know what to do about it, so they go tell their story to their confidant. And I'm Paul Reiser's confidante. I think John Goodman goes to a priest and Matt Dillon goes to Michael Douglas. It's a cute little story.

"I'd like to do more movies," she adds. "I'd really like to do a musical movie like the ones they used to do, like 'Calamity Jane.' Making movies works out very well, because when I've got to give the crew and the band a break, I'll go do one. And I'd love to do a motion picture like 'The Patriot.' Did you see that movie? Go see it on the biggest screen you can. I'd go see it again. Mel Gibson is absolutely spectacular and it's just a wonderful movie."

The everenthusiastic McEntire does relax once in a while, however. She plays golf sometimes -- and also likes to laze around her pool during those rare times at home. "I can sit out there on the swing at the pool house and just listen to the birds chirp and I'll be fine," she says.

And then the road comes calling again -- the road which now may lead her to Broadway.