At first, they are merely pleasing to the eye

May 30, 2007 — Gracefully descending a spiral staircase to the stark clanging of bells, glamorous in full hair, snug skirts and heavy eyeliner, the women of "Nine" appear to be but a beautiful blur of black and white swirling around Antonio Banderas, the only grown man in the production.

But as the revival of the Maury Yeston-Arthur Kopit musical unfurls at the Eugene O'Neill Theater, the nine principal women of "Nine" begin to emerge as willful, complex, sympathetic individuals.

Mary Stuart Masterson, for instance, is Luisa, the loving but hardened wife of Guido Contini, the film director and incurable Casanova played by Mr. Banderas. Jane Krakowski is Carla, Guido's oozingly sensual mistress. Chita Rivera is Liliane La Fleur, Guido's demanding, charismatic producer. And Laura Benanti is Claudia, Guido's elegant movie star muse.

These and the show's five other leading women are stars in their own right or have star potential. But "Nine" is not a sure star vehicle. While most of the actresses are often onstage, only periodically do their characters become prominent with a solo song or line. The rest of the time they are singing as a chorus, carrying candles, moving chairs, supporting one another.

David Leveaux, the show's British director, said giving the women of "Nine" this dual responsibility — as both ensemble members and leading ladies — was deliberate. "We went out to find principal women and asked them to become an ensemble of principals," Mr. Leveaux said.

While the actresses work collaboratively, the director said he encouraged each to make a strong contribution; just because they occasionally recede into the background doesn't mean they become indistinguishable or disappear. "It's one thing to create an ensemble based on everybody's suppressing their personalities," he said. "Or you can create an ensemble based on everybody's ability to express themselves."

Because the show's female parts are not conventional leading roles, the actresses' decision to be part of the show was not an obvious one. Some were concerned at first that, on paper at least, it looked as if they would have little to do. In the end, every one of them said she felt lucky to be in the production, which has been nominated for eight Tony Awards, including best revival. Three of the women have been nominated for a Tony Award for best featured actress in a musical: Ms. Rivera, Ms. Krakowski and Ms. Masterson.

Gathered recently before a show in the penthouse of the Time Hotel, near the theater on West 49th Street — around a circular table coincidentally yet fittingly similar to the one at the center of the "Nine" set — the women featured in the musical suggested that their sense of sisterhood was as satisfying as their moments in the sun.

"At 8 o'clock we're the last people out there, and we all need each other," Ms. Krakowski said. "The ensemble of us all together is what makes the show work."

`Too Small for Who?'

Appreciating the importance of the show's ensemble nature was not immediate, Ms. Benanti said, in part because Americans are conditioned to think selfishly about fame. "In the States we choose to do things because they bring us to prominence," she said. "In London, for instance, you go back and forth from being a spear carrier to being Hamlet. What you learn is the value of the piece. And I think it really minimizes ego."

Ms. Benanti, who has received Tony nominations for her performances as Cinderella in last season's Broadway revival of "Into the Woods" and in the 1999 Broadway musical "Swing!," said she turned down this production of "Nine" five times after reading the script and realizing that Claudia had only one major scene and song.

"I literally counted my lines and went, `No,' " Ms. Benanti said. Her agent, too, kept saying the part was too small.

"I finally just went, `Too small for who?' " Ms. Benanti said. "Not too small for me. Too small for Julia Roberts? Yes. And then they said Chita Rivera, and I was like, `Sure.' "

The Den Mother

Several of the actresses said the prospect of working with a stage legend like Ms. Rivera was a major factor in their decision to join the company. "That just made me so happy," said Deidre Goodwin, the show's Lady of the Spa, who recently played Velma in the Broadway revival of "Chicago," a role Ms. Rivera originated opposite Gwen Verdon in 1975.

Sitting around the table talking, it was clear that Ms. Rivera is the den mother of the group, the chairwoman emeritus, the beloved Broadway veteran to whom her younger colleagues are eager apprentices. The other women let Ms. Rivera speak first, laughed heartily at her wry humor, emphatically nodded assent to her words of experience.

Saundra Santiago, who plays a cynical film critic, said: "The saddest thing to me now is just that my father is not alive to see me working with Chita Rivera."

Ms. Rivera had her own initial doubts about doing "Nine," namely not wanting to do a revival. It was the involvement of Mr. Banderas that intrigued her enough to sign on. "I suddenly got this picture," Ms. Rivera said. "Antonio, he's going on an adventure. It's like not wanting to miss a good party.

"I saw Antonio like this golden bird climbing into the sky with all this power and all this energy coming from the tail feathers. And I was on the back, hanging on. I was on it for the ride. And the deeper I got into it, the more I realized I was supposed to be there.

"It was almost not for me. It wasn't like I was on this trip for me. I feel Antonio so strongly, and I really want him to get everything that he deserves because he really deserves it. It's a spiritual thing."

A Conspiracy

To a person, the featured women in "Nine" spoke of Mr. Banderas as a hard-working and generous colleague, with none of the attitude one might expect from a movie star. "We all absolutely adore him," said Nell Campbell, who plays Lina Darling, La Fleur's rigid bodyguard..

In its initial incarnation in 1982 under the direction of Tommy Tune, "Nine" came under some criticism for objectifying women. Mr. Yeston, who wrote the score, said that by setting the show in the prefeminist 1960's, Mr. Leveaux had made the social context clearer. But Mr. Leveaux said the power of the women was also already present in the material; while they clearly love Guido, they are also certain to survive without him. "It is not a kind of slavish, unthinking devotion," Mr. Leveaux said. "Those women teach that man a thing or two about loving. They are the engine of the piece."

Because the show effectively takes place in Guido's mind, the actresses said they were also united as figures flowing in and out of his imagination. "We're all sort of part of one character in a way," Ms. Masterson said. "One person leaves off; the other person picks up. It's sort of a cross-fade of feeling."

Moreover, while the overt relationships in the play are between Guido and his various lovers, there is a more subtle but unmistakable female alliance. "It actually depends on a certain level of conspiracy among the women," Mr. Leveaux said.

"There is something about the way the women operate together from which Guido Contini is excluded," he added. "They don't need him."

A Lot of Love

Mr. Leveaux tried to foster this clublike collegiality and trust among the women by pairing them for massages at the start of each rehearsal. "There had to be a very free and relaxed physical relationship with everybody," he said. "What I didn't want to happen was a lot of women in isolation because actually there's a bond between the women. Sometimes you feel they would do fine with just each other; they do fine together on their own."

Sure enough, the actresses said, an interdependence has grown up among them, like teammates. "Onstage, you never feel alone," Ms. Masterson said. "There's always all these souls that you've come to know. Every pair of eyes has got a lot of love behind them. There's no place onstage that isn't safe."

This esprit de corps is particularly evident in the "Folies-Bergère" number in which the women — and there are seven in addition to the nine leads — sing behind Liliane La Fleur. Arrayed behind Ms. Rivera, striking poses and singing "Ooh-la-la," the actresses exude a palpable warmth and generosity, honoring Ms. Rivera's performance without calling undue attention to themselves.

"That's a particularly joyful number," Ms. Benanti said. "I look forward to `Folies-Bergère' every single night."

So, even though three of them will be competing for the same Tony Award and the rest were not nominated, the actresses seem genuinely supportive of one another. No, they say, they do not resent carrying candles to place on the stage for "The Bells of St. Sebastian," or becoming secondary players in "Be Italian," sung by Myra Lucretia Taylor as Saraghina, who introduces Guido as a boy to the carnal ways of the world.

"I never actually ever have been holding that candle going, `I shouldn't be here,' " Ms. Benanti said. "I look around and I go: `How did I get here? I am so blessed.' And I look at Myra's beautiful face and I'm, like, `I want to back this woman up.' "

Ms. Rivera jumped in: "There you go, that's a very big thing she just said. You're very much a huge part of what you give yourself to. And what you give, you get back."

All Shapes and Sizes

The director emphasized the importance of being present at all times, the actresses said — that each of them mattered, "whether you had a line or whether you were in the dark or in the light," said Mary Beth Peil, who plays Guido's mother.

"What we established in the rehearsal room amongst each other, the love and the trust," she continued, "was equally important at all times."

As Guido's mother, Ms. Peil said she was mostly offstage but felt compelled to stay close by in the wings. "I can never leave the space," she said. "There's a lot of stage time that I'm not present, but I find I can't just sit in the dressing room. I'm always listening."

Ms. Taylor has experience making the most of a few lines; she had none in Mr. Leveaux's production of "Electra," in which she played a mute. "I was silent," she said. "But it was the most complete text I think I've ever had because of David's direction."

Ms. Campbell, who played Columbia in the original London production and the film of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," was not quite so sanguine at first upon realizing her role had no lines at all. "When we did the reading of the show, I thought, `What the hell am I doing in this show?' " she said. "Everyone is reading their lines, doing their numbers, and I just sat in silence for two hours."

"The next day, which was the first day of rehearsal, we began rehearsing, singing the numbers together and started doing the moves," she continued. "And I was, like: `How did I get this part? I can't believe I'm in this show.' So there you have the turnaround."

It took Mr. Leveaux 18 months to complete the cast. He wanted decent people as well as talented actors. He also wanted women who looked like varied, imperfect human beings. "We needed to have real women of different shapes and sizes and temperaments," he said.

In many ways the show represents a departure for the actresses in it. Ms. Benanti has typically played roles with a certain ethereal sweetness. As Claudia, she has a more cosmopolitan quality and a commanding sexiness that makes her almost unrecognizable — apparently, even to herself.

"I've never in my life felt like I'm a beautiful girl; I've never held that with me," she said. "And this has taught me to at least carry myself as if I am, even if I don't feel it in my heart."

Ms. Masterson, perhaps best known for her work in films like "Fried Green Tomatoes," had never sung onstage before and had to fight hard for the role of Luisa; it was initially offered to someone else. But Ms. Masterson believed that it was time for her to try a musical and that she was up to it. "I said to my agents that I wanted to sing, and they said, `Why?' " she said. "I said it was something I had worked on over the years and that I was always too chicken to actually stand up on both feet in front of anyone and try it."

Ms. Peil, an opera singer who appeared as the beggar woman in "Sweeney Todd" at the Kennedy Center last summer, won her role as Guido's mother because Mr. Leveaux liked her, lost the part at a callback audition because Mr. Yeston did not like her and regained it at another callback after working on her voice.

Leather in July

Ms. Santiago was on the soap opera "Guiding Light" when she read in The New York Post that Mr. Banderas was doing "Nine." (Her soap character, Carmen Santos, is currently in a coma.) She wore leather to her callback audition as requested — even though it was 90 degrees in July — and signed on without even knowing what part she would play.

Ms. Taylor was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in London last year and had never sung a whole number onstage before.

Ms. Krakowski, most familiar to audiences as the meddling assistant on the television series "Ally McBeal," was nervous about taking on a role Anita Morris had defined in the original. Talking with Mr. Leveaux, as all the actresses did, made Ms. Krakowski realize this production would be its own distinctive incarnation, "that we were going to create something completely different."

Many of the women in "Nine" said there was a sense of destiny about their doing the show, as if it was meant to be for all of them. "It took him so long to find the right people, but I think he found the people he was supposed to find," Ms. Krakowski said of Mr. Leveaux. "I think every single person is here for some reason beyond just that they are right for the job."

Ms. Masterson added, "It's like he was looking for people to tell him that they had to play the role."

'Of Our World'

Mr. Leveaux agreed. "The women who are in `Nine' are the women who said they wanted to be in `Nine.' "

"I have a code: of our world and not of our world," he added. "And these women were of our world."

With Mr. Banderas as the only man, other than the two boys who alternate performances as Guido's younger self, one would expect the cast of "Nine" to have a dynamic distinct from most co-ed Broadway companies. The women said it did. "We all have certain greetings, and we pop into each other's dressing rooms, and there's a connection at all times," Ms. Rivera said. "If somebody is not well, everybody knows it and everybody assists and helps. We all mother each other."

Mr. Banderas said they also mothered him. "When I was sick, I got seven chicken soups in one afternoon," he said. "I feel very nurtured."

He said he had also come to be accepted as one of the girls. "I feel like the only brother," he said. "They consider me another woman; they talk freely about the men in their lives. I love it. I am discovering a new world."