Broadway Babes

It's understandably tempting for a young actress to head straight for Hollywood, fresh from training bra and braces. But then all too easily she winds up typecast as the bimbo on the arm of a bozo, and her

chest and teeth get more attention than her talent. Not so for these three stars-in-the-making, all of whom began their careers the oldfashioned way—onstage—and are delivering auspicious debuts on Broadway in chewy roles. Mary-Louise Parker you've probably heard of by now. Nominated for a best-leading-actress Tony, she is starring in Prelude to a Kiss at the Helen Hayes Theater, where nightly she pulls off an astonishing transformation from dizzy ingenue to duplicitous codger.

Next door at the St. James, in Gypsy, Crista Moore (nominated for a bestsupporting-actress Tony) changes almost as abruptly from mousy mama's girl to luscious stripper. A few blocks north at the Cort, Sally Murphy undergoes a more traditional rite of passage—from bright-eyed girl to wised-up woman—in Steppenwolf's production of The Grapes of Wrath. Parker has already broken into film, in Longtime Companion. As for the other two, watch for them at your local sixplex—but not hanging off anyone's arm. Having sunk their teeth into Broadway meat, they're fit for more than Hollywood froth.

JIM RASENBERGER