Suddenly Brooke

Weird how these things happen. Couple of weeks ago in New York, me and mine thoroughly enjoyed the Broadway revival of "Wonderful Town," with Donna Murphy rocking the house in the lead. A few days later, news broke that Murphy would be replaced by Brooke Shields. This provoked scorn on some Broadway chat sites, since the petite Murphy belts out the Leonard Bernstein notes like a diva, is hilarious at physical comedy, gets tossed around like a bag by the chorus line and — crucial — plays the smart, plain sister to Jennifer Westfeldt. Now Brooke can be funny, and perhaps she can sing. But she's taller than most of the men in the show. And ya think she can play the plain girl? Today at lunch at Snug Harbor in Santa Monica, she comes in with her mom and her baby, slides into a booth and shakes out her now-blond hair. She's larger-than-life stunning. We agreed again: there's no chance this can work.