NEW YORK -- After curtain calls for the Oct. 24 performance of Neil Simon's The Dinner Party, star Len Cariou came downstage and motioned for the audience to quiet down. People did so, expecting a speech.

Cariou thanked the audience for coming to see the show on the night of Game 3 of the World Series, and revealed that the score at that point was tied 1-1. He assured the audience that they had time to get to their homes and wouldn't miss "the best part" of the game.

New York is currently suffering from a virulent case of Subway Series Fever as the city's two major league teams, the Mets and the Yankees, compete for the world championship. As Cariou's speech implies, the Fever is spreading backstage at Broadway theatres too.

Every night at intermission a cast member of Rent walks across the stage with a sign listing the score and inning. The first night (Oct. 21) it was dance captain Yasmin Allers dressed in a "Price is Right" costume. On Oct. 24 it was Andy Senor, who plays Angel.

While The Music Man is not doing anything to announce the score, the actors are watching backstage. "The doorman has a TV, so there's always a little bit of a crowd," star Craig Bierko told Theatre.com. Bierko has little offstage time to watch the game, is rooting for the Mets. "I think the Mets are gonna go all the way, I think now we got a streak," he said Oct. 25, just before that night's Met loss to the Yankees.

Paul Sadler who's been with the Broadway cast of Phantom of the Opera for seven years, told Theatre.com the cast and crew have been following the games on Walkman radios backstage while waiting for their entrances, and their doorman, too, has been following the games on a small television.

Sadler said Phantom Howard McGillin, like Cariou, has been announcing the score to the audience after each evening's show, as part of their pitch for Broadway's annual "Gypsy of the Year" contest.

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