By BOB THOMPSON
Toronto Sun
"There were a lot of roles I turned down after Cheers went off the air, because they pigeonholed me that way," says Neuwirth, describing her post-Cheers predicament at a mid-Manhattan hotel.
For those who may not know, the "pigeonhole" role Neuwirth is talking about happens to be one of the funniest ever on TV.
incredibly caustic persona of Dr. Lilith Sternin-Crane was the creation of Neuwirth, who earned two Emmys for the portrayal. She also earned lots of laughs as the uptight psychiatric observer who said it as she saw it to the barflies on the top-rated sitcom.
And Neuwirth's classic comedy character continued occasionally on the Kelsey Grammer-spinoff, Frasier, as the ex-wife who haunts her former husband.
That TV Frasier fact illustrates two things about 39-year-old Neuwirth. She's aware of the typecast danger, but not afraid of it. She's also proud of her TV alter ego.
"Lilith tells the truth," notes Neuwirth proudly. "She lacks an editor in her head and maybe the social graces that go with it.
"But I never thought she was mean or bitchy. She just told the Cheers goons the way things were in there when they did their dopey things." Neuwirth's Lilith carried on the tradition for love "not money" during guest appearances on Frasier, although Neuwirth says nothing is planned for this year.
That's fine with her. She has lots to do.
Neuwirth will arrive in Toronto soon to start shooting the Kathy Bates cable movie Dash & Lilly with Judy Davis.
Singer-dancer Neuwirth also stars in the stage production of Skin Of My Teeth, which will be mounted in Arlington, W. Va. early next year. "Ultimately," she says, "I think they'd like to go to New York, but we'll have to see what happens."
She's been there before, most notably in Sweet Charity in '86 when she won a Tony. In '94, she was in London doing the musical stage version of Kiss Of The Spider Woman, and the Lola part in Damn Yankees back on Broadway. In '96, she was the lead in the revival of the musical, Chicago, another Broadway hit.
That's not surprising.
"I've always loved to dance on stage," says Neuwirth, who grew up in Princeton, New Jersey.
"I've been doing ballet since I was five, on stage dancing since I was seven."
At 17, fresh from a year as a Juilliard dance student, she won the role of Sheila in Broadway's A Chorus Line.
What followed was hard work and showbiz obscurity in the early '80s -- in the cast of Dancin', the European tour of West Side Story, and an off-Broadway revue called Upstairs At O'Neals.
In '86, when she won her Sweet Charity Tony, she also made the fateful one-episode guest appearance on Cheers as the uptight psychiatrist. "I never imagined," says Neuwirth, who adds that "now I'm not interested in a TV show with any regularity."
She can be seen in two films this year.
She portrays a prostitute in Woody Allen's Celebrity, which will be out next month. In one sequence, Neuwirth demonstrates sex tips using a banana. "If you are wondering," she says smiling, "there are no other scenes involving fruit."
In Robert Rodriguez's The Faculty, opening Christmas Day, Neuwirth is a high school principal with lots of complications in a very peculiar way. "If I called The Faculty a horror movie, it doesn't do it justice," she says. "If I said it was science fiction, it wouldn't do it justice either. It's actually funny.
"And," boasts Neuwirth, "The Faculty is the first time I've ever had wounds applied." She chuckles an un-Lilith chuckle again: "Let me tell you, that fake blood is very sticky."
Typecasting? She's not afraid of no stinkin' typecasting.