Nicolette Hart

Currently: Putting her sassy stamp on the role of performance artist Maureen Johnson in the Broadway production of Rent.

Hometown: Rochester, New York

Tune Up: Though it's hard to believe when you meet her, the outgoing Hart says her first taste of the stage resulted from a warning delivered by her nursery school teachers: "My mother was getting reports that I was very shy, which was flabbergasting because I was such a ham at home," she says. "So she enrolled me in a dance class when I was 4, and I was just gone. All I wanted to do was dance!" Picking up singing lessons at age 8, Hart followed a path of school and community theater that led her to the State University of New York at Buffalo, where she was the school's first musical theater major. "They didn't have a musical theater degree," she explains, "but they had all the components, so I was the first to combine them and make it my degree. I was taking 27, 28 credits a semester, then commuting back to Rochester every day to do shows. I did a five-and-a-half-year program in three years. It was hard, but great!"

A Little Bit Country: Hart fell in love with country music during her college days, inspired by Reba McEntire, Pam Tillis and the other talented women achieving stardom in the field. After graduation, she accepted the invitation of Nashville-based producers to go south and try her luck. "I spent about four years down there, and it was an amazing learning experience," she remembers. "In Nashville, it's about the lyric. They'd say, 'Speak to me more, sing to me less.' They focus on the story, and that was an invaluable lesson." Yet in the end, Hart realized she had broader goals as a performer. "At the end of the day, it wasn't being in that 'box' of a record label and being told what to sing and do and wear that was gonna make me really happy," she says. "I decided I needed to get back to New York."

The Divine Miss M: Hart barely had time to unpack in the Big Apple before a dream job presented itself: the chance to tour with the legendary Bette Midler. "I was painting my first postage stamp apartment," she recalls, "and my agent called and said, 'Bette Midler's looking for Harlettes.' The paint fell and crashed all over, and I did too! She's such an idol and an icon." Hart toured with Midler and company across the U.S. and Australia for two years, dazzled by the dedication and spirit of her boss. "She's everything you'd want her to be and more," she says of Midler. "Intelligent, funny, a perfectionist, and a hard worker—she's a first-one-in and last-one-to-leave kind of lady. It was the most wonderful job I've ever had."

Take Her or Leave Her: Hart happily reports that she was given great freedom in developing her take on Maureen, a key to keeping the role fresh as Rent enters its 11th year. "There's definitely a basis to the character," she notes, "but they're flexible in allowing each actress to put her own stamp on it. When you do something and [director] Michael Greif isn't sure why, if you can back it up and say, 'This is where my Maureen is,' he's totally cool if it's coming across real." For a time, Hart included a somersault in her signature "Over the Moon" number. "I took it out after some conversations with Michael," she says with a laugh, "but other than that, I've been able to put my own thing on it. There are a few marks you have to hit every night, but there are moments I have freedom—and whenever I have freedom, watch out!"

Fanland Love: Before Rent, Hart spent much of last year in the ensemble of The Wedding Singer, in which she also understudied the roles played by Felicia Finley and Amy Spanger. Not surprisingly, she has gotten to know some of the legions of both show's dedicated followers. "They're amazing!" she exclaims. "One of my sweet fans started a music MySpace page for me, and I'll get little gifts and wear them onstage sometimes. Another girl made me a cake in the shape of a moon with a cow jumping over it—it was brilliant. It's just an endless love fest." Asked who would prevail in a rumble between the two shows' fierce factions, Hart gives the question some serious thought. "At the end of the day, they'd probably all band together and start doing the running man while mooing. And peace would reign!" she says with a grin.

The Tango Maureen: Opportunity hasn't stopped knocking for the busy actress: Hart recently wrapped a workshop of an '80s jukebox musical called Rock of Ages and is attached to further workshops of the Broadway-bound Cry Baby, based on the John Waters movie, in which she's cast as bad girl Wanda Woodward. "I never thought I'd be playing a role originated by Traci Lords!" she quips. For now, sitting in her small dressing room at the Nederlander Theatre in colorful hand warmers and a knit cap, while a cow-shaped humidifier fires away, Hart stresses the importance of taking each day as it comes: "The best thing I can do is work hard and try to be open to all the possibilities, 'cause we ain't in charge, you know?" she muses. "Whenever that's where my head is, that's when everything great happens. Right now, I'm just happy to jump over the moon!"