AS THE WORLD TURNS fans can see Colleen Zenk Pinter (Barbara) in a completely different role this summer — she stars as matchmaker Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly!.

"Oh, my God, I am so excited," gushes the actress. "It's been so long since I've done a full musical. I certainly have sung and done things over the years, but I haven't been able to do a show — and to do a show of this caliber, one of the greatest characters ever written for musical theater! I'm humbled by the fact that I'm going to follow in the steps of Carol Channing, Pearl Bailey, Mary Martin, Barbra Streisand."

Zenk Pinter is looking forward to performing live as well. "I'm sure I'll be nervous but I won't go crazy," she admits. "I'll be prepared. The only time I truly get nervous is when I'm not completely prepared. And that's the worst thing that an actor can do is not be prepared, especially when you're in front of a live audience every night. But if you're prepared and you're ready and you're up to the task, you'll be fine."

She had also planned to have very special co-star in her husband, Mark Pinter (ex-Roger, ALL MY CHILDREN; ex-Grant, ANOTHER WORLD), but instead, he's in a production in New York. "Mark had to bow out because he is now starring off-Broadway in My Sweetheart's The Man In The Moon, with the Hypothetical Theater Company," Zenk Pinter explains. "He's playing Stanford White in the story of Evelyn Nesbit, 'the girl in the red velvet swing' — which ended in the trial of the century in 1906." Kit Paquin (ex-Marina, GL) is playing Evelyn, whose love triangle with famed New York architect White and Harry K. Thaw ended with White's murder, a scandal which was also told in the musical Ragtime.

So, fans might be seeing just a bit less of Barbara later this summer to accommodate Zenk Pinter's star turn. "Chris (Goutman, ATWT's executive producer) was so great," she raves. "He said, ‘I want you to do this with my blessing.' They're going to work around me and I couldn't be happier."

Zenk Pinter stars in Hello, Dolly! at the Pocono Playhouse in Mountainhome, Pa., July 6 - 10 (570-595-7456); and at The Academy Theatre in Meadville, Pa., July 13-17 (814-337-8000). If you miss it this summer, the Bucks County Playhouse will host another run from Wednesday, Oct. 26 thru Sunday, Nov. 6, 2005.

Mark Pinter will appear in My Sweetheart's The Man In The Moon through July 10 at the 14th Street Y. For tickets, go to www.theatermania.com. He will also star in My Fair Lady at the Bucks County Playhouse July 27 - Aug. 7 (215-862-2041), and at The Academy Theatre Aug. 31 - Sept. 4. For more info go to www.buckscountyplayhouse.com.