Robert Newman (Josh) is taking a break from GUIDING LIGHT and stepping into the role Antonio Banderas recently played on Broadway — Guido Contini in Nine. Newman will appear in the musical at the North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly, Mass. from Aug. 24 through Sept. 12.

"Ellen [Wheeler, GL's executive producer] gave me a block of time that she felt would work out during the summer, so I started looking around and eventually I came across this," explains Newman. "It's a cool story how it all came about. Amanda Serkasevich, who plays Darcy, was in the studio one day saying she's going to do this production of Nine in Boston, and I mentioned I was looking around. She said, 'Oh, you should read for it.' I saw the show way back when Raul Julia did it, 20 years ago or something, so I didn't remember it that well. I thought: Raul Julia, Antonio Banderas, Robert Newman...I don't know if that really works," he recalls with a laugh.

But Serkasevich encouraged him to go for it. "So I thought about it. I picked up the soundtrack and listened to it. Love the show. I forgot how beautiful the music is and how wonderful the story is. Anyway, I contacted the theater and said, 'Hey, this is who I am,' and it turns out Barry Ivan, the director, and I had had a conversation about musicals a few years ago after I had done a play at Stanford Theater Works in Stanford, Conn. So here we were again many years later talking about this particular one."

Newman admits he's nervous. "I'm hardly ever nervous playing Josh," he relates. "I might be anxious or concerned or a lot of other things, but I'm never nervous. In this situation, I haven't done a musical in a while. But I feel pretty good with it, and they're being wonderful — very protective of me. It's all going to work out nicely. I'm jazzed about it and scared at the same time."

For ticket information, call the box office at (978) 232-7200 or visit www.nsmt.org.