People

By Michele Orecklin

HE'S MOVIN' OUT

When fellow middle-aged New York songwriter Paul Simon staged The Cape Man, his first musical on Broadway, he wrote all new material. The show tanked. So BILLY JOEL isn't taking any chances. When he tests the waters on the Great White Way in October, he'll use songs that are already proven hits. Conceived by modern-dance guru Twyla Tharp, who will also choreograph and direct, Movin' Out will use the successful formula of Mamma Mia!, the hit Broadway show in which a story line has been concocted to accompany the greatest hits of ABBA. The plot of Movin' Out will follow six friends from 1967, when audiences will surely be treated to a rendition of Goodbye Saigon, to 1987, which seems a natural for Easy Money. The show will have a pre-Broadway run in Chicago, then begin previews in New York in September. New Jersey natives need not feel left out: Drive All Night, a musical that grafts a story line about a working-class hero onto the songs of Bruce Springsteen, is also in the works.

HE'S BOWING OUT

For years STEPHEN KING has made us afraid of things we didn't even know we should fear: vintage cars (Christine), Saint Bernards (Cujo), children who worship corn (Children of the Corn). Only now do we learn that what curdles his blood is the idea of ending up a hack. Not exactly the same as being caught after dark in a pet cemetery, but chilling enough to make King, 54, decide to stop publishing at year's end. As he revealed to the Los Angeles Times, his greatest "nightmare" is "finish[ing] up like Harold Robbins," the novelist who churned out books into his 80s. King said he worries about repeating himself, which seems inevitable, since he's published at least a book a year since 1974. He plans to finish the last three novels in his "Dark Tower" series and this fall publish From a Buick Eight, about a car he describes as "not normal." Chances are it will be abnormal in ways different from Christine, but at least we'll probably be spared a novel about children who worship sweet potatoes.

SHE'S SPEAKING OUT

ROSIE O'DONNELL is not shy about much, but on matters of her sexual orientation, she has remained coy. There was that moment last year when she dedicated her Daytime Emmy Award to Kelli, which is not the name of any of her three adopted children. And last week she guest-starred on Will & Grace playing a lesbian. But with the publication in April of her autobiography, Find Me, O'Donnell walks right up to making her orientation clear. A publicist at Warner Books confirms that O'Donnell ruminates on her romantic relationships with women but says the issue of O'Donnell's sexuality takes up only a small portion of the book. No doubt it will be the portion most widely discussed, including this question: Could it be that O'Donnell's crush on Tom Cruise is really just an appreciation of his acting?

SHE'S STEPPING OUT

Her mother Judy Garland was accompanied down the yellow brick road by a tin man, a scarecrow and a lion. When LIZA MINNELLI is married in March (to concert producer David Gest), she will be accompanied down the aisle by an equally eccentric crew. In an interview for the March issue of Vanity Fair (featuring a shot of Minnelli with a descendant of Toto's), she reveals that Elizabeth Taylor will be the matron of honor, Whitney Houston will sing, and Michael Jackson will give the bride away. "People don't realize how much we're in love," says Gest. But the couple aim to change that: they've invited 1,200 people to the wedding.