GREEN & GLOVER: Good on yer!

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By Stephanie Green and Elizabeth Glover

"Would I mind? Only if I can get a copy," teased Academy Award-winning actress Cate Blanchett when asked if she would pose for a picture with her fellow Aussie, Ron Barassi, a football legend in their home country.

Mr. Barassi, Miss Blanchett and others from the land Down Under turned the Kennedy Center into a virtual Oz on Saturday night for the Sydney Theatre Company's production of the Tennessee Williams' classic "A Street Car Named Desire," in which Miss Blanchett plays the lead role, Blanche DuBois, and also serves as artistic director.

The show was followed by a party hosted by the Australian Embassy, where Miss Blanchett and her co-star Joel Edgerton, who portrays the brutish Stanley Kowalski, and director Liv Ullmann were joined by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her husband, Martin; lobbyist power couple Tony and Heather Podesta, and other stars from political, media and diplomatic circles.

Australian Ambassador Dennis Richardson was a no-show, but his wife Betty, worked the room and raved about Miss Blanchett's "brilliant" turn as the tormented Southern belle.

From what we overheard, Miss B's "torment" may have been more than method acting.

The Oscar-winning star of "The Aviator" and "Elizabeth" intimated to some of her Aussie chums that toward the end of the play in a scene in which she has no shoes, a splinter lodged into her foot. Ouch! She admitted that she doubted she could make it to the end, but she soldiered on in pain, and even turned up at the after party close to midnight looking relaxed and wearing stilettos, to boot.

During her remarks to the crowd, Miss Blanchett, whose father was American, wished the gathering a happy Halloween and warmly thanked everyone for coming and celebrating Williams' masterpiece, which she said "belongs to the world" and "crosses national boundaries."

In addition to the performance being acted by an Australian cast, the play is directed by a Norwegian, Ms. Ullmann, a highly acclaimed actress, who was rumored to have been linked to former secretary of state and ladies man Henry A. Kissinger in the 1970s.

"No, we never dated," she bristled when asked about their relationship. "To date means to kiss, right? No, we were just friends. We went to some events together, and I know his wife."