South O' the Highway (and the North too)

Quogue resident Arthur Laurents is set to direct the upcoming revival of Broadway's classic Gypsy - the play that he wrote the original book for in 1959. Patti Lupone, longtime Broadway star and a Northport, Long Island native, will star as Mama Rose. Laurent's East End pals Roy Furman, Ted Hartley, Scott Rudin and Marc Routh are all a part of the production team.

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Southampton socialite Janice Becker and friends Fe Fendi, Ginny Knott and Beth Dannahuser are chairwomen for the White Heat Party planned for March 4 at Cipriani 23rd Street. The upbeat benefit will raise money for the performing arts, benefiting both Career Transitions for Dancers and The Harbor Conservatory for the Performing Arts, a division of Boys & Girls Harbor. On the honorary committee are a bevy of famous dancers including Peter Martins, Sylvia Waters, Bebe Neuwirth, Chita Rivera and Rosie Perez.

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The late, great Kurt Vonnegut, whose wife still resides in their Sagaponack home, has a new book being released this April titled Armageddon in Retrospect. The controversial book chronicles the bombing of Dresden, the same subject of his infamous and beloved Slaughterhouse Five.

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Author Bruce Littlefield in his well-received book Garage Sale, America gives thanks to East Hampton garage sale goldmines, where he says he has purchased many of the items in his Catskill home.

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Peter Castellana Jr., son of a reputed member of the Gambino crime family, has put his Upper Brookville 18,000-square-foot mansion on the market for $11.5 million. Castellana runs the Western Beef Company with his brothers and has always said that the business is run legally, even severing business ties with his father in 1996. The Castellana family is also known for its St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital fundraising, for which they recruited "Sopranos" cast members, interestingly enough. The elders of the alleged Gambino crime family have recently come under investigation again, much to the delight of New York newspapers.

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Quogue's Ruth Bowen and her husband real estate maven Billy Bryant were at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles when Ruth's longtime client and best friend Aretha Franklin received her 18th Grammy for best gospel performance for a duet she did with Mary J. Blige.

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Nick Lynch, son of Dan's Papers Advertising Sales Executive Jean Lynch, shot his 1,000th high school basketball career point on January 29. Congratulations to the young basketball star.

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Lance A. Gumbs was recently honored with the Eastern Long Island Branch of the NAACP's Community Service Award for the work he's done in the Shinnecock community on the East End. Gumbs, dressed in a bright purple silken cloth embroidered with white turtles (a fashionable item and also a symbol of the Shinnecock Indians), said he was moved by the award because his work "goes unnoticed, given our status within the Town of Southampton," referring to the controversial fight for recognition.

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Lindsay Lohan shouted out her Long Island love in this month's Harper's Bazaar. The newly sober (hopefully) starlet who graces the magazine's cover this month, said she "finds peace and strength" at her family's home on Long Island.

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Deeply felt condolences to the family of Roy Scheider, a favorite neighbor for East End residents and a great actor most famous for his role in Jaws, who passed away last weekend.

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