Carol Kane as Madame Morrible.

After years of moving -- almost seamlessly, it has often seemed -- between stage, movies and television, Carol Kane suddenly finds herself "somewhere over the rainbow," exploring a world she has never experienced before, at least not in her adult professional life. And it looks a lot like Oz.

Cast as Madame Morrible in the production of Wicked that's now slated to open at the Canon Theatre March 31, (Sunday's opening night performance has been postponed because of injury) Kane seems calm as she prepares for her musical theatre debut.

"I've never been in a musical before as an adult," she confides in that famous little girl voice -- a voice that immediately conjures visions of Simka, the Emmy-winning character she created for television's Taxi.

So, after all these years, how did she feel when she was approached to play the role of an over-the-top headmistress of a sorcery school, a role played on Broadway by Carole Shelley?

"Shocked, excited and very tickled," she says with a giggle. "Because I love (director) Joe Mantello. I worked with him on The Vagina Monologues."

And while musical theatre may be a new genre for her, now that she's up to her neck in it, she's glad she has made the leap.

"Nothing has been as hard as I feared," she says.

"It's been an adjustment to learn to work with an orchestra (and to get used to) one's voice being so loud. I've never heard that before.

"The scale of it is so massive, compared to anything I've ever done on stage," she continues. "And it's a fairy tale, which is as it should be. If you're doing something that involves magic, imagination is unlimited."

Wicked also affords Kane the opportunity to try something else she has rarely had the opportunity to explore as she pays a visit to the dark side as a villain.

"It's just really meaty to get to be the bad guy," she insists. "Look at Danny DeVito (in Taxi)."

One of the keys to villainy, of course, is finding a way to like the character you're playing, she says.

"You must feel justified in one's actions. You can't think of yourself as bad."

Fortunately, she has found much to like in Madame Morrible.

"I'm a good disciplinarian at the school," she says, suddenly in character. "I'm bright. I have a good sense of humour and I think I know how to get ahead in the world and I'm willing to share that information.

"Oh, and I have great hair," she says, giggling again.

Now that she has found her way into musical theatre, Kane would like to do more -- of everything. That includes film and television and both the dramatic and musical stage.

"I don't see myself as one or another sort of actor," she says, earnestly. "When something comes to me, I'm looking for the writing. If the writing is good, I want to do it. If you're supported by good writing, you don't fall."

Don't talk to her, however, about how all the good writers are disappearing.

"I think that is in the same vein as 'Those were the good old days,' " she says dismissively. "There are young writers coming up who have a unique voice. We get comfortable with a certain magnificent few -- and it's hard to open your mind."

Clearly, for Kane, it takes fine writing to send her over the moon -- or over the rainbow.

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