EXCLUSIVE: Stockard Channing Raises a Toast to Allison Janney's Return to Broadway

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Allison Janney is making her long-awaited return to Broadway
as Ouisa Kittredge, an aging New York socialite who’s lost touch with the
passion that’s given her life, in the Broadway revival of Six Degrees of Separation, which is set to open at the Barrymore
Theatre on April 25. (Previews for the production start April 5.)

The role, of course, was made famous by Janney’s former West
Wing
 co-star Stockard Channing, who originated the part on Broadway and
later earned an Oscar nomination for the 1993 film adaptation. While knowing
that she’ll need to bring her own spin to Ouisa, Janney recently told ET that she does
wish to call Channing -- whom she also hopes will comes see her in the play --
and ask, “What’s the trick? Give me the secrets because I don’t have a lot of
time here.”

The lack of time is due to the fact that she’s been busy
simultaneously filming CBS’s Mom and
the upcoming Tonya Harding biopic, I,
Tonya
, with Margot Robbie. Of course, Janney is not one to slack off, so
she’s been running lines with her Six
Degrees
co-star John Benjamin Hickey over Skype so the two can hit the
ground running during their short rehearsal period.

MORE: The Many Personalities of Allison Janney

Yet, for Janney, the most daunting aspect about the show is
following Channing. “I'm going to send her an email and say, ‘Please give me
your blessing and say a good prayer for me,’” Janney said, to which Channing
replied through ET.

“I am more than flattered,” the longtime actress said via
email, “but the bottom line is that [Janney] is a divine actress in a divine
part in a divine play and I can’t wait to see her in it!!!!” (The many exclamation
points included in full.)

“I send her much love and many glasses to hoist together!”
Channing added. Here, here!

NBC

Now fans can eagerly look forward to a mini-West Wing reunion backstage at the Barrymore Theatre sometime this spring. In the meantime, Janney’s hoping to reunite with former co-star (and current Scandal star) Josh Malina, who co-hosts a weekly discussion about Aaron Sorkin’s NBC drama with Hrishikesh Hirway on The West Wing Weekly podcast.

The show has quickly become a hit among pop culture fanatics and those involved in the TV series. Currently just over halfway through season two of The West Wing, the trip down memory lane revisits each episode in the order they originally aired. And in addition to Malina, who played White House communications director Will Bailey, the podcast regularly features former co-stars -- Bradley Whitford, Richard Schiff, Rob Lowe and Janel Maloney have all called in -- and Sorkin himself. But sadly, Janney, who earned four Emmys for her role as press secretary C.J. Cregg, has not yet appeared. While there are seven seasons to cover in this extensive rewatch of the series, the actress has certainly been missed in early discussions of the show.

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“I’m going to be a part of it,” Janney promised. “I’ve been like, ‘Josh, I literally have no time’ -- I love Josh Malina and the podcast. I want to be a part of it, but I’ve just not had a minute to do it.”

“And please, if you’re putting that in there, tell him how much we’ve been trying to get a moment for us to do it,” Janney continues. So there you go, Malina and fans alike: Janney has plans to appear. It’s just a matter of when.

TheWest Wing is one of my favorite things I’ve ever done,” Janney added. “I love everyone in it still and we’re all very much still in each other’s lives whenever we can be.”