VERSATILE BERNADETTE PETERS HERE, THERE, EVERYWHERE.

Byline: Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Bernadette Peters, who has avoided steady involvement on the tube for years, now is turning to TV in what could end up a very major way.

The singer/dancer/Broadway star not only has a guesting upcoming on Tom Selleck's ``The Closer'' that could turn into a recurring role, she's also in meetings for a series of her own.

Wouldn't heavy TV involvement in Hollywood play havoc with her home life? ``Not at all,'' says the New York-based performer. Her husband, financial adviser Michael Wittenberg, ``can work anywhere. All he needs is a desk and a computer.''

Peters plays the love of Tom Selleck's life in the ``Closer'' segment that shot last Friday - and will be on the air Monday.

``My character has been absent for 23 years, and it's quite a reunion,'' she says. ``I sing to him, `Baby, It's Cold Outside,' plus another song that was written for me to do on the show. Tom and I also do a musical number - a Fred and Ginger type of number. Tom's a great dancer. The story is left open for my return, but I would hardly be his exclusive romantic interest. I play an actress, and she'd just flit in from time to time.''

Of course, nothing can be any more than conjecture until CBS decides if it will renew ``The Closer'' for fall.

Was the atmosphere on the set tense as the troupe awaits word on the fate of the show, which hasn't performed as well as expected?

``Not at all,'' says Bernadette. ``They're concentrating on work and making it a pleasant experience. How can you do comedy if you're stressed out and angry? They're neither of those things. They're putting everything in great perspective.''

Meanwhile

Peters, who received double Grammy nominations in 1997 and '98, is heading into the recording studio to cut yet another CD. She's also heading out on the road - again. Peters has gigs set for Greensboro, Pa., and Independence, Kan., this month, and then, it will be back to New York to do a charity concert in May. By May, she might know what's happening with the planned Broadway revival of ``Annie Get Your Gun'' in which she is to star. At one time, it was targeted for this fall. Now, she says, ``We'll know pretty soon if it will happen next season.''

From the inside looking out

Do Tom Cruise and his producing partner Paula Wagner have a project brewing with Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero? It certainly seemed that way the other day when the foursome were lunching together at an out-of-the-way L.A. dining spot, in intense conversation as they passed a Tennessee Williams book back and forth. Before Redgrave and Nero do anything else, they'll head to Tuscany, Italy, in late May, to make a sweeping film drama called ``Toscano'' with Donald Sutherland, Linda Gray and Charlton Heston. Redgrave and Nero go way - way - back, since they met making ``Camelot'' in 1966 and became lovers and the parents of a son.

Going to the dog

Jack Lemmon had his pooch on the set with him every day when he was making the upcoming ``Neil Simon's The Odd Couple II.'' But that's nothing new. The dog - a standard poodle - is Jack's companion on every movie he makes. It's a little disconcerting for those who first note the dog at Jack's heels on the sound stage, but the dog is so well-trained that it never is a bother. In fact, when the director calls ``action,'' the pooch sits - and stays. When ``cut'' is called, only then does Jack's four-legged buddy go loping off to his side. He says, ``There's a chemistry between us. ... I guess you might call us `The Odd Couple III.' ''

They love him

With ``Barney's Great Adventure'' opening Friday, creator Sheryl Leach reports she and her ``Barney'' partners are already in discussions with Polygram for a sequel. ``The anticipation is that the film is going to be successful, given the response from the advance screenings and feedback from the premiere,'' she notes. Certainly the preschool-fave purple dinosaur goes over in a big way with much of the celebrity crowd. John Travolta, father of 5-year-old Jett, phoned Leach about the new movie a few days ago. ``He's a big Barney fan,'' she notes. And the ``Adventure'' soundtrack is full of big-name fans: ``Linda Ronstadt, Sheena Easton, Take 6, Roberta Flack, Peabo Bryson ... Bernadette Peters does our theme song, which is a Jerry Herman song.''

With reports by Stephanie DuBois.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1) Bernadette Peters

``Closer'' role open-ended

(2) Vanessa Redgrave

Hush-hush project

(3) Jack Lemmon

Pooch parked on set