"After our bows, I turned around and there was Billy standing behind me and smiling," said Darren Holden. "The audience was in a frenzy...it was like a rock concert! Billy gave me a big hug and was very complimentary about my performance. I immediately got up from the piano so he could sit down and he then sang [the show's unlisted closer] 'New York State of Mind.' Billy still has a cast on his right wrist but he played anyway. I had no idea he was watching the show that night. It was such a thrill to be on stage with the 'man' himself."

The national tour for "Movin' Out," the new Broadway musical collaboration between pop legend Billy Joel and choreographer Twyla Tharp will launch from Detroit's Fisher Theatre, January 26th, 2004.

The premiere will play through February 15th, 2004 at the Motor City Nederlander house before venturing off to venues in Buffalo, Hartford, Boston, Appleton, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Denver, Seattle and San Diego. Dates and its extensive list of tour stops will be announced shortly.

Producers of the Broadway run - James L. Nederlander, Hal Luftig, Scott E. Nederlander, Terry Allen Kramer, Clear Channel Entertainment and Emanuel Azenberg - will also present the tour.

The bookless show, currently residing at Broadway's Richard Rodgers Theatre, uses Joel's song lyrics and Tharp's choreography to tell the story of five friends and lovers across three decades through love, war and loss. There is no dialogue and all songs are performed by pianist-singer Michael Cavanaugh, who sings non-stop and heads an on-stage band during the show.

Following a tryout at Chicago's Shubert Theatre, the show officially opened on The Great White Way October 24th, 2002, following previews since September 30th, 2002. The new show took home the Tony Awards for Best Choreography (Tharp) and Orchestrations (Joel and Stuart Malina).

The songlist includes many of Joel's hit songs and even interpolates some of his classical work. "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me" functions as a sort of overture, introducing the characters. The story kicks off with "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant" and moves through other songs as the popular "We Didn't Start The Fire," "Big Shot," "Uptown Girl" and "Captain Jack," as well as more obscure early work like "James," "Summer, Highland Falls," and "Prelude/Angry Young Man." As a final curtain coda, Cavanaugh belts out the apropos "New York State of Mind."

"I'm just sellin' away," he laughed.

The Long Island native, who has owned several high-end abodes in the Hamptons - including the Amagansett estate he sold to Jerry Seinfeld a few years ago for a reported $32 million - has changed his tune about another one of his properties on the East End, having recently listed for sale a waterfront Shelter Island home.

He rarely used it, Joel said. And he believes someone's going to get a good deal for the four-bedroom, 3.5-bath Tudor-style manse on 1.5 acres in the Smith's Cove area that he bought two years ago.

"It's a beautiful house," he said. "And I put a good chunk of change into fixing it up."

The unoccupied 12 year-old Shelter Island house features water views from almost every room, five fireplaces, a two-story foyer, a music room, a temperature-controlled wine cellar, and a professionally equipped kitchen.

The grounds include a terraced pool with spa and a 190-foot deepwater dock that can fit several boats - "plus I've got mooring rights," added Joel. A buildable one-acre lot is also included.

Sounds great. So why is he selling?

"I have a boat-building business in Shelter Island and assumed I'd be spending a good amount of time there," he told us. "But I ended up buying another property in Sag Harbor, where I've actually been spending more time."

Perhaps Shelter Island is a little too sheltered, we offered.

"It's really a boater's house," said Joel. "What a lot of people are scared about with regard to Shelter Island is the ferry and the waiting lines - if you miss the last ferry for the night, you're screwed. But if you're a boater you're never stuck. Even if you aren't a boater, it's about a minute from the south ferry."

Both Briana Stephanian and Penelope Moore of Allan M. Schneider are the listing agents on the property.

Earlier this year Joel sold a similarly appointed pad on the water with a dock, in nearby North Haven, a short ferry ride south of Shelter Island, that originally had an asking price of $8.5 million.

And about a mile from North Haven is Sag Harbor, where the "Piano/Boat Man" is now ensconced.

"I bought two properties in Sag Harbor right on the harbor front," he said from his present digs. "One was an antique store that was still zoned for residential use. Then I bought the place next door that was a bait-and-tackle shop, which was zoned commercial.

"I was allowed to build a residence on top of that. So I've got this incredible residential space and two docks on the harbor and this big balcony and this great view. And it's just...great!"

That's our East End roundup.

Meanwhile, Joel tells us he's about to move into his "main residence," a 15-acre Centre Island estate with a 15,000 square-foot Tudor-style house that includes an indoor pool and (surprise!) a dock on Oyster Bay, which he bought last December (for a reported $22 million). "The interior was renovated over the last year. And I'm about to move there in a week or two," he said.

"Movin' Out," currently residing at Broadway's Richard Rodgers Theatre, uses Billy Joel's song lyrics and Twyla Tharp's choreography to tell the story of six friends and lovers across three decades through love, war and loss. There is no dialogue and all songs are performed by pianist-singer Michael Cavanaugh, who sings non stop and heads an on-stage band during the show.

The bookless show received 10 nominations for the 2003 Tony Awards including a nod for Cavanaugh. The production took home two prizes - one for Twyla Tharp (Best Choreography) and one for Billy Joel and Stuart Malina (Best Orchestrations).

"Just good food," he tells us. "I'd like to get involved in restaurants or the gourmet food business."

Perhaps an Italian restaurant would be nice.