Don't Worry, Mariah Has a Prenup

Don't Worry, Mariah Has a Prenup | At Last! Meryl Streep and Glenn Close | Whitney: It's All Right, She's OK | Madonna's Numbers; Farewell to a Soap Star; Sightings

Don't Worry, Mariah Has a Prenup

Mariah Carey — yes, she’s married, it’s confirmed, it really happened down there in the Bahamas. She is now Mrs. Nick Cannon. You always thought you’d marry Mariah? Well, you’re too late now!

More importantly: Miss Mariah and Mr. Cannon have a very nice prenuptial agreement.

Mariah apparently told a mutual pal of ours: "Anyone who thinks we didn't have a prenup is smoking something!"

This is not the Mariah Carey of old. She is a smart, smart businesswoman. For example: Post-Tommy Mottola, Carey nabbed $50 million from her short-lived deal with Virgin Records. After "Glitter," they just paid her all that to walk away!

She’s had three hit albums since then: "Charmbracelet," "Emancipation of Mimi" and the current "E=MC2." She has her own perfume line, as well. Mariah also has substantial real estate holdings, and let’s not forget the publishing royalties. Her name is on every song. This is not Whitney. She has a small fortune, and she’s not about to lose it, even in love.

As for the wedding, I know this much: Mariah’s cousin, Shawn McDonald, walked her down the aisle. And the Bahamas ceremony will not be the only one. When Mariah and Nick return from their honeymoon, expect a big party and maybe even a second ceremony, something not so secret, for all the singer’s New York pals.

June may be a big party month: I hear Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes also are planning a bash, this one a housewarming for their new Beverly Hills abode. If you’re bringing a book as a gift, the sci-fi shelf is already filled!

At Last! Meryl Streep and Glenn Close

Meryl Streep and Glenn Close, the two best actresses of their generation, sat together Sunday night during the intermission for "Boeing Boeing," the funniest show on Broadway.

It’s rare seeing them together, even though Close was one of the hosts of Meryl’s Lincoln Center tribute a couple of weeks ago.

Streep came alone to "Boeing Boeing" to support her friend Christine Baranski on the play’s opening night. She sat by the aisle, looked swell in a pants suit with long hair cascading down. Close sat in front of her but at the intermission moved into the empty seat beside her.

Fans came up to get autographs but didn’t know whom to get first.

Meanwhile, there were plenty of other stars in the audience, including Jane Kaczmarek, who’s also the wife of the show’s star, Bradley Whitford. Laurie Metcalf came over from her show and Frances McDormand was in the room with husband-director Joel Coen — they are both Oscar winners — after the matinee of "Country Girl" up at Lincoln Center. Liz Smith, looking hip as usual in a rich, soft leather bomber jacket, also had an aisle seat.

I also ran into Shubert chief Phil Smith, whose soon to be ex-wife, Tricia Walsh Smith, has turned their divorce into a YouTube extravaganza. Phil, dressed in a black suit and red tie, looked unfazed by all the recent unwanted attention. Good for him!

"Boeing Boeing" could not be more fun, thanks to the five very talented cast members. The set-up: The unexpectedly limber Whitford is an airline pilot headquartered in Paris and engaged to three magnificent flight attendants from different airlines and countries: Gina Gershon as a flamboyant Sophia Loren-like flight attendant from Alitalia, Mary McCormack, the loud Lufthansa German and Kathryn Hahn as the gold-digging Pan American.

Into this mix add Baranski in a black wig and glasses as Whitford’s French housekeeper, and British actor Mark Rylance — with an impeccable American accent — as his old friend from the U.S. who drops in.

Rylance originated this role in London, where he also is known as a fine Shakespearean actor. But I couldn’t help think of a role in a film that was shown at Sundance a few years ago at 9 in the morning. It was called "Intimacy," and in it, Rylance and actress Kerry Fox meet, don’t speak and have explicit sex scenes. Could this be the same person? Talk about range!

Call it "Noises Off" in Paris, because this is classic French farce — although there is not enough slamming of doors. One by one, each cast member seems like they’re stealing the show from the others — that’s how good they are. If for no other reason, go to see these three women. They are sex in the city!

Whitney: It's All Right, She's OK

Stop the presses: Whitney Houston’s OK. I got the whole story about her performance on the island of Tobago. So she didn’t know the difference between Trinidad and Tobago. Do you? I sure don’t.

More importantly, Whitney looked great. You can see for yourself from three pictures posted at wireimage.com. She’s in good shape, physically, and looked stunning in a white gown.

There are about five different videos on YouTube from camera phones showing Whitney singing her hits, including "Step By Step," "My Love Is Your Love" and "It’s All Right," plus her classic ballads "I Will Always Love You" and "Saving All My Love for You."

On the two latter numbers, Whitney is restrained, a little raspy and not particularly enthusiastic. My sources who were there at the Plymouth Music Festival have this to say:

"First of all, it wasn’t Whitney’s band. It was Rickey Minor and the 'American Idol' band, and they were loud, too loud for Whitney."

Second, "She’d flown down the night before. It’s a long flight from Atlanta. She did a rehearsal, but the travel time takes it out of you. So this wasn’t a full concert, just 30 minutes, and it was with musicians she didn’t know."

A look at the videos does show that on "Step by Step" and even "My Love Is Your Love," Houston sounds fine. I say, let’s cut her some slack. No singer is perfect every time. And Houston doesn’t perform a lot. With more shows and some consistency, she shouldn’t have any problems.

Her next big performance is scheduled for this Thursday in the U.K. for a charity. She’ll have her own band and a lot of rest, we hope, as antidote for jet lag.

By the way, Whitney was accompanied to Tobago by her brother Gary and sister-in-law, Pat, who’s also functioning as her manager. Daughter Bobbi Kristina stayed behind at home in Atlanta. Her friends say Bobby Brown’s upcoming "memoir" hasn’t affected them at all. "We were laughing when he said that Whitney got him into drugs," my source says.

Meanwhile, my insiders say Houston has finished five tracks for her upcoming album and is heading back into the studio shortly to do the next one, with R. Kelly. The album — which should include all her regular writers and producers such as Diane Warren and Babyface — is scheduled for November, but a lot of questions surround it since her mentor and executive producer, Clive Davis, has had his frisson with Sony BMG.

Madonna's Numbers; Farewell to a Soap Star; Sightings

Madonna’s "Hard Candy" was so pre-sold to commercials (SunSilk, for god’s sake!) and divvied up to various outlets, it’s no wonder that its message got a little lost. First-week numbers so far are even lower than expected, around 250,000. …

I am sad to report the great soap actress of the '70s and early '80s, Beverlee McKinsey, has died of a kidney ailment. With her blonde curls and husky voice, McKinsey created the unforgettable character of Iris Cory Carrington, the willful, wealthy, jealous adult daughter of a publishing tycoon on the great soap "Another World."

She was nominated for four Emmys in a row, from 1977 to 1980. In the '80s she went on to create the equally manipulative Alexandra Spaulding on "Guiding Light." But she didn’t suffer fools easily, and one day she simply left the latter show abruptly, citing a contract loophole, and never looked back. Isn’t that great? Heaven is in for a treat. …

I always wondered where Martin Scorsese got his trademark eyeglasses. It turns out they’re from Gruen Optika, same place that supplies Elton John, Paul McCartney and, legendarily in the past, Jackie Onassis. …