While savoring her comic performance as the Old Lady in Broadway's Candide, Andrea Martin fans can't help thinking back to the days when she played Edith Prickley opposite Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short and the late John Candy, among others, in "SCTV." "We've all remained good friends," says Martin, who won a pair of Emmy Awards for writing the topical comedy series in the early 1980s. Looking back at "SCTV," Martin says, "I always think of that Joni Mitchell song: 'Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got till it's gone.' I don't think you ever realize how special something is while you're doing it. That's my challenge in Candide‹to hold on to the great experience I'm having right now. When I'm here, I miss my kids, but when I get back to Los Angeles, I long to do theatre."

Martin's two sons, now 14 and 16, recently joined her for the summer after finishing the school year in California with their dad."They're very proud of me," she says. "The thing they like least is when I show any kind of remorse or guilt about being separated from them." Martin laughs. "Just at the point when I feel I can be a good mother, they'd rather be with their friends."

Since winning a Tony Award in 1993 for My Favorite Year, Martin has devoted much of her time to theatre, including a well-received one-woman play, Nude Nude Totally Nude. "I like instant gratification," she says of acting onstage. "My dreams are no longer about being famous. My dreams now are to balance everything I have in my life. What brings me real happiness is showing up at a good job and feeling connected with my family and friends."