A YEAR AFTER MELROSE PLACE CLOSED ITS GATES, JACK WAGNER - THE CONNIVING DR. PETER BURNS - IS STILL IN A LATHER

Jack Wagner knows it's good to be bad. The 40-year-old actor, who was involved in many a sadistic scheme during his five years as Dr. Peter Burns on Melrose Place, is currently playing the title role(s) in the Broadway musical "Jekyll & Hyde." In his dressing room at the Plymouth Theater following a recent performance, Wagner is standing boldly in nothing but his black Calvin Klein boxer briefs, showing off his disguises for Jekyll's alter ego, the hateful Mr. Hyde. Grabbing a top hat that has a straggly wig attached to it, he enthusiastically declares, "This is the hat I wear when I kill people onstage."
     That role is 180 degrees from the heroic character he plays in TBS's Nowhere to Land. In the airline thriller, Wagner, as the captain of a 747 that has a deadly nerve gas device planted on board, tries to prevent his passengers from being killed. The actor, who got his break in 1983 playing Frisco Jones on General Hospital, took some time out to discuss his Broadway debut, the TV-movie and his new hirsute look.
TV GUIDE: What's up with the beard?
JACK WAGNER: None of the other Jekyll/Hydes have had beards, so I wanted to give another take on the character. It's a little itchy, but I'm getting used to it.
TVG: Does your wife, Kristina (General Hospital's Felicia), like it?
JW: Sometimes. Depends on where it is on her.
TVG: She's in Los Angeles. Is it hard being a bicoastal couple?
JW: I have two little boys [Peter, 9, and Harrison, 5] - there's some sacrifice there. But I'm lucky [Kristina] understands the deal, although she busts my balls, 'cause that's her job.
TVG: What interested you about playing a pilot in Nowhere to Land?
JW: It was a noble character, unlike Peter Burns, who had this dark side. Plus, I could do it in Sydney, Australia, where I'd never been.
TVG: Has the experience made you want to take flying lessons?
JW: I like private planes, but I'm not interested in flying them, because of all the mathematics involved. I became an actor because math was too tough for me.
TVG: Come on.
JW: Probably the hardest job I've had was when I worked in a grocery store in high school. I'd weigh vegetables and figure how much they cost. When I charged a woman $4 for a turnip, I knew my [grocery] career was over.
TVG: Why did you decide to play Jekyll and Hyde on Broadway?
JW: This is something that I know I can do and kick ass in. [General Hospital] and Melrose Place aren't critically acclaimed vehicles for actors. I think this is a role that can wipe your slate clean, and you can just become an actor.
TVG: You had a chart-topping hit in '84, with "All I Need." Have you been singing all along?
JW: No. People tell me to shut up when I sing.
TVG: Now that you're back into music, do you find yourself singing in front of the mirror in the morning?
JW: I spend most of my day in front of the mirror, actually.
TVG: Would you want to pursue a music career again?
JW: I don't really have any desire to. When I was recording, I had a lot of young girl fans. They pass me in the streets now and say, 'God, I used to follow you when I was 14! I don't anymore, because I grew up. I grew out of you!' I'm in VH1's Where Are They Now category, OK?