The Soaps: General Electricity
by Michael Logan
Unless you count that time last spring
when he shagged the town hooker on a bar stool, General Hospital's Luke,
played by Tony Geary, hasn't been intimate with a woman since the collapse
of his marriage to Laura (Genie Francis). And frankly, even that 20-year partnership
wasn't very steamy. So take note: On December 22, Luke comes very close
to having sex with the very married Felicia, played by Kristina Wagner
(their near coupling, caught on video, will be seen by Felicia's husband, with
explosive results). The unexpected Wagner-Geary teaming is a rare bright spot
in the dreary ABC soap, and fans are eating it up.
"But it's not like they asked for it," says Wagner. "Our writers were looking to bring out the sexuality in Luke, to make Tony more of the leading man he was in the past. But Tony and me? Who would have thought? I doubt the fans could have even imagined it."
True enough. Though both are longtime GH fixtures, the stars rarely had scenes together until this year, and their acting styles differ drastically: She likes to keep things straight, simple and sweet; he likes it dark, dangerous and dizzyingly complex and is notorious for his ad-libs.
But Wagner is up to the challenge. "She's married to one of the all-time wild men [actor Jack Wagner], so there's nothing I throw at her she can't handle," says Geary, noting that the oddball pairing makes perfect sense. "Luke is in the world's worst midlife crisis. His wife is sleeping with the enemy. His son is dead. And suddenly, here's this gorgeous, alive young woman who is fascinated by him. She is a lifeline, and he grabs it."
That said, Geary insists the romance, wherever it's headed, "won't change the bigger picture. Felicia is not the great love of Luke's life. We all know who that is."
Strange bed-fellows? Wagner, Geary
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