Something about the combo of Pittsburgh CLO and Sondheim makes Tony winner Beth Leavel positively giddy.

Maybe she's always this bubbly on the phone when discussing her craft. Or maybe it's just the thought of returning to Pittsburgh.

"I love Pittsburgh, I just do," said Leavel, who's back this week in the juicy role of the Witch in Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Woods."

"I think it's a fantastic city. The [Benedum] theater is so unbelievable, and it's such high-quality work. When it's summer and I'm not working on Broadway, I'm always looking at what Pittsburgh [CLO] is doing so if I'm lucky enough I can maybe come work and they'll hire me. ... It's like coming to a professional theater camp every summer."

Leavel, last here in 2005 for Sondheim's "A Little Night Music," is joined by Broadway and CLO veteran Hunter Foster and Jennifer Cody in the company's final show of the summer. "Into the Woods" cobbles together well-known tales such as Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Jack and the Beanstalk, along with a couple who can't have children and a Witch who will help them -- for a price. Through the prism of Sondheim's twisted sensibility, happily-ever-after certainly is not a foregone conclusion.

The Witch was originated on Broadway by Bernadette Peters and played again to acclaim by Vanessa Williams. Leavel, in full-out prep mode with her script in her hand as she spoke, was relishing walking in the footsteps of powerhouse performers.

"It's the full acting spectrum, this role," Leavel said. "She's funny; she's a witch; she's emotional. The journey she has to go through, it's just amazing. It's why we become actors, to express voices through these characters. I can't wait."

She said playing Charlotte in "A Little Night Music" at CLO helped prepare her for the title role in "The Drowsy Chaperone," which won her 2006 Tony and Drama Desk awards as the tipsy drama queen.

That role came to her as vague and underwritten, she said. After her audition, she and the show's creative team agreed it wasn't going to work. When her agent called to say she'd gotten the role, she thought he'd made a mistake.

"They decided to take the leap with whatever Beth Leavel ... was going to bring to that role," she recalled. "And because the palette was open, we all created this wonderful character, Beatrice Stockwell, a.k.a. The Drowsy Chaperone. Wow, I hope that happens to me again in my life. It was like painting. There's the canvas, it's blank, and all of us together painted this amazing woman, this amazing character."

As for the role ahead, she said, "Like the Witch, I'm looking forward to finding her voice through me, personalizing her through Beth, seeing what I can bring to that role."

She enjoys the challenge that a CLO production such as "Into the Woods" brings. The script was her constant companion weeks before she arrived here.

"It's almost like a class, and then you take the test the week you're there," Leavel said of the experience. "It really makes you bring out the most professional you can be.

"I remember that about 'Night Music.' I would get back after eight hours of rehearsal, go to my apartment, shove food down my face, and then start working. Then I would do three or four hours of homework."

She lamented that all of the hard work keeps her from enjoying the city. "Why can't I do an easy show in Pittsburgh? The first one was 'The Pajama Game,' which had so many songs," she said.

After four years away, she was looking forward to the time when lines were learned and the show was under way, so there would be time to see Pittsburgh with fresh eyes. "I hope to get to a baseball game," Leavel said. "I even still have my Pirates cap."

And perhaps her stay here with "Into the Woods" can inform her next Broadway role -- she'll be back in New York to star in "Mamma Mia!" on Sept. 22.