Becki Newton And Michael Urie at Monte-Carlo Television Festival

Ugly Betty, in season 3, will feature more guest appearances from fashion insiders and stars of the theater now that the show has moved to New York. According to Michael Urie and Becki Newton, who attended the Monte-Carlo Television Festival, one of those will be Patti Lupone!

“The move to New York is going to be great because New York is where the fashion world really exists and we can have more appearances by people like Naomi Campbell and others in the fashion industry,” said Newton, who came to Monte-Carlo with her mother. “It will bring more fashion to Mode Magazine and make it seem more authentic.”

Urie is looking forward to working with more theater actors (theater is in his blood, so to speak). He “desperately wants Patti Lupone to come back on the show. You know she is doing Gypsie on Broadway and I had e-mailed her asking if she would fly out on her day off and she said she would. Now we’re in New York and she doesn’t have to. I don’t know if they will make peace, there are a lot of ways that can be played. I imagine they’ll make peace, then fight again, then make peace.”

I’m so excited about this; the story line with Marc and his mother was so sad – it can’t end there. Oh, and our friend Cliff? Urie confirms he’ll be back. “They really don’t tell us much about what is going to happen because they know we would come right out here and tell you everything, every detail — even lines,” he said. “But I can tell you Cliff will be back. We haven’t heard much about him, but everything seems to be going okay with the relationship.”

At the festival, which this blog’s parent network b5Media is covering, Urie used his press time for a little comedy (he can’t help himself). While Newton sat calmly, Urie re-arranged the plastic covered cushion on the couch he was sitting on, stretched out on it, and fidgeted in an attempt (sometimes successful) to make the journalists laugh.

More after the jump!

“We really just play. It’s like two idiot kids on a playground,” Urie said about acting with Newton. “Acting on television is sometimes difficult because things are so fragmented. You shoot scenes out of order and do things in pieces. Her [Newton's] instincts are so good and she is so in the moment that all I have to do is look over and I know how to play it.”

Newton added, “when people see us together they get silly, which is really fun. Either they walk up to us and start gossiping or they are afraid we will make fun of their outfits — which we would never do.”

She says “the greatest gift I have ever received is that the writers decided that Amanda fancies herself a rock star. There will definitely be more singing and I imagine as references to the theater becomes more a part of the show that will be incoporated in song in some way.”

[Hurray to more singing! But please, nothing like the Wicked episode!]

The two neither confirmed nor denied the possibility of a musical episode of Ugly Betty.

When questioned about their favorite outfits from the show, both went for comedy: Newton loved her rubber suit (as did most of the straight men watching). She says, ”I didn’t even have to open my mouth to be funny, I just had to run around the set in a rubber suit”. Urie loved his Betty Halloween costume (he still has the braces).

Urie and Newton are happy to be embraced by the gay community, and flattered by comparisons to Will & Grace’s team of Jack and Karen.

“I think it’s great, we are both flattered,” said Urie. “Look, we are all so happy and excited to be a part of this show and really love what we do. Will & Grace lasted a long time and if we are being compared to it then maybe we will be as lucky and last for a while, too.”

You can read all about the goings on at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival by going to b5Media’s industry blog, MediaScribbler.

Image: Newscom