April 10, 2007 -- MICHAEL Sheen came over for a cup of coffee, black. You know the face if not the name. Prime Minister Blair in the film "The Queen," he's now Brit talk-show host David Frost in B'way's "Frost/Nixon," which opens April 22.

"People call me Martin," said Michael. "When I first met Charlie Sheen's father I said nervously, 'We have the same surname,' and Marty graciously answered, 'I know. That's why I've gotten the praise for all your performances these years.'

"My first job was with Vanessa Redgrave in the West End, and they painted my name on the Shaftesbury marquee as 'Martin Sheen.' I didn't even say anything. I was fresh out of drama school. Now she and I are on Broadway at next-door theaters."

From Anthony Hopkins' and Richard Burton's same Welsh town, he's made the N.Y.C. leap easily. "I love the New York vibe. I don't really fancy getting up 5 a.m. to make movies. I quite like going drinking after the curtain's down. And when I told the production company I wanted an apartment, they rented something I love in the Village. It's over the top campy with a vibrating bed. It belongs to a Brazilian hairdresser."

Now, "Frost/Nixon." In 1977, David Frost put his own money - including $200,000 just for Richard Nixon - into these now-famous tapes. All of TV refused checkbook journalism's selling of a disgraced president. Nixon did it to rehabilitate his image. Frost, no longer a major player, wanted it to resuscitate his own image. If not for RMN's on-air Watergate apology, Frost could have gone bankrupt. Today, 30 years later, comes playwright Peter Morgan, who wrote "The Queen," and his re-enactment of that time.

Says Sheen: "We originally opened in Covent Garden, a 350-seat, off-Broadway-type house. Frost was very nervous. Unsure how he'd come off. He came alone and snuck into the back. It's such a small theater that the audience noticed him and went cold. I was told he'd see me in the bar afterward. He was supportive but worried about inaccuracies. And he said about seeing his life portrayed onstage, 'It's like Yogi Berra's déjà vu all over again.'

"He subsequently came back with his wife and sat in front. He'll be here opening night, as will all the characters still alive."

Delightful, engaging Michael Sheen is divorced. His 8-year-old daughter lives in Los Angeles. He wore a tie and very British-cut clothes. When he left me he was heading to the Strand bookshop. So, about this other living real famous person he's played?

"Never met Tony Blair. Actors, y'know, are rogues, thieves, vagabonds. We must keep our distance from the establishment. Blair claims he hasn't seen 'The Queen.' He sent a note saying that if he ever plucks up the courage to watch it, he'll let me know.

"To play David Frost I researched, watched tapes, read everything. Onstage I sound like him, but I'm an actor not an impersonator. Frost says he's never nervous. Me, I am before every performance. While my hair's blow-dried into that '70s coif, what's calming is listening to music in my dressing room for a half-hour before.

"Reactions to this play differ on both sides of the Atlantic. England's relationship is with Frost. Here there's a thickness in the air when dealing with Nixon, who is played by Frank Langella. You can feel it. We're in previews so, with the new theater and mostly new cast, we're still not sure whether it's the audience or us."