Sheen-a-thon: Charlie and Emilio watch dad Martin take a bow in ‘The Subject Was Roses’

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Say what you like, but the Ministry is not a wuss -- still, we weren’t surprised at all when Charlie Sheen dodged us Sunday night.

We’d do the same if we were making our first public appearance since a Colorado court date two weeks ago at which, among other things, a restraining order was tweaked so we could again talk to and live with our spouse. And we were formally charged with a felony. Just sayin’.

Charlie turned out with the entire Sheen clan Sunday to watch dad Martin Sheen star in ‘The Subject Was Roses’ with ‘Six Feet Under’s’ Frances Conroy and Brian Geraghty from ‘The Hurt Locker.’

Brother Emilio Estevez sat behind Charlie at the Mark Taper Forum in downtown Los Angeles, but the seat next to the ‘Two and a Half Men’ star was empty -- Charlie’s embattled plus-one, wife Brooke Mueller, was in the Canyon rehab facility in Malibu.

The couple onstage wasn’t doing much better.

Martin Sheen plays the father in Frank D. Gilroy‘s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, which revolves around a dysfunctional nuclear family, 36 years after he opened on Broadway as the son. As the real-life dad of four, that’s a role Martin has down pat. So, naturally, the Sheen clan (including one grandchild -- Emilio’s daughter, Paloma) came out to watch the patriarch show them how it’s done for the first time since Martin’s last stage appearance in the 1991 Broadway run of ‘The Crucible.’

They had plenty of stellar company: The opening-night crowd included Patricia Neal (who starred in the 1968 film version of ‘Roses’), Rene Russo (the playwright’s daughter-in-law), Felicity Huffman, Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen, David Mamet and Rebecca Pidgeon, Sharon Lawrence, Jennifer Grey and ‘The New Adventures of Old Christine’s’ Clark Gregg, Harry Groener and Buck Henry.

At the packed post-party at Maria’s Restaurant, Martin Sheen was beaming. ‘It was a great night,’ he said, surrounded by well-wishers. ‘We had all the living members of the original company here tonight.’

By the way, if you’re planning on becoming a star yourself, here’s an important L.A. law you can learn from ‘The Hurt Locker’ costar Geraghty, who made his high-profile stage debut in ‘Roses’: It’s not who you know, it’s where you surf.

Geraghty became an unofficial member of the Sheen clan after he auditioned and won a part in Emilio’s film ‘Bobby.’

‘I kept in touch with Emilio, and we said we had to work together again,’ Geraghty said at the party. ‘I met Janet Sheen -- Emilio’s mom and Martin’s wife -- at a ‘Bobby’ party and she said, ‘Any time you want to come surf ‘-- they live out on Point Dume on this private beach -- ‘you come and let us know.’

‘So this summer I saw them and they said, ‘We’re going to do Emilio’s movie,’ and Emilio said, ‘I wish there was a role in there for you’ -- he directed ‘The Way’ with Martin -- and I said, ‘Hey, we’ll do something.’ I was in their driveway with Martin and Janet, and Janet had seen ‘The Hurt Locker.’ It was open on four screens. It had no press or attention yet, and she said, ‘We’re going to hold you to that.’

‘It’s funny. I had a meeting with Sofia Coppola and she said, ‘You remind me of a Sheen or an Estevez.’ ‘

-- Irene Lacher

Photos, from top: Martin Sheen, left, with his family, Emilio Estevez, Ramon Estevez, Charlie Sheen and Renee Estevez. Renee Russo with Brian Geraghty. Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen. And yes, a previous version of this post had different pics. These are better. Credits: Ryan Miller / Capture Imaging.

Related dispatches from the Ministry of Gossip:

‘The Hurt Locker’ gang on the SAG Awards red carpet

David Geffen, in person, at the Geffen? (Kudos, Annette Bening)

Click here and scroll down for all things Charlie Sheen and Brooke Mueller

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