We are sitting in a large lounge. Eighty of us squeeze in cozily and a piano in an alcove acts as stage front. The audience ranges in age, but most are over 50.

An older woman in a long red taffeta frock turns on a CD that blasts us with operatic duets. She seems to be busy setting up the stage. She pours tea and adds spirits (!), waits around and tinkers on the piano. We are intrigued. Will she ever speak? The answer we discover is no. However Gertrude the accompanist still communicates a vast world of information.

Just as we are studying the accompanist, Cynthia makes her grand entrance. With the poise of Coco Chanel she glides up the aisle to Mendelssohn’s Bridal March. She talks to the audience with British Received Pronunciation, shaking hands and beginning to share with us the stories of her illustrious life and adventures singing opera around the globe. She is celebrated opera singer and musical snob, Cynthia Fortitude. She resides in a world of musical mayhem and madness.

Between stories, the diva sings snippets of arias and other vocal meanderings that last a line or two, but it all seems a bit muddled. I am not sure whether I can work out where this is going yet. This is not a usual musical theatre performance. Helen Moulder’s Cynthia – a comic gem, with all the vivacity of a child – is sharing with us, rather than performing for us. We are endeared. We are captivated. Never mind we are lost, I am having so much fun along the way, and it really doesn’t matter.

Meanwhile Rose Beauchamp is playing amazing piano and playing the part of expressively silent and long-suffering companion/accompanist, Gertrude Rallentando. With the changing subtleties of her steely gaze, she swings between co-operation, frustration, deference and resentment. She is brilliant.

Then Cynthia drops it – the punch line that drops us in it: “So many of you have responded to our invitation to workshop our new opera. How many of you have a lot of experience singing opera?” Yes we will be guinea pigs for the rest of the show! We are now an Opera Chorus in training.   

We find ourselves singing the Pinus Radiata Chant and the Laughing Chorus. We howl like wolves, beat our chests to sound like an approaching helicopter and lift our arms to make tree shapes. At this point the reader may think that this show is not for them. But do not be mislead. We are almost weeping with laughter. We don’t care what she asks of us in the end, we just do it. As I scan the audience there is 100% participation.

Helen Moulder wrote this double-act, in collaboration with Rose Beauchamp and Michael Wilson, who also directed the piece. The Legend Returns premiered in 1998 and has toured several times over the years. The skill and experience of the actresses allows them to transport us to another place, where we let down our guards and become part of the theatre.

This theatre is not predictable or sober but sets the audience rocking and howling with laughter at the antics of performers who have set out to make a group of strangers one. Helen Moulder and Rose Beauchamp achieve this. The sort of comic theatre we see here from renowned NZ female actresses needs more promotion and audience access. A Comedy Festival that incorporated these girls with the likes of the Topp Twins would be brilliant for Auckland. Is there someone out there who can make it happen? 

Opportunity still exists to see the show in Titirangi on the 9^th and 10^th  July. [ The Sat 10th show, will be filmed by the Arts Channel!] If you are a Titirangi local buy your ticket at the pharmacy, otherwise book at iticket. If you absolutely can’t get there, Radio New Zealand has a recording of the show on offer and they say it is “One of our most requested recordings.” 
_______________________________
For more production details, click on the title above. Go to Home page to see other Reviews, recent Comments and Forum postings (under Chat Back), and News. 

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer