Boogie Nights at Sky City Theatre

By GREG DIXON

Time and space seem to have curved for singer Tina Cross. She was New Zealand's original dancing queen in the late 70s. Now, at 44, she's back in the boob-tube, flares and funky hair for Boogie Nights, a musical theatre revival of the period that made her name.

The show, which opens in Auckland tonight, is packed with hits from the decade style forgot - from Celebration to Disco Inferno to We Are Family to Blame It On the Boogie - and Cross knows them all.

The five-year-old British musical features four members of the London cast, including lead Mark Jones as Roddy and present Riverdance lead singer Michael Samuels as Spencer.

Cross joins fellow New Zealand singer Grant Bridger as the two Kiwi leads for the three-city New Zealand run, although others in the 16-member cast, including the four-piece live band, are locals.

The show is more than just old disco hits, she reckons. "In Christchurch people came along thinking they were going to get a whole bunch of 70s disco music and I think they were really pleasantly surprised by the humour, the script and the song and dance - because there's plenty of it.

"It's not rocket science. It's escapism, it's a fun show -and if you remember the songs you're going to get all those hits."

Cross believes 70s music is still popular because of the dance and melodic elements.

"Basically disco is R&B pop and it's good dance music, you can't get past that. The minute someone puts on Blame It On The Boogie at a party, people are up dancing. It's just infectious."

The show opens on the night Elvis Presley died with Debs finding out that wannabe rock star boyfriend Roddy might not be chauvinist pig she thinks he is.

Cross plays the band's lead singer and other love interest for the skirt-chasing Roddy, while Bridger is Roddy's Elvis-obsessed father.

The pair were given just a week to find their feet in the roles before the first local shows in Wellington a month ago. They had only three days with the director, met the cast on a Monday night and were in front of an audience on Wednesday.

"It was really difficult. The difficulty for me was mainly in the choreography," Cross says. "You can't really learn choreography overnight. It's 'repeat, repeat, repeat' and you need time.

"In the first week of the show I was really having to concentrate on remembering the next step and I probably didn't enjoy the show as much. But now I'm comfortable and it makes the shows much more enjoyable."

Boogie Nights is the latest in a string of musicals since the mid-90s for Cross, who first made her name by appearing on Ready To Roll in 1978 and having four singles (Make Love To Me, Everybody Let's Dance, Lay Back In Your Lover's Arms and Nothing But Dreams) and winning the Pacific Song Contest in 1979.

She moved to Australia in late 1980, joining the cabaret circuit before forming the group Koo De Tah, which had an Australian hit with Too Young For Promises in 1985.

The band folded in 1987 and she "fluffed around" playing solo in Sydney before she and the family returned to New Zealand in 1990, after giving birth to a son.

She found New Zealand had changed in her decade away. Music had moved on and light entertainment on television didn't exist. "It was much harder to get out there and get good gigs."

She formed a band, started working with different people and by 1992 she'd recorded the original Shortland Street theme before finding her way into musical theatre.

The Rocky Horror Show was the first in 1995 and she went straight into the role of Grizabelle in Cats. But she also found time to have a daughter, now 9.

In 1998 she and the family moved to Melbourne for a production of Sisterella and in 2001 she starred as Roxy Hart in a New Zealand production of Chicago alongside Bridger. Between these shows and performing at the annual Christmas In The Park, several one-off performances with the Auckland Philharmonia and corporate gigs, she's more or less semi-retired.

"I'm never consciously looking for something to fill my year because really, first and foremost, I'm a mum. It's much more serious than a hobby - you'd never get higher performance values from anybody - and it's still a major love for me. But it doesn't come first in my life any more."

* Opens tonight 7.30pm

* Season runs to Saturday April 26