Medlyn around with the music

By Tara Werner

The postcard that is spread throughout Auckland's restaurant belt speaks volumes about Helen Medlyn's new show at the Maidment Studio with her musical partner-in-crime, Penny Dodd.

Holding a large stiletto heel in one hand and grinning maniacally at the camera, the singer is in one of her usual outrageous poses, almost daring the audience to come to Hell on Heels, the duo's "all woman" cabaret.

The word flamboyant is often used in connection with Medlyn, a silky-toned mezzo described by one reviewer as "the queen of the big finish."

Tracked down during rehearsal, she sounds just as exuberant on the phone as she is on stage. Liberally garnishing her speech with the very theatrical "darling, her energy level would exhaust many.

One of New Zealand's most versatile performers, Medlyn can play dramatic roles, sing musical comedy and tackling grand opera.

"Why Hell on Heels? Well, Penny and I have called the show that because firstly it's a pun on my first name - I've often been called Hell, I wonder why - and secondly the programme is all about the vagaries of fortune and fame."

Pianist Dodd is quieter in manner but just as assertive. The two have been firm friends over the years, and their association goes back to the time they first worked at the Mercury Theatre, where Dodd was musical director.

"I just love working with Helen and we really feel comfortable with each other. I've known her for 17 years and things haven't changed.

"Even though it's a risky business financially, we're putting on the show because of a sense of adventure.

"In a way it's a musical acknowledgement of our mutual past, working in musicals, jazz and opera together."

The two have created a sequence of songs from a wide pastiche of styles that suits the intimate, cabaret-style Maidment Studio.

"It's a chance to relate to the audience in a much more personal way than on the big stage, says Medlyn. "Nobody will be more than five rows from us, and the experience of being so close is unusual. Absolutely not a microphone in sight."

Dodd says the programme is "calculated to make people ponder while being entertained."

"We're hopefully providing some insights into the fortune, power and fame that's behind a lot of what's happening in thea-tre, in particular with women.

"Songs like the Sondheim classic Ladies Who Lunch introduce the first theme, fortune, and his Send In the Clowns suggests that the lust for fame precludes all other things until it's too late.

"Finally the third theme, the sheer fragility of fame, power and fortune, culminates in Don't Cry For Me Argentina, where the woman who has had all these things is robbed of them."

Who: Helen Medlyn and Penny Dodd

What: Hell on Heels

Where: Maidment Studio

When: Thursday to May 30