By Victoria Barker

SPEAKING to Dutch jazz singer Laura Fygi, it is easy to see why she was recruited to play the lead role in home-grown theatre group Zebra Crossing's upcoming musical, Victor/Victoria.

The 54-year-old was animated to the point of being theatrical at a recent interview with my paper at her suite at the InterContinental Singapore hotel.

Asked about her role, which is based on the 1933 German film about a struggling female singer pretending to be a man impersonating a woman in Paris, her eyes light up.

"I'd had previous requests to do musicals like The Wizard Of Oz and Tarzan in Holland - the kind of thing I would go with the children to see but wouldn't want to play in, you know," she said in a faux whisper.

The mother of three - two sons, aged 16 and 18, and a daughter, aged 13 - added: "Then, when I got the e-mail from Loretta (Chen, Zebra Crossing's artistic director), I thought, "Oh man, this is my musical, this is the musical'."

Fygi said she was drawn to the character - her first acting role - not only because of the music but also because of the musical's setting.

"I adore the glamour of the 1930s," she enthused.

It looks like it will be a good couple of months for Fygi, since she released an album last month in conjunction with Victor/Victoria, which opens at the Esplanade Theatre on Nov 9.

Aptly titled Songs From Movies & Musicals, the two-CD compilation features songs like As Time Goes By from Casablanca (1942) and Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949).

Fygi, who started out in a Dutch girl-band called Centerfold in the 1980s, is already planning her next record - an album of big-band songs. Slated for release in 2011, it will mark her 20th year as a solo artiste.

"We've been trying to contact Mr Michael Buble. I'd love to do a duet with him, so hopefully it will work out," she added with a smile and a wink.

vbarker@sph.com.sg

Catch Victor/Victoria from Nov 9 to 29 at the Esplanade Theatre.

Tickets from $36 to $160 (inclusive of Sistic fee) are available from Sistic (www.sistic.com.sg or 6348-5555). Songs From Movies & Musicals is in stores.

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