Judi Connelli is fresh off the stage when I meet her for a chat in the bowels of the Arts Centre. Having just finished her second-last performance of My Fair Lady at the State Theatre, she's buzzing with post-show adrenaline.

Still, she's happy to take time to reflect on her 40-odd years in show business.

"It's not easy to have a career in this country," she says, as we arrange ourselves in one corner of the green room. "But I've been blessed with a big voice. It's a voice that I demand a lot of, and it continues to supply me with the emotion that I want to pour out. When it gives up the ghost, that's when I'll know it's time to go."

Connelli has been with her partner, fellow singer Suzanne Johnston, for 12 years. The two have worked together as performers in that time, including a successful tour of the cabaret show Take Two. Does it work, mixing business with pleasure?

"It's beautiful," sighs Connelli. "We have a few difficult times, but singing together is so gorgeous. I never get tired of hearing her voice."

It's obvious the two have a strong relationship. "We share a very deep understanding of life. She is the one person that I share all my ups and downs with."

But, I venture, have you ever felt nervous, offering up your relationship on stage for possible public scrutiny?

"It doesn't seem to worry us. I know that I am loved by Australian audiences, and it's not an issue anymore," she says. However, such acceptance hasn't always been forthcoming.
"When I came out in 1993, I think I probably lost a few jobs because of it. But you can't be someone you're not. Doing an intimate show like a cabaret, it's very important that people know your truth," she says.

The day we meet, Connelli is looking forward to the prospect of a few weeks' rest before she begins rehearsals for The Production Company's mounting of Stephen Sondheim's classic Follies. She chooses her roles carefully these days, but couldn't pass up the opportunity to appear in this, her third Production Company project. "Follies is SUCH a show," she says, with typical theatricality.

Many of her contemporaries seem to be bridging the gap between musical theatre and television nowadays, popping up as judges or celebrity contestants on the new breed of variety shows. Is it something Connelli would ever consider?

"Oh god...I'd prefer to be in my vegetable garden than trying to look glamorous on some show where I'd be falling over a lot!" she says. "Television's not for me."

Perhaps not any more, but as we wind up, I decide to try my luck with a question about one long-forgotten television role. Connelli had a brief stint in Prisoner in the 80s, playing the bizarrely named 'Cookie Rosie'. Was the show the hotbed of lesbianism we all secretly imagined it to be?

Thankfully, my question is met with laughter.

"I don't know what to say to you! I think you're looking for the sordid story here, and it's not going to happen," she teases.

"My character had this tragic storyline involving incest, and I remember getting so angry in acting out the part that I put my fist through the set. How's that?"

That'll do nicely.

By NICK BOND

The Production Company's
Follies
Starring John Diedrich, Phillip Gould, Debra Byrne, Anne Wood and Judi Connelli
State Theatre, Southbank
July 16-20
www.theproductioncompany.com.au