Gondoliers come to Little Venice

"You have to see this show to believe it," says Josephine Baird, who is about to open in an updated West End version of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Gondoliers.

Its tum-ti-tum melodies have been replaced by driving jazz rhythms and wild Latin dances which require Josephine not only to sing and dance, but to play the violin at the same time.

Not that she is being singled out by the show's creator, John Doyle, who demands exactly the same flexibility of her seven fellow-actors. They not only play all the characters, they perform the music at the same time.

The idea arose out of necessity, namely a lack of funds at the Watermill in Newbury where Doyle conceived this version of the show, updating it today and giving it a Mafia setting. "It has had a really positive result," maintains fellow star Rebecca Arch, who doubles on the flute which at least is less of a problem to cope with than the violin.

With the flute, it is physically impossible to sing and play at the same time. Not so with the violin, as Josephine has proved. "But it is really hard to sing another line when you are playing it ," she says.

The show had a sell-out, six-week season at Newbury earlier this year before moving to the Covent Garden Festival and now to the Apollo Theatre, where it opens on Wednesday.

"We have been getting a great response," says Josephine, but both she and Rebecca get a little miffed when members of the audience come up to them afterwards and ask if they were really playing their instruments.

Rebecca is tempted to respond: "Didn't you hear the wrong notes?" - although she usually manages to restrain herself, while Josephine momentarily wonders whether all her hard work has been worthwhile.

Gondoliers