JANE BADLER

Brooklyn-born, Melbourne-based Jane Badler has run the gamut of fame and fortune; from Hollywood daytime soaps to Neighbours; from Miss New Hampshire 1972 to an evil alien in sci-fi series V; from a Rita Hayworth tribute cabaret to her 2008 solo album The Devil Has My Double.  Badler is aware of how extraordinary her story is, and in her latest collection of songs Tears Again with collaborator Jesse Jackson Shepard she channels her alter-ego: herself.

“This woman is me! She has had a crazy life like I’ve had. The reason we called it Tears Again is because it’s about a woman who every time she thinks her life is getting back on track there are tears again.  It’s a tongue-in-cheek look at soap operas – a fun way to allude to my background.” With songs going by high-camp monikers like Men Who Lie, I Want a Lot of Boys To Cry at My Funeral and I Don’t Trust Women, it’s all certainly lots of fun.

“It’s a romp. It’s ironic, with sad moments. There are strings, horns, lush multilayered sounds with weird twisted lyrics,” says Badler. Sydney is the only city that will get to see the whole album recreated in full force, with eight musicians and two back-up singers. Balder promises she is incapable of playing it straight, “I don’t know how to do that!” she laughs.

In amongst the showbiz splendour, you do catch glimpses of the young and vulnerable Jane Badler who once was, most evocatively in Snow Carnival Queen. It taps into, “The whole idea in America that if you are a beauty pageant winner, and a prom queen, your life is going to turn out a certain way … It’s bittersweet, looking at the promise of youth and how things can go astray.”

Jun 9, The Basement, 7 Macquarie Pl, Sydney, $30-78.80 (dinner & show), 9251 2797, thebasement.com.au