I WANT TO DO DUSTY PROUD -- FLAWS AND ALL, SAYS KATHERINE

Katherine Kingsley grew up listening to the music of Dusty springfield. ‘My mum loved her, so from a very young age i heard Dusty’s songs,’ said the actress (pictured). Which is good, since she will portray the acclaimed singer in a musical called Dusty, written by Jonathan harvey using material he gleaned from interviews with key people in the artist’s life. Kingsley, who is in the delicious production of she loves Me, on now at the Menier Chocolate Factory (it runs until March 4), said she found harvey’s script ‘really raw and really authentic’. it’s a play with songs, rather than a jukebox musical, and starts in the sixties, after springfield had gone solo. it follows her to america, where she recorded Dusty in Memphis: an album she often derided but which has since been hailed as one of the seminal records of the era. Kingsley stressed that her portrayal will not be an impersonation. ‘i hope to capture an essence of who Dusty was,’ she said. ‘there will be a few iconic Dusty moments.’ harvey’s text and Maria Friedman’s direction will show the singer’s flaws, too. ‘she did go to a dark place,’ said Kingsley. ‘But it’s not all doom and gloom — she had some laughs, too. ‘Dusty paved the way for people like amy Winehouse and adele. she was legendary. it’s a no-brainer for me to do it.’ the show’s song list is still being decided, but it’s likely to run to around a dozen numbers, including you Don’t have to say you love Me and son Of a Preacher Man. ‘you can’t have them all,’ Kingsley commented, ‘otherwise it will sound like a catalogue show.’ Friedman and producer eleanor lloyd will do a workshop of Dusty in april, and the plan is for the show to open in the West end in 2018. in the mean time, catch Kingsley in the BBC adaptation of evelyn Waugh’s Decline and Fall, in which she plays gamehuntress Pamela Popham.