Frances the blonde bombshell goes wild in a bathful of gin!

FRANCES RUFFELLE took the opening lines to Joseph Moncure March’s jazz-age poem The Wild Party to heart. ‘Queenie was a blonde, and her age stood still,

‘And she danced twice a day in vaudeville.’

Ruffelle will play Queenie in Michael John LaChiusa’s musical version of March’s long-form incendiary piece, set in a Twenties New York speakeasy.

As with Queenie, Ruffelle’s age seems to have stood still. She has three children, between 21 and 28, but looks the same as she did when she was the original Eponine in Les Miserable, more than 30 years ago.

‘My mum and dad have got young skin; I don’t go in the sun — and I drink lots of nice red wine,’ was her explanation for her youthful looks.

Ruffelle, pictured in a ‘bath of gin’ for the part, didn’t want to cheat on the blonde bit, either. She has spent four months transitioning her dark brown tresses to a lighter shade.

‘I’m going for full platinum blonde — but I’m doing it carefully,’ she said, adding that the tips are now platinum, while the rest is a golden colour.

She’ll have achieved full Jean Harlow by the time The Wild Party begins at The Other Palace (the old St James Theatre) on February 13.

Ruffelle observed that she and Queenie have something else in common, too. ‘Queenie’s beginning to realise that there’s more to life than parties and being famous on the stage. I worked out a long time ago that I like my home and my family more than anything else,’ she told me.

In the show, directed by Drew McOnie, two men — Burrs and Black — fight over Queenie at a gin and drug-fuelled party. John Owen-Jones is Burrs and Simon Thomas plays Black.

Broadway legend Donna McKechnie took the role of Dolores, the club madam. She was in the original Broadway casts of Promises, Promises; Company; and A Chorus Line.

Victoria Hamilton-Barritt, Dex Lee, Ako Mitchell, Gloria Obianyo and Tiffany Graves are also part of the ensemble.