VIVA LA DIVA!
‘AbFab’ icon returns as a fading opera star in new rom-com
AS a star of global hit sitcom “Absolutely Fabulous,” Joanna Lumley’s most hilarious moments hinged on her character Patsy Stone’s inability to endure anything less than five-star accommodations. But in real life, the British actor is as intrepid as any hostel-hopping 20-something.
“I can sleep anywhere,” the 75-year-old Lumley told The Post, on the phone from London. “A tent, a concrete floor, under shrunken heads. I’ve stayed in the grandest hotels, in little bed-and-breakfasts, in yurts in Mongolia.”
Lumley’s latest film role, in the new comedy “Falling for Figaro,” took her to the Scottish Highlands, which did not disappoint. “We went to a famous lake, Loch Lomond, and this tiny village, Luss, that’s known as the prettiest in Scotland. We found a farmstead with this shambolic barn. We wanted it to look sort of crumbling, for where my character was living in a sulky fit of rage that she was no longer a great star.”
In the rom-com, Lumley’s character, a retired opera singer, reluctantly agrees to coach an aspiring opera performer (Danielle Macdonald of “Dumplin’ ”). Hugh Skinner (“Fleabag”) co-stars as a village local who also dreams of becoming a singer.
The film sees Lumley leaning into comic faded-diva grouchiness, which she said is the opposite of most real opera singers she’s acquainted with. “The old-fashioned diva, who has to be petted and have everybody be cautious around her, that has almost died away,” said Lumley. “Most opera singers I know are sweet and approachable, extremely calm and ordinary people.”
How, you may wonder, does Lumley know so many opera performers? “Here’s the thing: I’m married to an opera conductor,” she said; her spouse is Stephen Barlow, to whom she’s been married since 1986. “So, I had this wonderful insight through my husband’s eyes.” Lumley, one of the most wellknown faces and voices in the UK, got her film start in 1969 in the 007 movie “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,” as a Bond girl with all of two lines. She rose to icon status with “AbFab” and has since found her calling hosting travel documentaries and advocating for human and animal rights. “With a broken heart, I have to say my last big trip was to Cuba and Haiti,” she said. “I’ve been following the plight of Haiti, and the complete anarchy that followed that catastrophic earthquake. My friends there say it’s completely desperate.” Her favorite destination? “I tend to fall in love with each last place I’ve been to,” she said. “My travels have taken me on the Trans-Siberian Railway, all the way across Russia; to my birthplace in India; following the Nile; to Japan; all around Greece. I just fall in love again and again. I always urge people to travel — and not to just go to a holiday resort.” The more remote the destination, the less likely she’ll be recognized — not that she’s bothered by attention. “That’s never troubled me; it’s lovely to talk to people, but it’s also very nice not to be known,” she said. She gets why so many still love her and Jennifer Saunders for the gonzo duo they played on “AbFab,” a sitcom that ran for five seasons over 11 years — plus specials and a movie — and predated so many other shows about unapologetically debauched women, such as “Shameless,” “Fleabag” and “I Hate Suzie.” Edina Monsoon (played by Saunders) and Patsy are “quite glamorous, in a ridiculous way,” Lumley said. “And what we love most of all is making people laugh. As you look around the world, and the days seem to get darker, laughter is magic.”