HAD Dusty Springfield looked down from soul heaven on Melbourne last night, that prima donna of self-doubt might have asked: "What Have I Done To Deserve This?"

The world premiere of Dusty: The Original Pop Diva - a $6 million musical heaving with hits and hairdos - was a grand tribute to the modest girl who never really believed she was the greatest white soul singer.

Dusty is a jukebox musical. Every song, from "I Only Want To Be With You" to the final lament of "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me," is a well-tested winner.

But this is no frivolous frolic and has no happy ending. If you are feeling at all fragile, Dusty will probably make you cry.

In this brief telling of the Springfield story, nothing is spared.

We endure Mary O'Brien's puberty blues and the confusion of young Dusty the timid bisexual, the good Catholic girl who thinks a cup of tea can cure all ills but who then hits the bottle with such ferocity her career free-falls for more than a decade.

The '70s scenes, in which Dusty becomes fodder for drag queens and suffers the ignominy of AA, are heartbreaking.

The woman responsible for this dizzying three-hour spin is the astounding Tamsin Carroll. Just 26, the former Grease star owns Dusty as if that platinum blonde's ghost were guiding her.

She evokes the voice that Petula Clark said was "impossible to imitate", nailing the plummy North London accent and, most poignantly, the vulnerability that was never far from the diva's surface.

Oh, and she keeps her perfect beehive.

Australia's best music theatre performers backed her.

Mitchell Butel was a stand-out as Rodney, Dusty's most loyal friend.

Just as Dusty's decline became too much to bear, Butel seized comedy from tragedy with a riotous send-up - with appropriate wigs - of Shirley Bassey, Cilla Black, Lulu and other rivals for Dusty's crown.

Alexis Fishman was a terrific Mary (young Dusty), her voice blending beautifully with Carroll's.

Even before its official opening, Dusty's box office earnings were close to $3 million in Melbourne and Sydney.

The show feels well-honed and solid.

Given such a tremendous opening night - before a capacity crowd including Bert and Patti Newton, Peter Costello, Seekers stars Judith Durham and Athol Guy, Kath & Kim's Gina Riley and SeaChange's Sigrid Thornton - Dusty is poised to be the No 1 musical of 2006 and possibly the next Australian blockbuster to leave our shores.

Alison Barclay and Simon Plant
Herald Sun
January 13, 2006