Having just watched her performance as the merciless businesswoman/ dictator aptly named Killer Queen, walking into Annie Crummer’s dressing room at Rachadalai Theatre was quite a risk. Not until I spotted a plush doll of Winnie the Pooh on her window-side sofa bed. What a contrast to the costume, hair, and make-up she’s put on now.

It’s obvious here: the real Crummer is in fact the opposite to the character she’s portraying.

Physically, it’s the most challenging because of how far away she’s from me. But we need to get on. And when we’re on stage, she’s the boss.”

Crummer gives credit for this praiseworthy characterization to the director [of the Melbourne production in 2003, who also penned the script and staged the original London production] Ben Elton.

“I was told in details how he wanted this character to be. Also, he was actually doing the scene for me and I just emulated that. I realized that I had to let Killer Queen completely take over me—let her drive. There were some nights when I reached out to Annie to help her because Killer Queen just needed to calm down [laugh].”

“Unlike others in the company, MiG [Ayesa who performs her archrival Galileo] and I never had any [formal] training. All my training was from my friends. I even learned from my drag queen friends. [Killer Queen] is a whole mix of bad-ass divas, like Queen Latifah. I put them in a pot and I add what I think Killer Queen should be.”

“She has to be feared immediately even before I say a word. I know I have to be powerful and I’m not asking you to like me. I’m not coming to you; it’s you who have to come to me. And when I have all these ingredients of Killer Queen, I’m on my way [another laugh].”

Having been singing professionally since her childhood, a major incident took place when she was performing Killer Queen in Melbourne in 2003. She lost her voice during one performance and needed to be replaced by the understudy.

“When you’re a professional singer and lost that, you lost everything, including your confidence and self-esteem.”

That didn’t prevent Crummer from reuniting with Killer Queen again, though.

“When I had an opportunity to join this South African production, I had to get a proper training because the character’s [singing] voice is not my voice. I have a very small voice and it’s not a surprise that it blew up.”

“[This experience] taught me how to sing scientifically without losing the essence of Annie. I now sing with my body, and not my [pointing around her throat]—this is a no-go area. I had this wonderful voice teacher in New Zealand who started from expelling all my fear.”

You can be thrilled by Killer Queen, that’s Annie Crummer—especially her unique rendition of “Another One Bites the Dust” which was released as a single—until Sunday (July 27) when “We Will Rock You” draws its curtain. And that’s the most memorable killer voice we’ve ever heard in Rachadalai Theatre.

For more, www.AnnieCrummer.co.nz

written by Pawit Mahasarinand

published in Daily Xpress on Friday, July 25, 2008