AN unusual melange of entertainment forms is to hit the Bermuda stage next week. Legacy Falls is a musical in the traditional sense, but it's also a play within a play, a soap opera, and a laugh-out-loud, comedy.

Plot aside, for that reason alone, it's interesting.

To be staged at Daylesford Theatre, the musical follows the antics of a typical soap opera, Legacy Falls, and its cast of divas. An original piece, it was composed by James Burn, who penned the music for the Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society (BMDS) Christmas pantomime last year, Cinderella.

"It's actually the fourth musical I've written," said Mr. Burn. "The last was a big, epic, sung-through musical, historical, on which I collaborated with Joel Froomkin. (After that), I wanted to do something that people could talk in, a show where you could move people along with the dialogue and then get to the songs and move it along. I really wanted to do an old-fashioned book musical, and, although (Legacy Falls) isn't old fashioned, the form is."

A lyricist and composer, Mr. Burn studied music at Oxford. A teacher of piano and music theory at the Bermuda School of Music, he has been actively involved in Bermuda's theatrical scene since he arrived on the island in the mid-90's.

The musical is set on the sound stage of a long-running soap, Legacy Falls, as it commemorates its 30th year. There isn't, however, much to celebrate for the cast and crew - the ratings are dropping and if the long-suffering producers and director don't come up with a new story line quickly, heads are likely to roll.

"It's about a soap opera that's probably had its day already," said Mr. Burn. "It's still America's favourite daytime drama but it's losing ground. The title is a bit of a play on words because it's set in a town called Legacy Falls. What the network decides to do, is kill off half the cast by having an earthquake in Legacy Falls. The cast don't know who will be killed off and they're very worried about that. That's the basic premise of the whole thing."

Although not a huge soap opera fan - he was required to do some research on soap opera syle in order to pull Legacy Falls together - Mr. Burn admitted watching them as a child.

"It's set as a soap opera because I feel if people are going to start singing, you need an excuse (for that to happen). It's always been the case that people would do shows within shows because it's a good format to allow people to sing a song out of the blue and I thought I'd hit on a soap opera because it's a fairly larger than life (production). Form my point of view, a soap opera is such an overblown milleu, you can forgive people for bursting into song - they're already larger than life, some of them have monsterous egos. I can justify that to an audience whereas, to set a book musical in an office, for example, it's harder to justify people all of a sudden jumping on a table and doing a musical number.

"I grew up watching the English soaps - Coronation Street and East Enders - but they're very different from the American soaps. Legacy Falls is an American soap opera so there's a big difference. So I did a bit of research and watched some daytime TV. There's something very camp and fun about the way they're put together and the way the relationships turn on a dime. Although, reading some of the plots of the American soaps I didn't even go half as ridiculous as I could have done. They have zombies and ghosts and dolls that have come to life and all sorts of things; Legacy Falls is tame by comparison."

According to the show's director, Jo Shane, the music is sure to appeal to the audience.

"Musically it's very diverse and the choreography is very interesting. It's put well together musically, I think. There's quite a mixture of people who've done a lot of musical theatre before and there's some people who have done some musical theatre but are now coming into bigger roles."

Added Mr. Burn: "It's all been done very tongue in cheek. The choreography is fantastic and the company's very good. They're on their toes and they do a great job. I think audiences will enjoy it."

qLegacy Falls is showing at the Daylesford Theatre Thursday, May 8 through Saturday, May 17 at 8 p.m. There is no performance May 11. Tickets $20, are available at the box office today, Monday and Wednesday between 5.30 p.m. and 7.30 p.m. and also on performance nights between 5.30 p.m. and 8 p.m. To purchase tickets via credit card, telephone 292-0848. Internet bookings are available outside box office hours at www.bmds.bm.