‘Legends!’ cast full of multi-talented actors

When stage and screen actress Tonye Patano auditioned for “Legends!,” the classic cat fight comedy starring “Dynasty” divas Joan Collins and Linda Evans, she hadn’t finished her lines yet when Collins blurted out, “Oh, I can’t wait to work with you.”

That kind of enthusiasm seems to be the hallmark for the touring company of “Legends!,” the newly revised comedy that showcases the glamorous rivalry between two fading and somewhat desperate movie stars.

“Joan’s comment really tickled me and endeared her to me,” said Patano. The actress perhaps best known to television audiences for her recurring role as Heylia on the Showtime series “Weeds” plays Aretha — “the glue and heart of this piece” — in “Legends!,” opening at Boston’s Citi Shubert Theatre March 6.

Written over 20 years ago by Tony Award-winner James Kirkwood (“A Chorus Line”), “Legends!” showcases both Collins and Evans as two actresses courted by an unscrupulous young producer who wants them to star in a new Broadway show, despite their decades-long animosity. Convincing both leading ladies to go along, he misleads them into believing Paul Newman will star alongside them.

This setup provides the background for a full-blown comic confrontation and resolution between the two divas, played to the hilt by both veteran stars in a fashion somewhat reminiscent of their internationally acclaimed television show.

“Working with Evans and Collins is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It’s been a delight to mix my earlier memories of these women with my current experience of working in the industry with talented people,” said Patano, who called the show “sassy and tongue-and-cheek,” describing it as “light fare.”

“Though the show never explains in what way my character works for the ladies,” she said, “she allows them to have their feud and unleash what they need to. But she’s there to mediate, to keep them on track.”

Born in California, Patano moved at age 6 to Columbus, Ohio, where she was raised by her mother.

“I didn’t have any contact with my father, who was in the industry, from [age] 3 until junior high school. But I physically hooked up with him in college, and that was an amazing experience,” said Patano, who describes herself as “born black, raised Catholic, went to a Methodist College and a Jewish graduate school.”

And it was that Jewish graduate school that gave Patano not only her Hub connection, but her drive to connect with the characters she portrayed.

“I received my MFA at Brandeis in theater performance in 1987. My professor, an amazing gentleman, saw I was talented and quick on my feet — I could pick something up and run with it. But he showed me what it meant to look deeper,” she said.

During a recent telephone interview, Patano shared an experience from kindergarten that seems to have laid the groundwork for her future success.

“I was reading the class ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ and thinking, while my peers were laughing at me, how much fun it was,” she said. “That day, I realized something important about communicating with people. Imparting a story was the best teacher in the world. And by doing something I loved, I felt a kindred spirit of hearing and giving.”

She’s been entertaining people ever since.

As for “Legends!,” the multitalented thespian — who also teaches, coaches, directs and writes — thinks of the show as a party.

“If you buy a ticket, you come anticipating a party or at least an experience,” she said. “I intend to engage the audience, the final character in the equation, in a give and take. It’s a fun evening, a sort of snapshot of a glamorous time in the ’80s.”

“Legends!” runs March 6-11 at the Citi Shubert Theatre, 270 Tremont Street, Boston. Tickets are $39.50-$69.50. For tickets, call Telecharge at 800-447-7400 or visit www.citicenter.org.