A Peach of a Part

Nellie Melba--the soprano who took her stage name from Melbourne and gave it to peach desserts and toast--was a symbol of Australian national identity as much as a cultural icon. As such, she is also becoming a little-understood, mythic figure in her homeland.

“We think she has been very much maligned,� says Linda Cropper, the actress who portrays the tempestuous diva in “Melba,� a six-hour, four-part Australian miniseries airing Fridays at 9 p.m. on KCET-TV Channel 28 and other PBS stations. “People are pretty ignorant about her--I was one of them. We show the scandals, but I know we went all out to do a very truthful thing.�

Trained at the National Institute of Dramatic Art, Cropper considers herself primarily a stage actress, though she has done other miniseries and has a film, “Eden’s Lost,� showing in Britain. She has never been tempted to sing, however, and the voice of another young Australian, Yvonne Kenny, has been dubbed in whenever Melba sings in the series.

“The two biggest challenges were the singing--or the miming--and the aging,� Cropper says, “but I love a challenge.�

During the course of the series Cropper, who turned 28 in the middle of six months of shooting, is Melba from adolescence to old age.

“The padding you can live with,� she says, “though it does get hot. It was the first time I had worn prosthetic makeup.�

The result produced changes on and off the set. “It was very helpful to perform with that weight, and the older I got, the more people deferred to me--even friends who knew me well.�

Despite the makeup burden while shooting in a hot Australian summer, Cropper has no regrets about taking the part.

“I always try to go for a role if it’s something that’s going to stretch me, or just a great script. I like being in a situation where anything can happen.�