Abigail Kubeka is one of those glamorous, statuesque women who automatically turns heads. It's her striking appearance and also the way she walks into a room.
But once she starts talking, there's no fuss about her. She's doing a job she loves and feels blessed because of her success. When she joined the international touring cast of King Kong in the '50s, she was a young performer terrified by the big wide world out there. But that soon wore off as she had her own kind of success.
Yet when it came time to make choices about her future, she knew she needed to go back home. She wanted to perform for her people. "I had to fight from within," she says resolutely.
None of that was easy. As we look back, it's difficult to remember (especially for those of us who weren't directly affected) just how petty apartheid laws were, but for someone who lived through that kind of routine torture - singing from behind the curtains, being stopped by the police after curfew and made to perform on the street, thrown into a police van as they left the clubs to sleep at police stations overnight before being bailed out - it's part of who she is today.
"I think today's generation wants it all too easily," says Abigail, who not only had to battle the laws of the land but also the prejudice against women performers in those early years.
She's paid her dues, over and over again, and today she stands as inspiration to many youngsters who want to follow in her footsteps. "It made me strong and gave me confidence," she says "and I was rewarded in my later years."
Today she looks back and at her world now, and she feels blessed. "We have been fortunate," she says without any sign of bitterness. And she's quick to point out that in the past, there was no rancour amongst the performers. "It was the law, not the people," she says.
She is thrilled to be part of the Thoroughly Modern Millie crew because she loves to combine her acting and singing.
She plays the dynamic, quintessential New Yorker, Muzzy Van Hossmere and says the character is her in another life. "I so identify with her," she chuckles.
"Acting is my first love, but I have always been more active with my singing," says the diva. "Musicals allow me to act out a role, to show what I'm feeling." She has loved the rehearsal process with a fantastic cast - across the board. "They're like family," she says.
Her favourite singers are women like Nina Simone, Sarah Vaughan (with whom she has performed), Ella Fitzgerald and Shirley Bassey and she acknowledges that in her early singing career, they emulated the Americans.
"That's all we knew and who we listened to," she says.
Today's singers have a wider selection to listen to producing unique voices like Simphiwe Dana and Thandiswa. Her own singing ranges from African jazz to pop. She's self-taught and cannot read music.
"The facilities weren't there, but I have a fantastic ear," she says, "and write and compose many of my songs."
Abigail confesses that she won't ever stop working. "The world has been my classroom," says this mother of two who has remained in Soweto.
"Things have changed," she says matter-of-factly. "I haven't! I'm very comfortable in Soweto. It's time that people realise we can improve things in the township, we don't have to move to do that."
She loves interior decorating and this is what she enjoys doing when there's some time out.
She's been in the business for 47 years and if there ever has to be a change of careers, she'd love to do some motivational speaking, especially to the young.
"I'd like to guide them through their careers," she says. In the meantime, catch this sensational performer at Joburg's Civic.