Entertainer Sonya Mendez's last theatrical role was Tup Tim in "The King and I" in 1976, when Diamond Head Theatre was known as Honolulu Community Theatre.

"A long time ago," she admitted.

But the show-biz veteran taps nearly 30 years of club singing when she suits up tonight as Bloody Mary in "South Pacific," premiering at Paliku Theatre (and commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical).

The singing? Easy, she's had tons of practice. The acting? She felt a little rusty.

"I had to get out of the box, be on my mark, know my cues and memorize my lines," said Mendez, 51. "In essence, I had to learn the entire play, to know where my scenes were, in a situation where there's no poetic license. I mean, as a singer in a club, if I forgot the words, I could improvise. Not here."

Mendez initially was reluctant to get involved in a stage production, though she admits that theater was the backbone of her initial training.

"John Bryan, a good friend, was choral director for the show, and he told me I should try out," said Mendez. "At first, I told him I was too busy. He was persistent, telling me, 'You really have to try out; this is your part.' I was supposed to go on a Monday, after playing in a golf tournament, but I was totally unprepared and not in the right space, so I told them I'd come back on Wednesday. Though still reluctant, I felt I should keep my word, so I auditioned."

She got the part and has no regrets.

"This is really what I trained for at 14 — light opera and musical comedy," she said. "I studied for eight years, but at 17, I joined Carole Kai (as a back-up singer in Waikiki revues). I loved doing musical theater, but over the years, I did other things. But I've kept my voice in shape, studying with (prominent voice coach) Neva Rego."

Club and stage singing are worlds apart, she said, largely "a different type of projection." So she's excited about returning to the genre.

In assuming the Bloody Mary persona, one of her first tasks was to figure out the character's ethnicity, described as Tokinese.

Mendez formulated a kind of Asian-French hybrid accent she's been test-driving through rehearsals, offering a sample with a highly animated and accented "Hey, lieutenant, you sexy man" line.

"I guess it's OK since no one's objected," said Mendez of her creation, which has a bit of pidgin, too.

She also was a bit surprised to learn that Bloody Mary was written "for a small Asian woman, who's petite, not a rotund mama that has become the norm."

Mary, said Mendez, was easy to access and inhabit, what with a beloved mix of funny lines. The show's song about her says "her skin is tender as DiMaggio's glove" and "she is always chewin' betel nuts ... and she don't use Pepsodent," so she's comic to the max.

But Mendez, as Mary, also delivers that poignant "Bali Ha'i" number. All serious, no gags.

She's working for the first time with director Ronald E. Bright. "The learning never ends," Mendez said. "He's everything they said he is. Wonderful. Very organized. He had our rehearsal schedules down way in advance; with the many things in my life and career, I plan everything around my rehearsals."

Over the past decades, Mendez has been one of the bright bulbs in Hawai'i's nightlife. After she left Kai, she fronted the show band Sonya and Revolucion and was the house attraction at Wave Waikiki from 1981 to 1986.

"Revolucion was a huge part of my growth," Mendez said. "I miss the unbridled '80s, a time when everybody wanted to dance and party till 4 a.m. I suppose we were able to stay up longer because we were younger."

In the early 1990s, and again since 1998, she was a member of the Paradise Sisters, doing some club and convention work. (She moved to Atlanta in 1993, but returned here in 1998 to stay.)

By day, she works at Pacific Media Publishing, assembling calendars for several area publications. She also is one of several wedding singers for two chapels at the Ko Olina Resort, where she averages 75 of the 200 ceremonies held there each month.

Her most recent Waikiki endeavor was a duo act called Just Two Girls, a partnership with singer Mimi Conner, at the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

Otherwise, she's devoting her energies to "South Pacific," ramping up her timing. "Bloody Mary really is funny, so if there's laughter, I don't want to jump in ... I'm learning all about pacing."

Mendez also is working on a new CD, "Back to the Islands," set for February release, and is one of a handful of jazz singers in PBS Hawaii's "Vintners in Paradise" benefit Nov. 13 at the Renaissance Ilikai Waikiki hotel's Pacific Ballroom.

Over the holidays, Mendez will be chirping New Year's Eve at the Kahala Mandarin Oriental.

And she no longer rules out stage roles and is open "to do another next year."

Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com.