DUELING DIVAS `DYNASTY' RIVALS SHOW THEIR CLAWS FOR `LEGENDS!'.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Writer

They don't actually want to rip out each other's vital organs, but if the perception will help sell tickets -- just as it helped boost ratings in the '80s -- Joan Collins and Linda Evans certainly don't mind if you believe they do.

Such a belief would hardly be unprecedented. The new production of ``Legends!'' opening Thursday (in previews Tuesday and Wednesday) at the Wilshire Theatre, in which the two former ``Dynasty'' stars play warring actresses, was originally a vehicle for Carol Channing and Mary Martin. Those two ladies really did not like each other, and their antics during a ``Legends!'' tour in the mid-1980s fueled ``Legends!'' scribe James Kirkwood to write the backstage roman-a-clef ``Diary of a Mad Playwright.''

Collins and Evans say they don't have those kinds of issues. They're not pals, and had not particularly kept in touch since ``Dynasty'' shut down in 1989. Director John Bowab, who has spent much rehearsal time with both ladies readying ``Legends!'' for its opening last year, characterizes the Collins-Evans pairing as ``a strong professional relationship.''

`Vicious chemistry'

``Is it a strong personal one? My instinct is no,'' Bowab says. ``They get along fine, and all that matters to me is that they get up on a stage and be great. I've been on shows where the people involved were best friends. That didn't work either.''

``One of the reasons people like this show,'' Collins adds, ``is they've always liked our vicious chemistry together. They'll get that in spades in `Legends!' ''

In the play, Sylvia Glenn and Leatrice Monsee -- who detest each other -- are lured into starring in ``Star Wars: The Play'' for Broadway by an unscrupulous producer who has them believing Paul Newman is involved.

Collins and her husband, producer Percy Gibson, had originally thought to star Collins in a tour of ``Auntie Mame.'' They brought the notion to Bowab, a frequent director of the musical adaptation, ``Mame,'' but Bowab passed.

A subsequent call about ``Legends!'' was more intriguing. Bowab knew the play from having been approached to work with Channing and Martin on the original production but had been unable to sign on. This time, Bowab jumped at the chance, and with Collins set to play the Joan Crawford-inspired Sylvia, the production still needed an actress to play her rival, Leatrice.

``There was a list of other theater-trained actors, and none of them really hit the bell,'' Bowab says. ``One day Linda's name was brought up. I said, `Let me call up Nolan Miller,' who was the `Dynasty' costume designer, and see what he thinks. He thought she'd say no.''

Far from Hollywood

Not only has Evans lived in Spokane, Wash., working sparingly since the end of ``Dynasty,'' the actress also had never before appeared on stage -- as in, not even in high school.

But with Nolan's encouragement, Evans agreed to at least give it a look.

``I read it, fully expecting to sit down and say, `Have a great time doing your play,' '' Evans recalls. ``Then I started laughing and laughing, and I thought, `My God, I think I'm going to do this.' It seemed so perfect for the two of us to do it.''

While not exact blueprints of Alexis Colby and Krystle Carrington, Sylvia and Leatrice are, perhaps, in the same general ballpark. Collins will, once again, find herself enacting an evildoer, while Evans takes on the deceptively sweet Leatrice.

``We do this effortlessly with each other. I don't know what it is,'' Evans says. ``We don't have to convince people we don't like each other. It's automatic. We come on stage together and you can feel them thinking, ``OK, here we go.' ''

Collins agrees: ``Our venomous attacks on each other work extremely well.''

Late debut

In terms of stage experience, Collins had the advantage, having performed on tour and in London's West End. Collins made her stage debut at age 9. When she took the stage with ``Legends!'' last September in Toronto, Evans made her stage debut at age 63.

Consider her hooked.

``It was just completely like jumping off a cliff and wondering if you're going to land anywhere,'' Evans says. ``I now understand why theater actors are really in love with the theater. There's this incredible intimacy between audience and actor, and it actually makes a difference in performance. Every night, the actors are all just a little bit different, based on their day and their life.''

Both actors contend there will be no fuel for a ``Mad Playwright'' sequel.

``I started to read it, and I said: `Nope, this is not going to be my experience. This is somebody else's,' '' Evans says. ``The whole thinking is that this is going to be fun.''

Collins also gives the ``Legends!'' venture a thumbs-up.

``One of the things I have in common with Sylvia is that we're very candid. I can't (expletive),'' Collins says. ``Speak to me and you will get exactly how I'm feeling, and what I'm feeling is the love of doing this play.''

Evan Henerson, [phone]

[e-mail]

LEGENDS!

Where: Wilshire Theatre, 8440 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday; through Jan. 28.

Tickets: $27.50 to $77.50. [phone]. www.Broadwayla.org.

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Photo:

(color) LINDA EVANS, left, and JOAN COLLINS in ``LEGENDS!''