PLAYING IT BY EAR; SINGING ACTRESS SHOWS OFF EXTRAORDINARY TALENT FOR IMITATION IN `LITTLE VOICE'.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Daily News Film Writer

English actress Jane Horrocks can do a dead-on imitation of just about any singing diva you can name. Judy Garland warbling ``Over the Rainbow''? No problem. Shirley Bassey belting out ``Goldfinger''? Can do. Marilyn Monroe cooing her way through ``Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend''? Easily done.

In fact, maybe a little too easily done. Horrocks' impersonations are so good that the producers of her showcase film, ``Little Voice,'' felt it necessary to add a prominent postscript at the end of the movie declaring that the actress did indeed do all her own singing.

``I still get asked about it all the time, though,'' Horrocks says, laughing. ``I don't know why. I would have to be a brilliant mime artist if I had actually lip-synched it.''

Instead, Horrocks will have to content herself with being hailed as a brilliant impressionist - and not a bad actress, either. In ``Little Voice,'' she plays a fragile young woman who barely speaks but can uncannily imitate the singing voices and personas of stars like Garland, Bassey, Monroe and Marlene Dietrich. It's a role Horrocks originated six years ago at the London National Theater in Jim Cartwright's popular play, ``The Rise and Fall of Little Voice.''

``The play created such a fantastic atmosphere,'' says producer Elizabeth Karlsen. ``What appealed to me most was the way it turned the story of someone finding her own voice into at once a `Wizard of Oz'-style fable and a moving drama presented with brilliant, contemporary music. It was very clever and I thought it had the potential to make a wonderful film.''

That potential languished for a long time, to the point where Horrocks, who performed the role on stage for eight months, became kind of bored with the whole thing. ``Too much on-again, off-again, on-again stuff for me,'' she says.

Several playwrights and screenwriters had a crack at turning it into a movie, while Horrocks moved on to television and movies, most notably, playing the quarrelsome bulimic in Mike Leigh's ``Life Is Sweet'' and a flighty PR assistant on ``Absolutely Fabulous.'' Just when she had all but forgotten about LV, she got a call from writer-director Mark Herman, saying he was going to make ``Little Voice'' into a movie.

Herman, who adapted and directed the hit play ``Brassed Off'' two years ago for Miramax, concedes adapting the play to the big screen was no ordinary task.

``I can easily say it was the hardest writing job I've ever done because, in essence, the play is about a girl who never leaves her room, and that's not very cinematic.''

``The best resource we had was Jane,'' Herman continues. ``I wouldn't be doing the film without her. She has lived with the character for so long that it really is a part of her.''

Adds producer Karlsen: ``What makes Jane so perfect is that she is physically very tiny with this wonderful, childlike face and haircut. Yet out of this fragile figure comes this unbelievably huge voice.''

After a long layoff, Horrocks had to reacquaint herself with the dynamics of belting out Bassey. She started doing singing impersonations when she was 10 years old, singing along with her parents' record albums to entertain guests at parties. When playwright Cartwright heard the imitations while doing a show with Horrocks, he decided to write an entire play around her talents. Thus, ``The Rise and Fall of Little Voice'' came into existence.

For the movie, which co-stars Brenda Blethyn as LV's ear-splitting mother and Michael Caine as the small-time talent agent who hopes to cash in on her talent, Herman decided to film Horrocks' big musical performance entirely live.

``We didn't want anyone to think there was any trick to it,'' Herman says. ``I thought it had to feel like it was happening in the here and now. It was extremely difficult to do, but I think it paid off.''

Indeed it did. Horrocks' dynamic singing and stage presence prove to be so raw and immediate that the audience almost needs that postscript during the final credits to assure themselves that the whole thing isn't some elaborate trick. Horrocks is just happy the performance finally has been captured on film. She's five months pregnant and has a 1-year-old son already in tow, so her schedule doesn't allow her much time for performing.

``I don't even have time to listen to music anymore,'' Horrocks says, sighing. ``And as for my singing, I did try to sing some Judy Garland to my boy once when he was 5 months old. He screamed bloody murder. I'm afraid my singing career - at least around the house - is over and done.''

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: Jane Horrocks' impersonations are so good, the producers of ``Little Voice'' include a footnote in the credits about her vocal talent.