But this is selling Day short. In her show, Doris Day – So Much More Than The Girl Next Door, Melinda Schneider (pictured) sets out, as the title suggests, to give an idea of the depth and breadth of Day's talents.

Schneider says, "She was a wonderful artist and a triple-treat: she could sing, dance and act. There was an originality about her that a lot of actresses don't have."

Schneider is best known as a country singer but has also shown her own versatility: she is an actress and competed on Dancing With the Stars.

Day's film career encompassed the rambunctious title character in the musical Calamity Jane, featuring the Oscar-winning song Secret Love and the Alfred Hitchcock thriller The Man Who Knew Too Much, in which she played a wife and mother (so much for the "virgin" image) and sang another Oscar winner, Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be), that became her signature song.

Both of the above-mentioned songs will, of course, be featured in the show, which Schneider wrote with David Mitchell, co-author of Dusty and Shout!. It's already been performed in several Australian capital cities, including a sold-out season at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and two weeks at Her Majesty's in Melbourne where, she says, "11,000 people came to see the show".

Schneider has also recorded a tribute CD, Melinda Does Doris, singing songs made famous by Day.

She performed a Doris Day-themed concert at the Southern Cross Club a while ago but emphasises that the forthcoming show is not a concert, but "a dramatic piece", in which Schneider, as narrator, tells the story of Doris Day's life through her songs, including It's Magic, Sentimental Journey, Everybody Loves a Lover and Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps.

"It's me with an eight-piece band and two gorgeous guys, singer-dancers – my Rock Hudson lookalikes," Schneider says. "It was her joy and joie de vivre that attracted me to her. I loved what she exuded."

She remembers seeing Calamity Jane as a child and that musical is still her favourite with its string of memorable songs including The Deadwood Stage and The Black Hills of Dakota.

"Another film I love of hers is Love Me Or Leave Me," Scheider says. In that 1955 biographical drama Day played stage star Ruth Etting.

"It was quite a dramatic film with James Cagney playing her ruthless, violent husband. In real life she was living the part," Schneider says.

Day was at the time married to Martin Melcher – "a ruthless, controlling husband", Scheider says – and one of "four tumultuous marriages" she had during her life. Her first, second and fourth ended in divorce but she was married to Melcher, her third husband, until his death in 1968 after which she discovered he and his business partner Jerome Rosenthal had bilked her out of a fortune. She was eventually awarded a multimillion dollar sum when she won a fraud and malpractice suit against Rosenthal.

Before he died, Melcher had – without her knowledge – signed her up for a TV show, which ran from 1968 to 1973.

"I loved The Doris Day Show – I've got them all on DVD," Scheider says.

Day has been heavily involved in animal rights activism since the 1970s and, although her career has been less busy in the past few decades, in 2011 she released My Heart, an album of previously unissued material, that entered the British charts at number nine and made her, at the age of 87, the oldest artist to have a newly-released album in the top 10.

Schneider says her show attracts a lot of older Doris Day fans, many of whom bring their grandchildren and so introduce them to the artist.

"I'm in touch with her manager quite regularly, a retired vet – animal lovers are the only ones she can trust; she's had terrible experiences with marriage in the past," Schneider says.

She got an OK on the script and says an old friend of Day's, who lives in Sydney, saw the show and liked it.

Day was, apparently, "pleased to hear it was a good show". Schneider was pleased to hear it.

She will be coming to Canberra tomorrow to hold "pawditions" at 10am at the Canberra Theatre for two ACT dogs to be "underdoggies" for the production. All breeds are invited and no previous stage experience is necessary but all dogs must be leashed and able to walk on stage, jump on a chaise lounge and be sung to as well as being obedient, professional and able to take direction well.

Schneider previously used her own dogs in the starring roles but says it's too difficult to bring her own beautiful dogs with her.

"My two gorgeous doggies are 13-year-old little sisters called Rosie and Daisy, who I've had since they were puppies. I call them 'the girls'. They have very different personalities – Daisy is highly strung, wiry and a great jumper, whereas Rosie is a typical Labrador and loves her food. Because of their age, I can't bring them with me all the way to Canberra."

¦ Doris Day – So Much More Than The Girl Next Door is on at the Canberra Theatre on Saturday, March 17 at 7.30pm. Tickets $79.90 adults, $69.90 pensioners, $49.90 children. Bookings: 62752700 or www.canberratheatrecentre. com.au