WC DECEMBER 13.
Just for a change, I saw three pantos early in the week – and enjoyed all of them, with just a few reservations. I went to Fareham to see Peter Duncan in Aladdin on Tuesday afternoon, did a quick interview with him, and then dashed off to the Mayflower to see my second Aladdin of the day, which starred Lily Savage. I was also impressed with a young friend of mine, Shireen Jordan, from Wave 105, who played the Slave of the Ring. She was surprisingly good and looked wonderful on-stage. Mind you, she also always looks great off stage. The following morning I was in Winchester to see a 10-15am morning show of Peter Pan. There were children everywhere and they loved it. I’ve only got two shows left to see this week. Recently I saw 7 in 5 days.
I had the unusual experience recently of running through a pheasant shoot, on a public footpath, with a few people carrying guns. It was a cold frosty morning and I definitely kept moving. I guess none of them would have wanted to be out running and I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to be shooting at birds. I suppose, it’s whatever gives you a buzz.
I caught up with an old friend at the Medina Theatre, Newport, on Saturday afternoon. Mitchell Armstrong was one of my favourite visiting cabaret stars during the 80s. He worked a lot for former Island agent Sylvia Thorley, In the summer of 1985 he was working seven shows in five days here on the Island. A great singer and one of the first to include several show tunes in his act. What’s he doing now? Playing King Rat in the Medina pantomime, Dick Whittington. He’s also on John Hannam Meets on Boxing Day, with the former Really Wild Show presenter Howie Watkins, also in the same panto Medina panto, plus Peter Duncan, Britt Ekland and Aiden J Harvey.
Being a perfectionist, I was horrified when, due to a few technical problems, we had a false start to Sunday’s John Hannam Meets. Thankfully, this has only happened a handful of times in the 20 years of the show. No doubt I shall have a few nightmares until I get it out of my system.