WC APRIL 8.
Had a wonderful Monday night watching the First Act Group performing a show of Beatles music. It created great excitement and the usual emotional moments. The County Press has a picture on the front of their Weekender supplement and my review in the inside pages. Another night to savour – and not an ego in sight. It was all teamwork.
Popped over to the Mayflower on Tuesday night to see the brilliant touring version of Hairspray, starring Mark Benton as Edna Turnblad. My daughter, Caroline, came with me. She was head of wardrobe on the London production for a year or two. She met a few old friends before the show and I nipped in to have a quick re-union with Mark Benton, whom I had interviewed the previous week in Milton Keynes.
I picked up two local interviews for forthcoming John Hannam Meets on Wednesday. Paul West, the manager of the Newport Co-op, will prove a fascinating radio guest and so will John Wright, once of the head of the Island’s Education welfare department. He’ll include stories of his past career as a truant officer.
I shot over to Chichester on Thursday morning to interview actor Peter Polycarpou, famous for hit series like Birds of a Feather and Sunburn. He’s got such a fascinating story and was in the original London productions of Les Miserables and Miss Saigon. Currently he’s one of the stars in The Pajama Game, which opens at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester on April 22. Later that day I rushed up to Newchurch to watch their local production of A Murder Is Announced. Actually, I do prefer them doing comedies. They have performed two gems in recent years.
It was all go. I saw Que Sera, the life story of Doris Day, on Friday night in Totland Village Hall, which had some very enjoyable moments, particularly from Bob Everson, and the following night I saw Red Tie’s Apollo production of Matilda Liar – and this was nothing like the personable Doris Day. There was some great acting from the strong cast.