Have spent the last 7 weeks consumed with Edward Scissorhands and have fallen in love with the show all over again!


We have a wonderful new company, and one of my great pleasures at New Adventures is the nurturing of fresh talent or dancers taking on leading roles for the first time, so this time has been very rewarding. Our two new Edward's, Matt Malthouse and Dominic North, are both very different, but equally terrific to work with. I have probably driven them crazy with my constant notes (I usually get them as they are having their make-up applied - they can't get away then!) however, both have responded so well to all my new ideas and they have brought a new energy, emotion and variety to the role, often recieving standing ovations from the audience.

It was great to get Kerry Biggin back on stage after a long injury. Noi Tolmer was heroic in Kerry's absence, performing all the rehearsal runs and performances and gave a really beautiful debut performance as Kim.

The Company is full of fabulous new dancers with unique personalities and qualities. Its certainly one of the most mixed company's we have ever had in terms of experience, age and training. One of the great pleasues for me is to have "senoir" artists from New Adventures (and AMP's) past and present playing Mums and Dads in the show - Vicky Evans, Nina Goldman, Etta Murfitt, Mami Tomatani and two of our original 1995 "cygnets", Phil Hill and Steve Kirkham!

Several of our new company members were making their professional debuts at The Sydney Opera House, with full houses, and their own apartments in the centre of Sydney! I had to remind them during my opening night speech that this was certainly a case of "starting at the top" and that "not all touring is like this!"  The older members of the company knew what I meant!

It was great to have our "Edward" Producer, Martin McCallum, around during the Sydney run and the company will never forget the incredible party that he threw for them at his home in Palm Beach (where "Home and Away" is filmed). Martin lives in an astonishingly beautiful, archtect designed, hillside house overlooking an enviable vista of lush greenery, beaches and a beautiful "infinity pool". The catering was superb and everyone had a really memorable time. Thank You Martin!

To be the first British dance company to appear at the Opera House was certainly an unexpected honour, and I think for many of us, both cast and crew, it was a career highlight. We are hoping to return in the next couple of years.

Whilst I was away, the "I'd Do Anything" TV search for Nancy and Oliver reached its climax. I have had nothing to do with the TV show, but must say that, beyond my involvement in the actual show later in the year, it has certainly been a riveting and very entertaining TV experience! I marvel at the British publics taste. Can there have been a more camp prime time show ever on the BBC (Well... "Strictly Come Dancing" comes a close second!) Graham Norton, John Barrowman, Barry Humphries, Cameron, and a bunch of eager "Nancy's" ! ...... and yet, there is a seriousness and integrity about the comments made by Andrew and Cameron that turns the Nation into skilled casting directors - "Can she do 8 shows a week?" , "Can she act" ,"Is she too young or Irish or big or whatever?" Some of these considerations are new to the audience and it makes people look beyond a great voice to see what it takes to be a leading performer. In the end I think the public made the right choice in Jodie Prenger. I was a Samantha fan all along, but she is 17 and will be starring in a show before the year is out!  If you can sing live each week, walk up and down stairs in heels and learn staging and choroegraphy and then stand there while you are cricised in front of the Nation, and still look that good, you can do virtually anything! Jodie's natural and enormous warmth and her belief in the role will fill the giant Drury Lane theatre very nicely, thank you!  I look forward to working with her when rehearsals begin in October.

Couldn't finish without mentioning the passing of the great dancer and MGM legend, Cyd Charisse. I grew up watching Cyd, and have loved her all my life. I have never ceased to have my breath taken away by her beauty, grace, dynamism and unsurpassed technique. "Dancing in The Dark" with Astaire has to be the most seriously beautiful dance in film history (on a par with Astaire and Rogers in "Never Gonna Dance") I also love all the numbers in "Silk Stockings", "Baby You Knock Me Out" from "Its Always Fair Weather" and have you caught Cyd in the little known "Meet Me In Las Vegas" ?- Incredible - check it out on YouTube.
I never met Cyd properly, though I did get her autograph in 1976 when she came to London for the Opening of "That's Entertainment 2". I believe she saw "Swan Lake" in Los Angeles but it was that other great dancing lady, Ann Miller, who became a friend during my LA trips..... and that makes sense, if you know their film persona's. Annie was your best friend on screen as well, warm, vibrant ,lovable, a person you wanted to go out partying with. Cyd was serene, sensual and kind of untouchable? I think she always rushed back home to her husband Tony Martin, who she had married in 1948! They recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary and in one of the most unlikely comebacks in show business history, Tony was once again performing a full evening of cabaret in New York, this year ,at the astonishing age of 94! Front row at every performance was 86 year old Cyd.
Tony is heartbroken.... but we will not miss Cyd.... we have her whenever we want her. She will continue to be, probably along with Ginger Rogers, the most watched female dancer of all time.