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Inside Europride 2006: The Show

We were only singing during the second part of the show. The first part was therefore spent c'leb spotting (there were lots of them around) or watching the show on TV with a crap sound backstage. I saw Jennifer Saunders (who looked rather pissed off), Graham Norton, his dog and its walker, Sandy Toksvig, Dame Ian McGandalf (aka Sir Ian McKellen) who was organising the whole thing and appeared singing on stage as Widow Twanky.

We had already spent the afternoon rehearsing and learning our positions. During the warm, Heather Small and her Musical Director came to say hello and were apparently quite impressed by the short demo we gave them of our vocal talents.

Before the show, we had a break for dinner and a few of us found themselves sitting in nearby Hyde Park checking out a bunch of hunky guys playing football who turned out to be members of the cast of Mama Mia also having a break before the show. At 7.30, I went to great Slightly and his borther who were benefitting from the free tix we had been given for the show. More c'leb spotting... We saw: Brian Paddick, some woman or other from Eastenders, Peter Tatchell and author Ian Stewart (together!)...

Rula Lenska (who performed with us at our Christmas show at the Barbican) and Martina Navratilova were also there together apparently.

Our performance went well and was well received although you can never really tell these things. Heather was fab. She was, in my opinion, the best act on the night, managing to get the crowd on their feet, clapping. Something even Elton John did not manage later on. Elton who, although he kindly said "hello boys" to a few of us as he arrived and we were waiting to go on stage behaved like the true drama queen he is supposed to be. He had obviously stipulated that David Furnish had to introduce him (and no one else), which he did as "my husband, Sir Elton John". That did not stop him however from turning up late on stage forcing the hosts to fill in. Before that the piano had been rolled in and polished (!), a glass of cola prepared in an ice bucket and the autocue plugged in. Still it seemed that something wasn't quite right with on of the feedback speakers and Sir Elton made it quite obvious.

We were given invites to the after show party but the show had lasted four hours. I was too tired and decided to go home.

A few insider's pictures of EuroPride 2006 the Show taken (with a cameraphone) during the tech rehearsal:

Heather Small and Charlie Beale (our director)



The Chorus on stage



"David Furnish's husband"



Members of the Chorus watching the first part of the show backstage



Read the Evening Standard's (rather catty) review (which doesn't even mention us)...

Other bloggers who were there (in no particular order): Liam, Czechone, Chris (scroll down), Slightly Lost, Slightly Lost again, Gaypop, Wishbone, Qenny, wirelessoxygen and Zombie Coterie.

Who just shouted "name dropper"?!

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Comments

  1. TM7/12/2006 3:40 pm

    So thats basiclly a name dropping entry?

    I thought this blog was one of the bastions of intellectual debate, not a "gossip" coloumn!

    This is all because you sat next the Daily Mail newspaper on the bus yesterday!

    SL xxxx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chris7/12/2006 11:44 pm

    You were right - Heather Small killed the lot of them - Boy George was dire and Sir Elton was too middle of the road - yawn. Thanks for the link!

    Chris (scroll down) ;-)

    ReplyDelete

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