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Theatre Review Theatre Review Theatre Review The Dark Angel ... Camille O 'Sullivan |
A Wonderland of Winter Celebs! |
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 From Tom Whitbread I was recently invited to the Apollo Theatre, Shaftsbury Avenue for the preview of a new show - The Dark Angel starring Camille O’Sullivan. This experience was shared with a varied audience of press critics, celebrities and cult followers. I took my seat next to the stalls centre aisle with a perfect view of the centre stage. A few rows in front of me was Hardeep Singh Kohli, who used to have a reporting job on BBC's The One Show. I tell you this to show the difference in the audience. I had never heard of Camille O'Sullivan, so this was to be a trip into the unknown for me. I hadn’t a clue what type of music I was about to hear or even what she looked like. I had previously tried to gain some information regarding Ms O'Sullivan via the internet; the information told of an array of worldwide sell-out concerts and shows! Entering the auditorium, I was greeted by the sound of circus music with a stage set for five musicians. A table, centre stage, awaited its star patron. The musicians began playing as house lights dimmed until you could barely see... It was then that I felt an eerie silky cloth touching my ear. I turned suddenly to see a ghostly character in a black dress, carrying a night-light in a glass vase. The ghostly figure had her right hand out, just touching the hair of audience members as she walked down the aisle. The lady opposite was so shocked, I think she shot up a foot into the air! After this dramatic entrance, Camille launched into two of the loudest songs I have ever heard in the small Apollo Theatre! This distorted her voice and I don’t think it was needed - as she was to prove throughout the rest of the show. Camille O’Sullivan proved through her performance that she has such a powerful voice, she can captivate any audience even when playing without the aid of her musicians – certainly no mean feat. Camille, who unsurprisingly considering her name, has Irish / French parentage, obviously has a cult following, going by the cheers and wolf whistles that erupted from certain parts of the audience after each song. I tried to find the category that Camille fitted into; was it jazz, big show or perhaps country? At one point, whilst standing on centre stage with just a single spotlight on her, I had visions of Edith Piaf and I felt I’d been transported to a nightclub on the Paris South Bank. Then the mood changed and I felt I was in a front row seat at Ronnie Scotts in Frith Street as a powerful Cleo Lane jazz voice filled the theatre. And so it went on. I would obviously recommend the show to all cult followers of Camille O'Sullivan or anyone who looks for a show that is clearly out of the ordinary, starring a strange woman with an incredible voice. Not really a show for children, though. I would also congratulate Paul Sullivan for taking a chance on promoting an extraordinary show, he just loves to take chances!. The Dark Angel, starring the amazing Camille O 'Sullivan runs until 16 January... |
 Rebecca May with X Factor’s Brian Friedman.
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When Call Sign
ran a competition in the November issue for 100 hot tickets for the
celebrity launch night at Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland, we
expected to take a small space in the December issue to announce the
winners, but not in our wildest dreams did we expect to still be
talking about it in the January 2010 issue! Mind you, it was the
most successful competition EVER in any taxi trade paper with 524
entries from Dial-a-Cab drivers and quite a few more from non-DaC
drivers (whose entries we had to disallow). But with winning drivers – most of whom claimed the full allocation of 4 tickets to take the family - still writing in telling us how much they enjoyed it, not to mention how much money they saved and which celebrities they met, we felt obligated in paying the amazing site one final visit and publishing a few of their phone-taken pics. Among those celebs were Paul (Wherever I lay my Hat) Young, who was spotted by Ron Payne (J82) and family. Then there was Alex Constantinou (N05) and three of his four kids – Maria, Jack and Christopher – who said hi to X-Factor live finalists Kandy Rain and Big Brother contestant Nikki Grahame, who will forever be remembered for entering the House dressed as a Playgirl Bunny! Several DaC drivers said they had bumped into Conservative party leader, David Cameron and his two children Nancy and Arthur. The quote Call Sign |
liked best came from Salvatore
Trupia (F22) – best remembered from his appearance in this mag
standing next to the world’s tallest man, 8ft 1inch Sultan Kosen.
Salvatore pointed out the Tory leader to son
Louis, describing Mr Cameron as "the next Prime Minister" – much to
David Cameron’s obvious amusement. Sal then wished the Tory leader
good luck in the 2010 General Election, to which David replied that
he wouldn’t need any luck! Just then, Mr Cameron’s daughter Nancy
tried to push to the front of the queue – past Salvatore and
children - for the ride they were all waiting to go on. "Darling," said David Cameron, "this is a queue, we have to wait our turn." Quick as a flash, Salvatore responded by saying: "Only till next May!" With X Factor undoubtedly the top TV show at the time, several drivers told Call Sign that they had bumped into the show’s Dance Director and choreographer, Brian Friedman. All said how friendly he was and Rebecca, daughter of Kevin May (R07), actually sent us a photo of her with Brian. In the meantime, Doug Vogel (R05) complained that the ice-skating "reminded me of muscles I'd last used 35 years ago!" One thing the DaC drivers and their families all told us was that they had a brilliant time! As for Call Sign, we promise not to mention Winter Wonderland again – well probably not! |
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A
phone pic of Alex Constantinou and his three children at Winter
Wonderland
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