Totty of the Day

Jason Donovan (who is 55 today!)

Adam Garcia (50 today)

Tom Holland (born 1st June 1996 [the same week that Baddiel & Skinner's Three Lions knocked Gina G Ooh-Ah Just a Little Bit off the top of the UK charts, which puts things in perspective])

With a little understanding, you can find the perfect blend

And so, farewell then, Neighbours, one of the most successful things to come out of Australia since Dame Edna Everage!

A hugely popular soap right from the beginning in the 1980s, its sunshine and wholesomeness regularly attracted viewing figures in the multi-millions, and launched the careers of stars such as Guy Pearce, Natalie Imbruglia, the Hemsworth brothers (Chris and Liam), Margot Robbie, Delta Goodrem and Jesse Spencer...

...and this pair of "one-hit wonders":

Kylie Minogue - I Should Be So Lucky

Jason Donovan - When You Come Back To Me

Thank Disco Ramsey Street It's Friday!

G'Day, Cobbers!

I said I can't let you go

Timeslip moment again, sweeties...

Our time machine disguised as a phone booth (no, not that one, this time) has transported us to the world of thirty years ago - 1989, the year when (it seemed) everything was on the change: revolutions swept the Eastern Bloc, signalling the end of the Soviet era and the impending fall of the Berlin Wall; apartheid in South Africa began to be dismantled; and the internet began its inexorable creep into everyone's lives; but China continued repressing free speech, culminating in the Tiananmen Square massacre. It was the year Daniel Radcliffe, GPS technology, Brie Larson and Taylor Swift were born; and Bette Davis, Salvador Dalí, Bea Lillie, Robert Mapplethorpe, Lucille Ball, Laurence Olivier, Irving Berlin and Lee Van Cleef all died.

In the headlines in March 1989: Iran broke off diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom over Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses; the Purley station rail crash in London left five people dead and 94 injured; the blueprint for the World Wide Web was published by Tim Berners-Lee; the Exxon Valdez spilled 240,000 barrels of oil in Alaska after running aground; Time Warner was born out of the merger between Time Inc. and Warner Communications; two senior RUC officers negotiating cross-border security co-operation in south Armagh were ambushed and shot dead by the IRA; and there were mass pro-democracy demonstrations in Hungary. In our cinemas: Rain Man, Dangerous Liaisons and Scandal. On telly: Home and Away, EMU-TV, and the fallout from the (supposed) murder of "Dirty Den" was still preoccupying the storylines in EastEnders; meanwhile the new Sky TV satellite channels were still in their embryonic stages.

And in our charts this week three decades ago? A number of recent releases were uncharacteristically leaping up the ratings, which caused quite a shake-up - last week's "top dogs" Simple Minds fell to #6, "everyone's favourite baby-sitter" Michael Jackson went down three places to #5, and Bobby Brown was knocked out of the Top Ten altogether. Present and correct, however were Michael Ball, Bananarama (their Comic Relief collaboration with French & Saunders), Sam Brown, S-Express, Texas, Gloria Estefan and Living in a Box. But the conquering hero was...

...the very lovely Jason Donovan!

Jason Donovan - Too Many Broken Hearts

Last night you talked about leaving
I said I can't let you go
It's not just emotional feeling
I need your body and soul

You give me one good reason to leave me
I'll give you ten good reasons to stay
You're the only one I believe in
I'll be hurt, I'll be hurt if you walked away

Too many broken hearts in the world
There's too many dreams can be broken in two
Too many broken hearts in the world
So I won't give up the fight for you

The world is full of lonely people
Who never held on to love
Last night I tried to reach you
But somehow it wasn't enough

So I said, can't you wait any longer
I'll give you all that a lover should give
It ain't my pride but my love that is stronger
I'll be hurt, I'll be hurt if you walked away

Too many broken hearts in the world
There's too many dreams can be broken in two
Too many broken hearts in the world
So I won't give up the fight for you

Fab...

...but how long ago?!!

Where does the time go?

I won't give up the fight for you

Many happy returns (yesterday) to the eternal teen heartthrob Mr Jason Donovan!





As we celebrate the great news that Princess Kylie has confirmed she will indeed duet with Jase on Especially for You on stage at the Hit Factory Live mega-concert in Hyde Park next month, so let us remember the golden boy's most uplifting moment...

Jason Donovan - Too Many Broken Hearts

Happy Birthday, sweetie!

Jason Donovan official website

At first I was afraid, I was petrified...

We went en masse to see what may well turn out to be the most spectacular, the most uplifting and most fabulous show of my life! Mere words cannot describe the sheer exuberance of the experience - all twelve of us were completely blown away by it, and want to see it again.

Taking the "simple" premise of transferring one of the gayest movies ever Priscilla Queen of The Desert to the stage, the producers and designers have had a field day with this one. No excuse is wasted for a magnificently over-the-top glitteringly costumed dance number - from the opening funeral scene to the Alice Springs cabaret show itself (which is, as anyone familiar with the story knows, is the whole reason these three mismatched drag artistes are travelling across Oz in the first place).

And what dance numbers! A cavalcade of camp disco classics pumps out the theme to the different stages of the story - Don't Leave Me This Way, Go West, Boogie Wonderland, I Will Survive, MacArthur Park, Finally, and songs from Tina Turner, Petula Clark, Joni Mitchell, Cyndi Lauper, and of course Kylie! You will never see costumes and choreography like this in your life...



The dancers are all brilliant, with especial mention for the character players such as the "Tina drag/Miss Understood" and the fat woman in the infamous bar scene. They all have such energy, as they meet the demands of costume change after extravagant costume change without seemingly stopping for breath.

The three divas perpetually suspended above the action are magnificent singers who keep the whole thing together. And of course the Thai bride who does her unspeakable act with ping-pong balls (to the classic Pop Musik incidentally) is a show-stopper.



Tony Sheldon is fantastic as Bernadette the hard-bitten transsexual (complete with a hairdo that looks suspiciously like Madonna's), and, as in the film, gets all the biggest and best lines. Oliver Thornton portrays the ultra-fem, ultra-bitchy Felicia/Adam superbly (and has the most beautiful toned body to boot, even swathed in acres of lurex!). Jason Donovan as Tick/Mitzi may not be the most outrageous, nor the most talented, of the lead trio but his is the most troubled and sombre character to play, and I think he projected all those emotions (while teetering around in the most ridiculous platforms and chiffon) with aplomb. The three stars alone have more than twenty costume changes - some done at lightning-fast speed, each one more extravagant than the last - and they wear it so well...



So who or what is the true star of the show? As well as the exuberance of the lead actors, the energy of the dancers and singers, and the breath-taking costumes, the biggest star has to be Priscilla herself! The centre of most of the action, this million-pound monster bus (complete with its sign "Rear Entry - Upon Request") provides the most spectacular transformations of all. Painting it pink results in a mass of illuminated fairy lights to appear all over its sixty-foot body (which from then on keep changing to suit the mood), the open sided interior is the focus for some of the best scenes, and as for Felicia's sparkling diva moment singing Aida seated on a sparkly shoe on the roof - that has to be seen to be believed!

Oh, and did I mention? It's just a teensy weeny bit camp...

This is a performance no-one should miss. You are absolutely guaranteed to leave feeling happier than you ever thought you would from seeing a show, covered in confetti, dazzled by the biggest glitter-ball in the world, aurally battered by disco songs you had forgotten you really loved, and perhaps for the first time wanting to put on an outrageously over-the-top frock and belt out a medley of Kylie songs from the top of a rock in the middle of the desert... Believe me, you will!

Priscila Queen of the Desert (West End cast)

Priscilla - The Musical website