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Matt Jnr's 2008 tour kicked off on 10th October. Read the roving reports that were written from theatres across the country
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Michele Monro
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London

Post by Michele Monro » Mon Nov 17, 2008 3:24 pm

Yesterday did not go down that well. Firstly I had arranged for matt to do an interview with Andre Leon at 2.30pm. It was for a show called 'Carry on Crooning' and Matt is the guest host, will introduce his choice os songs and should have been in and out within an hour. He left in plenty of time and arrived at Tottenham Court Road at 2.15 - he then rings me frantically saying there is no one there. I told him to hold fire as he was not expected for another 15 minutes. In the meantime I rang Andrea and received the answer machine to which I left a message. I had no way of knowing he had deleted my telephone number by mistake. Unbeknown to me he left a rely message on his machine in the hope that I rang back saying we were in the wrong place and he was going up the road to look for Matt - disastrous as by that time I had rung him again to receive a garbled message that he had only popped out to get milk and was now looking for Matt.

Matt was now thoroughly fed up - patience is not his middle name and having sat in the Rising Sun pub with Sue and Paul decided enough was enough and he certainly felt that way when he found he had a £60.00 parking ticket. Matt's excuse --- he didn't think traffic wardens worked on Sundays - no that would be your brain Matt.

Before being completely rebuilt in 1998, the Shaw Theatre originally opened its doors in 1971 as part of the St Pancras Library. The opening production was the legendary show Ziggar Zagger with a cast that included Barrie Rutter and Paula Wilcox. In 1972 Simon Ward and Sinead Cusack appeared in ROMEO & JULIET, later in the same year Vanessa Redgrave, Nyree Dawn Porter and Windsor Davis starred in TWELFTH NIGHT. Other stars who appeared in the early days include Sir Ian McKellen, Mia Farrow, Julia McKenzie and Raymond Francis. The theatre hosted a series of 'Sunday Nights at the Shaw' with luminary artistes including Dame Judi Dench, Dame Flora Robson, Patricia Routledge CBE and the late Michael Williams.

The theatre is located beside the British Library and is now fully refurbished with seating for 446, all commanding excellent views of the stage. It has two large foyers, six large dressing rooms for up to 60 people and extensive high quality backstage facilities which include a props store, workshop space and laundry facilities.

The theatre is connected to the 4 star Novotel Hotel and being an hour early it was thought a good idea to have a drink there. Paul was rather put out that a cup of tea in a polystyrene cup cost £1.20 - he was lucky he didn't choke on it. Colin met up with them and treated them all to a late lunch. Matt made the mistake of wolfing down sausage and mash which he thoroughly enjoyed. With the bandcall hour approaching and Matt in a slightly better mood they headed over to the theatre and then the fun really started.

Several days prior the theatre had made contact and decided they were going to charge us contras of several thousand pounds, they wanted one thousand pounds for bringing the piano in and tuning it to concert pitch and £500 for the lighting operators and the list went on. Tony Clayman rang and made it quite clear that this was unacceptable. After all they had received our Ryder several weeks ago and the time to bring any problems to the table was then.

A Ryder is an attachment to the contract that lists your 'demands'. Matt's for instance specifies that his name must be spelt - Matt Monro Jnr - and you know how successful that works for us. Anyway the end result was that we would bring our own operators and split the cost on the piano at £500.00. On arrival the piano wasn't right, the spotlight operators were there blah blah blah. I will say this, the manageress was lovely and finally it was all sorted out.

Another backstage Tour say Jack and Colette Jackson back and surprise surprise Caroline who was rather distraught it was her last show as she was leaving for Malta on holiday on Tuesday - that is of course if she finds her ticket.

Backstage at 7.21pm, while waiting to go on at 7.45pm Matt threw up everywhere and he couldn't stop. He has a rule that he doesn't eat to near the show and the cut off is usually 3.00pm - so today it had been an hour later but I don't think the stress had helped the situation. With minutes to spare he managed to control the situation but he had racked his throat, which was now sore and he was very wobbly for the first part of the show.

Matt had a lot of friends in last night including the staff from his hairdresser and he introduced her to the audience saying it was a shame she hadn't bothered with her own hair on this occasion!!! There were a lot of laughs. Matt started 'Save the Last Dance' and at one point he walks into the audience and shakes hands with some of the people. The was a very good looking girl in the front row who held onto his hand longer than she ought and made eye contact. Matt sang to her and was slightly embarrassed when she wouldn't let go of him.

In the interval the musicians were taking the 'mickey' saying he had pulled as they had all seen the interaction between the girl and him when suddenly a knock came on his dressing room door to say there was a young lady waiting at the stage door for him. Matt quickly finished changing into his dress suit for the second half and made his way to the door. The boys in the band were laughing and joking behind him and Matt suddenly realised it must be a wind up as this was the last night for some of the lads. He found the girl waiting for him and in the light she looked even better looking. She leaned towards Matt and whispered into his ear - "Is there any chance I could sleep with you tonight"...............................
and then he woke up!!!!!!!!!!!!

That of course is what some of yo think it is like on the tour - the reality is and average audience age of 60+ who wait patiently in line for Matt to sign their brochures of have their photos taken and regale him with stories of the past - but as he says - one can dream.

The night was great and a bonus that he was home by midnight. Although technically a day off today, Colin and him have gone off to work on a click track that he is having made for the Philippines. Unfortunately the musicians are not quite so competent over there and this is a good safety net.

We also agreed today that Matt will do the voice over on the new DVD that Odeon are releasing early next year called 'The Ultimate Performer'. As well as a HD version of the Australian concert it will also include lots of television performances which Matt will introduce. Full details will be on the December update.

Till Tuesday
Enjoy the music

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ROBERT M.
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Location: Yorkshire, England

Post by ROBERT M. » Wed Nov 19, 2008 12:59 am

Entertaining post Michele, very funny :lol: :lol: the forthcoming DVD sound's greeeeaaaaaattttttt :D :D
"My Tears Will Fall Now That You're Gone,
I Can't Help But Cry, But I Must Go On" :(

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