THEGAYUK

Author: News Desk

  • Kellie Maloney wants out of Celebrity Big Bro

    Kellie Maloney has admitted to some of her friend housemates that she wants out of the Celebrity Big Brother to ‘face it’.

    Kellie talks to James and George about her disagreement with Audley. Kellie said she asked to leave again last night and James asks her why she would do that. Kellie says that she should have been told that Audley had a ‘phobia about trans-people.’ James says: ‘I don’t think that is the case babe.’ Kellie says: ‘I was Audley’s biggest enemy in the outside world; I set out to bring him down totally in boxing. Audley tolerates me, he doesn’t accept me.’

    In a conversation in tonight’s episode, Kellie talks to Dee, saying that she wants to go and doesn’t see the benefit of staying and that she wants to ‘go outside and face it.’

    Later on, whilst with Edele, she has the same conversation, but Edele tells her that one purpose of Kellie staying is to raise awareness and Kellie says: ‘I’ve done that.’ Lauren comes over and says that Kellie is being silly and weak and that she is stronger than that. Audley says goodnight to Kellie and they have another hug.

    Big Brother continues tonight at 9:00PM on Channel 5

  • Leslie Jordan is the second celeb to be evicted from Big Bro

    Former Star of the Show Leslie left the Celebrity Big Brother House to cheers from the audience.

    During his interview Emma remarked that he had “such a droopy lip” because he was evicted. Leslie suggests that it was more entertaining for the audience when he was “on my worst behaviour” joking that his 81 year old mother would probably fly over to tell him off.

    Leslie said that he “was surprised” that Audley nominated him, joking about their height difference, “Do you even know I’m down here?!” He went on to say that he was “called out for eating too much” and admitted that it “never crossed my mind that I couldn’t eat what I want”, admitting he took it on board and was calmer…which didn’t work out for him!

    When asked about his experience in the House, Leslie admitted “I was so naïve” and that he was advised to watch the show before going in. “I thought I was going to come in and it was going to be an endless cocktail party” he said, but goes on to describe it as like a “boot camp”

    After being shown footage of him losing his temper in the House, a visibly shocked Leslie said, “That’s so hard, I could weep… that’s not me…That’s a sad little man to me” Emma suggests that it was an adjustment period and he admitted that his life is very different on the outside world, with lots of red carpet events and slapping on the back, “I couldn’t even go into the Pod without someone irritating me” he added.

    Emma goes on to ask about his relationship with Frenchy and Leslie admitted “There were a lot of rituals” with her. He then goes on to discuss the time Frenchy “stomped all our food” and joked, “Little fatty likes his food!” He then said that he said “horrible things” to Frenchy but “gives her an A for effort” for trying to be nicer.

    The conversation moved onto his frustrations with Gary and Leslie said “Gary, I adore now” but admitted “He’s very difficult…but another A for effort” He added that “We had real problems with his hygiene” and suggests that he must be used to someone telling him when to clean. Leslie goes on to recount his argument about CGI, likening it to “the playground”

    Join Emma next Wednesday for Celebrity Big Brother’s third live eviction.

  • Adam Lambert And Lady Gaga Will Rock You

    Lady Gaga joins Adam Lambert and Queen on the Australian leg of her tour…

    Whilst on the Australian leg of her ArtRave tour Lady Gaga joined Adam Lambert and Queen to delight the audience in Sydney.

    Together the pair sang, Another One Bites The Dust, afterwards Gaga took to Instagram to write, ‘Tonight I felt alive in a way I have not before. I returned to the Radio GaGa mothership to pay homage to my leaders. It was emotional and wild,’

    “So much fun tonight! @ladygaga” Lambert wrote on his page.

    We love that Blazer on Adam Lambert… Must get one.

  • David McIntosh First Celebrity To Be Booted Out Of Big Brother

    The Housemate with the fewest votes, and first to be evicted from the Celebrity Big Brother House, was David McIntosh

    After hugging his fellow Housemates, David left to cheers from the crowd, before performing a dance routine for the awaiting photographers.

    David told Emma he thought there would be three people leaving the House and admitted “I am a competitive man, but it doesn’t matter…I’m good” He went on to say that when he was “starved” of food in the House and it was hard to “put on a show”.

    Emma then asked David what it’s like living in the House and he admits it “different” and there are many challenges. “There were three people everyone was arguing with” he said in reference to the American Housemates. David goes on to discuss Leslie and his decision to put him on the scrapheap, admitting “I got him hot under the cover!”

    David talks about the “young lads” in the House and admits he “ended up spooning” Ricci a few time “out of force of habit”

    David says that there “was no friction” apart from with the American Housemates, especially Gary.

    After seeing a montage of some of his altercations with Gary, David admits “it was worse than that” He describes Gary as “manipulative” and Emma asks if the Housemates are not patient enough with him. David suggests that Gary’s “ridiculous, insane” stories wound people up, plus the fact they had to repeat everything three times. David adds, “He’s definitely a manipulative person…he’s playing a game. He’s an actor, but not a great actor”

    Emma then asks David about Gary’s relationship with James and he says that he’s nice to Gary and tries to coach him through. When asked about James and Audely’s relationship, David says that they’re friends in the House adding, “James is not one to hold his tongue…he says what he thinks”

    Before showing David his best bits, Emma tells him that “it’s been wonderful looking at you!”

    Join Emma on Friday for Celebrity Big Brother’s second live eviction.

    Emma then reveals that the Housemates will nominate for the first time after the show, face to face

  • Rain Did Not Hamper The Gayest Sports Day Of The Year

    Yesterday the GMFA held the 9th annual GMFA/RVT Sports day.

    The rain and wind didn’t deter the hardcore fans of the event, which is now in its 9th year.

    Matthew Hodson, CEO of GMFA said, ‘This was the ninth year of the revived GMFA / RVT Sports Day and it was the first one where we had torrential rain. Truthfully, it feels like we’ve just dodged that bullet for all these years. What was brilliant though is that the wet weather didn’t dampen the atmosphere. Moving some of the events indoors, or under the arches, and just accepting that at other times we’re going to get wet, we still managed to have a great games. And we’ve raised a few thousand pounds to support GMFA’s HIV prevention work, including our website and FS magazine, which receive no Government funding, as well as the local charities, Vauxhall City Farm and the Friends of Vauxhall Pleasure Garden.

    ‘I’d like to say a huge thanks to all the teams for competing so gamely, to the staff and management at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern and to the GMFA volunteers who kept the event running so smoothly, to Timberlina, Nicholas Heath and Bob Ballard for hosting and commentating on the sporting events and LaVoix for hosting the auction – and to everyone else who came along, helped to raise funds and made it such a great atmosphere.

    ‘We’ve finally proved that we can still have a great Gay Sports Day, even if it rains. But some sunshine next year will be greatly appreciated, all the same.’

  • Zachary Quinto Watches Emmys Trouserless

    One of the gay High Holy Days AKA The Emmys has arrived and many gay men around the world find themselves glued to their screens, the others are too busy just being fabulous elsewhere. However Zachary falls into the former camp.

    He uploaded a picture of himself watching the Emmys as he changes in between scenes, for his new film with James Franco. He captioned the pic, ‘literally watching the emmys as i change clothes between scenes for our movie… no complaints. GO FRIENDS!!!’

    Bravo. This is exactly how we watch the TV. Usually with a glass/ bottle of wine and a bowl of cheesy wotsits between our knees.

    Dear Zachary, thank you for this image.

  • Watch This Amazing Marriage Equality Video: ARMAGAYDDON

    A brilliant parody video has emerged about the future results of same-sex marriage in Ireland circa 2017.

    The video, which was produced by like:minded productions in association with LGBT Noise, shows what life could be like for two non-gays in Ireland two years after gay marriage.

    The video has already been seen by over 180,000 people.

    Currently same-sex couples can be civilly partnered under the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010.

    A discussion about the legal recognition of same-sex marriages in the Irish Constitution has grown in Ireland recently. This amendment is due to be discussed in February to April 2015.

  • Kellie Maloney’s mum think she wears too much make up

    Trans Celebrity Big Brother contestant Kellie Maloney has revealed what her mother said when she first saw her as Kellie.

    Kellie Maloney, who came out as trans recently, has spoken to George Gilbey in the Big Brother house about what her mother thought about her transition.

    George and Kellie were chatting by the pool when George asked how Maloney’s mum took the news and Kellie admits she was ‘fantastic’ and said, ‘You’re still my child, no matter what you want to do’, George replied that it’s was a ‘lovely’ story and Kellie then described the first time she met her mum as Kellie and she said, ‘I think dear, you’re wearing too much make up!’

    Earlier in the week, during a conversation with Bad Girls’ actress Claire King, Kellie admitted that thinks she will be a heterosexual male mentally.

    Celebrity Big Brother continues tonight on Channel 5 at 9:00PM

  • Modern Family Star and Margaret Cho Star In Weird Al Tacky Happy Parody

    “Weird Al” Yankovic is back and taking on the biggest song of the year, Happy, with a host of stars.

    Wearing Lime Green trousers, Eric Stonestreet stars in a new video of “Weird Al” Yankovic’s parody of Pharrell Williams’ Happy called Tacky. The video also stars Margaret Cho.

    Eric Stonestreet, who stars in Modern Family as gay father Cam, dons an eye-popping pink blazer and lime green trousers. The parody has been viewed over 2 millions times on YouTube already.

    Along with Stonestreet and Cho the video stars: Aisha Taylor, Kristen Schaal and Jack Black, whose twerking leaves little to imagination.

  • INTERVIEW | O Town

    They were the last of the boy-band gold rush back in the day. Finding fame on MTV’s Making The Band, O-TOWN became an overnight talking point with their debut single Liquid Dreams. So when we heard that 11 years later the lads had teamed up again to tour and release a comeback single and album, we had to find out about their nocturnal secretions.

    So how are you finding London?
    Erik: Well we brought the LA weather with us! [But unlike LA our weather changes daily!]

    Have you been to the UK much?
    In the past yeah, we were in the UK all the time. But it’s been about 12 years though!
    Yeah it’s been a while since we’ve been back.

    So it’s been a while since you last put out a record, has the music industry moved on much?
    Trevor: Yeah definitely! There’s a lot that has changed, business wise and musically with us and our band just in general. I mean with Twitter, Instagram and social media, we can really put ourselves out there and you don’t have to rely so heavily on radio play, a lot of things have changed and we’re taking it in. We’re taking it in our stride and learning as we go, but it’s a cool process, because we’re doing everything internally, the 4 of us. We don’t have the big machine or Clive Davis this time – it’s very grass roots. Picking the album cover, the logo design… Everything we’re doing is our stamp, so that’s what’s really cool this time around that we didn’t have last time – and we’re older and maturer. (laughter).

    This maturity, how is it manifesting itself – especially with artistic disagreements?
    Jacob: There’s always artistic differences and disagreements, but we’re more mature in handling it. We’ve kinda got our business practices set to alleviate any kind of stress like opinions on music – now it’s what’s best for the song and whose voice is best for the part. We’ve been pretty diplomatic about doing that and knowing that we’re not being personal. We all do love each other’s voices and song writing, but we’re trying to do what’s best for O-Town. So far it’s been happening really smoothly.

    Are you getting new fans or are you reconnecting with old fans?
    Erik: We like to call them the Town Folk. (They) are the fans that have been around since the beginning, but hopefully now that this new song (Skydive) is out that we can garner some new fans. Everything is just so new.

    Have you noticed any of the old faces in the crowd?
    Dan: Yeah! Yesterday we got off our flight at the airport and we saw a bunch of faces that we recognised that were just 10-years older. They were showing us pictures they had from 10 years ago. People got to know us from our TV show, Making The Band, and they’re personally invested in our struggle because they’ve been there. They saw the ups and downs. So that’s why they’re there. They’re still interested in what we’re doing. If along the way we can bring some more people who weren’t aware of us the first time – that’s awesome, because we think we do okay sometimes! We think we’re alright! So it’d be nice to get some more people interested.

    Do you write your own music now?
    The first album was done so quickly; it was done in less than two months. It was already pre-chosen predestined for us. The second album we had a little bit more say in, but I don’t think as writers we were there yet. I think the beautiful thing about this process is that we’ve had 10 years to become individuals and really hone in on our different talents. As much as we were all about writing before, I don’t think we’re all necessarily so into the writing process now. I know that Dan for the most part is really personally a lot more excited about the design of everything, so everyone’s education has set us up to take our specialities, the things that we’re good at and really explore them and bring them out. I’ve been writing, Jacob’s been writing – so we submitted a bunch of songs on this album. Anything that’s not submitted by us definitely has our thumb print on it.

    If you were superheroes:
    Jacob: I just wanna fly. I don’t even care, I just wanna fly.
    Dan: I would like to be invisible, because I don’t like all the extra attention, I prefer to go unnoticed. I’d just take off the invisibility cloak when it was time to go on stage and then I’d put it back on.
    (ha ha … that’s so true.)
    Trevor: First off I’d say flying, but Jacob already said that so, my second choice, I’d be Batman, he has so many cool gadgets and toys…
    Erik: I’d be Iron Man. I pick Tony Stark, because he’s just the best. He has a cool suit and he always dresses really well…

    When you split first time round there was an email to all your fans saying amongst other things there were financial difficulties – what happened there?
    Dan: It’s pretty well documented that we were heavily involved with Lou Pearlman, so there was a lot of things going on with him and our contracts were tied to him. It was never really about financial troubles with us, but our contracts were such that we weren’t really getting a fair shake at things sometimes. So when we had the opportunity to get out of our contracts and just move aside, we felt it was a good time to do that. We were all just so worn down by the grind of the years we had put in which were just hectic, we worked so hard. It was probably the hardest I ever worked in my life those four years. Four years of not a lot of time off and a lot of travel.
    Erik: And it was the end of an era. When we knew we were going to end, we knew we were the last boy-band out of the box. When we were on the 2nd album, Justin (Timberlake) was already on his solo career. The whole movement was at an end. The fact that we actually had success during the time we did when that whole movement was coming to an end we felt lucky to have that. We knew that if we were ever going to do it again it would have to be on our own terms. We didn’t think it would be ten years later – or at least I didn’t, at least we’re staying true to our word – because 10 years later it is on our own terms.

    Is it easy to make money from music now compared to 10 years ago?
    Jacob: You have to be a lot more creative I think. To compete with the majors if you’re not with a major, if you have a smarter business plan. We’re doing a lot of the work here ourselves by hiring outside consultants to do our radio and our merchandise. When it all boils down it’s interesting. We haven’t done a show in 11 years, the last time we did a show we had All Or Nothing on radio, and now 11 years later by doing a lean operation like we are, we’re able to make about the same amount of money as we were back then, which is just shocking.

    Your first single, Liquid Dreams, was an interesting concept… Are you still having liquid dreams and who are you liquiding about?
    (Laughter) –
    Trevor: I am a man. So I’m liquiding about Katy Perry,
    I think our liquid dreams this time round would be a little different.
    Jacob: Emily Ratajkowski (the girl from Blurred Lines video)
    Dan: I’m still liquid dreaming because I have a kid. It’s not a dream, it’s very real, (laughter), It’s very very very real…
    Erik: Jennifer Laurence, Miley Cyrus, Beyoncé…

    In our new album on one of the songs there’s a portion where we do touch on who our current liquid dreams are, so if you buy the album you can hear our current liquid dreams.

    You can read the FULL interview in our latest issue of TheGayUK Magazine. Subscribe today for ONLY £1.99. Available on Apple and Google Play stores.

  • INTERVIEW | Varla Jean Merman

    For the past 15 years THE GAY UK’s British/American movie critic Roger Walker-Dack has hot tailed it to spend his entire summer in Provincetown on the tip of Cape Cod.

    A lot has changed since the first Brits landed there when the Mayflower docked in 1620. They only stayed five weeks then before sailing on to their final destination at Plymouth Rock, and they really don’t know what they missed. This captivating beautiful small seaside town has been an artists’ colony, a Portuguese haven, and now it is an enchanting gay mecca that each summer sees the all-year round population of less than 3000 swell to over 60000 people.

    In a series we are calling POSTCARDS FROM P.TOWN, Roger Walker-Dack will introduce some of the people and things that create the magic that make this such a ‘must see’ destination for gay people from all over the world.

    VARLA–JEAN MERMAN actress, performer, chanteuse and the biggest redhead ever in a dress.

    Jeffrey Roberson is a strapping 6’2″ strikingly handsome guy whose addiction to doing ‘Cross Fit’ is clearly evident with his muscle bound body that gets his fair share of attention on the streets of P.Town. What most of these admirers don’t know is at night this adonis straps on stilettos and squeezes into a slinky dress to become the infamous and celebrated brassy redhead chanteuse Miss Varla Jean-Merman who has been making audiences scream with laughter for almost 20 years now. To call Jeffrey a ‘Drag Queen’ is a great misnomer as this multi-talented performer has a star-spangled career that makes one dizzy just reading about it. From sell-out One-Woman Shows that he both writes and performs, to starring on Broadway, singing duets with Betty Buckley, ‘opening’ for Jennifer Holliday, and a recurring role in TV’s All My Children and so much more. And each year he decamps to P.Town for the summer and stars in his latest solo show full of wicked song parodies that he belts out in his operatic voice and that we all lap up. And if that is not enough, on his nights off his appearing in another play or two, as the crowd here cannot get enough of this show-business phenonenon

    It helps too that he is an exceptionally warm person and the sweetest of men, something that I found when he sat down with me one day to give this exclusive interview for The Gay UK.

     

    RWD: How did you get into performing in the first place?

    JR: I was raised by Southern Baptist parents and so any sort of performing was strictly forbidden, but that never stopped my urges. Later on when I was in New Orleans I used to hang around with a bunch of drag queens, and I met this guy who made these somewhat silly and disgusting videos a la John Waters and we played them in the background in bars. And that led to me starting to perform live a little bit, but I wasn’t a good singer or particularly keen on doing the usual old routine. Then a friend from N.Y. told me about a Drag Queen called Miss Coco Peru that he had just seen doing a monologue whilst playing opera diva Éva Marton singing a Wagner’sLiebestod.

    I said ‘you’ve got to be kidding me!’, as at the time in New Orleans every single queen was just lip syncing to Mariah Carey, so I really couldnt believe that anyone could do anything other than this in drag.

    So I hopped on the first plane out of there and had the good fortune to meet Coco who was performing at the West End Theater doing her own unique blend of beautifully constructed monologues and stories. I fell totally in love with her/him and he blew my mind. I knew I couldn’t do the same, but it put the whole concept of drag performing on an entirely different level for me, and he very generously helped me find my own path.

    RWD: And this led to your ‘Varla-Jean Merman’ personna being born?

    JR: Not exactly. There was a talent show in Baton Rouge where I went to college and I had just read the autobiography of the Broadway Star Ethel Merman. When I came to the part where she said she had been married to the actor Ernest Borgnine and I turned the page and it was totally blank! (laugh) I thought it was so hilarious and amazing and it set my crazy imagination off. And I started thinking that if she had a child she would have probably given it away as she would not want to be reminded of this relationship in any way. And so I became the ‘lost’ child that she could have had. I’ve stuck to my story even though many people today haven’t the faintest idea of who ‘my father’ was.

    Up to that point in my show I had wanted to emulate the great Divine, but becoming Varla got me singing in my ‘mother’s’ loud raspy voice and made me evolve more into a lady a la Merman style.

     

    RWD: Varla consumes you on stage but unlike so many other performers you leave her bold brash persona behind in your daily life and are almost the total opposite privately. In fact no-one ever recognises you in civies in the street as you couldn’t possibly look any further removed from a drag performer than if you tried.

    JR: Some performers like Bianca del Rio (winner of Ru Paul’s Drag Race) are Bianca off the stage too, as that is who he is. That’s not my style at all and ‘Varla’ never ever comes home with me. I will NOT live with that Lady! (laughing loudly)

    I have a very simple rule at home: NO drag in the house anytime anywhere. What is not being used in my current show is in my storage unit in New Orleans.

     

    RWD: Many years ago I saw you perform in Joe’s Pub in N.Y. and Kristine Zbornik an actress doing a one-woman show on your ‘mother’ Ethel Merman came in and the two of you spontanteosly performed the gay anthem Enough is Enough totally in character and I literally cried my eyes out. You’ve played in N.Y. many times though, haven’t you?

    JR: Yes, my first big ‘showbiz’ break was in 1996 when I played Mary Sunshine in ‘Chicago’ on Broadway. But the one job I loved just as much, or maybe even more, was when I was in ‘Lucky Guy’ on Broadway with Leslie Jordan and I was giving the Stars’ Dressing Room and William Ivey Long (the multi Tony Award winning costume designer) was such a gentleman and treated me so graciously as he fitted me with a wardrobe that cost over $100000!

     

    RWD: Did you get to keep them?

    JR: NOOOOOO! But I did grab the wigs! (laughs)

     

    RWD: And when did you start performing in P Town?

    JR: In 1995 I opened for Lypsinka at Town Hall. I was so fat at the time… about 300 lbs… that people actually thought I was a real woman. (laughs) And then Phyllis Schlosberg from The Post Office Cabaret came to see me in NY and booked me for my first season for the following year. By the time I arrive back for that show I had lost 100 lbs, so there I am on stage really thin but showing my videos of the ‘old me.’ I was exactly like Parker Posey in the movie ‘Adam & Steve’ where she was a comic that had lost a ton of weight BUT was still doing fat lady jokes on stage. And that’s when ‘Varla’ really started to kick in as I simply just couldn’t do fat jokes anymore and I needed a new shtick.

     

    RWD: Tell me about your love affair with P Town itself.

    JR: Coming to P Town, even to perform is being on one long summer vacation like when we were back in school. When you come here nothing else that may have been going in in your life really matters. I can’t wait to get here, but come Labor Day I can’t wait to leave: summer is just the perfect length of time. I have always loved this town no matter how backward it may seem like years ago when there was no Laundromat and we had to drive the 30 miles to Orleans each week just to do laundry, and yet we all still came in droves.

     

    RWD: Many of us here still have very fond memories of you and some opera singers performing the utterly unique ‘CLASSICAL VARLA’ Benefit Concerts which were THE highlight of Carnival Week then.

    JR: I had a friend who was HIV+ who couldn’t afford any medication at the time and my Manager Mark Cortale and his partner were part of the management of the AIDS Support Group who provided the drugs for my friend, and for many others in the same situation. They desperately needed more donations so Mark suggested the Concert as a fundraiser, and I said ‘why not, it will be fun to do’. Turned out to be TORTURE.

    RWD: But we loved it.

    JR: Don’t get me wrong I loved doing it and torturing myself too. But once I set these goals up for myself, I immediately freak out and say why did I do that! But I love classical music and I love the challenge of trying to sing it. And performing with those amazingly talented singers was such a real thrill. I also love the fact that everyone is still talking about it now.

    RWD: It was a joy being in that audience with this overflowing feeling of love of people wanting you to succeed and proud of the reasons why you were doing this. It felt good to be part of this sense of community that P Town is so good at fostering.

    JR: It was great for the few years that we did it, but it felt right to stop on such a high, and I would actually like to do something else in the future, as these guys still desperately need all our help.

    RWD: Your voice training at The Julliard Schooldid you in good stead as you went on (as Varla) to take the leading role in Gian Carlo Menotti’s opera The Medium.

    JR: Thank you BUT I was never at Julliard.

    RWD: Really are you sure? As the word around town is that’s why you sing so well.

    JR: Thank you, then just let the rumor spread. (laugh) But I did so loved getting involved in The Medium and we got to take the production to N.Y. where it was also a great success too.

     

    RWD: There is another rumor about you that your show at The Art House this summer is your last? Is this true?

    JR: It’s a Farewell Tour in the Cher tradition: hence the title ‘Varla-Jean Relieving Herself’ is billed as my Cherwell Show.

     

    RWD: (laugh) So you will be back next year?

    JR: Yes, in some form or another. Performing a one-woman show on a stage can be a lonely thing and so I am constantly looking for new challenges. One of the things I will be doing soon for the first time is acting in a play as a man, which I am so looking forward too.

     

    RWD: I am curious to know how does your Manager pitch you to people? As an actor, or a singer or as Varla?

    JR: I’ve been so very lucky my whole career as I always had people offer me such great opportunities that I have never ever had to look for roles. I love working with Ryan Landry appearing in his wickedly funny parody plays for example. I did ‘The Phantom of the OPRAH’ with him in P Town and Boston, and then last year starred in ‘Mildred Fierce’. I love to do his stuff even though the rehearsal process is very very INTENSE (laughing). We work and work and work and he never stops or even let us take a break… everyone is screaming at him ‘OMG Can we JUST go to the toilet! (laughing).

    RWD: And then you go from scruffy Fringe theatres to performing your one-woman show at the Sydney Opera House!

    JR: That was totally crazy and a real highlight in my career to date, especially as they invited me back the following year to do a new show.

    RWD: Wow!

    JR: But London was and is my big love. I’ve been there four times to perform, and I will always remember my debut there for the most inauspicious of reasons. The day I landed was 9/11. It was the most depressing time ever, and then for a complete contrast my 2nd visit was the time of both the Jubilee and the World Cup, and so was the craziest happiest time.

    RWD: So you got good word of mouth for people to come and fill the Soho Theatre?

    JR: Yes, including a few celebrities like Elton John and Andy Bell. I did a Late Show so I always had to perform my act on whatever stage set was being used by the play that was running earlier. One time is was some sort of Irish Trainspotting drama set in a dingy low-rent apartment, which included a toilet. And for some reason which totally escapes me now, I dressed in full drag I decided to sing the Roy Orbison ballad Crying totally straight but sitting on the toilet, which had Elaine Paige snorting so loud that all her fellow audience members eyes went from her to me and back in disbelief (laugh)

    RWD: And then you go from scruffy Fringe theatres to performing your one-woman show at the Sydney Opera House!

    JR: That was totally crazy and a real highlight in my career to date, especially as they invited me back the following year to do a new show.

    RWD: Wow!

    JR: But London was and is my big love. I’ve been there four times to perform, and I will always remember my debut there for the most inauspicious of reasons. The day I landed was 9/11. It was the most depressing time ever, and then for a complete contrast my 2nd visit was the time of both the Jubilee and the World Cup, and so was the craziest happiest time.

     

    RWD: So you got good word of mouth for people to come and fill the Soho Theatre?

    JR: Yes, including a few celebrities like Elton John and Andy Bell. I did a Late Show so I always had to perform my act on whatever stage set was being used by the play that was running earlier. One time is was some sort of Irish Trainspotting drama set in a dingy low-rent apartment, which included a toilet. And for some reason which totally escapes me now, I dressed in full drag I decided to sing the Roy Orbison ballad Crying totally straight but sitting on the toilet, which had Elaine Paige snorting so loud that all her fellow audience members eyes went from her to me and back in disbelief (laugh)