Regular readers will have heard me sing Julie Barker’s praises before. I have written about her talents as a choreographer (in Melabeau Productions’ Cinderella) and actress (in Melabeau Productions’ Vagina Monologues) and she shared her Hot Holidays! with us last year. Well, as well as working as a choreographer and actress, Julie is also the principal of a large stage school – Tip Toes.
Julie has always been supportive to all her students and has actively encouraged them to audition for professional productions in Essex and the West End. For years she has put troupes into professional and charity shows. Her dancers were among the first to ever appear in a show in Disneyland Paris; last week they danced at the O2. And now………she’s taking them to Broadway. Yes, Broadway. Not the Broadway Theatre, Barking. Broadway New York City. The Hard Rock Theatre to be exact. I am so thrilled and excited for her dancers but more importantly for her as I know how much it means to her.
She’s like a posh perfume. London Paris New York.
And I’m so glad we are working together again for Melabeau. This Sunday is the first cast meeting and read-through for `Into the Woods. We’ve put a great youth company together and I can’t wait to get started on it!
Another dynamic woman on a roll is the Daughter, who, by her own admission, feels like she’s eleven again as she’s working alongside Take That this week. She absolutely loves her job and who can blame her? And she’s also practising hard for One Night Only, the fundraiser, which is now only one week away!! Anyone in Essex – a great night for a very worthy cause – medication to keep the lovely Sam alive and well as she battles cancer – 13th June at the Brentwood Theatre.
Some great news about my lovely friend J; she has been given the all-clear and the oncologist doesn’t want to see her for six months. Hooray! Hooray! Made my day when I heard about it.
I also caught up with another great friend, A. Haven’t seen her since before Christmas; times goes by so quickly. But , as always, it was as if I hadn’t seen her for just a couple of weeks.
I’ve been busy tightening scripts for Maise and Em as it looks like the green light is on again. Woo hoo! BUT……
I’ve had the writer’s nightmare this week in that I deleted 16,000 words of The Banjo, my next novel. Heartbreaking, but when it’s not working, it’s not working and if it’s boring me then what will it do to my readers? Yes, I probably could have salvaged some of the 16,000 words but I felt it was better to scrub it rather than edit. And it’s better to delete 16,000 rather than 60,000, no? Mind you, if I hadn’t been trying to write with one eye on the French Open I might have had a better result 😉 Hard for a tennis fan like me not to watch, though, although I was so sorry that the lovely Rafa Nadal went out. I sooooo wanted him to take a tenth title at Roland Garros and I’m sure he will before he retires. Such a likeable bloke. I hope Murray lifts the trophy now that Rafa is out – but with Djokovic in the way, he’s got his work cut out.
Lots of controversy surrounding Serena Williams, as always. Social media has been on fire with the ‘Is she/Isn’t she sick?’ question. My own view – well – I think that she was walking around the court as if she were dying. And took much longer than the permitted 20 seconds between serves – almost 40 seconds a couple of times – without the umpire penalising her, which is totally unfair on her opponent, Timea Bacsinzky, and quite disrespectful. If you’re that ill, you can’t play to the level she did, is my opinion.
Don’t forget, if you’re looking for a good read for your holidays – Holiday Reads, Holiday Reads 2, Singles’ Holiday, Singles and Spice, Single All the Way and Sweet Lady are all available through amazon.co.uk http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_10?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=elaine+spires&sprefix=Elaine+Spi%2Cdigital-text%2C182&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aelaine+spires
