Rachel set for Hampton Court Festival

James Morrison, Beverley Knight and Britain's Got Talent finalist Faryl Smith are among musicians performing at the Hampton Court Palace Festival 2009.

I'd Do Anything star Rachel Tucker, Jools Holland, Russell Watson and Level 42 will also perform at the event, in its 17th year.

The festival will take over the historic grounds from June 2 to 13 with 10 concerts.

We'll bring you more details when we recieve them.

Rachel as Scara Review

Another person sufficiently delighted with Rachel's Scaramouche to leave a review on the WWRY forum. I've also stolen a couple of avatars somebody posted -- apologies for the theft but they're great.

''Was really impressed with Rachel as Scaramouche. I really liked her portrayal of the character, and of course a gorgeous voice. Excellent! Great chemistry with Ricardo. She is really funny without exaggerating. Loved it. I have to admit that to me nobody has yet come close to Hannah as "the ultimate Scaramouche", but I find that I really love Sabrina and now also Rachel in the role.''

Liam Neeson's Wife Passes Away

Very sad news this morning as Liam Neeson's wife, Natasha Richardson has died following a skiing accident in Canada.

As patron of Belfast's Lyric Theatre, Liam appeared on stage alongside Rachel in the final performance of 'The Wizard Of Oz' in January 2008 and publicly backed her during IDA.

Coincidentally, Natasha was due to appear in the Broadway production of 'A Little Night Music' (the Sondheim musical which Jessie Buckley is about to accompany to the West End). Natasha's mother is Vanessa Redgrave and both were scheduled to appear in the production.

We wish to extend our sincere sympathies to Liam and his family at this tragic time.

Full News Story here:

NATASHA RICHARDSON

More News on 'Phantom 2 -- Love Never Dies'

More news today concerning 'Phantom 2 -- Love Never Dies', the sequel to 'Phantom Of The Opera.'

An interesting article is featured in 'Broadway World', confirming that Broadway director Jerry Mitchell will be working on the production.

As regular readers will know, Rachel played Meg Giry in the two Sydmonton workshops last year, and although there is no confirmation of her further involvement, there are strong rumours that Niamh will be part of one of the new productions.

Ambitiously the show is set to open in the West End, Broadway and one other location, though as yet there is no confirmation of exactly when. This will mean training three casts. As yet Ramin Kariloo and Sierra Boggess are the only names to be closely linked with the production, but we'll keep you updated on this story.

You can read the full article below:

PHANTOM 2 NEWS

WWRY...again!!!

Realistically, I don't think there's much to say anymore about just how phenomenal We Will Rock You is, and especially how fantastic Rachel is as Meat.

HOWEVER, I couldn't resist sharing a few fantastic moments from last night's performance!

I've now seen the show four times, and I have to say it just gets better and better. The whole cast are electrifying - they make every single second of the show exciting, funny, interesting and jaw-droppingly fantastic.

The whole cast were present last night (with the exception of Ricardo...Hmmm..whatever, over it)..So Jon Boydon who I've seen before played Galileo.

WOW he is simply incredible. He has such great comic timing, his voice is unbelievable... anyone who didn't know he's Ricardo's understudy could be forgiven for believing that he's been in this role his entire life! His chemistry with Sabrina (Scaramouche) is absolutely fantastic and best of all you can tell he is loving every second. Actually no, best of all he is an absolutely LOVELY person! He's so so so nice, so friendly and chatty..asked whether we'd enjoyed the show and then asked me if I was likely to go back sometime soon (!!!!!!!!!) So really, all in all, I'm pretty smitten with Jon!

Sabrina was fantastic as per usual. Her voice is magnificent and she is so funny! Favourite line definitely the one about the rabbit in the bowler hat cooking an omelette! Oh, and 'They think I'm a lesbian because I don't wear pastels'... AND (when Galileo says he likes the way she dresses) 'Oh that's nice....except, coming from a self-confessed nutter,'!

We waited at the stage door for her for ages...Gary Lake (Pop) told us that she was getting ready for a party but would be down soon.. so eventually she turns up dressed as a vampire in a corset and bowler hat! She was clearly not expecting anyone to be waiting for her, but nevertheless she signed people's programmes and posed for photos!

Mazz Murray and Alex Bourne were (as the review below says) a dream team.. as per usual. Last time I saw WWRY Mazz was off and we had Lucy Tapp instead. However, Mazz was back on form last night. She was brilliantly funny, her voice.. Wow! As I told her afterwards "you have one of the most phenomenal voices I've ever heard in my whole life!" and she said "Aw thank you so much, you're lovely, you've made my week!"

Alex was also very funny, and his 'Seven Seas of Rhye' is always one of the highlights for me...absolutely fantastic.

Gary Lake too was SO funny. Obviously some of this credit definitely goes to Ben Elton and his comic GENIUS! But you can't teach comic timing and Gary has got it just about right. (oh, and also a lovely guy!)

There are definitely three dream teams in this show.. made up of the principle roles (excluding Pop)... Galileo & Scaramouche, Killer Queen & Khashoggi and Brit & Meat.

Rachel and Ian (Brit) were absolutely AWESOME last night!! Their 'I Want it All' was my favourite part of the show this time round...and 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love'. They are so energetic, you can't help but dance in your seat as soon as they arrive on stage.

Rachel's perfect 'No One But You' was once again phenomenal. I don't know how she does it! Absolutely brilliant - and she's added in some bits to further to distinguish her Meat from Kerry (Ellis)'s and Lucy (Sinclair)'s. She really was every bit as fantastic as every single review I've ever read on the WWRY forum (and of course on this blog) has stated.

So.. Stage Door! Managed to catch Rachel, Mazz, Ian, Jon, Gary and Sabrina.. Just missed Alex.

Have to put the pictures in a different post for some reason. Apologies as I look like an absolute fool in every one of them.

(Yep having just looked at them again I'm going to select the halfway decent ones only!)

Don't know why this came out like this but anyway.. the lovely Mazz Murray!

Gary Lake (Pop)!

Horrific picture, but had to share Sabrina as a vampire!

And Jon! Amazing!

Another Great Rachel Review

Seems like WWRY fans just can't stop raving about Rachel. Here's a review of the 7th March show featured on the WWRY site. Thanks to Rosie for spotting this.
Rosie and her friend are going again this Saturday so we're hoping Rachel will be there as she was off last time due to the heavy snow.

Also for anyone going this Monday (16th) we hear that Rachel will be in the Scaramouche role. If you haven't seen her as Scara yet, get down there -- she's incredible!

"This was my first time seeing Rachel as Scaramouche and my god it was well worth the wait.An absolutely stunning performance in every department.STL was a pure delight,full of passion and power.The partnership with Ricardo was spot on and her comic timing was brilliant.Iloved the Scottish accent with the Irish twang to it.
Another faultless performance from Ricardo which is no real surprise,as mentioned he and Rachel really had that buzz between them,we had the normal end to WATC but he did get the crowd to join in for Bo Rhap.
Amanda just gets better every time i see her as Meat,she was awesome this afternoon and NOBY sent a shiver down my spine it was so emotional.She and Ian make a good team and IWIA was a belter as usual.
A strong showing from Ian as Brit and the guy just seems to have so much energy.He had to improvise for the "Death to Ga Ga" as the backing tape with the kung fu noises kicked in early and had stopped before he appeared from behind the van,he went through the motions trying to keep a straight face.
Messrs Murray and Bourne were the dream team as usual although they both came close to laughing during "Snooty little booty"."

Rachel Attends Jodie's Book Launch

Five of the Nancies turned out for Jodie's recent book launch. Rachel, Jessie, Niamh and Ashley all appeared to show their support as did several of the Josephs.

This week's OK Magazine features some photos on page 143 though they don't seem to be on the online edition and we're too mean to buy a copy. But as soon as we track them down we'll feature them. The little montage above is from Jodie's official site.

Oliver! -- The Ultimate Review

So here it is at last! Our roving West End reporter Rosie has finally managed to see Oliver! and I think it's fair to say Cameron will be impressed with her verdict.

"We turned up at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane with about 3 minutes to spare. Not great when we're all hungry, thirsty and need the loo. But, we got there in the end.
As per usual, I checked for the AT THIS PERFORMANCE sign and WILL YOU BELIEVE MY BAD LUCK... Nancy: Tamsin Caroll. WHERE IS THAT JODIE LADY!?!?!?!
However, looking down I saw Oliver: Gwion .. So that made me very happy.. and the one name all four of us were desperate for was right at the top, all present and correct.. Fagin: Rowan Atkinson.

So, we climbed gazillion stairs and finally got to the top of the theatre for our balcony seats. The view was pretty good considering how cheap the tickets were. And I can't even tell you how exciting it was to be sitting there looking at the massive black screen with the illuminated 'OLIVER' ..it was AMAAAAAZING!!!!

Then the announcement..
"Unfortunately, due to the indisposition of Jodie Prenger, the role of Nancy will be played by Tamsin Caroll".. By this time I'd already texted Rachel (who saw it last week) and she said that Tamsin was AMAZING so I got over it. I've met Jodie before after all!

So, the show starts with 'Food Glorious Food' and I am greeted by many familiar faces such as Chester and Jordan from IDA! Awh. Anyway, the kids were absolutely wonderful. They were just loving it. And GWIOOOOON is the cutest child ever, he's simply adorable.

Sooo the highlights for me..
Tamsin was absolutely SENSATIONAL! Like, completely wonderful. She was funny, sweet, vulnerable.. you just wanted to hug her, she was absolutely lovely. And the relationship she had with the kids was great too. Her ALAHNM was one of the best renditions I've ever heard.. the last three notes "Heee NEEEEEEEDS MEEEE" were awful, strained but wonderful at the same time as it was so realistic! This girl has just been knocked onto the floor by her man with a stick.. In fact, surprise surprise, looking back only Rachel delivered such an emotional performance..and even then I would say she could have let rip a bit more and gone to pieces..It's hard to explain to someone who hasn't heard it but the last notes were just dreadful but in such an amazing way.. you just BELIEVED her!

Rowan Atkinson. This man is a LEGEND. As soon as he came on stage..
Boys: "FAGIIIIN!" Fagin: "What?" and the WHOLE crowd just starts clapping and cheering. He was absolutely hilarious! He stole the show really. His comic timing and the way he delivers some of the funniest lines.. like when Bill Sikes brings back some silver including an engagement ring and hands it to Fagin and he just goes "Oh Bill..this is all so sudden!". He was fantastic from start to finish. 'Reviewing the situation' was wonderful, he is soooooo good!



Burn Gorman.. TERRIFYING! Thats all i can say, absolutely terrifying but Brilliant too.

DODGER!!!!!!! Absolutely hilarious! such a strong voice too!
And Gwion was just so cute and adorable!

The songs: Consider Yourself, Its a Fine Life, Oom Pah Pah, Id Do Anything, ALAHNM... they were all SO well performed. It took every ounce of self control in me to not jump up and join in.. During the finale Sarah and I had a singsong though! Consider Yourself just looked like SO much fun!

Sarah Lark was pretty good in her limited time on stage.. Her vocal really is very strong.

So, being me I dragged everyone to the stage door and we waited and waited and waaaaited. Gwion was whisked away by his mother, the Lark came out chattering in Welsh.. Tamsin came out and was really sweet but I didn't get a pic with her either.. We were all about Rowan.

So we waited and waited.. longest I've ever waited at the stage door.. Gabz and Gem went cos they were so cold but Sarah and I were determined.. Someone we were waiting with found a reflective jacket somewhere and managed to sneak into the stage door and came out a few mins later going "Well, he's still in there.. but i've just been banned". And then FINALLY he came out!!!!!!!!

I've got to say he is an absolute SWEETHEART.. and he's so funny in real life too! He was so nice.. I HAVE A PICTURE WITH ROWAN ATKINSON!!!! He signed programs, had little chats.. amazing man. I told him he was fantastic and was so so funny and he said "Awwhh well thank you, thanks so much for coming!".

And then we left.. legged it for the last train.. and have just got back!!!!

Sorry about the quality of writing here, i seem to have used the words "amazing" "wonderful" and "adorable" a bit repetitively here. But i have to tell you..
You just
Need
To

GO AND SEE OLIVER!!!! It brought back what musical theatre is all about. Good old fashioned family fun with singalong songs.. and everyone "Boooooooooooooo"ed Bill at the end too.. Oh and Bullseye was adorable!!
Right, enough for me. But next time you're in London you need to see Oliver, I absolutely promise you will not regret it...

In a sentence: It's a fine, fine life!!!!!

Rachel to Appear in 'So Jest End'

Never one to sit around doing nothing when there's a half marathon to be run or a Cabaret show to perform in, Rachel is now set to appear in the comedy show 'So Jest End' in April. Full details below.


WOS Backs So Jest End Comedy at New Players
Date: 3 March 2009

After sell-out dates at the Jermyn Street and Leicester Square Theatres last year, the musical comedy show SO JEST END returns for three nights only – 23, 24 and 25 April 2009 - at the New Players Theatre at Charing Cross.

Whatsonstage.com has come on board as the official media partner to the production, which aims to become a more regular West End fixture in future, and the capital’s “top comedy event for theatrical escapism”.

The Forbidden Broadway-style show is given a more contemporary twist with regularly updated material parodying the West End’s most popular musicals. It’s devised and directed by Garry Lake (currently Pop in Queen’s We Will Rock You) and features fellow We Will Rock You stars Rachel Tucker - from TV’s I’d Do Anything, nominated in this year’s Whatsonstage.com Awards for Best Takeover for the Queen musical – Jon Boydon and Ian Carlyle as well as Louise Dearman (Evita).

The evening is hosted by stage and screen star Paul Nicholas, with special guests including Ian Kelsey (Chicago, TV’s Emmerdale) and Sandra Marvin (Hairspray). It’s choreographed by Rebecca Howell, with musical direction by Gareth Ellis.

Queens Show Ever So Controversial

It could only happen in Belfast really.

The show in which Rachel and Niamh are taking part this Sunday is the subject of a Belfast Telegraph article. Not to celebrate the fact that the performers are giving their time and talent for charity of course -- rather that a Burlesque dancer named Amber Topaz (pictured) is appearing and might not be wearing very much.

It's such a silly story it's barely worth mentioning but I daresay if it sells a few more tickets it can't be a bad thing.

You can read the full article here:

BELFAST TELEGRAPH ARTICLE

I won't be going unfortunately as a seven hour show to see probably ten minutes of Rachel performing is a bit much even for me. But if anyone is going and manages a few pictures and/or a review, please get in touch.

Queens Student Union Cabaret Event

We have some more details of the International Woman's Day Cabaret event which Rachel and Niamh are performing in next Sunday. The event is being held in the Speakeasy in Queen's Students Union Belfast.

Hosts will be Miss Great Britain Gemma Garrett and Gerard McCarthy from Hollyoaks.

PERFORMANCES FROM I'D DO ANYTHING STARS RACHEL TUCKER & NIAMH PERRY, LIVING TV'S REHAB STAR ROWETTA, BURLESQUE STAR AMBER TOPAZ, THE BELLY DANCE QUEENS, YOUNG STAR 2008 CAITLAN MCCLURG, KAYLEIGH GALLAGHER, MALACHI CUSH, JAMES HUISH AND MANY MORE.

The Guardian have a frankly daft article complaining that Amber Topaz' outfit may be too revealing or something. Hello? She's a Burlesque dancer -- overcoats aren't normally worn. I'm not even going to provide a link as it doesn't deserve to be read.

The event is in aid of the Rape Crisis and Sexual Abuse Centre, an excellent cause, so if you can attend please go and show your support.

Admission is £10 and the event will run from 7pm till 2am.