27 November 2007

Hi there, it's been a busy few weeks and I've felt extremely fortunate to have such great colleagues and friends. There was a wonderful tribute lunch organised by Judith Chalmers and The Lady Taverners on 13 November and I felt embarrassed and loved all at the same time. Such nice things were said and I want to thank everyone involved with the day for their tremendous hard work. The Taverners is a great organisation raising much needed money to help young people, particularly those with special needs to give them 'a sporting chance'. £65,000 was raised which was fantastic.

I've also been travelling a bit - I went to Esbjerg in Denmark and stayed on the Island of Fanoe which is beautiful (like a little picture book village where we stayed) and I performed at the very dramatic looking Concert Hall in Esbjerg (same designer as Sydney Opera House apparently!) Great audience and I managed to squeeze in a quick trip to lovely Copenhagen too before heading home.

Lots of charity events on at the moment and I attended one brilliant one last week: The top interior designers on stage with costumes made by Vienne westwood , Zandra Rhodes and Bruce Old filed in their production of Aladdin at The Cochrane Theatre in London and a gala dinner afterwards - we had a hoot. My friend Tim Gosling was playing Aladdin - we loved it. It was all in aid of the Starlight charity - 'brightening the lives of seriously and terminally ill children'.

Can't wait to see Barbara Cook at the weekend who's celebrating her 80th Birthday.

Lots of love
Elaine

3 November 2007

After some great time out visiting France and the States and playing plenty of tennis, I have had a really busy time lately with a number of projects.

I'm looking forward to visiting Denmark soon too - it's a great country with lovely people and I'm going to be performing at the beautiful Concert Hall in Esbjerg on 16 November. (Hope to get some Christmas shopping in too - maybe in one of my favourite cities, Copenhagen).

The Scandinavian connection has been strong lately. I've just finished recording a song with 'Secret Garden' the Norwegian/Irish instrumental group - Rolf Løvland and Brendan Graham wrote the song (same fabulous team who wrote 'You Raise Me Up - you know that one that the great Josh Groban sings so brilliantly) - it's called 'The Things You Are To Me', a lovely ballad. It was fun to be back in the studio - we went to Abbey Road in London and Rolf is a great guy.

Oh boy, I'm going to have been in the West End for 40 years next year, I can't quite believe it. I'm planning to do some special concerts next year so I'm busy looking at all that now and I look forward to telling you more about it as time goes on.

My great friend Barbara Cook is going to be 80 this December and she'll be in London for a gala concert - I'm so pleased I shall be there too to celebrate with her and to help raise money for an AIDS related charity: Interact worldwide. It'll be a great night if you are able to join us. See the news section for details.

In the lead up to Christmas I know there are going to be lots of charity related events - it's a great time to focus on raising money for deserving causes. More later!

Lots of love
Elaine

10 August 2007

What a wonderful last few weeks we had at the Novello Theatre with fantastic audiences, thank you if you came along and gave us a great send-off. We were really upset to see such a brilliant show finish too soon but I so enjoyed being part of the DC company, a unique piece of original theatre, it was a great experience.

And at least it sparked a lot of discussion about the state of the theatre in the West End too! The Evening Standard said 'The best musical in the West End (although, alas, only for another week) is The Drowsy Chaperone and it is not only a great musical, but also a great defence of the blissed-out, laughter packed musical as a genre.' Here, here!

Enjoy the rest of the summer

Lots of love
Elaine

20 July 2007

I'm really sad and disappointed that The Drowsy Chaperone is going to close on Saturday 4 August, as indeed are the entire company, because we're having such fun in this incredibly witty, brilliant show.

Meanwhile audiences continue to absolutely love it and I've never heard British audiences respond and laugh as much to any show as they do night after night at The Drowsy Chaperone. Everyone I speak to after the show is smiling from ear to ear and is completely elated. It is such a terrible shame the public are going to be denied this brilliant new and original (very rare nowadays) piece of theatre. And such a talented cast in this ensemble piece where everyone plays an important role.

We are all continuing to enjoy performing in this extraordinary show - particularly if funny things happen on stage as they are prone to do after a number of performances. The other night when I was smooching up to Aldopho (Joe Alessi) in character it came to the point when I ruffle up his hair (a black wig with a white streak) and on this occasion after lots of ruffling the whole wig fell down over his eyes - he looked hysterical and instead of being a disaster it added to the comedy of the scene and we were able to use it to add to the fun.

Don't miss it! Come and see it by 4 August if you haven't managed to already.

Lots of love
Elaine

23rd June 2007

Lots of fun recently with The Drowsy Chaperone opening at The Novello Theatre – it’s a really talented company and we’re having a ball!

Come and see the show if you haven’t already it’s a brilliant comedy. Hope you like the new style Radio shows with regular interviews.

Looking forward to giving you regular updates on this part of the site.

Lots of love
Elaine