Drama ! "Your Son Will Come Out Tomorrow"

Trevor "diamonds are for Trevor" Ashley

Sung  to the tune.."the sun will come out tomorrow", these are some of the words from brilliant cabaret performer Trevor Ashley whose new musical revue trAnnie premieres at the Sydney Opera House on December 5th.

Trevor Ashley / trAnnie

trAnnie is parody of the hit musical Annie and written by Phil Scott and Ashley and is the tale of the “hard knock life” of ten year old orphan Fannie who is desperate to have “long-overdue” gender reassignment surgery but must first escape the Sutherland Shire Children’s Orphanage and the clutches of a boozy matron.

But Sydney's transgender community is up in arms and is threatening a boycott of the show saying it perpetuates negative stereotypes. They have also complained to the Anti-Discrimination Board. A spokesperson for the activist group Trans Menace Australia has said she finds "  the panto to be demeaning towards the trans community : “One quick read of the synopsis left me guttered,”

Courtney Act with Danni Minogue

Spokesperson for Transgender Victoria Sally Goldner has said such concerns were valid as the term ‘trannie’ was largely deemed offensive by people experiencing transgender issues.

The Sydney Opera House has issued a statement :
“The title trAnnie is a play on words. It is a play on the musical Annie and combines the letters of Trevor's name into the title. It is also a play on the fact that the central character is transsexual,”
“The show, while being a comedy, shows the transgender character in a positive light and hopes to encourage more understanding of the transgender community.”

Trevor Ashely's star keeps rising with each new production he creates. As an original cast member of Stephan Elliott's musical version of Priscilla Queen of The Desert he also sang the theme song from Elliot's film Easy Virtue that starred Colin Firth and Jessica Biel and has appeared in cabaret at New York's Don't Tell Mama and London's Talk Of The Town.
At the 2009 Mardi Gras he appeared with Courtney Act in the show he wrote Gentleman Prefer Blokes followed by Diamonds Are For Trevor.
 Below is a video of Trevor and Courtney Act and their send-up of Beaches (titled Bitches)

Something in Common : Dracula & Rupert Murdoch

Russell Crowe may be in the frame to play Count Dracula in the 37th film about the legendary Transylvania but he is also tipped to play Rupert Murdoch in a planned film based on the memoirs of journalist Sir Harold Evans.

Harold Evans

Evans was the editor of the Sunday Times from 1967 to 1981 when Rupert Murdoch purchased Times Newspapers after a secret meeting with then PM Margaret Thacher, a fact just revealed in the Leveson Inquiry. He was appointed editor of The Times by Murdoch after extracting an agreement that Rupert would have no editorial input. That feel apart within a year and  Evans resigned, writing his auto-biography Good Times Bad Times in 1984.
He now lives in New York with his wife Tina Brown the former Vanity Fair editor and their 2 children.

Playing Evans will be the thinking woman's heart throb Colin Firth. This will be the second time an Aussie actor has played the Citizen Kane of the Antipodes. In the excellent TV  series Selling Hitler based on the phony Hitler Diaries and broadcast in 1991, Dame Edna Everage's manager Barry Humphries was cast as Murdoch. Rupert agreed to the purchase of the diaries after they were endorsed by the historian Hugh Trevor-Roper who later expressed reservations before publication. Despite being informed that the diaries were fakes, Murdoch famously said "publish them anyway, after all we're in show business".

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When Celebrity Support Pays

THE AY FAMILY, Kurdish refugees from Turkey, were detained for 13 months in 2002 as the British government attempted to return them to Germany, where they had first made a claim for asylum.

At the time the youngest, Medya, was just seven when the family were arrested and locked up in 2002, Dilovan was 11, Newroz was 12 and Beriwan was 13.

But the Ay family had some high profile backers who pledged to support them in the community including actor Colin Firth, Harry Potter author J.K.Rowling and Australia's Oscar winning writer Tom Keneally, author of Schindler's Ark which was made into the film Schindler's List by Steven Spielberg,  the Devils Playground the film based on Keneally's life story, and The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith.

JK Rowling

Keneally, who trained to be a Catholic priest has been a long time supporter of asylum seekers both in Australia and abroad and now after a ten year campaign the four Ay children have settled out of court last week for a compensation claim rumoured to be in the high six figures.

Since their election, the Coalition government of David Cameron has pledged to end the practice of locking up child refugees.

In 2003 Keneally who lives on Sydney's Northern beaches said : "In a liberal democracy you can only maintain a policy of locking children up behind barbed wire by spreading lies and demonising the dispossessed of the earth. In the future, these children will tell their stories. There's bound to be literature that comes out of it, and people will gasp and say, 'How did that policy ever get through?'

Aussies Named In Time's 'Most Influential'

Time Magazine calls them the most influential people in the world : artists and activists, reformers and researchers, heads of state and captains of industry. "Their ideas spark dialogue and dissent and sometimes even revolution."

Amongst Nobel prize winners like Aung San Suu Kyi and world leaders Barack Obama,Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel, celebrities such as Colin Firth, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Ford and Justin Beiber and a terrorist- Anwar al-Awlaki are two Australians Julian Assange and the emerging star, 22 year old Mia Wasikowska.

Mia, who was born in Canberra got her start in the medical soap All Saints in 2005 and hit the big time when she co-starred with Johnny Depp in Tim Burton's 3D production of Alice In Wonderland.



Glenn Close & Mia Wasikowska
Photo :Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images



Actress Glenn Close says of Wasikowska : "Mia, 21, is a sun, not a satellite. She generates her own energy. She's seductive because she's not compelled to reveal everything. Her shyness has made her an acute observer. At the same time, she loves a good joke, loves to laugh and can suddenly have the boisterous physicality of a teenager."

Julian Assange, listed as a 'muckraker' comes in for some harsh treatment from Germaine Greer :

"Egregious to the last, he is convinced that his prosecution for rape in the Swedish courts was engineered by vengeful U.S. intelligence, unable to grasp the plain fact that his callous treatment made two women angry enough to seek redress."

Read more on The 2011 TIME 100
Here's a trailer for the new production of Jane Eyre in which Mia stars :

Priscilla Is a Hit in New York (but not with the NY Times)

New York Social Diary

Priscilla Queen of The Desert has opened in New York with the following revues :

Manhattan's leading society bible New York Social Diary : "....the energy of the cast, the entire ensemble is unstoppable. You don’t even want an intermission; you just want them to keep going, like never leaving the dance floor. And when it was over, the audience was screaming, whistling, whooping, yelling, and of course, applauding "

 New York Magazine : "a well-above-average drag show with the pink afterimage of a plot, and three superbly sincere leads who fleetingly convince us we’re seeing an actual musical with a real emotional arc. This being drag, the illusion is enough." Swenson, "chief sustainer of this illusion," is characterized by Brown as "disciplined."
The New York Post : "it may look a bit ramshackle at times, but 'Priscilla' has a big, joyous heart."
The Salt Lake Tribune : "The stage version is a jukebox musical, loaded with disco classics (it opens with "It's Raining Men," and "I Will Survive" ends Act One) and wild costumes designed by the team -- Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner -- who won an Oscar for the movie's outlandish clothes."
Not so happy was the New York Times : " the "hyperactively splashy show wants so desperately to give audiences a gaudy good time that the results are oddly enervating."

The stage version of Priscilla has completely revived the fortunes of it's writer and the director of the 1994 movie Stephan Elliot.

Elliot's first film Frauds with Phil Collins and Hugo Weaving received praise at the '93 Cannes Film Festival.

He then teamed up with Fraud's producer, the Penfold's Wine heiress Rebel Penfold Russell and they  struck gold with Elliot's original story of Priscilla, the tale about 3 drag queens travelling in a bus to Alice Springs.

 Riding high on the Academy Award 's success for the film he was offered dozens of projects including  a James Bond film. Elliot found Hollywood hard to take and retreated to London 



Taylor in Woop Woop

  He returned to Australia and filmed the odd Welcome To Woop Woop with legendary actor Rod Taylor which was panned in his home country but praised again at Cannes. Woop Woop was inspired by Taylor's performance in the 1960 film The Time Machine.

 A thriller- Eye of The Beholder with Ashley Judd and Ewen McGregor was a financial success although critics hated it.



Elliot & Olivia at Tropfest

And just as he was to begin working on a film based on the failed nuptials in Venice between Qantas trolly dolly Prince Lorenzo Montesini and Melbourne heiress Primrose 'Pitty Pat' Dunlop ( Lorenzo eloped with the best man and left the bride at the altar) Elliot had a skiing accident which put him out of action for 6 years until his 2008 production Easy Virtue with Colin Firth brought success again.

With royalties flowing in from the stage version of Priscilla which is still playing in London's West End, Stephan Elliot is now able to choose his own projects.

Stephan  is currently in Sydney filming another story he has written-A Few Best Men with Olivia Newton John, English actor Kris Marshall and 'Twighlight' star Xavier Samuel due for release next year.

British Tabloid Catches Up to The Shuttle !

Four weeks to the day after the Shuttle told the world that the Golden Globe award winning film The King's Speech was filmed in the premises at 33 Portland Place in Marlebone, London owned by 'Lord' Edward Davenport, the London Evening Standard newspaper in the UK has picked up the tale :

"It is the room where Colin Firth as King George VI learned to overcome his stammer, a scene watched by millions of film fans.

But it can be revealed that the set of Lionel Logue's clinic has been the scene of wild parties organised by the house's owner, Edward Davenport, including being hired out for "sex parties".

Read the Evening Standard report  here

Our friends at the UK Daily Mail have also run a report .here

Some Joy For Geoffrey Rush & Sly Stallone Loves Jackie

Lucy Durack

Pippa Grandison & David Wenham

He may not have picked up a gong at the Golden Globe Awards but Geoffrey Rush scored some accolades at last night's Sydney Theatre Awards when the production of Diary of A Madman in which Geoffrey stars won 4 awards : Best Supporting Actress, Best Costume, Best Lighting Design and Best Score. 

A host of theatricals like David Wenham, Pippa Grandison, Gia Carrides and Susie Porter attended the awards at the Paddington RSL Club.

Rush is the executive producer of The King's Speech so he should feel some satisfaction in it's Best Film award last night at the Globes and Jackie Weaver, despite being a non-winner still  has a staggering nine nominations in various US  film awards for her role in Animal Kingdom and she is sure to be nominated for an Oscar

Adam Garcia at the awards

Jackie is drowning in compliments on her US promotional tour with a host of Globe attendees heaping praise upon her. She told the Shuttle this morning from LA that she had met Sylvester Stallone, Mel Brooks and Colin Firth who all approached her on the night to congratulate her. She has also received dozens of offers of work and is carting a pile of scripts around to read on her nationwide tour.

Diary of A Madman demonstrates Geoffrey Rush's extraordinary commitment to live theatre. He commands up to $5 million a picture but is working for union wages in the state subsidised Belvoir Street Theatre

The Shuttle watched Geoffrey's wonderful performance in the 150 seat theatre at last Sunday's matinee.

Within 3 hours of the curtain falling Rush was on a Qantas jet to Los Angeles to attend the Golden Globe Awards. At mid-day today, Rush was again in the air for the 18 hour trip back to Sydney to appear in Wednesday evening's production.

Now that is dedication !

"inspiration"

At the Sydney Theatre Awards, legendary Shakespearean actor and director John Bell  (left ) received a Lifetime Achievement award. John revealed the inspiration for his theatre career-as a child in the UK watching George Formby (right) performing.

Other awards received: Scott Rankin for Best New Production with Namatjira, the play about the Aboriginal artist with indigenous actor Derek Lynch receiving an award for Best Newcomer. Another indigenous performer Christine Anu won Best Performance in a Musical while Trevor Ashley received the award for Best Cabaret in his one-man show I'm Every Woman.

A Stiffy Arrives From Lord Edward

An invitation to a cocktail party arrives from our dear acquaintance Lord Edward Davenport in the UK. You must know him. From the Davenports of-well we aren't quite sure. For some inexplicable reason the entire Davenport dynasty has been omitted from Burke's Peerage & Gentry.

Fast Eddie with the startling blue eyes is having a Christmas soiree at his pile, 33 Portland Place in London's West End. The mansion landed in his possession after some complicated dealings with the former owners , the High Commission of Sierra Leone and after paying the paltry sum of about $70,000.  The Sierra Leone government is  still scratching it's  head trying to work out what happened.

 

Eddie hires out Portland Place with it's 24 rooms for PR parties and private functions and if you are lucky, Eddie comes to the party as well. And he makes himself available to be photographed with celebrity guests as you can see in our snaps. There are more at his website where you can read that Eddie has rubbed shoulders with the likes of Jean Claude Van Damme, Pink and 50 Cent.

Lord Eddie's  bash is tomorrow night which doesn't give the Shuttle much time to get to London. We'll have to pass on it.  Which may be just as well as last year London's High Court banned him from throwing parties or hiring out the house .

Eddie made a motza organising the famous Gatecrasher Balls in the English countryside in the late 1980s. The Shuttle went to one (one was enough) at Longleat, the seat of a fellow aristocrat, the  eccentric Alexander Thynne, the Marquis of Bath. Edward  moved into property developing, nightclubs and even a pawn broking business and spends much of his time in Monaco.

The Shuttle will be in London next April so we hope to support Lord Eddie in a pending court case. Inspector Knacker of the Serious Fraud Squad felt Eddie's collar in late 2009 over an apparent mis-understanding concerning $15M.

In the meantime, you can see 33 Portland Place in the film that will sweep the Oscars, The King's Speech starring Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush. The house was used for location filming.

Here is a video of Mr Lucas at Monthira's birthday party at Portland Place. It sums up the state of London society today.

Aussie Actors Nominated For Golden Globe Awards

Geoffrey Rush : The King's Speech

3 stalwarts of the Australian film industry are up for Critics' Choice Awards-Nicole Kidman, Jackie Weaver and Geoffrey Rush  but the surprise choice is young teen actor  Kodi Smit-McPhee who excelled in the independent hit  Romulus My Father in 2007.

Kidman will be competing with Natalie Portman and Annette Bening in the Best Actress category for her performance in Rabbit Hole while Geoffrey Rush is sure to win for his terrific performance as the Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue who tutored a stuttering King George IV on how to handle public speaking.

Colin Firth who played the King has been nominated as Best Actor. The King's Speech has  Golden Globe and Oscar winner written all over it.

Jackie Weaver who cleaned up at the Australian Film Industry Awards ( AFI) for her role as the tough talking matriarch of a crime family in Animal Kingdom has been nominated for Best Supporting Actress (another certain Oscar nominee).

14 year old Kodi Smit-McPhee who may walk away with an award as the Best New Young Actor / Actress for his part in Let Me In will compete with his co-star Chloe Grace Moretz  for the same gong.

Kodi won an AFI award for Romulus playing the son of an Italian immigrant (Eric Bana).
For the full list of awards go to the Critic's Choice website.

An interview with Chloe & Kodi at the Sitges Festival: