Express and Star: First look at Joan Collins' glitzy panto dresses

When Hollywood star Joan Collins makes her pantomime debut in Birmingham wearing thigh-length boots there will be some appreciative whistles from the audience at the Hippodrome theatre.

The glamorous 77-year-old is bringing the glitz associated with Dynasty’s Alexis Colby to the West Midlands, thanks to costume designer Hugh Durrant.  Hugh has been working closely will the actress for the last few months and next Monday Joan will be at his London studio for her first fitting.

Dick Whittington begins on December 18 when Joan, starring as Queen Rat will be joined by stars Nigel Havers as King Rat, Julian Clary as The Spirit of the Bells, Keith Harris & Orville as the hopeless Rat Catchers as well as Jeffrey Holland as Dame Felicity Fitzwarren.
Hugh said: “Joan and Nigel are the only ones new to the play this year, whereas I made Julian Clary’s costume three years ago when he did the same part.

With someone like Joan Collins it is important to get their ideas first and so I went to see her at her London home in the summer.  “She had very strong ideas about how she wanted to look, and it was that whole Dynasty image — very glamorous with a bit of comedy. Joan is definitely not going to be a tawdry Queen Rat.”

Joan has three costumes for the show — the first is covered in thousands of small purple sequins and dozens of feathers.  The second is a black and green number, where the skirt can be whipped away to reveal Joan’s thigh-high boots, and the third is a flamboyant white feathered number that she will wear for her finale.

“My initial design for her first dress was red coloured but she wanted it to be purple,” says Hugh. “However, she liked the design which is good because you can often do hundreds of drawings before the person settles on the one they like.

“We went to St Tropez to measure Joan for the outfit and she will be having her first fitting on Monday. She’s very straightforward and professional to deal with — you know exactly where you are with her.”

Read the full article in Express and Star by clicking here.

Joan Collins packs in a star audience

Joan Collins continued to pack them in Tuesday night at Feinstein's at Loews Regency. In the audience wereBrooke Shields, interior designer Susan Gutfreund and financier husband John, Turner Classic Movies hostRobert Osborne and singer/actress Monique van Vooren. But the real buzz was onstage. Joan recalled that when she told Richard Burton "he would sleep with a snake," he responded, "only if it was wearing a skirt." And when Collins showed off her still remarkable flexibility by dropping into a full split, she declared, "That is what they call the British Open!"

Joan Collins at Feinstein's: Lovely Mention on Page Six of the NY Post Today:

The New York Observer: "Wine and Dynasty: Joan Collins at Feinstein's"

By Rex Reed
November 22, 2010 9:13 p.m.






Joan Collins has devoted her life to illusion, so in the third act of her career, why hold back now? Watching her New York nightclub debut at Feinstein's at Loew's Regency, it was reassuring to discover she has lost none of the beauty, self-effacing humor or erotic appeal that turned her into the kind of popular, antediluvian icon that is never dated, and woe to the macho adversary or unwise female contestant who challenges her. You can accuse her of hanging on beyond her prime, but if you meet her in a dark alley, bring Mace. I might have thought otherwise if I had not seen her immediately after suffering through a Broadway matinee of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, a junk pile of dreck that hideously resembles a garbage strike in downtown Newark. After the trashy pulchritude crashing its way through that train wreck, Joan Collins is as fresh, funny and full of paprika as she was when she burst upon the Cinemascope screen in the 1950s. She's ageless, and she even does an acrobatic split to prove it.


Read Rex Reed's full review in the New York Observer by clicking here.

One Night with Joan - NYDaily News Review: Collins seduces audience with her post-Dynasty Charms

Joe Dziemianowicz
Thursday, November 18th 2010, 4:00 AM

She's got the iconic red lips, man-eater attitude and padded shoulders that helped define the '80s on "Dynasty."
While Joan Collins is famous for acting up as evil Alexis on the glitzy prime-time soap, arguably her best performance came post-"Dynasty."

And you probably didn't see it.

She delivered it playing herself in a real-life court battle with Random House in the mid-'90s over her book manuscript. She came out smiling. And still is.

That's one of the familiar, but juicy, bits Collins shares in her solo memoir, "One Night With Joan," at Feinstein's through Nov. 27, a dishy affair that goes down easy.

Read the full review in the NYDaily News by clicking here.

Watch! A Fancy Video with Joan Collins About Her New Show: "One Night With Joan"

Joan's Arc: The Tweet Life with Joan Collins

by VENESSA LAU
From WWD ISSUE 11/15/2010

In April, The Spectator reported Joan Collins’ dis of Twitter. “It is the most banal and boring pastime ever invented,” she told the British magazine. So when rumors circulated later this year that the actress had taken to tweeting, some reporters were plenty skeptical. After all, there’s more than one Collins account out there, including one peppered with a few too many obvious “dahlings.” But the inaugural tweet from “joancollinsobe” sounded authentic enough: “Well, I finally gave in, joined the 21st century! I have an iPhone, iPad so now I’ll start tweeting. This IS me...aka Alexis! Stay tuned!” Her official Web site linked to the feed. She had messages from the verified account of sister Jackie. For the record, Collins was in Saint-Tropez when she entered the Twitterati ranks.

It was Collins. The “obe” stood for Order of the British Empire, which she had received from the Queen in 1997. Soon the world discovered that, on Aug. 27, Collins watched an old episode of “Dynasty.” On Sept. 24, she felt “sorry for Demi and Ashton.” She launched an official Facebook page on Oct. 22. (There were already six others claiming to be Collins.) Two days later, it was “just a regular Sunday for me!” And on Nov. 1: “It’s over 80 degrees [in L.A.] who knows what to wear?”  Joan Collins’ life is an open book. Again.


Read the full article in WWD by clicking here.

Joan Collins: Straight Up. The legendary actress previews her new One Night With Joan, and shares her thoughts on Dynasty

By: Brian Scott Lipton · Nov 12, 2010  · New York

Joan Collins (© Fadil Berisha)

Joan Collins has been a working actress for over six decades, first gaining mainstream attention for her role as Evelyn Nesbit in The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing. She has since conquered the stage and television in a variety of projects, most notably as Alexis Carrington Colby on ABC's hit drama Dynasty. She's also no stranger to the gossip columns, for her frank opinions, many marriages (including one to the late Anthony Newley), fashion sense, and her relationship with her sister, best-selling author, Jackie Collins.

The celebrated star is now making her first foray into New York's cabaret world -- albeit without doing any singing -- with her one-woman show,One Night With Joan, which will play the Ballroom at Feinstein's at Loews Regency, November 16-27. TheaterMania recently had the pleasure of briefly chatting with Collins about the show, her career, and her life.

THEATERMANIA: You've done a version of this show in many cities, including London. What do you expect the Feinstein's audience to be like?
JOAN COLLINS: I think New York audiences are very sophisticated and expect something special when they go see a show. And they like to have something to talk about after they see it!

TM: So what will they be talking about? Tell us about the show.
JC: It's mostly a monologue, with some clips from my movies andDynasty. I talk a lot about the great people I've worked with, from Paul Newman to Bette Davis, and I do a little talking about my parents and my sister. I like to say I have a great supporting cast behind me. Still, it is quite exhausting to be alone on stage the whole time.

TM: Speaking of stage, did you enjoy doing Private Lives on Broadway?
JC: I did enjoy it; I had a wonderful time. I had done it in London and toured it in America, but Broadway is every actor's dream.

TM: What do you consider the hardest role you ever did?
JC: I am never one of those actors that has to struggle with characterizations, but I had to play this dowager gorgon in a movie with Nigel Hawthorne called The Clandestine Marriage and that was probably the hardest one for me.

TM: You just played David Spade's mom on the sitcom Rules of Engagement. How would you describe that experience?
JC: It was very different for me, because it gave me a chance to do something very comedic.

TM: What was your first reaction when you were offered the role of Alexis Carrington on Dynasty?
JC: I thought I had the potential for a steady six-month gig. It wasn't meant to be a long-term job. So I thought, it's a gig, I like the role, I'll do it. That's what actors do. I was living in Europe at the time and I had never heard of the show or seen it.

TM: And in the end -- after more than 200 episodes -- what was that experience like for you?
I think people lost track of Joan Collins, especially the media, who wrote about all these things that didn't happen, like me throwing mink coats on the floor. But all the press helped the show.

TM: Did you watch the show while it was on?
JC: Never. I only watched it for the first time this summer when I was in the South of France and England, and it was on in reruns. Actually, I found it quite fascinating to watch and I finally understood why people liked this show.

TM: Is acting still the most important thing in your life?
JC: I always want to work, but motherhood has always been much more important to me than acting. I just don't like to talk about my children; they're private people.

TM: How do you keep finding work?
JC: It is so competitive now. So many actors and actresses are out of work; and most of the roles in movies and TV are for men. There are not many jobs for women -- and especially for women over 35. So I am creating a show for myself; I'm in the middle of meetings about it. But I don't want to say anything else yet..

TM: When you're out and about, either by yourself or with your husband, Percy Gibson, are you constantly recognized?
JC: 75 percent of time I'm ignored, about 10 percent of the time, it's "Oh My God, it's Joan Collins" and the rest of the time, I think people recognize me but just don't say anything. And that's okay. I like to be ignored. 

Joan Collins at Feinstein's: One Week Away. Get Your Tickets Now!

Click here for more information about "One Night with Joan Collins" at NYC's Feinstein's at Loews Regency Ballroom, playing November 16-27.

U.S. Fans Can Now Watch "Banksy's Coming For Dinner" Online at Hulu

Good news for U.S. fans of Joan Collins.  "Banksy's Coming for Dinner" is available to watch free online via Hulu.

"Experience the clash of celebrity, as Hollywood royalty Joan Collins and husband Percy meet Banksy, the most famous living artist in the world. Banksy’s Coming for Dinner is a film within a film and questions the very nature of 'reality' at every level."  

Spend Some Time with Joan Collins on The Wendy Williams Show: November 12, 2010

On Friday, November 12th, the amazing Joan Collins stops by "The Wendy Williams Show" in her bedtime attire and tells us about her new show at Feinsteins.

The Paley Center for Media Presents "Rules of Engagement"

On November 4th, Joan Collins participated in a panel discussion and evening with the cast of "Rules Of Engagement" presented by the Paley Center For Media in Beverly Hills, California.
Click here to see a photo slideshow of images from the event.

Joan Collins on "The Talk": Watch the full episode online!

Click here to watch the full episode of Joan Collins on "The Talk."

Joan Collins Live at Feinstein's at the Loews Regency Ballroom

  

From November 16 - 27, living legend Joan Collins performs "One Night with Joan" at the Regency Ballroom at Feinstein's in New York City.  In "One Night with Joan" Ms. Collins will share the stories and secrets of her celebrated career as one of the world's most glamourous and intriguing personalities.

With the same engaging wit and frankness that turned her two memoirs "Past Imperfect" and "Second Act" into New York Times best-sellers, Ms. Collins takes to the stage with honesty, style and grace.  When the show debuted in the United Kingdom, the Times of London hailed Joan as "riveting," "endearing" and "a terrific storyteller." 

Book your tickets today and enjoy "One Night with Joan!"

Joan Collins is "The Talk" of the Town

Watch a clip from Joan Collins' fab appearance on today's "The Talk"!

Joan Collins to Make Guest Appearance on CBS' Rules of Engagement

Joan Collins will guest star on the November 8 episode of CBS' "Rules of Engagement" in the role of Bunny Dunbar, the mother of Russell (David Spade).

Check your local listings here, and get ready for the fabulous Joan Collins!