One Night With Joan - Theatre Review
Joan Collins is back and currently wowing critics and audience alike with her one woman show “One Night With Joan”, on for a very limited run at the Leicester Square Theatre.
In a two hour show that passed too quickly, this living legend regaled tales from her life, reminding us that whilst Alexis Carrington was the role she is mostly remembered for, she actually studied at RADA before being snapped up by and shipped off to Hollywood. But that was just the tip of the iceberg. This woman showed just why she has lasted so long in show-business.
She is not to be messed with – even the paps who were going overboard with their cameras met her stern side. “Click, click, click! Do you ever stop?” The paparazzi were quickly removed, much to the audience’s delight, who whooped and cheered her off-book rant. Don’t cross the woman who was “The Bitch” – she means business.
Giving a faultless and captivating performance, Joan’s personality shone through from the moment she ran on stage shouting at the stage-hand that it wasn’t the right time to be playing “that clip”, which happened to be the opening credits to Dynasty, to the end where she answered questions from the audience. She is so matter-of-fact and honest, you cannot help but be mesmerized by this woman who took on a chauvinistic, male dominated world in court in the 1980s – and won.
With countless quotes you wished you had thought of, such as “an Emmy nomination is like haemorrhoids – eventually every arsehole gets one”, this absolutely charming evening had the audience laughing so hard, tears rolled. Joan exudes personality, warmth and pep, and she has a natural gift for storytelling, something that was perfectly combined with a backdrop of pictures and clips from her past, family and career. And she is exquisitely beautiful, with skin as flawless as her performance. For someone who has been there, done that and wrote the book on it (several books actually), she has certainly perfected the secret of eternal beauty.
The audience were on their feet with not one, but two standing ovations, both entirely justified, and Joan’s wit, effervescence and ability to not take herself too seriously was as refreshing as a glass of Cinzano, as long as you didn’t end up wearing it, ala Ms Collins. Catch her while you can. I cannot recommend this highly enough.
Totally unmissable and utterly delightful.
“One Night with Joan” is on at the Leicester Square Theatre on Friday 26th-Sunday
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