A week has been experienced full of sunshine and tears of joy and it is now back to the reality of disciplined days in which I have much to cover in writing of what has been and preparations for a busy April with in the order of the activity the start of the cricket season, an important medical visit and a trip to London for Durham Cricket at Lords. I am not going to list all the events experienced or the tasks to be undertaken from the fear of being overwhelmed or taking the decision to summarise and move on which would be the sensible approach.
I begin with my second visit to a theatre to see a show in eight days, second for this year and for the past two years. The cause of the effort was a musical story about the life of Susan Boyle which world premiered at the Theatre Royal Newcastle on Thursday 22nd March 2012 at the start of a tour which travels to Aberdeen, Bradford, Liverpool, Dublin, Bristol, Southend, Cardiff, Birmingham, Inverness and Manchester, but not her home city or the East midlands or London.
The full house was not allowed to commence to take seats until well after 2pm which meant queues out into the street so it was just as well it was a warm sunny day. It was not surprising the performance did not being until 2.40 as a consequence and during the wait the audience of oldies remained expectant rather than restless. Unlike the namesake at Nottingham the theatre has dreadful seats with no space to allow people to pass by so everyone has to get up and leave a row to enable those sitting further along to take their seats if they are late. The seats slant forward and are not wide. The gentleman to my right had a hard time because his partner was at least twice my width which is saying something!
The story of Susan Boyle is well known throughout the world since her amazing performance on Britain’s Got Talent in 2009 when at the age of 47 a plain middle age woman stunned those who had come to mock, the judges and 100 million people who subsequently viewed the video on You Tube with at the last count 650 million viewings to-date. The reason for the reaction is that Susan has a powerful theatrical voice which electrifies an audience. It was only after the performance that we learned her life and what happened in the days immediately after the televised showing of an event which had taken place several weeks earlier.
Susan was born on April 1st 1961 in former mining community in Blackburn, West Lothian, Scotland the youngest of a Catholic family of four brothers and five sisters. She was deprived of oxygen during a difficult birth and was later diagnosed with a learning difficulty. Because of bullying at school where she was known as Susie Simple. He father had served in World War II, was a miner and led the family in singing. Her mother was a shorthand typist of Irish background.
Her parents, particularly her father were protective blocking the one relationship with a boy which developed when the became a teenager and the absence of a companion continues to haunt her life. Apart from attempting to become a cook at a college for further education she was cared for at home while her brothers and sisters left home and established lives for themselves. The death of her father was significant but that of her mother was devastating.
Susan had sung in the church choir and at local social clubs winning a talent competition in the area but had dreamed of being a professional singer. She participated in a the 1995 Michael Barrymore talent show My Kind of People, auditions and the tape of her experience shows that this awful man was more interested in mocking her than the potential. His failure then was everyone’ else’s gain and it is pleasing that that his life has become so disastrous a view which a line in the show echoed. It is also important to provide perspective the family arranged singing lessons and that she attended an acting school in Edinburgh. She made one CD to showed off her talents with1000 copies pressed and which again having been uploaded to the Internet has been viewed 100’s of million times. She pulled out of applying for the X Factor because she believed the lacked the looks to be accepted.
This is the official background context for her appearance on Britain’s Got Talent. A lot more happened to Susan during the five decades of previous life and as the actress playing her role admits during the show some things she is keeping private and some things she shares she wished were not so.
This is something which scum journalists attempted to penetrate in those extraordinary days between her first appearance, the semi final and final. She was ill equipped for what happened and in truth no one could have equipped for what happened as interests swept world wide, especially in the USA and she was asked to give hundreds of interviews and was followed day and night with some taking rooms on the same floor of the same hotel where she stayed for the semi final and final of the competition just to try and photo her in unguarded moments.
The consequence was that at the semi final she froze and her voice cracked and her performance in the Final failed to ignite the public interest which coupled which bad publicity by some of the tabloids who sensed blood resulted in her becoming the runner up to the dance troop Diversity. There remains the suspicion that the result was orchestrated because it was judged Susan could not immediate cope with the realities on stage concerts and tours. She did not participate in the tour undertaken by the Finalists.
She needed a period of recuperation out of the limelight but feeling low she accepted advice on the appointment of a manager with all the qualities needed to help her move from being an overnight sensation to an international icon with staying power. She has produced three albums the first selling three million copies in the USA and second only to one by a local talent show winner while topping the charts in the UK and in Italy. I am listening to the first album now commencing with Wild Horses, I dreamed a dream, Cry me a River, How Great thou Art, You’ ill See, Day Dream Believer, Amazing Grace, Who I was born to be, Proud, The End of the World, and Silent Night.
In many respect the reliance on album sales is contra the recent trend because of the ability of people to listen without purchasing, legitimately as I am doing on line without downloading. Today the money is made through concert performances which creates a problem for Susan as she finds it difficult to cope with demands of stage appearances. It is therefore not surprising that she is not playing the role in her own story although this is what she did in a TV special, The Susan Boyle Story where she was able to control the involvement through filmed interviews over a period of time as well as film of her public appearances.
This included an expensive plate dinner organised by her USA fan club in which fans travelled from all over the USA to share a couple of hours in her presence. Feeling loved and secure she continued to chat for twice as long as scheduled leaving everyone happy that they had the experience to treasure for the rest of their lives.
The present show includes the statement that she would a personal appearance although not saying she would sing. The production is clever because the show appears to end without her presence thus causing a nearby member of the audience to openly express their disappointment. But the audience, especially those who had seen the local notices new better and with flashing spotlights lighting up the audience to indicate what it is like to appear live the curtain was raised again to reveal Susan standing in a glittering dress to receive a standing roar of ovation a from a crowd used to giving polite applause. Because of the knowledge imparted through the show and the knowledge of her life brought by the audience into the theatre it was one the most emotional shared experiences encountered in such a situation. She sung I dreamed a dream and who I was born to be and although one or more numbers would have been appreciated no one felt cheated and everyone left the theatre with smiles on their faces.
Understandably there has been much considered writing on both sides of the Atlantic about the phenomenon especially her success in the USA which is something the majority of British entertainers aspire but only a handful achieve and none to the same extent. In no order of significance there is empathy because her talent was not recognised outside her community for the greater part of her life and that she led such a normal life with the Christian background, singing in church looking after her mother and also volunteering in the community. She also was willing to expose her personal limitations and vulnerability, especially her reaction at coming second, because this meant there were more who voted for another act than for her,
There is also the aspect of American Dream and the fairy story but I suspect the most potent reason was the unexpected that someone as old and who looked and dressed plainly had such an amazing talent as good as any performer on the London music stage. Today, youth, looks and fashion dominate the culture together with the ability to project presences from Newsreader and weather forecaster, reality TV performer, footballer and politician it is about appearance and effective sound bite. Susan was negative in all the boxes although now she had all the same support of hairdressing and make up, and stage wardrobe as any other International performer and personality and the degree which she remain private and alone. I suspect she has achieved enough to stay the course and join the other UK female icons of Gracie Fields and Dame Vera Lynn.
On Saturday evening the 2012 series of Britain’s Got Talent with another individual getting the same level of attention as Susan, 17 year old large. shy and ungainly youth of few words Jonathan with an operatic voice which if trained could be as good as Pavarotti according to Simon Cowell was accompanied by 16 year old Catherine with a popular or theatrical suitable voice and the two complemented in their singing as well as providing support for the young man on stage. They were being interviewed across the TV networks during today.
I begin with my second visit to a theatre to see a show in eight days, second for this year and for the past two years. The cause of the effort was a musical story about the life of Susan Boyle which world premiered at the Theatre Royal Newcastle on Thursday 22nd March 2012 at the start of a tour which travels to Aberdeen, Bradford, Liverpool, Dublin, Bristol, Southend, Cardiff, Birmingham, Inverness and Manchester, but not her home city or the East midlands or London.
The full house was not allowed to commence to take seats until well after 2pm which meant queues out into the street so it was just as well it was a warm sunny day. It was not surprising the performance did not being until 2.40 as a consequence and during the wait the audience of oldies remained expectant rather than restless. Unlike the namesake at Nottingham the theatre has dreadful seats with no space to allow people to pass by so everyone has to get up and leave a row to enable those sitting further along to take their seats if they are late. The seats slant forward and are not wide. The gentleman to my right had a hard time because his partner was at least twice my width which is saying something!
The story of Susan Boyle is well known throughout the world since her amazing performance on Britain’s Got Talent in 2009 when at the age of 47 a plain middle age woman stunned those who had come to mock, the judges and 100 million people who subsequently viewed the video on You Tube with at the last count 650 million viewings to-date. The reason for the reaction is that Susan has a powerful theatrical voice which electrifies an audience. It was only after the performance that we learned her life and what happened in the days immediately after the televised showing of an event which had taken place several weeks earlier.
Susan was born on April 1st 1961 in former mining community in Blackburn, West Lothian, Scotland the youngest of a Catholic family of four brothers and five sisters. She was deprived of oxygen during a difficult birth and was later diagnosed with a learning difficulty. Because of bullying at school where she was known as Susie Simple. He father had served in World War II, was a miner and led the family in singing. Her mother was a shorthand typist of Irish background.
Her parents, particularly her father were protective blocking the one relationship with a boy which developed when the became a teenager and the absence of a companion continues to haunt her life. Apart from attempting to become a cook at a college for further education she was cared for at home while her brothers and sisters left home and established lives for themselves. The death of her father was significant but that of her mother was devastating.
Susan had sung in the church choir and at local social clubs winning a talent competition in the area but had dreamed of being a professional singer. She participated in a the 1995 Michael Barrymore talent show My Kind of People, auditions and the tape of her experience shows that this awful man was more interested in mocking her than the potential. His failure then was everyone’ else’s gain and it is pleasing that that his life has become so disastrous a view which a line in the show echoed. It is also important to provide perspective the family arranged singing lessons and that she attended an acting school in Edinburgh. She made one CD to showed off her talents with1000 copies pressed and which again having been uploaded to the Internet has been viewed 100’s of million times. She pulled out of applying for the X Factor because she believed the lacked the looks to be accepted.
This is the official background context for her appearance on Britain’s Got Talent. A lot more happened to Susan during the five decades of previous life and as the actress playing her role admits during the show some things she is keeping private and some things she shares she wished were not so.
This is something which scum journalists attempted to penetrate in those extraordinary days between her first appearance, the semi final and final. She was ill equipped for what happened and in truth no one could have equipped for what happened as interests swept world wide, especially in the USA and she was asked to give hundreds of interviews and was followed day and night with some taking rooms on the same floor of the same hotel where she stayed for the semi final and final of the competition just to try and photo her in unguarded moments.
The consequence was that at the semi final she froze and her voice cracked and her performance in the Final failed to ignite the public interest which coupled which bad publicity by some of the tabloids who sensed blood resulted in her becoming the runner up to the dance troop Diversity. There remains the suspicion that the result was orchestrated because it was judged Susan could not immediate cope with the realities on stage concerts and tours. She did not participate in the tour undertaken by the Finalists.
She needed a period of recuperation out of the limelight but feeling low she accepted advice on the appointment of a manager with all the qualities needed to help her move from being an overnight sensation to an international icon with staying power. She has produced three albums the first selling three million copies in the USA and second only to one by a local talent show winner while topping the charts in the UK and in Italy. I am listening to the first album now commencing with Wild Horses, I dreamed a dream, Cry me a River, How Great thou Art, You’ ill See, Day Dream Believer, Amazing Grace, Who I was born to be, Proud, The End of the World, and Silent Night.
In many respect the reliance on album sales is contra the recent trend because of the ability of people to listen without purchasing, legitimately as I am doing on line without downloading. Today the money is made through concert performances which creates a problem for Susan as she finds it difficult to cope with demands of stage appearances. It is therefore not surprising that she is not playing the role in her own story although this is what she did in a TV special, The Susan Boyle Story where she was able to control the involvement through filmed interviews over a period of time as well as film of her public appearances.
This included an expensive plate dinner organised by her USA fan club in which fans travelled from all over the USA to share a couple of hours in her presence. Feeling loved and secure she continued to chat for twice as long as scheduled leaving everyone happy that they had the experience to treasure for the rest of their lives.
The present show includes the statement that she would a personal appearance although not saying she would sing. The production is clever because the show appears to end without her presence thus causing a nearby member of the audience to openly express their disappointment. But the audience, especially those who had seen the local notices new better and with flashing spotlights lighting up the audience to indicate what it is like to appear live the curtain was raised again to reveal Susan standing in a glittering dress to receive a standing roar of ovation a from a crowd used to giving polite applause. Because of the knowledge imparted through the show and the knowledge of her life brought by the audience into the theatre it was one the most emotional shared experiences encountered in such a situation. She sung I dreamed a dream and who I was born to be and although one or more numbers would have been appreciated no one felt cheated and everyone left the theatre with smiles on their faces.
Understandably there has been much considered writing on both sides of the Atlantic about the phenomenon especially her success in the USA which is something the majority of British entertainers aspire but only a handful achieve and none to the same extent. In no order of significance there is empathy because her talent was not recognised outside her community for the greater part of her life and that she led such a normal life with the Christian background, singing in church looking after her mother and also volunteering in the community. She also was willing to expose her personal limitations and vulnerability, especially her reaction at coming second, because this meant there were more who voted for another act than for her,
There is also the aspect of American Dream and the fairy story but I suspect the most potent reason was the unexpected that someone as old and who looked and dressed plainly had such an amazing talent as good as any performer on the London music stage. Today, youth, looks and fashion dominate the culture together with the ability to project presences from Newsreader and weather forecaster, reality TV performer, footballer and politician it is about appearance and effective sound bite. Susan was negative in all the boxes although now she had all the same support of hairdressing and make up, and stage wardrobe as any other International performer and personality and the degree which she remain private and alone. I suspect she has achieved enough to stay the course and join the other UK female icons of Gracie Fields and Dame Vera Lynn.
On Saturday evening the 2012 series of Britain’s Got Talent with another individual getting the same level of attention as Susan, 17 year old large. shy and ungainly youth of few words Jonathan with an operatic voice which if trained could be as good as Pavarotti according to Simon Cowell was accompanied by 16 year old Catherine with a popular or theatrical suitable voice and the two complemented in their singing as well as providing support for the young man on stage. They were being interviewed across the TV networks during today.
