Tribute to Ian Fleming at London Palladium 05/10/08
Tim Pollard
My partner and I had the very great pleasure of attending the 'The Story of
James Bond - A Tribute to Ian Fleming' concert last night at the London
Palladium, a charity gig for the British Heart Foundation and it was an
absolute tour de force. One night only, full of Bond alumni from both
literary and cinematic productions and certainly worth every penny of the
admission price - I'd seen the show mentioned here a while ago but only made
an effort to buy a pair of tickets last week, hoping to get a couple of the
cheap seats, sadly when I rang they'd all gone and they only had expensive
single seats left, but whilst I was debating what to do a pair of (quite
expensive) returns came in slap bang in the middle of the front stalls and
so I thought 'sod it, you only live... er... once!' and snapped them up!
We arrived at the Palladium by taxi and were mildly surprised to find
outselves being escorted out of it by policemen as the entire street was
full of press, paparazzi and onlookers, so we felt prettty special before it
had even started - then we made our way into the theatre for the show, and
here's a brief run-down of what happened...
The curtain raised to feature an orchestra on stage playing a medley of the
Bond themes before Lucy Fleming came onstage to introduce the hosts, Stephen
Fry and Joanna Lumley. The format of the show was eclectic and interesting,
Fry and Lumley sitting just in front of the orchestra narrating the history
of Fleming's life whilst Jeremy Irons (to the left) played the part of
Fleming himself, reading letters and quotations and Toby Stephens (to the
right) reading extracts from the Bond books themselves. Overhead a large
screen showed clips from films, stills and other images.
Interspersed between these readings were Bond themes sung by Beverley
Knight, Tony Hadley, Mica Paris, Lemar and even Lee Mead amongst others -
all of which were very nicely done, and the West End cast of Chitty Chitty
Bang Bang sang a couple of numbers from that show too. There were video
messages from Duran Duran and Paul McCartney and the orchestra played some
more themes and
incidental music from the movies and there was even a performance of Noel
Coward's 'Don't Let's Be Beastly to the Germans'!.
There were more readings from (amongst others) Samantha Bond, Christopher
Casenove, Joely Richardson, Harriet Walter, Gemma Arterton and Rosamund
Pike. Sebastian Faulkes read from Diamonds are Forever too, but sadly
Christopher Lee and David Gilmour weren't in attendance (although they were
listed in the programme), their parts being performed by other members of
the cast.
Of course there had to be Bond girls too and onstage we saw Shirley Eaton,
Caroline Munnro, Maryan D'Abo, Zena Marshall, Eunice Grayson, Madeleine
Smith and Tanya Mallet and there was a HUGE round of applause as Roger Moore
came onstage - and more after a Sir Sean look-alike tried to muscle in and
was bundled offstage by a Royal Marine Commando who abseiled down from the
roof! Sir Rog made a very nice sppech about Cubby Broccoli and then
introduced Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, who we were surprised to
find were sitting just a couple of seats behind us!
Charlie Higson gave an amusing talk on the history of Bond media pre-Connery
(Holness and Nelson) and all of this was topped by a sneak preview scene
from QoS before Daniel Craig (arm still in a black sling) appeared onstage
and the place just erupted - he read the eulogy from Fleming's funeral and
then everyone trooped back onstage to take a huge standing ovation - it was
a fabulous night (although my partner's night had already been made when I
pointed out we were also sitting just two seats away from Daniel Craig for
most of the show and he'd given her a very appreciative glance)! I have no
idea whose tickets I'd picked up, but as I mentioned we were right in the
middle of the celebs - Charlie Higson was in front of us (and was very
pleasant and courteous), Caroline Munro and many of the other Bond girls to
our right and Simon Williams almost on top of us for most of the evening. It
was a great and at times very moving tribute to Ian Fleming and everyone
performed brilliantly - and I've been told that the show was being recorded
for later broadcast by BBC Radio 2, so hopefully (if that's true) you'll be
able to hear some of it yourselves.
Top fun!
--
Regards
Tim Pollard
www.timpollard.com
"I'm the worst Robin Hood you've heard of. But you *have* heard of me."
Commander Gideon
> the Bond themes before Lucy Fleming came onstage to introduce the hosts,
> Stephen Fry and Joanna Lumley.
I remember the lovely Lucy Fleming from Terry Nations Survivors shown on BBC
back in the mid seventies!
Phil Gerrard
remortgaged the flat or sold a kidney or something to raise the funds to get
there...) Sounds like a superb night, Tim, and thanks so much for the
description of the show.
Best
Phil
Tim Pollard
news:lXrGk.14229$fU3....@newsfe19.ams2...
Ah, we should all have gone, mob-handed - that'd've been even more fun!
Should've mentioned too - Sir Rog does a very good Connery impression too -
got a great laugh!
The Shadow
Thank you Tim for an outstanding report.
As we say in America...very awesome dude, you rock!
:)
Phil Gerrard
> Ah, we should all have gone, mob-handed - that'd've been even more fun!
Yeah, but I'm glad one of us made it anyway, and that you gave us such a
great report of the show.
> Should've mentioned too - Sir Rog does a very good Connery impression
> too - got a great laugh!
He must have had more practice since his retirement. I remember him doing
Sean on UK chat shows during the '80s and it was, well, not to put too fine
a point on it, *excruciating*!
I remember seeing Moore and Connery on a UK chat show (Wogan, Aspel,
Harty? - can't remember for sure) within a months of each other. The host
mentioned to Connery that Moore had done an impersonation of him, and asked
if he could impersonate Moore. Connery's non-verbal response - you guessed
it, a single raised eyebrow - got a much bigger laugh than Moore's
cod-Scottish accent had done. ;-)
Best
Phil
Mac
I hate you.
--Mac
Pink Freud
"Tim Pollard" <timpo...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:L_qGk.19022$my.1...@newsfe12.ams2...
> Wow.
>
<snip what sounds like a cracking event>
> Charlie Higson gave an amusing talk on the history of Bond media
> pre-Connery (Holness and Nelson) and all of this was topped by a sneak
> preview scene from QoS
So, any tidbits of info from the sneak preview? How did it look? More
importantly, was there a double-taking pigeon?
--
----------------------------------------------------------
Pink Freud, Dark Side Of The Couch
----------------------------------------------------------
"I used to hate myself, until I found you."
The Wildhearts
Matt L
> "Tim Pollard" <timpoll...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
or Gondolas?
or space lasers?
Does the DBS disappear?
Please don't say jinx makes a cameo
Matt L
Splendid review. Thanks for letting us hear about the experience.
Glad to see that one of the ng community got to have such a great
experience. Good for you Tim.
BTW. You said that DC winked approvingly at your lady. Do you think
that is why Ms Mitchell broke his arm?
Regards,
Matt
Mark
Well, now you know whose seats you got! I am totally amazed. The
best I can do here in Nashville today is say that Barack Obama and
John McCain will be in town. Hardly the calibur of your shindig. :)
Pink Freud
"Matt L" <mlaw...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:619700eb-3529-4fda...@j68g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
> On Oct 7, 4:56 am, "Pink Freud" <somewh...@here.com> wrote:
>> "Tim Pollard" <timpoll...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>>
>> news:L_qGk.19022$my.1...@newsfe12.ams2...> Wow.
>>
>> <snip what sounds like a cracking event>
>>
>> > Charlie Higson gave an amusing talk on the history of Bond media
>> > pre-Connery (Holness and Nelson) and all of this was topped by a sneak
>> > preview scene from QoS
>>
>> So, any tidbits of info from the sneak preview? How did it look? More
>> importantly, was there a double-taking pigeon?
>>
>
> or Gondolas?
> or space lasers?
> Does the DBS disappear?
> Please don't say jinx makes a cameo
No, but word is there's a Ray Winstone cameo as the new cockney JW Pepper.
Tim Pollard
"Pink Freud" <some...@here.com> wrote in message
news:_uFGk.68052$E41....@text.news.virginmedia.com...
>
>
> "Tim Pollard" <timpo...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:L_qGk.19022$my.1...@newsfe12.ams2...
>> Wow.
>>
> <snip what sounds like a cracking event>
>
>> Charlie Higson gave an amusing talk on the history of Bond media
>> pre-Connery (Holness and Nelson) and all of this was topped by a sneak
>> preview scene from QoS
>
> So, any tidbits of info from the sneak preview? How did it look? More
> importantly, was there a double-taking pigeon?
Yes, it was a great clip, showing the double-taking pigeon driving an
invisible hovercraft gondola straight at Jaws... and who'd have thought
they'd bring back 'California Girls' for the soundtrack too!
Actually it was a short confrontational scene between Bond and M, in tone
very remeniscient of CR ('08, obviously) and *just* enough to get me even
more excited than before - it looks very nice indeed!
Tim Pollard
"Mark" <trustmei...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:07542a31-9e95-4743...@8g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
Oh I don't know - get them to knock out a few Bond themes between them it'd
make great news! <g>
Tim Pollard
LOL! I'd like to think so - it's not something I'd dare try! :-)
--
Regards
Tim Pollard
www.timpollard.com
"I'm the worst Robin Hood you've heard of. But you *have* heard of me."
Pink Freud
"Tim Pollard" <timpo...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:GEMGk.369$214...@newsfe03.ams2...
>
> "Pink Freud" <some...@here.com> wrote in message
> news:_uFGk.68052$E41....@text.news.virginmedia.com...
>>
>>
>> "Tim Pollard" <timpo...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>> news:L_qGk.19022$my.1...@newsfe12.ams2...
>>> Wow.
>>>
>> <snip what sounds like a cracking event>
>>
>>> Charlie Higson gave an amusing talk on the history of Bond media
>>> pre-Connery (Holness and Nelson) and all of this was topped by a sneak
>>> preview scene from QoS
>>
>> So, any tidbits of info from the sneak preview? How did it look? More
>> importantly, was there a double-taking pigeon?
>
>
> Yes, it was a great clip, showing the double-taking pigeon driving an
> invisible hovercraft gondola straight at Jaws... and who'd have thought
> they'd bring back 'California Girls' for the soundtrack too!
>
LOL. All we need now are some cringingly awful "kill" lines.
> Actually it was a short confrontational scene between Bond and M, in tone
> very remeniscient of CR ('08, obviously) and *just* enough to get me even
> more excited than before - it looks very nice indeed!
>
I love the scenes between Dench and Craig. Glad to hear it is reminiscient
of CR's tone. Would be nice to learn a bit more of Dench's M's background,
as well. Maybe not what "M" stands for, but at least what she was instead of
an Admiral. Not too many female Admirals, one would guess.
Mark
> "Matt L" <mlawr...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>
> - Show quoted text -
Here are some online photos of what Tim got to see:
Paul Haynes
Wow.
Excellent write up Tim, wish I could have made it.
Haynes'ey.