BAZ BAMIGBOYE: Linzi Hateley and Jason Donovan reunite in Joseph

BAZ BAMIGBOYE: After 30 years, Linzi Hateley and Jason Donovan are together again in Joseph

Thirty years after Linzi Hateley first clapped eyes on Jason Donovan — looking ‘gorgeous, stuffed into his loincloth’ — as Joseph, the pair will reunite in the same show, on the same London Palladium stage.

Linzi will return as the Narrator — the part she played opposite Donovan (and later Phillip Schofield and, briefly, Darren Day).

She’ll give a dozen, special guest star performances, scattered throughout the season (the first two on July 17), while Alexandra Burke, the principal Narrator, is off.

Linzi will return as the Narrator — the part she played opposite Jason Donovan (and later Phillip Schofield and, briefly, Darren Day)

Thirty years after Linzi first clapped eyes on Donovan — looking ‘gorgeous, stuffed into his loincloth’ — as Joseph, the pair will reunite in the same show, on the same London Palladium stage

Donovan, now the hip-swivelling (but still scantily-clad) Pharaoh, has passed Joseph’s coat of many colours to Jac Yarrow. They debuted those parts in 2019, when Sheridan Smith was Narrator.

I reminded Linzi that last year she said she couldn’t picture herself playing the Narrator again; saying it was ‘a moment in time’.

She laughed, and said: ‘This is clearly another moment in time.’ Speaking from her home in Buckinghamshire, the 50-year-old added: ‘I never would have dreamt that I’d be having another crack at the same part I did three decades go.’

In 1991, Joseph was the first megamix musical. Linzi remembered Andrew Lloyd Webber waving a tape in the air and saying: ‘This is our finale!’

I reminded Linzi that last year she said she couldn’t picture herself playing the Narrator again; saying it was ‘a moment in time’

Donovan was a heartthrob in those days thanks to the tv soap Neighbours. There was pandemonium at the Palladium, nightly, with fans packing the streets outside

When he played the new disco arrangements to the cast, they side-eyed each other ‘as if to say: he’s gone mad’, Linzi recalled.

But when they did the number in front of an audience ‘the Palladium erupted! It was absolutely bonkers’.

Donovan was a heartthrob in those days thanks to the tv soap Neighbours. There was pandemonium at the Palladium, nightly, with fans packing the streets outside.

‘Jason was flying on his own success, and we enjoyed that with him,’ Linzi said.

But there was a downside, too. Donovan began having substance abuse troubles. Linzi provided a shoulder to lean on; though she credits his family for helping him get through it.

But there was a downside, too. Donovan began having substance abuse troubles. Linzi provided a shoulder to lean on; though she credits his family for helping him get through it

Linzi will give a dozen, special guest star performances, scattered throughout the season (the first two on July 17), while Alexandra Burke, the principal Narrator, is off.

Even back then, she knew about the flip side of showbusiness. At 17, she starred in the musical Carrie, which flopped on Broadway.

She’s sanguine about it now, and feels proud the show has gained cult status, after a podcast about Carrie, Out For Blood, became a success during lockdown.

She’s grateful, too, because Carrie gave her a launchpad. ‘I was a quirky, chubby teenager who could sing very well — but I don’t know where you’d have put me then.’

After Carrie she came home to the dole. But Cameron Mackintosh had seen her, and put her into Les Miserables. And then came Joseph.

I’ve seen her in countless shows — as Donna in Mamma Mia!, Mrs Banks in Mary Poppins and Roxie Hart in Chicago — and she still excels. ‘When opportunities come along, I try to grab them,’ she says.

Wanted: An Esther to join Sir Anthony

Anthony Hopkins, recently anointed with a second Oscar, for The Father, has already been cast to portray Sir Nicholas Winton — a quiet hero who kept secret his role in saving 669 children from the Nazis — until Esther Rantzen revealed it 48 years later.

But the big question now is: who will play Esther?

The great dame of television played no part in getting the children safely out of Prague and into foster homes in the UK (she wasn’t born yet!).

But she did have the stockbroker- turned-philanthropist on her popular BBC1 That’s Life programme in February 1988.

Anthony Hopkins, recently anointed with a second Oscar, for The Father, has already been cast to portray Sir Nicholas Winton — a quiet hero who kept secret his role in saving 669 children from the Nazis — until Esther Rantzen revealed it 48 years later 

Dame Esther had the stockbroker-turned-philanthropist Sir Nicholas on her popular BBC1 That’s Life programme in February 1988.

That episode has become an historic landmark in TV because what Winton didn’t realise was that ALL the guests in the studio audience, including the woman sitting next to him, were children he had brought to safety.

The film, One Life, is scheduled to shoot early next year; with Johnny Flynn portraying Winton in 1939.

Producers at See-Saw Films and BBC Film want to recreate the That’s Life scenes in the picture, which is to be directed by Aisling Walsh, and finding the right actress to play Rantzen is key.

An executive at See-Saw told me yesterday that the casting process on Esther will start later this year.

Producers at See-Saw Films and BBC Film want to recreate the That’s Life scenes in the picture, which is to be directed by Aisling Walsh, and finding the right actress to play Rantzen is key

Watch out for…

A musical based on the life of Alabama-born African-American couturier Ann Lowe — famous for creating Jacqueline Bouvier’s gown for her wedding to John F. Kennedy and the intricate floral design dresses she made for high-society names from the 1920s until her death in 1981 — is being developed by the Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester.

Joseph Houston, the theatre’s artistic director, said he has optioned rights to Something To Prove, Julia Faye Smith’s 2016 biography of Lowe.

‘We’re passionate about developing our own work,’ said Houston, adding that he was searching for a book writer, composer and lyricist to write the show.

A musical based on the life of Alabama-born African-American couturier Ann Lowe — famous for creating Jacqueline Bouvier’s gown for her wedding to John F. Kennedy — is being developed by the Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester

‘Ann’s story is a success story,’ he said, even though the designer wasn’t fairly credited (or properly paid) for her work.

When she delivered the Bouvier-Kennedy dress she was ordered to use the servant’s entrance.

She argued that there would be no wedding if she wasn’t allowed through the front door. She won that one.

When Lowe delivered the Bouvier-Kennedy dress she was ordered to use the servant’s entrance. She argued that there would be no wedding if she wasn’t allowed through the front door. She won that one. Pictured: Jackie Kennedy and husband John F Kennedy at their wedding

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