Well I went to the show in Bath on Thursday night, and I am glad that I did. Thankfully Joan didn't really get into her political views much, and she didn't really bash Linda either. She did bring up Legends but there was more emphasis on the terrible producer this time and how some years after the show he was arrested for Child Pornography.
She looked great and had two costume changes. She at first came out in black dress with crystal beading, a different dress to the one she wore in London. Then after a short break she came out in a black leather jacket and trousers. She didn't wear a wig and had her own hair pulled up in a messy updo. She looked fantastic, and we were in the 5th row so were pretty close. I was pretty star struck and mesmerized the whole time, to see her in person and so close. However as a life long fan there wasn't really anything new that I learned from the show. I have read all her books, watched all the interviews and TV Shows, and heard most of it all before.
What struck me was how tiny and actually kind of frail she was. On TV she still has that grand diva presence, though when seen for real she so little and actually very sweet. You can see her real genuine character peek through. It was also apparent to me that her memory is getting very bad. There were times in the show she was talking about people she had known or worked with for a long time and she couldn't remember their names. She talked about her time on American Horror story and raved about a fantastic actor as her co-star but she couldn't remember his name. It was kind of strange. The actor was Evan Peters, who I do think is a great actor too.
She trotted out some showbiz party stories about people like Liza Minelli and Michael Jackson and Tina Turner and a whole host of stars she's met. She mentioned meeting Jackson on the set of Dynasty when he came to visit with one of his sisters. She couldn't remember which one. She said he was very sweet and mimicked his voice. Then she said she met him some time later and he shyly came up to her and asked if she remembered him, and this was at the height of his fame, and she said, "of course I remember you" he was everywhere at the time. Then years later she saw him at another party, someone's Halloween party and she didn't know if it was Michael himself or someone dressed as Michael. He was wearing a lot of makeup, and the wig and hat and the glitzy military jacket.
I think someone may have told her to tame the bitchiness or there could have been something mentioned about certain things after the London show as a lot of the time it wasn't Joan being bitchy or snide about people. Christopher Biggins would slip in a funny bitchy comment and Joan would say "well I didn't say that, that was you" mostly she was very sweet.
She was talking about Liza Minelli who is some years younger than her, and how Joan thought it was very funny that Liza would call her her little baby Joan, even though she was all those years older. Biggins chimed in with, "well she's likely off her head" or something along those lines.
There was a part where there questions from the audience but I was literally that star struck that my mind went blank, and I already know so much about her, I couldn't think of anything. Someone asked could if they and their daughter could get a selfie with Joan as it was her daughters birthday. Joan said she would have loved to but that it wouldn't be allowed due to Covid which I think is fine. Someone asked how many Dynasty outfits she still had. She said very very little. She said what she did have she auctioned at Julien's a few years ago as there was no way she could ever fit into them again. She also mentioned that one of the producers wives used to take a lot of them and hated that Joan and Linda and Diahann would wear those gowns to events and awards shows. She said being in Dynasty they had to do a lot of events and shows and stuff and that frankly they weren't paid enough to buy those types of gowns and outfits to wear to events. They had to look like Dynasty so it made sense to wear the Nolan Miller. She said one of the producers wives must have a lot of stuff, she tool it. My thoughts were it must be Candy Spelling or else one of Doug Cramer's wives. Both were known to have worn Nolan Miller around that time.
She mentioned some up and coming things that she couldn't say too much about. The Joan and Jackie mini-series that I think is in development with the BBC and another company. Then she said she's also in the process of developing something with Netflix, or working with Netflix on something but it wasn't really clear what that was. She mentioned Jackie and her passing, which is 6 years ago now. She then mentioned that there was a documentary about her, Lady Boss airing on BBC2. It was on last night, so I need to find that on catch up.
Then there was all the stuff I had heard a billion times. Gene Kelly, Paul Newman and his salad dressing, Joanne Woodward making her own Oscar gown. Gregory Peck and his wife. The bit about Frank Sinatra wanting her to fly to Hamburg. Warren Beatty. There was a weird bit where Joan was talking about working with Shirley MacLaine and how Shirley seemed awfully interested in how her brother was as a lover.
It was also confirmed that Joan was up for the role on Downton Abbey that ended up being played by Shirley MacLaine. Joan said she really wanted it. I remember her hinting at that in some vague way around the time and really really wanted her on the show. I think I would much rather have had her than Shirley. I think Joan would have been great with Maggie Smith. There was the Cruella de Vil role that Joan wanted and they went with Glenn Close.
She mentioned the recent passing of Michael Nader and said how she loved working with him. I think she may have mentioned Diahann's passing also.
There wasn't really any bashing of John Forsythe or Linda Evans or the Dynasty cast which I was glad of, and there wasn't any silly Tory talk. We were all given a copy of the book, so I now have two!
I didn't go to the stage door as I felt like I would be bothering her after what she said about the selfie earlier. My friend Colleen did however while me and my other friend went and found a bar. My friend did see her, she came out with Percy and Biggins and a lot of security and Joan was in a long camel coat and slippers, no heels. They had to drive from Bath to Manchester for the next show. My friend said we had travelled from Belfast to see her and Joan said "How Sweet" Colleen then wished Percy a happy birthday and he thanked her.
We met some lovely people at the show too and everyone was really nice. Then we met a lovely couple in the bar afterwards Ken and Jane and they stayed with us until closing time. We all had a great time and I am glad we went. I didn't take many pictures but I will see if I can put some here later.
