Huge thanks to the ever fabulous It's Behind You! for making this all official for me!
With thanks to Laura for the scan
By Jeff Allum
Oh no she won't, oh yes she did! In true pantomime style, theatregoers were left until the dance-off of Strictly Come Dancing's quarter-finals to see if Letitia Dean would be appearing in the opening performances of Cinderella at the Ipswich Regent.
Strictly's loss has become Ipswich's gain. The publicity generated by the ever-popular dancing competition has done the Regent no harm, as the attendance appeared to be up on the equivalent performance of Snow White last year.
An unexplained delay meant the audience weren't allowed to their seats until 10 minutes before the scheduled curtain-up. But once the performance began they were treated to the familiar mix of music, slapstick, prop-failures and audience interaction that have become the staple of recent pantomimes at the Regent.
The straight-acting roles of Cinderella and Prince Charming were professionally performed to a high standard by Alison Dormer and Stephen Dean respectively, however the audience will most likely remember the comical antics of Buttons, Baron Hardup and the outrageous Ugly Sisters as the highlights.
Tucker, in his first visit to Ipswich, particularly stood out as the main provider of laughs, and local children Bethany, Emma and Oliver won't forget their time on stage with him.
The Ugly Sisters' costumes have to be seen to be believed. They donned at least six different outfits during the show, including everything from Christmas trees to French fries.
Watts the difference?
Of course, the show couldn't take place without regular references to Strictly and the obligatory EastEnders finale beats, Letitia having spent many years on screen as Sharon Watts.
I felt her participation as the Fairy Godmother was much better than Anita Dobson's starring role last year, as Dobson's appearances were too few and short for a headlining star.
All in all a great afternoon's entertainment.
Click here & select "Letitia Dean, post Strictly, pre-panto"
Transcript to follow
In The Pink
She was Dirty Den's Princess, Grant Mitchells wife & Landlady of the Queen Vic. Letitia Dean tells the evening Star's James Marston why she cant wait to get on stage
Letitia Dean was on the phone. " Babe I've just got in from the gym. I've got to have a show. I'll call you back in five. "
Bubbily, engaging & ever so slightly flirtacious, Letitia Dean is fun.
She talks ten to a dozen, she's cheeful & she's looking forward to coming to Ipswich.
She said: "I'm going to play the Fairy Godmother at The Regent. I'm really excited. I've never been a fairy before & I'll get to wear lots of pink."
It was 20 years ago Letitia, now 40, was last in Cinderella. Back when she played the title role.
She added: "I was the wicked queen in Snow White last year in Northampton. It will be nice not to be booed this year. Panto is great fun to do & there's great camaraderie. There's quite a short rehearsal period & it's hard work, but its Christmas & it's always a lovely atmosphere. It's something that is very British. For many of the children that come to see it its often their first experience of the theatre so there is a certain responsibilty to make it enjoyable for them"
Letitia Dean was born in Hertfordshire, the youngest of three children, & picking up a penchant for performing at an early age.
She studied at the Italia Conti Theatre School & later the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London.
Her first notable television appearence came in 1978 when she was 11 & played a student named Lucinda in the BBC children's series Grange Hill.
Letitia was later cast as one of the original members of BBC1 soap opera Eastenders & to get the part she falsely claimed that she was born & rasied in Hackney, East London. She went on to feature in some of the soaps most renowned storylines, including the infamous love triangle with her then on-screen husband Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp) & his brother Phil (Steve McFadden).
As well as acting, Letitia is a tap dancer & a keen singer with a mezzo-soprano voice. It was more then 20 years ago that she released a single Something Outta Nothing, which got to number 12 in the singles chart in November 1986. Today her pop ambition are behind her. "I think the world of pop can manage without me, dont you? But I think I might be doing a couple of numbers in pantomime. I'm looking forward to the transformation scene. That's when the magic begins & I think we will have real ponies."
By appearing at the Regent, Letitia is following in the footsteps of on screen mum Anita Dobson who starred in last year's Snow White.
"I dont think we get much time off. My folks live in Lincolnshire, how far is that from Ipswich? If I don't go to see them I'll collapse in bed with a remote control "
Famous since a young ae Letitia is unfazed by fame. "I suppose I was quite young when I started in Eastenders. Its something I have grown up with & got used to. I've been in soaps for 20 years & I've got nothing to compare it to really. I've been very lucky & people are normally very nice to me "
20 December 2007 | 11:31
ANDREW CLARKE
Last year Angie Watts was the wicked queen at the Regent Theatre panto - this year her on-screen daughter Sharon gets to be the fairy godmother. Arts Editor Andrew Clarke spoke to actress Letitia Dean about EastEnders, her love of pantomimes and her success on Strictly Come Dancing.
She first gained fame as the loud and brassy Sharon Watts - Dirty Den's adopted daughter in EastEnders. Now Letitia Dean, wowing audiences on Strictly Come Dancing, is about to add some sparkle in Cinderella at the Ipswich Regent.
Letitia admits that no-one is more surprised than her that she has done so well in the popular, audience-friendly ballroom dance show. She says that even though she went to stage school and received some dance training there it was all very rudimentary and a long time ago.
The first thing you notice about Letitia is that she's a very enthusiastic, bubbly individual and appears to have had a genuinely good experience on the BBC Saturday night programme.
�I've never been so fit,� she laughs, �People say is the old stage school training coming back but it's got nothing to do with it. What we did was so different from ballroom� but even if it was, it's so long ago - 23 years ago - that I could barely remember it. It really was going back and starting from scratch.
�When you talk about dance training at stage school it wasn't up to Darcy Bussell standard. It was good toes, naughty toes and that was it. That's why I felt so honoured to have someone like Darren Bennett guiding me through it all. Showing me the way that you are supposed to move your hips� my hips haven't moved like that for years.�
Letitia lets fly another full-blooded throaty laugh. It's clear that she's enjoying life away from Albert Square and enjoying being back in the spotlight as Letitia Dean rather than as a tempestuous barmaid in a soap opera.
But she says that the shadow of Sharon Watts is not something that she's worried about and recognises that the former daughter of The Old Vic's most notorious landlords (Dirty Den and Angie) was the reason why there was a lot of initial interest in her on Strictly Come Dancing. But it was her performance and her personality which kept her there.
�People expect a lot if you are an actor or a singer because it's all about performance. I can walk in a straight line without falling over but that's about it. Darren's taught me about performing a dance, not just doing the steps. What I love about ballroom and Latin is that there's a story with it. That's why Darren is so good, he treats the dance like a story, he knows when to pull an audience in and when to let you go, it's just like telling a story.�
She said that Ipswich audiences will be seeing a new improved Letitia when she takes to the stage as the Fairy Godmother. �I tell you what; I will never be this fit again. You use muscles that you never knew you had.� However she admits that at times there are moments when she realises that she's no longer 18.
�When I walk upstairs now my knees rattle. It's time to start taking the supplements now and my feet haven't been out of my foot spa.�
So what made her expose herself to the potentially dismissive vagaries of a Saturday night audience? �It's a challenge and I fancied having the fear of God put back into me. I think that most actors, most performers like that - they like that adrenalin rush. We get a buzz from doing something different - something a little bit dangerous. It's easy to drift along in that comfort zone and it's good to shake things up a bit - it's quite sadistic really but in a good way.�
She said that it was the BBC that contacted her rather her chasing a place in the competition. She said that she had watched previous series and had always enjoyed it.
�What I love about it is the diverse mix of people that take part. It's a real eclectic bunch of people - you have the sportspeople, the actors and the singers� I was thinking about my 40th birthday, which was in November, and as I've got older I have thought it would be nice to learn how to dance properly - a nice cheeky foxtrot, you know - so it all came together at the right time.
�It was the one reality show I really fancied doing. For me, it was something more than Big Brother or those other shows - not that there's anything wrong with those shows - but how often do you have the opportunity to be taught by the British Latin Champion?�
She said that the fact that Strictly Come Dancing was a family show was an important factor in her decision to sign up. This is also one of the major reasons why she loves doing panto each year.
She has done so many in fact that she admits that she has now lost count. �I have done about 13 or 14 over the years. I started out as a kid in panto. I started off playing Cinderella - that was my first role - and now I'm the old fairy godmother. Cinderella is one of my favourite pantos of them all. It's very romantic - the whole notion - and the Ugly Sisters are just terrific.�
She said this production in Ipswich was going to be magical. �We've got a real pony on stage - which means that we've got to tread a bit carefully. The Ugly Sisters are going to be awesome. We've got Simon Bashford and Adam Daye who are fantastic. I think the Ugly Sisters are the epitome of panto, the way that they play up to the audience and the audience respond to them. That's what I love about panto - it's the interaction. It's the feeling that we are all having a good time together.
�I've never worked with Simon or Adam before but I have watched one of their pantos and they are so good - the kids are going to love them - I am really looking forward to appearing with them.�
She said that as a performer she loved the immediate comeback from an audience. �On telly or film you don't get that. You have to wait for a break to ask: �Was that all right? Did that work?� With an audience you know immediately. If it's funny they laugh and it fuels the performance. You can gauge an audience and change and fine tune what you do as you go. Some things work better with some crowds than others. Every show is different.�
She says she marvels at the way that the comedians can control the �temperature� of an audience. A good dame or the comic acts can bring up an audience up to fever pitch - having the kids screaming at the stage or calm them down as required. �It's fascinating to watch. But you have to be careful. We've all had sweets thrown at us before by an over-excited crowd.�
Even though Letitia is obviously a huge fan of television, she also sees panto playing a huge role in public entertainment in the 21st century. She said that people who regard pantomime as dated or old fashioned were misguided. �People still keeping coming back because it is one of the few treats that is still proper family entertainment. People of all ages can go along and have a good time and get something different from it. Even though they may be a few double entendres they fly over the kids heads and everyone has a good time. It's not cruel, it's not crass, it's good old fashioned family entertainment and there's not too much of that left today. It's about going as a family.
�It's still the first time that the majority of people go to the theatre and experience the thrill of live entertainment. It's not recorded, it's not up on a screen, it's not a computer game - it's real people, there on a stage performing for you in the audience - making you laugh and everyone is having a good time.�
She said that she still dips into EastEnders to keep a check on what is happening and would never rule out a return to the square. She said that she left the last time at the beginning of 2006 because she needed a break. �So I went away to re-evaluate my life and just take stock of what I was doing and what I wanted. This is why I wanted to do Strictly because it is something different, something unusual and a challenge which is exactly what I needed.
�It's what makes you an actor and not an accountant. But, funnily enough, one of the joys of being in a soap is that for a year you know what you are doing. You know you are going to get paid every week. But in the end it's also what makes you leave. But I have the greatest respect for that show (EastEnders) because it's been really good to me. I could never moan about it or say it type cast me because it provided me with work and gave me such a wonderful experience for the whole time I was on it. It served me really well.�
�Doing something like Strictly and doing the pantomime, it's brought it home to me that I am very much a company player. My idea of hell would be doing a one woman show. I like people and I like company. If I was a singer, for example, I would much rather be in a group, in a girl band, than be a solo singer because I like the interaction.
�As I found with Strictly and EastEnders the cast are like family - in fact you see them more than your family. Occasionally there's a bit of turbulence but you have that in any family, you just put your head down and get over it. And when you work together so consistently on a soap you just get to know each other so well.�
Letitia is also delighted to learn that former EastEnders cast-member Bill Treacher lives in Suffolk. �I love Bill. He was a sod for making people laugh. He would cause us to corpse all the time (laugh during a performance) and the camera would be rolling and he would look all innocent and say 'it's got nothing to do with me'. He kept a really straight face. He's lovely, lovely person.
�He's also a great advert for acting. He's so passionate about what he does. He was a great help for me and for Sue Tulley who played his daughter.�
Even though Letitia has said farewell to all the ballgowns and glitter on Saturdays, she doesn't miss the razzamatazz because she's got it all again on stage every evening at the Ipswich Regent. �It's been quite a year. Just think I have been covered in sequins from September until January. It's every girl's dream. It's like spending your life in the dressing up box!�
Cinderella with Letitia Dean runs from December 14 to January 6 at the Ipswich Regent. Tickets can be booked online at www.IpswichRegent.com or on 01473 433100
Letitia is throwing herself into rehearsals after bowing out of the Strictly Come Dancing quarter finals at the weekend.
Letitia has been a runaway success in the BBC's hugely popular ballroom dancing competition and she said today: �I've had the time of my life. I tell you what I've never been so fit.�
She praised her dancing partner Darren Bennett for coaching her through the competition.
�I couldn't have done it without him,� she said.
And although she admitted she was �shattered� after three months on the dance floor and only finished recording a Christmas special on Monday, she was looking forward to getting stuck into the panto.
�It's more spangles and sparkles,� she joked.
Director Richard Cadell said they were intending to adapt the script a little bit to reflect on Letitia's success in the BBC competition. He added they were also planning to give Cinders herself a magical transformation scene.
�Normally when Cinderella gets ready to go to the ball she normally goes off stage for a quick change - we are giving her a real quick change as she goes from rags to a sparkling ballgown in 30 seconds flat centre stage. It's a fantastic illusion that we are putting into the show.�
Letitia said because of her continuing commitments to Strictly Come Dancing she will be forced to miss the two performances on Saturday December 22 but that will be her only absence from the panto fun.
Theatre manager Hazel Clover said ticket holders for the December 22 performances can exchange their tickets for another night if they particularly wanted to see Letitia Dean. The role of the Fairy Godmother will be taken by understudy Amy Lee for that one day.
But, she revealed today that once the performances in Ipswich come to an end on January 6, she will be donning her dancing shoes once more to take part in Strictly Come Dancing Live - going out on a nationwide tour with Zoe Ball, Matt Di Angelo, Darren Gough, Denise Lewis and Louisa Lytton.
The celebrities will be pitting their new skills against judges Len Goodman and Arlene Philips. The event is being hosted by Kate Thornton.
Cinderella starts its run at the Ipswich Regent on Friday .
28 November 2007
Best known as Sharon in EastEnders, Letitia Dean's star is shining in more than one way between now and Christmas. Anne Gould spoke to the soap queen about panto in Ipswich and Strictly Come Dancing
Letitia Dean has a pint of water in one hand and a glass of red wine in the other and is doing the business chatting to journalists at the official launch of Ipswich Regent's 2007 Cinderella.
She's talking about pantomime, how this year will be the first time she's been Fairy Godmother, there's her feet already sore after four or five training sessions for Strictly Come Dancing and there's the bit about what she's been doing after a two year break from EastEnders.
And then almost out of the blue she mentions her love of old black and white movies and in particular Doris Day.
�I suppose I grew up with all these films, watching them with my parents and every time there's something new out about Doris Day I have to get it.
�She was such a good actress, singer and comedienne; she's got a most relaxing voice and is still very watchable today. I just adore her.�
Her other favourites include screen idols Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney and Rock Hudson and her knowledge of old classic movies would probably leave even some film buffs standing.
�An afternoon of black and white movies would be my idea of heaven,� she says.
But there may not be too many opportunities to curl up on the sofa in front of the telly this side of Christmas as most Strictly Come Dancing contestants find progressing beyond early rounds becomes all absorbing and on top of that rehearsals for Cinderella start on December 2nd.
�I agreed to do Cinderella back in February or March as I just love panto and then I was asked to do SCD. I've always watched the programme and thought I'd love to dance but didn't have the nerve. But it's happening now and it's still a bit of a dream.�
The upside is that she's dancing with the charming Darren Bennet - who won series two with Jill Halfpenny.
�He is a peach. Before we started he's the professional dancer I wanted to be teamed up with and all my friends just love him. He's so methodical and gets to know you as a person which really helps as you feel so self conscious.�
Meeting all the other contestants turned out to be a bit of an eye opener as well. Letitia, at 5ft 2ins, is the smallest of all this year's female contestants.
�They were all so leggy so it means that I have to stand really tall in front of the judges.
�The other scary thing is live TV. Even though you have the cameras on you when you are rehearsing you just sort of forget they're there but then you get these waves of fear that you are going to have to perform live. Performing on stage is one thing but live TV is something else - you could find yourself kicked out.�
So what about her dancing? Like most youngsters she did a bit of tap and ballet when she was little and of course at stage school there was some dancing.
�But that was 23 years ago!�
Learning ballroom is difficult - she says they rehearse for hours, she just gets the steps, has a water break, and then it's back to square one.
�It's really frustrating but Darren tells me not to worry and he's so brilliant I trust him completely.�
But already she's found herself going home and practising steps round the living room - because there's just so much to think about.
The problem is that if she stays in the competition she could find herself doing new dances and learning to be a Fairy Godmother at the same time.
�I really don't want to think about coming out early but then I just love doing pantomime as well�.
�You need to have a certain sort of discipline because you have to perform twice a day and there's a certain sort of responsibility as well.
�Very often it's the first time a child goes to the theatre, but it's also around Christmas so everyone is in high spirits. It's not often in the theatre that you can sit and heckle so it's good fun.�
This Christmas promises vistas new because it's the first time Letitia has been in East Anglia and so far she has been impressed. �It looks very pretty, especially down by Ipswich Waterfront - I'm told there are some very good restaurants down there.�
Much loved as she is by TV audiences, thanks to her EastEnders character Sharon, Letitia says almost with regret that she's only done one film, England my England.
�Well I don't suppose Hollywood is going to come and call now. Well, not unless they need an English barmaid.�
But in reality she hasn't been on our screens for the last two years as she left EastEnders for a self-imposed break.
�I just needed a complete rest and have spent a lot of time in the south of France - although it hasn't improved my French much.�
She's been doing a lot of interior design and has thoroughly enjoyed it but now she's back (with a tan) and is working hard.
Letitia has also been discovering the joys of new technology. �I'm a bit of a technophobe and have only just got around to discovering about e-mail. The thing is it doesn't make sense to me - I can't work out how it works and have to remind myself to check if there are any messages for me.�
One thing she won't need reminding about is that this month she's got her 40th birthday, but the whirl about Strictly Come Dancing has meant that so far there aren't many plans in place.
�I suppose if I'm still in the competition I'll go out to dinner with a few friends but if not I'll probably plan something bigger.�
Cinderella runs at Ipswich Regent from December 14th until January 6th. Tickets start at �10 and are available on 01473 433100 or from www.ipswichregent.com
Q & A - Letitia Dean
What was the first record you bought?
Black is Black by Los Lobos
What was the last CD you bought?
Oh I haven't bought a CD for ages - it must be something like Take That or Doris Day
What's your favourite food?
Italian or a British roast
Is there something in your wardrobe you just can't throw away - even though you never wear it?
Yes, there's a coat I bought many moons ago that cost a lot of money. It's a lovely black designer sheepskin and I've worn it a few times but not often. I'm really a bit of a High Street girl.
What's your favourite film?
Anything black and white. If it was an old film it would have to be Mildred Pierce (the 1945 film which won Joan Crawford an Oscar. It also received a nomination for cinematography). If you were talking about something modern it would have to be True Romance (1993).
What would you spend your last �5 on?
A taxi to heaven.
Have you something in your bag that you would never leave home without?
My purse, I suppose.
What is your favourite indulgence?
A foot spa, particularly at the moment.
What's your idea of a perfect Sunday afternoon?
Roast beef in the oven, a couple of friends round to eat and a nice Doris Day film. Or a walk. Well, you could do the walk first.
What's the first thing you do when you get home?
Take my shoes off.
Is the glass half full or half empty?
It changes with the seasons - at the moment it's half full.
Thanks to Stacey @ IAL for finding this article