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Cinderella rehearsals have started for Strictly Come Dancing contender Letitia Dean who has also been battling a debilitating bug.
Thanks to Laura at IAL for this article
STRICTLY Come Dancing star Letitia Dean was at Ipswich's Regent Theatre this morning to start rehearsals for Cinderella.
There have been concerns that the star would not be able to balance her appearances in the hit BBC show with her role as Fairy Godmother in Cinderella.
Theatre bosses confirmed that it would be an extremely busy week for Ms Dean with some rehearsals for Strictly Come Dancing taking place in Ipswich.
Hazel Clover, General Manager at the Regent Theatre, said: �From what we understand the commitment to Strictly Come Dancing is pretty hefty and they are learning two dances a week now but pantomimes are a particular discipline of which she is very experienced. Most of the professional pantomime stars are used to coming in from one job and doing a pantomime, particularly her being a soap star.�
Cinderella starts on December 14 with twice-daily shows. The final of Strictly Come Dancing, which involves a gruelling weekly training schedule, takes place on December 22. Theatre bosses said they have not thought about what will happen if Ms Dean reaches the final of Strictly Come Dancing.
(even though she couldn't be there!)
Video
(check out the clip as of 5:38)
Clip courtesy of YouTube user renbud99
With thanks to Steph from IAL
EastEnders' best-loved actress Letitia Dean has quickstepped through Strictly Come Dancing to pantomime in Ipswich. The Queen of the Queen Vic grants Louise Cummings an audience...
"I'm going to be in sequins from now until January. Everything that wobbles is going to get a bit of glitter stuck on it," says Letitia Dean, letting out a dirty laugh that would make Sid James blush.
The bubbly actress, dressed in a flamboyant off-the-shoulder purple top and sky-scraping heels, has been getting quite used to putting on the glitz to tango her way onto our screens every Saturday night in BBC1's Strictly Come Dancing. She has wowed the audience with her fancy footwork, in an array of glittering gowns, swept around the floor by dance champ Darren Bennett. However, it hasn't exactly been a walk in the park, so to speak.
"Being taught by the British Latin dance champ is just gold dust isn't it?" she enthuses.
"I wanted the fear of a new challenge and I've always loved the show but I really didn't realise how difficult it would be, to be honest."
"The newspapers have all written that I am a trained dancer, but I only did a bit of tap, ballet and modern 23 years ago and I've certainly never done a figure of bloody eight with my hips before!" she laughs, rolling her eyes.
With competition in the form of voluptuous Kelly Brook and high-kicking model Penny Lancaster, Letitia has had to polish up her paso doble and sparkle in the samba, though she approaches her contenders with good humour.
"Kelly is so gorgeous in real life that it's sickening and Penny is so lovely and genuine too. She's got such long legs, I've threatened to Vaseline her shoes before she goes on!" she giggles wickedly.
Stepping into the limelight on the reality dance show week in, week out, has given Letitia plenty of practise for her next role as Fairy Godmother in Cinderella at the Ipswich Regent.
Although she's no stranger to pantomime, with appearances including Jack and The Beanstalk at the Birmingham Hippodrome alongside Joe Pasquale and Don Maclean, it's her first time as the matriarch of the magical panto.
"Last year I played the wicked queen in Snow White so this will be quite a departure," she explains.
"Cinderella is my favourite panto because the story is so gorgeous. The cast are brilliant; Simon Bashford and Adam Daye are brilliant ugly sisters and they'll really get the kids going, putting on the grotesque in a fantastic way and our cinderella Alison Dormer has just come from We Will Rock You and is a brilliant singer. It's a great company and I know we'll have a good giggle together!"
Though she's clocked up more than 20 years on television, it is on the stage that Letitia gets her acting 'fix', rhyming her couplets as she helps reunite Cinderella with her glass slipper.
"I've done panto for a long, long time since I was very young and I just love the fact that it's spontaneous, the audience get to interact and it's actually the one piece of theatre where the audience can shout back legitimately," she laughs.
"AS an actress you get an immediate gratification on stage... well either that or you get cabbaged off!" she jokes.
Resplendent at the panto press launch, in her fairy godmother's gown, with her perfectly-coiffered spiral curls tumbling around her shoulders, she's a world away from the poodle perm, short skirts and pixie boots of EastEnders' Sharon Watts - her best known persona.
Letitia landed the role of the feisty teenager at the shows inception in 1985 and was one of the original cast members alongside Susan Tully, with whom she had become best friends when she made her TV debut aged 11 in the BBC hit children's drama Grange Hill.
Growing up playing the troubled daughter of adulterous landlord 'Dirty Den' and alcoholic mum Angie Watts, Letitia enjoyed some of the soap's most gritty storylines, enduring the bombshell of her best friend Michelle getting pregnant by her dad in the early years, then her dad's alleged murder.
It was a challenge for a teenage actress, gorwing up in the public eye: "I was 15, nearly 16, when I won the part and I had no idea it would go for so long because we were only contracted for about five weeks. It just happened really, and at that age you just go with the flow. Because I was so young I did tend to make my mistakes in public but Anita Dobson, who played my mum, was a great mother figure to me on set and taught me a lot of values in terms of work."
Letitia's favourite storyline was the notorious 'Sharongate' - when her husband accidentally overheard Sharon admitting on a tape that she'd been sleeping with his brother and consequently revealed the secret to a packed Queen Vic. The high drama storyline gave the show one of the highest episode ratings ever.
"I just loved doing that storyline," Letitia recalls.
And she says she is well-practised at high emotion: "I can cry just like that now darling," she smiles, with a click of her fingers.
After 11 years, Letitia quit the show to follow other projects, which included starring in the 1950's drama The Hello Girls and ITV's romatic drama Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Marries, but she has been lured back to the Square, with more sensational storylines to boot, swiping the Queen Vic from under Peggy Mitchell's nose, seeing her dad come back from the dead and marrying her step-brother Dennis.
"My mate Ricky Groves who plays Gary says to me 'you've made more comebacks than Tony Christie'. It always makes me laugh!" she smiles. "I left the first time because I wanted to explore more projects and I'm very lucky they have had me back."
In between trips back to Albert Square, the actress has starred in the 1995 film England, My England, about the musician and composer Henry Purcell and played a prostitute in the revival of Chris Dyer's play Rattle of a Simple Man at the Alexander Theatre in Birmingham. But she wouldn't rule out a return to the soap that made her a household name. "I've always said never say never. As far as I know Sharon's not hanging from the bridge or in a ditch so the door is still open."
Letitia is one of the 14 celebrities who have been signed up for this year's series and hopes to dance her way to the top.
Having had little experience of dancing while she was growing up, she is apprehensive about how she'll do on the show, which sees celebrities dancing with professionals. Each week a pair is voted off by the public.
Her dance partner, Darren Bennett, was with Emma Bunton last year, and the pair came third.
Dancing preparation for the show has already begun before it is due to be aired in the next fortnight, and if she survives until the last few weeks, it will coincide with rehearsals for the panto.
She said: �I'm like a rabbit in headlights. I'm still trying to work out what to do with my arms and hips. Darren has been very patient with me. We keep bursting into fits of giggles.
This year, Letitia, who is most famous for playing Sharon in EastEnders, is third favourite to win out of the girls, which includes Kelly Brook and Penny Lancaster.
Rehearsals for the panto Cinderella begin on December 2 and the show starts on December 14.
It runs until January 6, 2008, with matinees and evening performances.
Ticket prices start at �10 and can be purchased from the box office on 01473 433100 or online at www.ipswichregent.com
East Anglian Daily Times
20 September 2007 | 06:51
ANDREW CLARKE
IT may have looked like summer and the sun may have been shining, but at the newly refurbished Ipswich Regent it was panto season yesterday with the launch of this year's all-star extravaganza - Cinderella.
Former EastEnders actress and current Strictly Come Dancing contestant Letitia Dean is this year's star name playing the Fairy Godmother, alongside We Will Rock You actress Alison Dormer, who is Cinderella.
Dean said she had been a panto regular for the past 14 years. �I love panto, it's a real lovely time and this year we have been really spoiled - working in the newest looking auditorium in Britain. I've worked in some theatres over the years and I don't think I've ever been in one that has looked quite so smart.�
This year's pantomime is staged by Duo Entertainment, headed by Barry C Stead and Richard Cadell, who have produced the previous two pantomimes - Peter Pan with Brian Blessed, and Snow White with Anita Dobson.
Dean will be joined by two of the loudest, ugliest sisters in the business Simon Bashford and Adam Daye who have been dressing up as dames and causing mayhem in Barry Stead's pantos for the past 21 years.
�They are the best panto dames in the business,� he said.
Dean said Christmas was going to be a busy time for her as she is going to be in the TV dance contest too.
�I tell you I have never been so fit. I have done four weeks of rehearsal and we haven't even started the programme yet. I am exhausted but it's huge fun.�
She said Cinderella remains her favourite panto of the lot. �I have done Snow White and Sleeping Beauty but my favourite has to be Cinderella. In fact it was my first ever pantomime - although then I was playing Cinderella. Now I am approaching 40 and they decide to turn me into a fairy,� she laughs.
Competing with Cinders, Dean and the two raucous ugly sisters for the audience's attention will be TV comedian Tucker as Buttons. Tucker has hosted The New Variety Show on Sky and traded gags with Basil Brush.
He will be co-starring with a British institution in the form of Postman Pat. The children's favourite will be helping Cinderella's prince find his true love.
Mr Stead added: �It's going to be a fabulous show this year. The theatre is magnificent. In fact it is so spectacular that I am going home immediately after this launch to repaint the scenery so it's not shown up by the auditorium. Last year there was a bit of a cloud over Ipswich because of what was happening in the news. This year we want to bring back a feeling of joy and happiness with our wonderful pantomime.�
Cinderella runs from December 14 to January 6 2008. Tickets are available at the box office on 01473 433100 or online at www.ipswichregent.com
