Drawing: Kathleen Turner and Bill Irwin in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Posted on July 26, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Kathleen Turner is the voice of the animated bunny Jessica Rabbit – Roger’s voluptuous wife. She is best remembered for the classic line “I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way,” in 1988. In 2005 she played the role of Martha (I’m not bad, I just act that way) in the Broadway revival of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Bill Irwin played George, opposite her. Both were nominated for a Tony Award, with Bill winning the coveted prize. The production transferred to London’s Apollo Theatre the following year. Kathleen was certainly a big drawcard with sell out performances. I sent this sketch to the theatre. It was returned, signed by both, with a nice note from Bill thanking me. So I guess, I’m not bad… I just draw that way!

Drawing: Hugh Jackman

Posted on July 23, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

In 2004 ‘The Sexiest Man Alive’ according to a number of publications, including People Magazine, Australian actor and producer Hugh Jackman won a Tony Award for his role in The Boy From Oz – a jukebox musical based on the life of fellow antipodean singer/songwriter Peter Allen. After it’s world premiere in Sydney on 5 March 1998, it opened on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre on 16 September 2003 with Hugh taking over the lead role from showman Todd McKenney and ran for a year. It also returned to Australia from August/September 2006 with a specifically designed arena production.

Hugh liked the sketch and amongst the madness and mayhem of screaming fans (mostly of the female persuasion) at the UK premiere of The Wolverine he signed it and interrupted his ‘graph to go’ speed signing to pass on complementary remarks.

Drawing: Maggie Smith

Posted on July 22, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Alan Bennett’s The Lady in the Van opened at London’s Queen’s Theatre in late 1999 with Dame Maggie Smith in the lead role as Miss Shepherd, an eccentric bag lady who lived in a van.

Bennett first became aware of ‘the lady in the van’ in the late sixties. She died in 1989, after spending two decades living in her broken down Bedford van in his driveway. She could most kindly be called eccentric, hearing voices and the Virgin Mary appeared to her on a regular basis. The play is the story… or, more accurately, a series of incidents… between the playwright and the delusional, failed nun, Miss S, who was reclusive but not opposed to publicity.

Dame Maggie is once again nominated for another primetime Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in the ITV drama Downton Abbey. She is one of the few people to win the ‘triple crown of acting’ (Emmy, Oscar and Tony). Her impressive list includes seven BAFTAS, two Oscars, three Golden Globes and a Tony. She is the only person to receive an Academy Award for playing an Academy Award nominee – Diana Barrie in California Suite (1978).

Despite being nominated six times, she has never won the Olivier Award, the highest honour in British theatre. Her last nomination was in 2000 for her role as Miss Shepherd.

I was fortunate enough to see the play just before it ended in July 2000. Dame Maggie signed my sketch last week at her London office.

Drawing: Anita Dobson and Greta Scacchi

Posted on July 17, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Anton Burg’s Bette and Joan played the Arts Theatre in London’s West End from May till June in 2011. It starred Anita Dobson as Joan Crawford and Greta Scacchi as Bette Davis. Based on the real life legendary feud between the two stars, the play shows them at a low point in their careers when they meet on the set of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? which became a surprise hit and propelled them back to stardom.

Both Anita and Greta signed my original and kept copies of the sketch and sent me a thank you letter… so I guess they like it!

Drawing: Hayley Mills

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Hayley Catherine Rose Vivien Mills found fame at the age of 13 in Walt Disney’s Pollyanna. She won a special juvenile Oscar for her role and went on to make five other films for Disney to become one of the most popular actresses of the early sixties. Despite her long and successful career, Hayley isn’t sure she would have made it in acting had she not been a child star. “I started work at the right time. At 13 I was still spontaneous and unselfconscious.”

She mad an early stage debut as well, in the 60s West End revival of Peter Pan, as the title character. Her Godfather was the playwright, actor and singer, Sir Noël Coward. In 1992 she toured New Zealand, Australia and the UK in his play Fallen Angels with her sister Juliet. It played my home town of Invercargill, New Zealand, and I was lucky enough to meet them both at the stage door of the Civic Theatre.

Hayley signed my sketch in London, at her agent’s office in 2010.

Drawing: Scarlett Strallen, Victoria Hamilton-Barritt and Leigh Zimmerman in A Chorus Line

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Marvin Hamlisch’s A Chorus Line is one of the most successful musicals of all time. The story of seventeen dancers auditioning for a spot on a chorus line, the action takes place on the bare stage of a theatre.

It opened in July 1975 and became a box office and critical hit, winning 9 Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It ran for 6,137 performances and a West End production started in 1976, winning the Olivier for Best Musical. A number of revivals have followed, the most recent at the London Palladium, which opened earlier this year to rave reviews. It was booked to continue into 2014, but posted early closing notices for the end of August.

The female leads – Scarlett Strallen (Cassie), Leigh Zimmerman (Sheila) and Victoria Hamilton-Barritt (Diana) all signed my sketches at the stage door and requested copies. I gave them redrawn originals. Leigh won this year’s Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical.

Drawing: Dustin Hoffman in The Merchant of Venice

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Known for his versatile portrayal of antiheroes and vulnerable characters, two-time Oscar winner Dustin Hoffman took on the challenging role of ‘Shylock’ in Peter Hall’s production of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice in London’s West End. After a 13 week run at the Phoenix Theatre, mixed reviews and packed houses, the production transferred to The 46th Street Theatre on Broadway in December 1989, where it played till March the following year after 19 previews and 84 performances.

Dustin continued his role as the Jewish money lender with his thirst for revenge and ‘a pound of flesh’

Dustin was nominated for both a Tony and the Drama Desk Award. He signed my sketch at the theatre in New York in February 1990.

Drawing: Indira Varma, John Simms and Simon Russell Beale in The Hothouse

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Harold Pinter’s macabre tragicomedy The Hothouse returned to London’s West End in a production directed by Jamie Lloyd at the Trafalgar Studios. An excellent cast, headlined by Simon Russell Beale and John Simm opened to rave reviews.

“It’s Christmas Day in a nameless state-run institution where the inmates are subjected to a tirade of mindless cruelty. A maniacal and self-obsessed leader breeds a contagion of hierarchical savagery amongst his staff, who thrive on a noxious diet of delusion and deceit.”

Written in the 1950’s, Pinter’s biting political commentary on the perils of unchecked power proves as pertinent and subversive today.

Simon, John and Indira Varma (Miss Cutts) signed my sketch at the stage door on a variety of nights, depending on their exits during June this year.

Drawing: Mel C

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Melanie Chisholm, or Sporty Spice to some, took on the prized role of Mrs Johnstone in the musical Blood Brothers at London’s Phoenix Theatre in 2009.

She was nominated for both an Evening Standard Theatre Award and an Olivier and is currently playing Mary Magdalene in the UK Arena Tour of Jesus Christ Superstar. She signed my sketch at the stage door in 2009. She was very friendly and stayed to chat with the gathered crowd, posing for photos and signing and seemed in no rush to leave.

Drawing: Elliot Cowan, Rachel Weisz and Ruth Wilson in A Streetcar Named Desire

Posted on June 30, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Tennessee Williams 1947 Pulitzer Prize winning play A Streetcar Named Desire had a hugely acclaimed revival at London’s Donmar Warehouse from July to October in 2009.

It featured Oscar winner Rachel Weisz as the drunken, pretentious Southern belle, Blanche DuBois; Ruth Wilson as her self-effacing sister, Stella Kowalski and Elliot Cowan as Stanley Kowalski, the primal, brutish husband. All three signed for me in September 2009.

The first West End staging starred Vivien Leigh and was directed by her husband Laurence Olivier in 1949.

Both Rachel (Best Actress) and Ruth (Best Supporting Actress) won Olivier awards for their performances.