Time for another LA update. We have been in Los Angeles at the Wallis Annenberg Center for three weeks now and are having a great time. We are sold out and have had an amazing response to the show. The weather is scorching. Yesterday it hit 31 degrees so finally, with a bit of persuasion, Ian has at last put on his shorts.
We have had a few other firsts while we have been here. We have had our first dog in to watch the show, a gorgeous ‘seeing eye dog’ aptly named Hamlet. Our first security guard, who was a giant of man, came with a kindergarten the other day, he towered above them – only in Beverly Hills eh? And this morning we had an earthquake, the biggest in LA for 20 years. We were all fine, though we had different ways of dealing with it – Craig was up and dressed in a flash whereas Ian and I lay in our beds and waited for it to pass.
The children’s responses to the show have really made us smile. Both Ian and I have had a lot of hugs after the show. One boy was so determined to keep hugging me that he started a Cotton hugging trend until it was just my head sticking out of a dozen small children. I would like to say “Hi” to Bettyana who came up to me after a show and said “Will you be my best friend?â€. So, just so everyone knows, Bettyana and I are bezzies. At another show a little girl got really upset when Wrinkle went back into the teepee for nap time. She kept quietly sobbing and sniffing saying “He’s going to die†over and over again – poor Ian he’s only 66! Then there was the little boy who asked Wrinkle “How did you change the colour of the eggs?†Ian replied “It’s Magicâ€. The little boy looked back at him, waited a moment and then said “No it’s not. You painted them.†And finally, to the tiny two year old girl who, when I asked what colour her pink top was, looked at me like I was an idiot and said “It’s PINK!†and then proceeded to teach me over and again “It’s PINK!†“She’s got attitude†commented one of the ushers – I found out as she left that she was in fact Scary Spice’s daughter.
And on that celebrity vibe we have had a few celebs in this week, Robert Downey Jr. brought his kids, sat on the mats at the front and beamed all the way through. Jennifer Garner brought her kids and said “Thank you so much – it was beautiful†and we even had some homegrown talent as Henry Ian Cusick popped in as well.
by Andy Manley