From irritating critics who give things away and irritating PRs who don’t, now it’s the turn of irritating audience members, and the house seemed full of them at last night’s West End opening of Honour, from the hacking cougher who really sounded too ill to actually be out on the town, to the perennial owners of blipping and ringing mobile phones. But professional colleagues should know better, and gossip-about-town Neil Sean – who pops up everywhere, from Sky News to the daily Metro paper, to peddle unreliable gossip and ill-informed opinions, took the biscuit, or at least the sweet wrapper, by noisily deciding that he needed nourishment at exactly the point when the husband in the play tells his wife he is leaving her, upon which the entire play then hinges.
Would that his words, spoken or written, were quite as nourishing as the sweets he so inappropriately dived into. Over the last couple of months, he has told Sky viewers, amongst other things, that Julia Roberts was heading to appear on the London stage, fresh from her sell-out Broadway run of Three Days of Rain – before booking had even opened for the run there, let alone begun performances. Sarah Lancashire, we were told, was starring in Guys and Dolls in the part made famous in the film by Jean Simmonds – whereas in fact she was playing Miss Adelaide, created on film by Vivian Blaine. Sean accused a raft of panto stars – like Ian McKellen and Simon Callow – as only doing panto for lack of being able to get other work. Jake Gyllenhaal was said to be desperate to appear on the London stage – entirely forgetting that he had already done so, several years ago, in This Is Our Youth. And so it goes on. And on.
But Mr Sean’s own biography perhaps says it all: “Neil Sean is without doubt the most read showbiz columnist in Europe…” who has “earned the name Mr Showbiz ‘License to Spill’….”
It goes on, “He may have the likes of J Lo and co on the phone, but its real celebrities that fascinate him, the likes of reality TV stars and desperate pop stars who will do anything for their 15 minutes of fame”. It’s a phenomenon that Mr Sean is clearly intimately acquainted with.
I love your piece about Neil Sean! He has never to my knowledge got anything right.
At the moment he has a vendetta against Will Young for some obscure reason. He continually says that Will's latest album "Keep On" (which he insists on calling "Switch It On") has disappointing sales whereas it has sold well over 600,000, is currently at No.2 (although it might fall before the weekend) and has been critically acclaimed.
Very odd!
Mr Shenton - a writer, by the way, I always feel has the keenest understanding of theatre as both an intellectual and commercial art form - seems to miss the point of Mr Sean's existence somewhat. From a psychological and cultural perspective, Mr Sean celebrates the cult of celebrity in all its tawdry forms, seemingly having little or no interest in any one medium or another. Having enjoyed his own 15 minutes of fame, he is now relegated to the reserve bench of the business,determined to live vicariously through any two-bit diva or celebrity hunk that may pass his way. Mr Sean, take heed! Gossiping about the game does not make you a player within it. You do not became a celebrity by default.
You see, Mr Shenton, the point of Mr Sean is the unbridled tragi-comic joy his desperate demeanour affords us all. You simply do not seem able to enjoy him as others do though I do see how his confectionary fumblings would have annoyed during the evening in question. Experiencing Mr Sean at a prestigious West End opener is, I imagine, akin to seeing Macdonalds served up at The Ivy. However, he will, I'm sure continue to serve up his genetically modified copy (bigger than the true version and potentially a health risk)which will be gobbled up by all who believe that nothing, not even the truth, should stand in the way of a 'good' story.
neil sean never ceases to crack me up, he never gets his stories right, a few days ago he was announcing that will young was releasing a single with james brown, certainly news to us, and will himself I would imagine, oyster is right he does seem to have some sort of vendetta against will, one of his latest rantings was that will youngs crown was slipping and that shayne ward was hot on his heels, and that shayne could crack america which will hasnt been able to
very odd indeed