Brunch With Barber

Sunday Brunch is frequently on at Casa K, though I'm pretty sure that we've never sat through a show from end to end (it's three hours long!)

Sometimes there is an unexpectedly delightful guest sitting at the table and this week it was the actor Frances Barber. I often wonder if many of the guests have the faintest idea what Sunday Brunch is and whether their agents have failed to convey what's in store for them, should they accept the gig. Such is the look of bemusement and bewilderment flicking across their faces, often barely five minutes in and especially those visiting from outside the UK, but the trick is to lean into it, enjoy the food and drink and don't make plans for immediately afterwards, to leave room for a lie down and a decompression session!

Frances is a renowned star of stage and screen, and I'm admittedly more familiar with the latter, probably starting with Prick Up Your Ears and Sammy And Rosie Get Laid (both 1987) and including a star turn as the eyepatch-wearing villain Madame Kovarian in Doctor Who (2011).

In 2001, Pet Shop Boys teamed up with Jonathan Harvey to produce a musical, Closer To Heaven, starring Frances (by her own admission, a non-singing actor) as lead character Billie Trix. I don't remember much about it, to be honest, but it was apparently panned at the time, then gaining momentum as a cult classic in subsequent years. 

A sequel show in 2019, Musik, revisited Billie Trix years later, and it's the latter which is due to make an appearance in UK cinemas later this week. Mostly a recording of Frances' performance in London last year, with some additional elements filmed exclusively for the cinema release, Frances did such a great job of enthusing about the character and the show that I'm tempted to go along. Participating cinemas can be found here.

The post opens up with the song Friendly Fire, performed by Frances for Closer To Heaven in 2001. Pet Shop Boys released their own version as the 'B-side' of the DVD variant of single I Get Along, which got to #18 in July 2002. 

And yes, more by accident than design, that's Pet Shop Boys two days in a row. I should really get around to doing a full Dubhed selection, shouldn't I?