7am party girl Sheridan pulls out of her show AGAIN (and has a Twitter tantrum)
ACTRESS Sheridan Smith partied until 7am with reality television stars she met at the Baftas, hours before pulling out of her West End show, it emerged yesterday.
Last night the 34-year-old star was unable to perform in Funny Girl at the Savoy Theatre for the second night running due to an ‘indisposition’.
It has now been revealed Miss Smith pulled out on Monday night having hit the town with cast members of reality show Made In Chelsea. According to a well-placed source, she met them, and rapper Professor Green, at the Bafta after-party in central London and did not go home until daylight.
A source added: ‘If a lesser star behaved in the way she did that star would have been fired but it doesn’t suit her or the management for her to be fired.’
Theatre bosses have blamed Miss Smith’s ‘indisposition’ for both missed performances this week but have not given any further details.
It is now unclear whether the star, who walked away empty-handed from Sunday’s TV Baftas, will return to the show.
After missing Monday’s performance, she took to Twitter to apologise to fans insisting she was ‘not strong enough’.
Then, in a series of early morning posts on the social media site, she hit out at critics who questioned her decision to pull out of the performances. In response to one user, Miss Smith, who is believed to be at her £650,000 flat in north London, wrote: ‘Sat behind your computer u little geek, love to see what u look like. Come say your s*** to my face & let’s see what happens.’
Last month a performance of the musical was cancelled after ‘technical difficulties’. However, several members of the audience claimed instead that Miss Smith looked like she was drunk on stage – which she has denied. It is understood that an executive from theatre group ATG, which owns the Savoy Theatre, has now been drafted in specifically to assess Miss Smith before each show.
A source explained: ‘They won’t be asking her to take an alcohol test. They will be asking her how she is feeling and making sure she is given a bit of love. What you don’t want is for everything to be ready at 7.15pm to find that your leading lady, for whatever reason, is not well enough to proceed.
‘ The cast are feeling bruised and dumped on by her erratic behaviour. They’re raw, she’s raw and the company is feeling raw. At the moment the feeling is that they must soldier on.’ Following last night’s no-show, many disappointed theatre-goers were angry at being kept in the dark. Maureen Patterson, 65, said she was ‘disgusted’. She added: ‘I did ring up this morning and was told they had no information whatsoever and to keep looking it up on Twitter.’
A theatre-goer from Australia, who didn’t want to be named, said he couldn’t change his ticket because he was a tourist. He said: ‘I’m only in the UK until Thursday. It’s disappointing, but the show must go on.’
During Funny Girl’s previous run at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory, Miss Smith pulled out of the final week when her father was diagnosed with cancer.
At the time, she attacked producers for trying to ‘pressure’ her to perform in her emotional state.
A spokesman for the Savoy Theatre said Miss Smith will return to perform in the show, adding: ‘She isn’t pulling out.’
‘They must soldier on’