When Hollywood great appeared on Roses stage
SOME big names from the world of entertainment have appeared on stage in Tewkesbury over the years, but it must have come as a surprise to readers of the Echo in 1999 to learn that Charlton Heston was taking part in a one-off show at The Roses Theatre.
The Hollywood legend, then 75, agreed to the performance to help a local drama student pay his fees.
Nick Wilkes, who went to school in Tewkesbury and lived at nearby Bushley, secured a place at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, but needed help to meet the fees of £2,540 a term.
The enterprising Mr Wilkes, then 25, contacted the star of such blockbusters as The Ten Commandments, Ben-hur, and Planet of the Apes, who was appearing in a production of Love Letters with his wife Lydia Clark Heston at Malvern Theatre prior to the play opening in London’s West End.
Remarkably, Charlton Heston agreed “because he asked me, and did so politely”, the star told the Echo and a capacity crowd at
The Roses was wowed with an evening of anecdotes about his career on the silver screen.
Nick Wilkes conducted the onstage interview that, in addition to insights about Mr Heston’s life, touched upon a wide range of subjects, from the movie man’s political views through to his memories of Winston Churchill and Cary Grant.
Charlton also performed Prospero’s final speech from The Tempest, then the evening was rounded off with a screening of the film Alaska, in which he starred.
Nick, who remained in contact with Charlton until the American star’s death in 2008, now lives in Malvern and has worked at The Roses in various capacities. Along with his acting work he has written and produced a number of plays.
Some 150 years before the movie megastar appeared at The Roses,
Nicolo Paganini, who has been called the world’s first musical superstar, performed in Tewkesbury.
An impresario named Shakespeare Shenton, who owned theatres in Tewkesbury and Cheltenham, hired the Italian violinist to appear at both venues.
Excited crowds packed the theatre in Tewkesbury to hear Nicolo play with his usual virtuosity.
But things went sour when the maestro and Shenton disagreed about money, Nicolo’s view being that there wasn’t enough of it.
Shouldering his Stradivarius, Paganini returned to his lodgings at the Plough Hotel in Cheltenham’s High Street and sent word to the impresario that he would not be performing as scheduled at the town’s Assembly Rooms that evening.
When the news got out, so great was the uproar that Shenton, in fear of being lynched by the hysterical mob, was obliged to increase Paginini’s fee so that the concert could go ahead.
The site on which The Roses stands was previously occupied by the Sabrina cinema, which opened on May 6, 1934.
Built in typical 1930s art deco style, the Sabrina had its own restaurant and afternoon patrons in the balcony could order pots of tea and sandwiches to be brought to their seats.
Despite such civilized delights, falling attendances and financial difficulties prompted the closure of the cinema in 1963 and the last film to be shown was Billy Budd.
In 1975, Tewkesbury’s excellent Roses theatre/cinema staged and screened its first shows and on October 30 of that year Princess Anne was present at the Opening Gala.
Stan Stennett, actor, comedian, musician and onetime star of Crossroads, the TV soap set in a motel, managed The Roses from 1980 to 1993.
In May 1984, Stan invited his old chum
Eric Morecambe to appear on stage at
The Roses to talk about his life and career in show business as one half of Britain’s most-loved comedy partnership with Ernie Wise.
It proved to be Eric Morecambe’s final performance.
After delighting the audience and taking the curtain call, Eric Morecambe suffered a fatal heart attack and died shortly afterwards in Cheltenham General Hospital.