Janie steps into Dame Judi’s naughty shoes
Janie dee has won the plum title role in the musical stage version of Mrs Henderson Presents, about a London society grand dame who put on nude revues. ‘I get the feeling that you think one thing [about her], and she’s something else,’ Janie said of the prospect of portraying Laura Henderson, who ran the Windmill Theatre in Soho between the World Wars. The musical is based on the film that starred Judi dench as Mrs Henderson, with Bob Hoskins as her righthand man Vivian Van damm and Kelly reilly as Maureen, the young woman Mrs H. helps. emma Williams has been cast as Maureen in the show, which will run at the Theatre royal, Bath, from august 15. Janie told me that the real-life Mrs Henderson looked prim and proper. ‘People who look one way and behave another are always revelations to us because we tend to judge people by what they look like — and that was probably the first thing that slapped me around the face about her,’ said Janie, between rehearsing scenes with George MacKay for eugene O’neill’s ah, Wilderness, which runs at the Young Vic from april 14. Initially, the Olivier-award winning actress suggested to Mrs Henderson director Terry Johnson and producers norma Heyman and Michael Harrison that they should give the part to someone more famous, ‘from the telly’. But Janie was just what Johnson was looking for. She won’t, however, be getting her head around nude tableaux at the Windmill for a while. She’s doing cabaret at The Crazy Coqs in Piccadilly from Tuesday March 10 until March 14. Then it’s off to the Young Vic, and she’ll follow that with a season as arkadina in The Seagull at the Open air Theatre in regents Park, from June 19.