CRITICS? I DON'T GIVE A DAMN; Darius soldiers on.Byline: By BILLY SLOAN Showbiz editor SCOTS pop star Darius Danesh has vowed to soldier on in the crisis-hit new stage musical Gone With The Wind. The show - based on the 1939 movie starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh which won 10 Oscars - was slaughtered by the critics. One said the "bum numbing" three-and-a-half-hour epic lasted longer than the American Civil War portrayed in the story. The 27-year-old Pop Idol This article is about the British television series. For general popular culture icons, see pop icon. Pop Idol is a British television series which debuted on ITV on October 5 2001; the show was a talent contest to decide the best new young pop singer, reject plays leading man Rhett Butler opposite unknown US actress Jill Paice as Scarlett O'Hara. Reviewers savaged the pounds 4.5million show which opened in London's West End last week. But Darius has been a hit with audiences, getting standing ovations. The star-studded first night at the New London Theatre The New London Theatre is a West End theatre located on the corners of Drury Lane and Parker Street in Covent Garden, in the London Borough of Camden. History The modern theatre is built on the site of previous taverns and music hall theatres, where a place of was attended by Joan Collins, Sir David Frost, Twiggy, Barbara Windsor and Ben Elton. Reported audience walkouts led to substantial cuts in the musical. The music written by Margaret Martin - an expert on CHILD CARE - was panned too. Critic Charles Spencer said: "It felt as if I'd spent years watching Gone With The Wind and I'd not just missed the Beijing Olympics...but also the London games for 2012." Last night a spokesman for Darius said: "He's determined to carry on. I've seen the musical six times and he gets a standing ovation at the end. "They're saying this guy is a talent and is changing into something people didn't expect. "We'd like better reviews but, from a personal point of view, it's a leap forward for him." WHAT THEY SAID.. REVIEWS of the Gone With The Wind musical have been decidedly mixed. Most theatre critics have said the production goes on too long and many have slated Darius's portrayal of Rhett Butler. Legendary London Evening Standard critic Nicholas de Jongh said: "Connoisseurs of big, bad musicals must rush to catch Gone With the Wind in case it's quickly blown away on gales of ridicule. "Is a small, well-placed tornado too much to ask for?" In The Times, Benedict Nightingale said he was "hankering for Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh who breezed and dazzled their way through the film." The Guardian's Michael Billington found the whole exercise "extravagantly pointless". But the Daily Mail's critic, Quentin Letts, gave Darius praise...of sorts. He wrote: "Mr Danesh has a husky bass voice and is dashing, even if, with his mutton mutton, flesh of mature sheep prepared as food (as opposed to the flesh of young sheep, which is known as lamb). Mutton is deep red with firm, white fat. In Middle Eastern countries it is a staple meat, but in the West, with the exception of Great Britain, Australia, chop whiskers See metal whiskers. and long legs, he resembles a Victorian villain from a Monty Python sketch." SUNDAY EMAIL See e-mail. b.sloan@sundaymail.co.uk CAPTION(S): Tara-fic: Darius gets standing ovations but critics were not so kind |
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