CHOREOGRAPHER to the stars Arlene Phillips will be at Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, this Sunday night, October 22, gossiping with Jacquie Storey about a lifetime in dance and revealing the truth behind “The Glitz, the Glamour, and the Gossip”.

“I haven't worked at the Theatre Severn itself but I used to take my daughters to Shrewsbury for a day out when we were on summer holidays nearby. It has the river and it's pretty, with lots of lovely old buildings,” said the former ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ judge.

“The questions that come up the most are about being a mother at 47 and about my time on ‘Strictly’. Then many people tell me what their favourite musical is and where they saw it,” said Arlene looking forward to Sunday’s event.

In an interview with Simon Button she reflected on more than four decades of being a choreographer and director since creating the provocative dance group Hot Gossip in the 1970s and since becoming a household name.

Sunday’s show is like a tea party chat with the audience involved too.

“It's a Q&A format, with lots of footage from things I’ve worked on with loads of famous faces and also many photos from my personal archive.

“It is a no-holds-barred show. People can ask me anything they want and I'll answer absolutely anything they ask,” said Arlene.

Arlene shares the stage with Jacquie Storey who she used to teach at Arts Educational School.

“When I created Hot Gossip in 1974 we had a few years of phenomenal un-success because we only had a one-night-a-week gig at a club in the West End. I was told 'It's too sexy for television'. We were getting nowhere so after three years I told the group I'm gonna put Hot Gossip on hold.

“Within a week or two I had a call that television director David Mallet wanted Hot Gossip on ‘The Kenney Everett Show’ but some of my dancers had gone out and gotten other jobs.

“So I turned to some of my students at Arts Educational School to ask them to be in the show and I was very lucky because three of them said yes, but the fourth one said 'Oh no, I'm going to do a summer season and I won't be able to do it because I'm the lead singer' and that was Jacquie Storey.

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