People often talk about the classic showbusiness fairytale that plucked young Leanne Jones from obscurity to play the plum role of Tracy Turnblad in the London production of the musical Hairspray and made her a star almost overnight.
She doesn't quite see it like that. In fact, the whole process took more than three years and there were so many stops and starts that when the call came to say she had got the part she could scarcely believe it.
Like many aspiring actresses waiting for their big break, she was "temping" at the time, and that particular afternoon she was working in the call centre of a bank where mobile phones were banned.
"On the day the decision was made I was sitting at my desk with my phone switched to vibrate tucked down my front, because we weren't allowed to have our phones in the call centre.
"All day my friends were texting me to find out what was happening and eventually my agent called to tell me I had got the job. I reacted just like those people on X Factor. I fell on the floor and then was promptly sick," she laughs.
Jones, who won the prestigious Olivier Award for best actress in a musical in 2008, has just flown in to Dubai where she is reprising the role at Ductac for a five-night run at the Centrepoint Theatre starting on Tuesday.
She is joined by fellow original London cast member Terel Nugent who plays Seaweed J Stubbs, Stephen McGlyn, who plays Wilbur Turnblad, and Antony Stuart-Hicks, who plays Edna Turnblad, the role made famous by John Travolta in the movie.
Auditions were held in May to find 70 local amateur performers to make up the cast of the show, produced and directed by Julian Chenery, who has brought his acclaimed Shakespeare4 Kidz shows to Dubai for the past four years.
Five years ago Jones, 25, was at drama school when a friend came rushing into a classroom waving a copy of the theatre newspaper The Stage and shouting excitedly to her that she had to audition for the role of the "pleasantly plump" teenager who lives in Baltimore with her unconventional mother Edna.
The musical is set in 1962 where, despite her size,Tracy dreams of becoming a regular on the Corny Collins Dance Show. When she finally achieves her dream she starts using her fame to speak out for causes such as racial integration. In doing so, she elicits the wrath of the show's former star, Amber von Tussle, and Amber's manipulative, pro-segregation mother.
" I had never heard of the show and hadn't seen the movie. My friend and I Googled it and my mouth just dropped open when I saw the pictures. I just thought, 'that's me'.
"We weren't actually allowed to go to auditions but the principal was away so I called in sick and snuck off. Of course, when I got a recall I had to own up. It was really funny going into a room and finding about 20 people who all looked like me but it went really well. Then it all got postponed so I went back to college and forgot about it."
The next flurry of auditions came when the US producers were casting the Hairspray movie in 2006. A call came from the London casting director, David Grindrod, asking her to show up the following day dressed as Tracy and ready to sing.
"After graduation I signed up with a temping agency and did various jobs. I was at a conference when I got a call from the director who said they wanted to see me for the movie. I didn't get the job and never even heard from them," Jones says.
Finally in May the following year she was asked to audition for Jack O'Brien, the show's American director, for the London production. "I just thought, 'here we go again,' and didn't know whether to get excited or not."
Her rendering of the song Good Morning Baltimore moved O'Brien to tears and he said of her: "We finally saw Leanne, and I said it would be irresponsible of us not to cast that girl - she's a star."
Jones still had to wait nervously for confirmation that she had won the role. "After four or five auditions I realised I was in the running. At the time I was working at the Halifax call centre in Moorgate, where I would take calls all day from angry brokers demanding to speak to an underwriter. When my agent told me I had got the part he was just as emotional as I was."
Apart from two minor productions, including Karaoke Wedding at the Union Theatre and Enchanted: The Rock Opera at Valley Gardens, Pontefract, it was her first professional role, hence the "overnight sensation" tag.
The Hairspray stage show depends largely on the vitality and energy of its leading lady and Jones was a natural. She says she came to terms with her size very early in her career. She's a generous size 16 and jokes that she's the only Tracy Turnblad who has never needed artificial padding.
"I'm also the tallest. One of the problems is that with all the dancing you tend to lose weight but that didn't happen to me either, although they would have liked me to lose a little for health reasons. I heard so many stories about previous Tracys losing weight and people sending them donuts. That never happened to me."
At Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in north London where she studied for three years from the age of 18, her tutors raised the matter delicately right from the start.
"I was the only big girl there so I got all the character roles. I always played the mum, never the lead which was always played by the pretty size 10 blondes.
"I've always been big. In ballet classes I could never do a pas de deux, as the guys couldn't lift me.
"Right from the start my tutors asked me if I was aware of who and what I was and told me that the industry was a tough place. They needed to know that I knew that I would always be labelled and pigeonholed. I could either lose weight or stay as I was and they would support me either way.
"They also warned me that there were fewer roles for big girls but I reckoned that there were probably fewer people going for them too. I think it's actually more difficult for girls who are sort of middling size 12 or 14. That's life, that's the way it is and you have to understand that. I decided when I was 18 that's what I was going to do," she says cheerfully.
The immensely likeable Jones says she always knew she had two things that would help her get to where she wanted to be: a great big voice and lots of energy. "I'm physically very strong which is just as well because I played eight shows a week for 21 weeks in Hairspray," she says.
Born in Stoke on Trent in the British Midlands, she moved with her family to St Ives in Cambridgeshire where she starred in end of term concerts at school. "Neither of my parents were theatrical and neither of them could sing in tune although my brother Simon [21] is an aspiring actor." Her mother, Valerie, encouraged her daughter's dreams of becoming a star of musical theatre and drove her to after-school dance, singing and drama classes almost every afternoon.
" I started going to classes when I was nine or 10 because I could sing really well. I was always up in my bedroom singing into my hairbrush and entered talent competitions which I never won.
"When I was about 11 someone gave me the video of the anniversary concert of Les Miserables and I was just blown away by it and thought how fantastic to be able to dress up and sing on stage for a living. My favourite song was On My Own from Les Mis which I sang at my end of term school concert."
The song has special poignancy for Jones and when her mother died of breast cancer in 2000, she sang it at her funeral. "I don't know how I did it now because it's a complete blur but I remember looking over at my teacher who was playing the piano for me and seeing tears streaming down her face. I just thought I was doing one last performance for my mother.
"We knew she was dying for about six months. I always say I did Hairspray for her. She used to drive me everywhere, all my classes every afternoon. She really encouraged me without being pushy about it."
Jones says she was thrilled to be asked to reprise the role of Tracy Turnblad in Dubai. She starred in the hit West End show for 21 months with Michael Ball playing Edna and Ben James-Ellis as Link Larkin.
"At the end of the run I was really exhausted in body, mind and spirit. Tracy is never offstage so it's a big role to carry. Ben and Michael Ball and I were a trio so when Michael said he was leaving my agent asked me what I wanted to do. I decided to leave while the show was still considered to be a big hit.
"It was a fantastic time and a bit of a roller coaster. We had days when it was just like going to work in a normal job, you come in, say hello to everyone, do your warm-ups and the show and then off you go home.
"Occasionally something would happen on stage, somebody would fall over or forget their lines or a piece of scenery wouldn't move when it should and we would just collapse with laughter. It would really wake you up and you'd feel really alive.
"On one occasion something happened with the sound and the orchestra stopped playing but I carried on until I saw the director waving frantically in the wings for me to come off," she says.
The sell-out show set her up financially and she was able to buy her own two-bedroom flat overlooking the canal in Hackney, East London.
Since then she has appeared in pantomime in Bradford and a show called Tick Tick Boom written by Jonathan Larsson, the author of Rent.
As she walks out on to the stage of the Centrepoint Theatre for the first time, excited cheering breaks out from the stalls where the local performers are waiting to meet her. Even without the Tracy Turnblad wigs and make-up she's got that indefinable thing called star quality.
"It's a real thrill to be doing Hairspray again. I just hope they like me," she says. There is absolutely no doubt that they will.
Performances of Hairspray run from Tuesday, July 13 until Saturday, July 17 at the Centrepoint Theatre, Ductac, Mall of the Emirates.
Getting there
The flights
Flydubai operates up to seven flights a week to Helsinki. Return fares to Helsinki from Dubai start from Dh1,545 in Economy and Dh7,560 in Business Class.
The stay
Golden Crown Igloos in Levi offer stays from Dh1,215 per person per night for a superior igloo; www.leviniglut.net
Panorama Hotel in Levi is conveniently located at the top of Levi fell, a short walk from the gondola. Stays start from Dh292 per night based on two people sharing; www. golevi.fi/en/accommodation/hotel-levi-panorama
Arctic Treehouse Hotel in Rovaniemi offers stays from Dh1,379 per night based on two people sharing; www.arctictreehousehotel.com
The Way It Was: My Life with Frank Sinatra by Eliot Weisman and Jennifer Valoppi
Hachette Books
The specs
The specs: 2019 Audi Q8
Price, base: Dh315,000
Engine: 3.0-litre turbocharged V6
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 340hp @ 3,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm @ 2,250rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 6.7L / 100km
SPECS
Toyota land Cruiser 2020 5.7L VXR
Engine: 5.7-litre V8
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 362hp
Torque: 530Nm
Price: Dh329,000 (base model 4.0L EXR Dh215,900)
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
KEY%20DATES%20IN%20AMAZON'S%20HISTORY
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
ULTRA PROCESSED FOODS
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
- energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,
- many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts.
The specs
Price, base / as tested Dh1,470,000 (est)
Engine 6.9-litre twin-turbo W12
Gearbox eight-speed automatic
Power 626bhp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 900Nm @ 1,350rpm
Fuel economy, combined 14.0L / 100km
UAE%20athletes%20heading%20to%20Paris%202024
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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At a glance
Fixtures All matches start at 9.30am, at ICC Academy, Dubai. Admission is free
Thursday UAE v Ireland; Saturday UAE v Ireland; Jan 21 UAE v Scotland; Jan 23 UAE v Scotland
UAE squad Rohan Mustafa (c), Ashfaq Ahmed, Ghulam Shabber, Rameez Shahzad, Mohammed Boota, Mohammed Usman, Adnan Mufti, Shaiman Anwar, Ahmed Raza, Imran Haider, Qadeer Ahmed, Mohammed Naveed, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan
Match info:
Leicester City 1
Ghezzal (63')
Liverpool 2
Mane (10'), Firmino (45')
The Sky Is Pink
Director: Shonali Bose
Cast: Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Farhan Akhtar, Zaira Wasim, Rohit Saraf
Three stars
The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Top goalscorers in Europe
34 goals - Robert Lewandowski (68 points)
34 - Ciro Immobile (68)
31 - Cristiano Ronaldo (62)
28 - Timo Werner (56)
25 - Lionel Messi (50)
*29 - Erling Haaland (50)
23 - Romelu Lukaku (46)
23 - Jamie Vardy (46)
*NOTE: Haaland's goals for Salzburg count for 1.5 points per goal. Goals for Dortmund count for two points per goal.
MORE ON THE US DEMOCRATIC PRIMARIES
What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
MATCH INFO
Red Star Belgrade v Tottenham Hotspur, midnight (Thursday), UAE
Three ways to boost your credit score
Marwan Lutfi says the core fundamentals that drive better payment behaviour and can improve your credit score are:
1. Make sure you make your payments on time;
2. Limit the number of products you borrow on: the more loans and credit cards you have, the more it will affect your credit score;
3. Don't max out all your debts: how much you maximise those credit facilities will have an impact. If you have five credit cards and utilise 90 per cent of that credit, it will negatively affect your score.
New Zealand 15 British & Irish Lions 15
New Zealand 15
Tries: Laumape, J Barrett
Conversions: B Barrett
Penalties: B Barrett
British & Irish Lions 15
Penalties: Farrell (4), Daly
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle%20front-axle%20electric%20motor%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E218hp%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E330Nm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle-speed%20automatic%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EMax%20touring%20range%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E402km%20(claimed)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh215%2C000%20(estimate)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeptember%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
End of free parking
- paid-for parking will be rolled across Abu Dhabi island on August 18
- drivers will have three working weeks leeway before fines are issued
- areas that are currently free to park - around Sheikh Zayed Bridge, Maqta Bridge, Mussaffah Bridge and the Corniche - will now require a ticket
- villa residents will need a permit to park outside their home. One vehicle is Dh800 and a second is Dh1,200.
- The penalty for failing to pay for a ticket after 10 minutes will be Dh200
- Parking on a patch of sand will incur a fine of Dh300
The view from The National
ETFs explained
Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
ETFs have zero upfront fees and annual charges as low as 0.07 per cent a year, which means you get to keep more of your returns, as actively managed funds can charge as much as 1.5 per cent a year.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
About Proto21
Date started: May 2018
Founder: Pir Arkam
Based: Dubai
Sector: Additive manufacturing (aka, 3D printing)
Staff: 18
Funding: Invested, supported and partnered by Joseph Group
Score
New Zealand 266 for 9 in 50 overs
Pakistan 219 all out in 47.2 overs
New Zealand win by 47 runs
New Zealand lead three-match ODI series 1-0
Next match: Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi, Friday
