The Royal Albert
Hall, home to some of the most amazing shows in England. Unfortunely most
of them being gay Operas or sissy ballet dancing performances. Tonight
was a bit different, for starters the building had been transformed into
what this journalist can only describe into an 'Ice Dome'. The Albert
Hall, for one night turned into the Capital's most exquisite cinema and
the world Premiere for the first film in the Narnia series was about to
be shown to a host of VIPs such as Sir Cliff Richard, Sharon Osbourne,
Miranda Richardson, Sir Roger Moore, Jennifer Saunders. Annie Lennox,
Lulu and Kelly Brook. There were two other guests as well, Prince Charles
and his latest wife, Camilla. Even though no dogs aren't normally allowed
inside the building!!
After the Prince and his Mrs. left the screening it was time to party
across the road inside a huge marquee erected in Kensington Gardens, or
should it be refereed to Narnia, just for one night?
Just in case you haven't read the book, watched the Sunday afternoon TV
series or seen the cartoon the first chapter in the Narnia series is called
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Basically a few kids are at play
in a house, enter a wardrobe and find a secret passage leading to a magical
place called Narnia. There they find a wicked witch and a pretty cool
lion called Azlan. All sorts of stuff happens in an Alice in Wonderland
kind of way and eventually they find the wardrobe again and live happily
ever after. Sorry to spoil the ending, but would you seriously expect
anything else? Besides, now you know the synopsis you can appreciate the
following chuck of reportage from the party itself..
Guests entered through an enormous wardrobe, look it wasn't a real one
- OK? Inside were Vanessa Feltz sized coats draping down and towards the
end, (you're probably one step ahead of us here) was a huge hall decorated
with ice chandeliers, snowing machines and a dancefloor.
Now we have brought you inside lets describe the interior fully. To the
right was a chill out area with one of the many bars and a white chocolate
fountain. The ground was covered with artificial snow and sofas provided
rest to those with weary feet and guests who took full advantage of the
free alcohol.
In the middle of the marquee, sorry - Narnia - there was a dessert bar
with a wide range of tasty succulent sweet dishes and waiters dressed
as snow queens. The most inspiring costume was a dress worn by a young
lady with a spiral wrapped around her layered with Turkish Delights for
guests to help themselves to. Maybe this was just an excuse for her to
have men chase after her though! To add to the perception that the party
was being held in the fictional fairyland trees where positioned throughout
the marquee with fake snow layered on their barks. To be honest the whole
thing wouldn't had looked out of place as a Santa's Grottos in Harrods!
The dance floor was as welcome as a Hogsworth pupil in Narnia and showed
very little sign of life. One explanation for this could had been because
it was positioned quite near the open VIP dining area. Any guest could
meander through the two sets of tables where cast members were seated,
although within the first hour most of the VIPs had gone. We passed ligger
Brian May leaving whilst we were arriving! Between each dining area was
a buffet serving up cold meat and salad. For those who wanted warm dishes
canapés of sausage and mash, beef, chicken and prawns were all
available off trays carried by various waiters.
The impressive aspect of this particular party was that it was literally
made from scratch and was a superb way to end our entertainment reports
for 2005. As we found the wardrobe to make our exit we entered another
mystical world, a huge land of green grass and giant trees greeted us
with a mysterious lake - oh hang on a sec, that's Hyde Park - Sorry about
that!
MOVIE MISTAKES: When Lucy opens the wardrobe for the first time, several mothballs spill onto the floor. In the wide shot, they are gone. They return at the very end of the movie when all four children fall out of the wardrobe.
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