by Tony Schillaci and Don Church
Still as glamorous as ever, and looking very much like her character Alexis Carrington from her Dynasty days, Joan Collins took her one-woman show to the Mohegan Sun Cabaret Theater on Sunday September 21 and got, deservedly, a standing ovation.
Her well-written and expertly structured fast-paced theater piece, A Night With Joan, combined a mini-autobigraphy with movie clips, family snapshots, and a full segment of catfights and cutting remarks from the Dynasty TV shows. It’s all about the ups and downs of her career and private life. Joan fills the stage with her presence, brilliant stagecraft, and wit.
Joan’s professionalism as a fine actress proved winning to the audience as she flirted, teased and laughed at herself and was frank about her amazing career. At one point, she told the story that after she was accepted at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, one of her teachers said to her, “if you don’t work hard and take stage-acting seriously, you’ll probably wind up having to work in the movies!”
With a wicked sense of humor, she’s much more than just a pretty face as she was when she played a small role opposite a very jealous Bette Davis in The Virgin Queen, and lived to tell her audience about it!
But Joan proved, that after 60 years in show business, she’s still getting top billing. Not many actresses can claim that distinction. Her body of work on stage, film, TV, and her many awards, including an OBE from Queen Elizabeth II, is the legacy from which legends are made. And Joan Collins proved at Mohegan Cabaret that she is certainly one of our most playful and beautiful Legends!
