KYLIE MINOGUE IN MOSCOW ON CHRISTMAS DAY! ITS TRUE!

                        KYLIE MINOGUE IN MOSCOW ON CHRISTMAS DAY - ITS TRUE!

Watching Kylie the other day on the popular BBC Graham Norton Chat show I was so pleased that Kylie is still at the top of her game and as popular as ever. I had the privilege of working with Kylie and her team a few years ago and I have to say she was an absolute delight in every way. Highly professional, but such an adorable person too. Her team were also a joy to work with - a very enjoyable and rewarding experience - but on Christmas Day?

IT'S TRUE - I wrote this blog awhile back, but I was asked recently by a colleague - "Have you ever worked with Kylie"? I am often asked this question, and the answer is YES - and for those that haven't read of this exhilarating experience - please read on:

One of our team at that time Victoria Druyan came to me with a truly unique challenge - could we book Kylie Minogue for a private event for a major oil company in Moscow, Russia at a theatre next to the Red Square, opposite the Kremlin on Christmas Day!

I can't remember exactly how long we had to put this together, but it was literally only a few days! Not an easy task by any means -  When Victoria and I began to discuss this we thought it would be impossible - fortunately, I had a good relationship with Kylie's agent at that time Dave Chumbley (who very sadly passed away awhile ago) and the call was made.

Much to our amazement and relief Kylie, wasn't going to be in Australia, where she usually went to be with her family (Kylie was in Paris) and was interested, providing the fees and arrangements could be made in time. Well, as you can imagine to put all this together in days and with the Christmas holidays approaching fast this was going to be the challenge to end all challenges.

Hiring a private jet to bring the Kylie's team, dancers, technical crew from London and to pick up Kylie in Paris was just the beginning and not that easy for Christmas Day! Getting the Russian oil company to agree the contract, terms and conditions and fee transfers in time was only a part of this mountain to climb. Negotiations and contracts were put together with formidable speed - funds transferred amazingly quickly from Russia - incredibly this was going to happen!

We were also very fortunate that Paul Godfrey was available to come with us - Paul a fluent Russian Speaker, a leading show production expert and one hell of a nice guy, said he would come - Paul works with the Bolshoi Ballet and Opera as well as with the Mariinsky Ballet and Opera plus many other leading artists and special events including  Nelson Mandela's release concert at Wembley Stadium and the Royal Opera at the opening of the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus.

The stage was set, but could we get there? The weather was deteriorating by the hour - the airports were beginning to close down due to snow conditions and we had to get that plane in the air - I don't remember exactly now which airport closed - I believe it was Stanstead Airport but Luton Airport (or the other way around) was still open. Our team had gone ahead and were already in Moscow, which was also very cold and snow driven, but unlike the UK airports, the Russians always seem to keep their airports open throughout the worse snow storms.

With the weather getting worse and the window to get the private jet off the ground closing by the minute the team took off - as you can imagine to the huge relief to all of us in Moscow.

Everything was ready in Moscow - the hotel rooms booked, the theatre prepared - I remember with great amusement seeing the Russian stage crew sitting around back stage being hugely surprised and galvanised when Paul Godfrey spoke to them in fluent Russian - that shook them up a bit!

One interesting aspect was that we had to bring the Christmas Turkeys with us from London so that we could have a proper Christmas lunch at the Kempinski Hotel in Moscow for Kylie, her team and all of us - it was a joyous occasion and great fun. But that is jumping ahead - we were waiting at Sheremetyevo International Airport and were deeply relieved when the flight landed safely having picked up Kylie herself in Paris.     Limousines at the airport whisked Kylie and the team to the Kempinski Hotel where the rooms were waiting.

Back at the theatre there was an artistic situation arising because the oil company (NAFTA OIL) had also booked another girl artist Gerry Halliwell to perform and was taking up a lot of rehearsal time - we had a very tight and strict schedule to put everything together for Kylie at the theatre and rehearsal time was short - so with Kylie getting ready to be brought over the the theatre we had to get Gerry's rehearsal finished and off stage - not an easy task!!

As I mentioned earlier the theatre was just off Red Square (Krasnaya Ploshchad) in the centre of Moscow.  Red Square was looking sparkling covered in a coat of pristine white snow - The Kremlin walls can be daunting to look at with centuries of history emanating over the square - from Ivan the Terrible, Boris Godunov, all the subsequent Tsars to Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev, Andropov, Brezhnev and Gorbachev - its hard not to be massively impressed by the grandeur and history that this place inspires - anyone with a passion for history can only want to gaze in awe at the East walls of the Kremlin, Lenin's tomb and of course the exotic and quite marvellous St Basil's Catherdral (built in 1561). Anyhow back to the show...

I have to say that Kylie was an absolute joy to work with as were her team - they were the nicest group of people, I think we had worked with in this concert and event industry - obviously deeply devoted to Kylie and fully understandable, because Kylie was truly lovely and so easy to work with.

The show went brilliantly with Kylie putting on a great performance with her dancers - the client was thrilled and to all of us involved, a huge sigh of relief that it had all gone so well. The Chairman of the Oil Company gave Kylie an enormous bunch of flowers after the show - I think the massive bouquet of flowers was taller than Kylie!

With Kylie and team speeding back to the airport and the private jet warmed up and ready to speed back to Paris and London it was another job well done.

Victoria Druyan went on to form her own successful event company - Paul Godfrey works today with both the Bolshoi and Mariinsky Theatres and other major artists - we continued to work with a host of international artists from Beyonce, Shakira, Mariah Carey, Elton John, Neil Diamond, Rod Stewart, Mika, Bon Jovi, REM, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ricky Martin, Phil Collins, Jose Carreras, Luciano Pavarotti, IL Divo to musicals such as Cats, West Side Story, Zorro, Disney's High School Musical, and Stomp to name a few.

Happy memories of a wonderful snowy Christmas day in Moscow - watching Kylie last year on the BBC programme "The Voice" and seeing her bubbly, fun and inspiring self again last week - I would like to say what a privilege it was to work with her. Kylie is a real gem and all of us involved wish Kylie all the love and best wishes for her health, success and happiness.

Thanks for reading
Cheers
Peter