Hannah Snowed Under

Former S Club singer Hannah Spearritt is out in the cold and jobless again after her latest musical flopped. Luckless Hannah was starring in naff West End production Snow! The Musical.

It was a camp Christmas comedy based around festive songs including Last Christmas, I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day and Fairytale of New York. The run had started and was due to end on January 7.

Yet despite reasonable reviews the audiences at the Sound Theatre in Soho had been dwindling away to nothing. Earlier this week one embarrassing performance had just TWO people in the audience – so there were four members of the cast for everyone in the “crowd”. It was the final straw for the producer, who decided to pull the plug.

When I called the theatre yesterday to buy tickets I was told: “It’s been cancelled. There are no more shows.”

A source added: “The cast were upset but not surprised when the producer told them it was over. No one is saying it wasn’t a good production or that the cast could have done better – it just didn’t capture the public imagination. They have cancelled all future performances because it was not viable to keep going.”

The team involved in putting the show together thought they had a huge hit on their hands. The internet homepage for the production boasted a quote from the British Theatre Guide. It said: “A real crowd-pleaser, one that should work wonders for office parties thanks to a versatile line-up of talented performers.”

Hannah had amazing success with band mates Rachel Stevens, Jon Lee, Bradley McIntosh, Tina Barrett, Jo O’Meara and her boyfriend Paul Cattermole in S Club 7. They sold 14million albums, had their own TV series, a movie and a host of hits including Don’t Stop Moving and Reach.

But after the group split in May 2003 Hannah failed to live up to expectations. She claimed she was destined for major Hollywood success. But her appearances in Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London and Seed Of Chucky did not exactly trouble the Oscars committee.

Hannah faces a miserable festive period moping around the home she shares in Brighton with Paul. But at least she’ll be off on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, er, New Year’s Eve and maybe the whole of 2006.

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Posted: December 14th, 2005