POP, West End musicals and soap star Jason Donovan — already one of the headliners at this summer’s Jack Up the 80s festival — will be returning to the Isle of Wight in the autumn as part of a 34-date UK tour.
Donovan, who launched a highly successful pop career in the 1980s and was the star of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jason and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, will be performing his autobiographical show, Jason and His Amazing Midlife Crisis, at Shanklin Theatre on October 18.
Billed as an evening of musings, music and mischief, Donovan, who became a star of top Aussie soap, Neighbours, will be sharing the ups and downs of his rollercoaster career on stage and screen, over four decades, from his days as a teen heart-throb to what the future holds for him.
He will talk frankly about low points in his life, such as his famous collapse during a cocaine-fuelled binge at Johnny Depp and Kate Moss’s party and passing out on top of Jack Nicholson, to new highs after he revived his flagging career on TV programmes, I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here and Strictly Come Dancing.
For fans of his music, he will also perform some acoustic versions of his classic hits, which include Too Many Broken Hearts and Sealed With a Kiss.
"In the past, I’ve either been too young, too busy or too dazed and confused to be able to make sense my life. But now, on the eve of my 50th birthday, I believe I am finally in a position to put my life into perspective," he said.
"I’ve been on the edge, pushed my life to the extreme and came back from it stronger and realise what I don’t want to do with my life. Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success."
Donovan will also be performing at Jack Up The 80s, at Smallbrook Stadium, Ryde, on Saturday, August 12.