Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Leo x 2 - Rhett Butler and Darius Danesh

It's always a pleasant surprise to receive late comments on old blog posts. I got one last week relating to a December post about "Gone With the Wind", and astrological links to the novel's characters.

A commentor let me know that a musical version of "Gone With the Wind" is due to open in London's West End soon, and the person chosen for the part of Rhett Butler is none other than Darius Danesh - a name probably not familiar in the USA - yet. Darius was a contestant in the very first series of UK's "Pop Idol" in 2001(from whence came "American Idol" shortly after). Darius didn't win, he came either third or fourth, I forget which. He did have a very enthusiastic following, including myself. He came in for some ribbing by commentators and journalists because of a remark he made during auditions when trying to motivate fellow-contestants. "There's a lot of love in this room", he said on one occasion, and it stuck! There was always a slightly new agey feel about Darius - a throw-back to the '60s.

Since "Pop Idol", it appears that Darius has made good, with five top ten singles in the UK, and he has played leading roles in stage musicals in London's famous West End - a surprising departure, I'd have thought, but a very successful one it seems.

As mentioned in my December post, the Rhett Butler character is thought to reflect the astrological Leo stereotype. Bingo! - Darius Danesh has natal Sun in Leo!



Darius was born on 19 August 1980 in Glasgow, Scotland. (No birth time known, so I've used a 12 noon chart.)



The first thing I noticed about his natal chart, even before looking at the sign placements, was a beautifully regular integration of the planets in semi-sextile, sextile and trine patterns - following around the chart from Venus to Neptune.

Sun semisextile Saturn, sextile Mars, trine Neptune.
Mercury semisextile Jupiter, sextile Pluto, trine Neptune.
Venus widely semisextile Mercury, sextile Jupiter, widely trine Uranus.

This says, to me, that he is very comfortable within himself, his various talents, music, acting, composing are well integrated and feed off each other. There is a square aspect between his natal Sun and Uranus which will ensure everything doesn't come too easily, and provides him with some dynamic challenge to keep current.

The Moon's degree is uncertain without time of birth, but if Darius were born pre-9am Moon would lie in Scorpio, a later birth time would bring Moon into Sagittarius. It would be interesting to see how the Moon fits into the overall pattern, also, of course the all important ascendant. If anyone reads this and knows Darius's time of birth, I hope they'll comment. I'd guess at Leo or Libra, or maybe even Cancer rising.

His Leo Sun and Mercury shone through his TV performances as I remember them. That very nice Neptune/Mercury trine is going to be helpful for both his songwriting and acting abilities. I can't see anything too negative in this chart, to be honest. His Saturn Return will come up in October 2009, which might send his career in a different direction. Perhaps he'll move on to straight acting, movies, or towards something completely different.

Darius's natal chart, using sidereal zodiac, leaves his Sun in Leo, but Mercury moves to Cancer and Venus to Gemini. The semi-sextile/sextile/trine pattern remains but is not quite so easy to see at first glance. Both versions of the chart could be seen as valid. I noticed a gentleness in him which matches Mercury in Cancer, and his Mercury/Neptune trine moves from Fire to Water with sidereal Neptune in Scorpio -that would fit songwriting and music even better than the Fire trine.So the two zodiacs seem equally valid.....once again.

It'll be very interesting to watch how Darius's career develops. Will he cross the pond to be a hit in the USA, or will he remain a jewel in Britain's crown ?

Here he is singing one of his self-penned hits "Color Blind"

6 comments:

Twilight said...

This comment was received today, but posted on the December blog - it may be of interest here also, so I've copied it:

Anonymous said...
TCM ANNOUNCES AN EXCLUSIVE DOCUMENTARY
GONE WITH THE WIND – THE MAKING OF THE MUSICAL

Following announcements that the classic 1936 Margaret Mitchell novel and one of the most commercially successful films of all time, Gone with the Wind, is to undergo a theatre musical adaptation for the West End stage – Film Channel TCM (Turner Classic Movies) is pleased to reveal that all the behind the scenes preparation will be documented by a TCM camera crew shadowing the production with exclusive access right up until the opening night at the New London Theatre on 22nd April.

Gone with the Wind – The Making of the Musical follows one of the most exciting theatrical projects of recent years in a production led by acclaimed British director Sir Trevor Nunn. This honest and realistic documentary will see the cast and crew go through the hard work, joy and excitement that is involved in such a large and ambitious production. The making of the much anticipated show will also include interviews with Sir Trevor Nunn, Darius Danesh who has been cast as Rhett Butler, and Jill Paice who will play Scarlett O’Hara. Other members of the cast and crew will also be talking to camera about their experience and involvement whilst viewers will also get a look into the rehearsals. TCM delves even further behind the scenes, filming the office buzz, the marketing campaign meetings and the photo shoots.

TCM VP & Channel Manager, Alan Musa said, “Gone with the Wind continues to be one of TCM’s most popular films and the stage production further emphasises its appeal to audiences today. We are thrilled to have this unique opportunity to give our viewers an insight into such a major production.”

The UK television premiere of Gone with the Wind – The Making of the Musical will be on 20th April at 1pm on TCM, preceded by the film at 9am. Repeated: 24th April at 8pm.

February 27, 2008 10:43 AM

Anonymous said...

out of interest looking at your pictues of darius danesh
- there are some photos of darius in full costume as Rhett Butler in the sights section of the official GWTW site, www.gwtwthemusical.com
Darius is a perfect Rhett.

Twilight said...

Thanks Anon. - Yes he's perfect for the part!

What I'm going to do is wait until the opening night (22 April I think) find a review, then do a brief post with a photo of DD in costume, and link back to this one. :-)

Alex Trenoweth said...

Clark and Darius have opposing Mercurys--which are also cj Darius' nodal axis. Psychic connection?

BTW, I just started an astrological blog for jokes (and sign, any aspect, any planet) and astrological events here in the UK. Stop by when you get a chance!

Best,

Alex

PS Sorry to read of the death of your friend:(

Twilight said...

Hi Alex

Thanks for the info. - interesting!

The reviews for GWTW the Musical haven't been very inspiring so far, so I decided not to blog about it again until I see something positive to say. 3 hours 40 minutes does seem a very long time to sit in the theatre - I can understand critics seeming grumpy!

I've visited your blog - LOL! Great stuff. I'll add it to my list of links.

You might contact Elsa (at Elsa Elsa Blog) - she organises the Astrology News thingie and the widget (as on my sidebar) - I'm sure she'd like to add your blog to the feed.

And, thank you.

Alex Trenoweth said...

Thanks for adding me as a link--I'll do the same just as soon as figure out how to do it, lol! Gosh, you are prolific! Well done!