One Week In...

Today was the end of our first week of rehearsals - and it's been great so far!

The plans and schedule had changed slightly, which meant the cast were able to fit in these 'extra' days of rehearsal before the official block starts next week. Shane has been fitting in some extra rehearsals amidst his filming schedule for Eastenders, and the rest of the cast (barring one or two guys) have managed to spend the bulk of this week getting familiar with all the material we have to do, including the ensemble numbers, chorus singing and dance routines.

Earlier this week, most of us went to see our "sister" production at the Palladium in the West End. Not only was a good excuse to get to see the show, but gave those of us who haven't been involved with the show before, what we could expect from the production and a bit of an insight into what would be required. It is a really exciting show to watch (especially when you know you will be performing the same show very soon!) and the cast were sounding in great shape, the production looks brilliant, and the whole audience seemed to be loving it.

It has been great to get back into a "cast" again - especially as everyone is so nice and is great fun to work with. There are two fellow cast members (Geoff Abbott & Sophie Caton) whom I have worked with before, as all three of us were in the tour of "Martin Guerre" back in 1999. It's always nice to see a familiar face on the first day of rehearsals, so to get two was a bonus! We seem to have a strong mix of actors who have been treading the boards for many years, and also those who are earlier on in their careers. It's a good mix, and we've had a lot of fun so far - and hard work too, of course...

The next 2 weeks are going to be very intensive, as there is a lot to learn, but the cast are all fab and the creative team know very well what they're doing - so I'm sure we'll get there.

Dressing up….

Yesterday was my first costume fitting for the “Scrooge” tour – so I guess my first official steps towards the show. Hurrah!

I have decided to use my blog as my diary of the tour, so I’ll try and jot down any thoughts or experiences (or anything vaguely interesting!) here.

As there are two productions running concurrently – the London Palladium (with Tommy Steele) and the UK Tour (with Shane Richie) – it’s all pretty frantic for the Costume and Wigs team. I arrived for the fitting to find rehearsals for the London production well under way in the next room, and the girls buried amongst crates of costumes and boxes of wigs. I’d forgotten how much fun trying on clothes is… :-)

Rehearsals don’t start for a couple of weeks for us – so it was nice to start to meet some of the people involved in the production. I don’t think I know any of these rest of the cast (having snuck a look at a cast list) so it will be a chance to make a load of new friends.

Role on October 27th!!
Scrooge, The Musical