Early to bed...

... early to rise - as the saying goes!

Off to get my beauty sleep as it's the first day of rehearsals tomorrow, which I'm really excited about.

Obviously a little bit nervous too... ever since the Company Manager called to give us out rehearsal times, and said I should make sure I bring my dance shoes and my tap shoes with me! Tap shoes?!?! I haven't tapped for a few years - it'll be an education to see how much I have remembered!

Wish me luck...

Musical Weekend, all told...

... what with one thing and another.

Thing 1 - was the arrival of my scores and script for The Producers, which arrived at the end of last week. Very exciting to read and hum through it all. There's only 5 more days before starting rehearsals now and I can't WAIT to get going on it :-)

Thing 2 - was in the shape of my final show with The WestEnders for the time being. When I look back at the list of jobs I have been involved with over the past couple of years, I sometimes forget that the various concerts, cruises and gigs with the WestEnders has made up a large percentage of that - in number of occasion, if not in actually "days worked". Of course I will hopefully joining the gang again in January (if they'll have me back!) but for the time being its Sayonara.

Thing 3 - was perhaps the more "high brow" of the three, being a trip to Covent Garden to watch a free performance of Turandot at the Royal Opera House, played into the courtyard outside on a huge screen. Not only was the screen in Covent Garden, there was one in Docklands, and Hull, and Leeds and about 10 other locations around the UK. Good for them. I see little enough Opera as it is, so I think it is great that people get a chance to see it - in a kinda cool atmosphere as well - for free.

You can see my friend Sara here sporting the lovely free gear you got supplied with - the rather trendy BP hat, matching the equally elegant BP Rain Poncho - and she is sat on the ever-so-comfy BP blow up cushion (may have been comfy but it was a helluva job blowing the thing up!). Oh, did I mention that I think the event is sponsored by BP?!?!?!?

Admittedly we got there a little late, and it was quite busy, and we did spend a large amount of the time trying to see round a metal barrier - but apart from that (!) it was a lovely evening. The weather held out, the performance was great, and I only hear done argument in the crowd. Not bad going for 2,000 Brits shoved in close proximity to eachother sat on blow up cushions!

I'm trying to get out and see as many things as I can before I get heavily involved with the show and just won't have spare evenings to see things. I have quite a few on the list - so I'd better get moving quick sharp!

A story of Three Sides...

I had a great evening yesterday watching a new show at the Finborough Theatre. The musical is called "Three Sides" and is written by Grant Olding and Toby Davies - and it's fab!

I've been lucky enough to have had my ear/eye on the show for a little while as it's on the other website that I run 21st Century Musicals and having listened to the demo tracks I knew already that I was going to enjoy the songs. It's the type of music - "comtemporary adult musical theatre" I suppose - that I'd love to do more of.. fingers crossed!

I haven't been to the Finborough before, and it appears there is some issue with the Bar at the moment - so there was no interval drnks for any of us! But it's a nice venue, with the performance space being similar to a lot of the "Pub" theatres in London (like the Landor, Kings Head etc) - not huge, but ideal for more intimate pieces.

The cast is made up of Simon Gleeson, Caroline Sheen & Jon-Paul Hevey, all of whom perform splendidly. I actually taught JP for a short time whilst I was working at Mountview Theatre School, so it's really great to come and see him doing such great work. It was a fun evening all round as I bumped into various people who I hadn't seen for ages - Grant (the composer) was there, as was my friend Tim Godwin who I started in Les Mis with all those years ago, and a current Les Mis cast memebr Robert Archibald who I have worked with on a number of occassions.

And it's always nice meeting up with people when you are actually able to say you have work coming up - much better than:

"What have you been up to?"
"Um... nothing much..."
"Anything coming up?"
"Um... nothing much..."

Aargh - that's hideous! But none of that this time. Now - the ONLY thing you need to remember if you're going to go and see the show (which I thoroughly recommend you do) is to take penty of water: small theatre; no air-con; hot lights; lots of bodies... you can guess what we all looked like by the interval!

But it was a small price to pay, and worth every drop of sweat! There are only 2 more shows at the Finborough before the show wends its way to New York as part of the NYMF Festival later in the year. If you get a chance - go and see it!

The next shows are Sunday 9th and Monday 10th July. Don't miss it or you will just have to hop on a plane to see it in New York.