Quite a month...

I can't believe that we have already been doing the show for 3 weeks! Doesn't time fly when you're having fun?!?

Rehearsals do seem like a lifetime ago... we had three weeks to get the show under our belts, which was enough time - but only just! There were 8 of us starting in the show, joining the remaining cast. Matt (Rixon) spent most of the 1st two weeks with the Director, as he had his own track to learn. The rest of us were under the care of the Dance Captains and Swings who taught us all the various numbers and dance sequences. Obviously my VAST dance experience helped me cope with the amount of learning - the fact that my plot doesn't include the main dance sections might have helped too!!

Once we got to running the show in the last week, it did start to make sense and you could understand how everything fitted together. The final hurdle was fitting in all the costume changes which are part of the show - some of which are pretty quick. I think it is fair to say that the dress rehearsal was a bit of a mess in this regard!! I managed to get on stage for all my entrances, which is more than can be said for some hehehehehe. But the pandemonium backstage with dressers screaming at us "Over Here!"; "Take of your shoes", "No, not THAT one!" and so on... fun, fun fun! You can see that Lisa & Alison have managed to get their costumes right after a few days practice!

I think it is fair to say that I am having more fun with this show than any other before. Every show you do has good things and bad things, and can become a "favourite" for a variety of reasons. Some have been amazing because of the creative team, some have been a real challenge performance wise, some have been with a great cast and so on. This show is such fun to perform and we have a great time both on and off stage that you can't fail to come away from work at the end of the day with a smile of your face.

I'm also really enjoying the chance to play some real "characters" and enjoy the comedy side of them a bit more than in the past. Of course having the chance to do shows like Les Mis and Martin Guerre was fantastic, but there isn't ALL that much humour in either of them! Quite the opposite with The Producers! (Yes, Mountview chums - it's that "inner clown" again!) I'm loving having the chance to be funny on stage (with a little help from Mel Brooks and a fine selection of facial hair I should add....)


The Audiences we get seem to be great as well. Obviously it helps the show along when the audience is with you and enjoying it all, and on the whole they really do. So if you come along to see it - please laugh loud and long!! The time is already slipping by really fast - we're already close to September, and by the 6th we'll only have four months left - scary. Hey ho - I'll just have to try and find something to top it for next year. Any ideas?!?!