Sarah's New Year treat...

No - it's not Sarah trying out some inappropriate 70's throw back makeup... she decided she should treat herself for New Year and try out a face pack. Well, a woman of Sarah's age needs to do what she can to keep looking gorgeous ;-)

Last week certainly felt like a long one, as it was one of our full "12 shows in 6 days" weeks. We all managed to make it to the end, but I can't deny that I for one am very much enjoying having two whole days off for New Year! I know - part timers aren't we?

Doing 'Dick Whittington' has been a real education for me in "audience chemistry". It soon becomes quite clear that size isn't everything (ooooer!) when it comes to how the audience responds, and to which characters and sections of the show they associate with the most. The clearest cut case is, unsurprisingly, the "schools" shows - where the theatre is filled predominantly with children, often quite young ones. They're loud, they join in, they love it ... but Sarah is a bit of a mystery to them I think! Odd man, dressing up as a woman, with a funny voice and saying stuff we don't understand. Fair do's!

Next up the audience ladder is the child-heavy (not heavy child...) matinee audience. It's families, with their kids. But often quite young kids, and quite young children demand quite some attention! This can understandably distract the parents, so again clever word play and slick delivery ...one hopes... can all go for a burton.

The quieter, adult-heavy (hmmm....) audiences suit me the best. They may not be the best at joining in all the audience participation, they may be a little hesitant and shouting at the baddie. But they're quite good at listening, and seem to get the gags, which warms the cockles :-)

I enjoy all the audiences in their own way, and each actor will have a very different take on each audience, so I guess as long as they go away having laughed and enjoyed it ...then all's well that ends well.

So now we head into our final two weeks at the Theatre Royal with a mere 24 performances remaining. We've been pretty full right across the Christmas period, but there are one or two seats available for some of the performances... and here is a little "heads up" - all tickets for the 5.30pm shows on the 4th and 12th Jan are only £12.00! How about THAT for a bargain :-) so get yourselves onto the website here or call 01284 769505 to book before they're all snapped up.

See you soon...and I promise that Sarah will have sorted her makeup out before she gets back onstage!

Merry Christmas from Pantoland!

I hope you've all had a great festive season, and here's to a happy & healthy New Year!

If you haven't already been to see us, there's still time... we're here until the 15th January...don't miss out :-)

3 weeks down - 4 to to!

Where has the time gone? It's hard to believe that - with last night's performance - we have been open for 3 weeks. Eeek! So by the end of Wednesday's shows next week we'll be half way through our time here, following Dick & Tommy on their adventures to London and beyond.

We've been very lucky with our reviews (is lucky the right word?...) which have been really great. The links to some are just below here, but this is what some of them have been saying:

"The Theatre Royal has put on some fantastic pantomimes over the years and this year’s production ... delivered on all fronts."

"Dick Whittington proves to be a deliciously devilish start to the festive season..."

"With an opera singing diva dame and tap dancing rats spoofing The Sound of Music what’s not to like?"

"... this charming rib-tickler of a production..."

"The lasting feeling is one of great warmth and joy, largely down to the uniformly excellent cast..."

".... the wonderfully warm, intimate and magical pantomime that is Dick Whittington."

Review in The Stage is here. | Review in the East Anglian Daily Times is here. |  Review on Public Reviews is here. |  Review in the Bury Free Press is here

All in all the reviewers have been very kind to us, and I just hope it reflects the amount of work the creative team, the cast and everyone at the theatre has put into the production. The audience response seems to support that - so we must be doing something right!

The Creative Young Associates at the theatre have been busy too, and created a short "trailer" for the show which you can see on YouTube here

I can't pretend that it's all breezy, easy and that I'm not knackered at the end of each day (never mind each week!) but at least it's a good, hearty, well-earned knackered. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

We're performing at the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds until the 15th January 2012. Still time to treat yourself and come and see us :-)

Early start...

Early indeed! Spending my day off back at home is a treat, but getting up before the sun does in order to get back to Bury for a 10:00 a.m. show is anything BUT a treat. Hey ho, the things we do!

We have been open for just over a week now, and the show is going very well, with a great response from the audiences thus far. We've had the whole gamut from the morning "Schools" shows, to a quiter, more adult-heavy (not "heavy adult" necessarily!) mid-week show, to the full on "family" shows at the weekend. Each one has been great, but quite different in their turn.

Once the school kids have warmed up, you can be pretty certain it will be a lively, noisy affair. The more mature audience responds quite differently to the gags, falls, kissing and slop - but certainly "gets" Sarah's one or two double entendre. During one of the weekend shows I don't think there was a moment in which there weren't at least a few kids shouting something about Rats...all part of the panto fun I guess!

We have had a few reviews since opening, and they have all been really positive about the show, which has been fab. You can take at look at the online version by clicking the links below:

- Whatsonstage.com

- thepublicreviews.com

- eadt.co.uk

I've also had a chance to re-visit a couple of skills I have picked up over the years. We had our BSL interpreted show last week, in which Sarah took the opportunity to have a very brief BSL chat with Ivan (the signer) to find out is name, and very quickly decide he was handsome and that she was in love! Hopefully that's what she signed anyway...

And at the weekend, we had a few rows at the front of the auditorium peopled with high school students along with their Japanese exchange friends. Not necessarily what you'd think of as your ideal or most receptive Panto-going fodder. No doubt their English is pretty great, but I would imagine a lot of the goings-on in the show would make very little sense (not sure they do to me sometimes!) Needless to say they were a tad unresponsive from the get go. So Sarah took it upon herself to make them feel welcome, and proceeded to have a chat with them in Japanese. I'm not sure whether that made them even more confused...some weird English man, dressed as a woman, speaking to them in Japanese!?! But she seemed to get her message across, and I think the effort was appreciated :-)

So it's off to the theatre for 2 more shows today. There will be some differences happening later in the week - but that's for another time!

You can follow all the latest bits of gossip from the cast by following the Twitter hashtag #DickWhittingtonBSE. Enjoy!

Show Day 1 -"Dick Whittington" Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds

Well...here we are. Rehearsals are done and dusted, and now we're in the thick of it - 80+ shows to do over the coming 7 weeks.

Along with a final Dress Rehearsal, today was our opening night, and it was a cracker! It made SUCH a difference having an audience - and a great audience at that! The people of Bury were clearly ready for some Panto fun, and they were with us all the way through. Having spent 3 weeks rehearsing the show you are fairly sure you know what you're doing, and reasonably sure that the show is funny. But there's just no knowing until people are there laughing at it!

Luckily, they did laugh; they booed; they hissed; they shouted out. All in the right places too (on the whole!)

We have 2 shows tomorrow, and also on Sunday before a welcome (and fairly well earned I think...) day off on Monday. I hope the audiences enjoy themselves as much this weekend as they did last night. There is a lovely blog post here written by one of the Theatre Royal's "Tweeterati" (!) about our open Dress Rehearsal the other day - take a look. You even get a sneak preview of the finale!

Day 3 (Tech Rehearsals) - "Dick Whittington" Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds

This has to be a quickie....oooh, Missus!

I'm enroute to the theatre for our final day of technical rehearsals. The last three days have gone by in a bit of about to be honest, not a bad blur, just an eyelash, custard, crinoline, wig-wearing blur. Better than being bored though!

Monday daytime was spent working through all the musical numbers, as Peter (the composer) was at the theatre, so he was able to work with Grant (our Musical Director) checking the sound levels, cues, balancing and so on, and ensuring both parties were happy with things.

We also started the process of trying on our costumes so that Will (the designer) and Sarina (our costume designer and supervisor) got a chance to see them "on" and "on stage". At this point some photographers from the local press and the theatre popped along to take some shots for the paper and marketing etc.

Here's the first shot of the whole adult cast together on stage. A slightly 'fabricated' scenario in which lovers are town asunder, fairies weave their magic, and rats watch on with plague-fuelled devilment! (...something like that!...)

During the evening we began the process of "teching" the show from the top. It's always a fairly drawn out process as there are lots of things to put together and get right. As at Wednesday evening we have managed to put the whole show togethers technically (hurrah!) and everything seems to work, and to be in place.

We now have a day to do 2 Dress Rehearsals and polish what we have, adding back in some acting! Fingers crossed. We have an open Dress Rehearsal this evening so will hopefully have some people in the audience to boost things a bit...rather vital for panto really. It's hard delivering lines that start "Ohhhh, yes there is!...."

[silence]

I'm fairly sure that that WON'T be the case from Friday night onwards. If it is, then I'll wanna know why!?!

Come along and see the show at the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds - performing 2x shows-a-day, 6 days-a-week, from this Friday 25th November right through until 15th January. Check out all the details on the theatre's website (www.theatreroyal.org), and follow all the news on Twitter with hashtag #dickwhittingtonbse. See you there!

Day 9 (Rehearsals) - "Dick Whittington" Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds

""Well...that's Morocco done and dusted!" Sarah The Cook (2011)

And indeed it is. Well, for today anyway! We've been working through the show in some more detail this week and by the end of rehearsal today had got to the end of Act II, Scene 2 - which by all accounts is possibly (nay, probably) the longest single Panto scene ever created. Oh yes it is!...Oh no...oh, you know the rest! :-)

It has been a beautiful day outside (see the proof) and that is perhaps one of the few downsides of rehearsals - or any point in the job when you are required to be inside...you do miss the sunshine. But seeing as it has started to get a tad chilly, perhaps it's not such a bad thing to be inside in the warm.

With the mega-scene worked through, that just leaves the final scene and the last sections of the show to work through, and then we will be running the show until we get into the theatre next week. There's still a way to go, and adding on all the technical shenanigans will no doubt be "interesting", but it's feeling really good so far. Everyone is
Irving up to their characters, and Colin is helping us create what I think will be a great, fun, and funny Panto. Hope you've got your tickets booked?!?

We had the night off this evening, and spent a lovely time on our first official "Company Outing". Hurrah. We congregated in a local hostelry and then wended our way to a nice restaurant in Bury. Good food, good company, good conversation and variable levels of alcohol intake! (None too extreme I should point out...)

Let's see who is the tiredest for tomorrow's rehearsal...

Day 4 (Rehearsals) - "Dick Whittington", Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds 2011

I think it is safe to say that writing blog pots at the end of the day is really not ideal...there is just a tad too much "stuff" flying around your brain after a long day of rehearsing to even string a coherent sentence together, never mind write about it all! Maybe I should consider writing them first thing in the morning and see how close I get to what actually happens during the day. Hmmm, a thought! :-)

We've had another couple of fairly full but productive days in the rehearsal studio, with. Number of the "set piece" sections being tackled...I'm sure you'll know the type of thing...suffice to say there is noise, mess and whole bunch of gags thrown in.

The Best Rat Catcher In The World

We've also been working through the remainder of the musical numbers with Grant, and polishing the ones we know (or rather 'should' know) as well. Lee has been putting the musical numbers ""on their feet" such as the one that I took a snap of today - Hannah (Alice Fitzwarren), Tony (Alderman Fitzwarren) with Martin & Vivky (Fitzwarren's shop assistants) discussing various virtues of each favoured method of "rodent control". Another great number written Peter White.

A snazzy ending for the number

Of course ALL the numbers are great, and there's a mixture of well healed tunes that people will already know (with our twist put on them of course...I mean, any of Sarah's "operatic" renditions could well be described as ground-breaking, if not definitive!) along with all the songs that Peter has written for this production. As a bit of an MT luvvie, it's much more interesting working with new material...just like being in a musical. Hurrah!

And so...onwards! Act II is well under way now, and we will have blocked the whole script by the end of play of Friday. In theory! We're all praying we manage to hold it together until we've done a run-thru on Saturday...we may get some time off for good behaviour :-)

(...and watch out for more posts on Facebook and Twitter...there may well soon be a new addition to my I.T. family...)

Day 2 (Rehearsals) - "Dick Whittington", Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds 2011

Another long day. Another tiring day. But another fun day too - so that's OK! :-)

We started work today at the top of the script - "let's start at the very beginning..." - and worked through the first two big scenes, along with setting more of our dance segments to boot.

During lunchtime, we took a little 'school trip' up to the theatre to take a look around. It is a beautiful auditorium, and looks like an exciting space to work in. You can find out a bit more about the theatre here. We won't be actually rehearsing there until our at week of rehearsals, nice we start "tech-ing" (technical rehearsals) and Dress Rehearsals.

By that point in the production process there will be so much going on...set being built and fitted, lights being rigged and plotted, costume being fitted and tried out, sound system and mics being checked, and a slew of other things ...that there won't be much opportunity to appreciate the place.

So we appreciated it today! Here's a little pic of the auditorium and some of the guys on stage getting their first look at our new home for the next couple of months.

We are spending the evenings rehearsing the numbers that our "young cast" members are involved in (children from a local dance school) so if you were to pass the rehearsal room around 9.00pm you find a group of energised and focussed performers being put through their paces...

....and then you'd see us. Slightly bleary eyed and wilting, desperately trying to keep up with the kids, and remember all the things we learned this morning! Ah, the joys of Panto rehearsals! :-)

And so to bed.

And don't forget, if you're on Twitter, you can follow some of the Cast & Creative Team's tweets #DickWhittingtonBSE. See you there!

Day 1 (Rehearsals) - "Dick Whittington", Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds 2011

Well. That's Day 1 done and dusted, over and out. Phew!

The drive down to Bury this morning was a bit hairy, with the A14 being a bit of trial (I've since been told that it is like that most mornings.....eeek!) but, no matter- I arrived in plenty of time. Grabbed a coffee and headed into rehearsals.

We are rehearsing at the Guildhall in the centre of Bury St Edmunds - a grand old building, with rooms full of prints featuring the great and the good of Bury's past. No doubt they have witnessed some things in their time...I'm sure this next couple of weeks will not let them down!

We had a "meet & greet" to start the day with the gathered masses introducing themselves and their roles in the production, and the Will - our production designer - showed us the model for the set design, which looks amazing. Beautiful design and it really makes use of the space at the theatre...which can be a little limited in the wings!

Sarina - our costume supervisor - went through some of the design pictures for the costumes, including a few of the one that have been made for name by the students at the Arts College at the University of Bournemouth. Here's a sneak preview of a couple. They're in their unfinished state, but I'm really excited about them - they're going to be great :-)


Leading up to lunch we had a "read through" of the script, so we got a chance to hear each other and get an idea of characters and how it all works for the first time. Lots of laughs (which has to be a good thing for a panto, no?!) and Peter White (the composer) filled in all the blanks with the great songs he has created for the show. Not bad for a morning's work?

The rest of the day was spent working through lots of the musical numbers and and starting to get some of the dance numbers (I use the word 'dance' fairly loosely in Sarah's case!) underway.

So. It's going to be brilliant, and lots of fun. But I sense a few fairly long days coming our way!

Just 15 more rehearsal as to go, and counting...

The Oliviers....

What a joy to see some of the performances (especially the fantastic Angela Lansbury) on The Olivier Awards this evening...

And what a travesty the BBC's coverage on television was! Particulalry during the first half. Not sure why you would go the expense, and overcome the logistic issues of setting up to broadcast from the awards, and then spend HALF of the time cutting to a cupboard with Paul Gambaccini and various guests, often being interviewed whilst - I would warrant - MORE interesting things were happening on stage. Very odd.

The world is a tough place at the moment for many areas, of course, including the Arts. What with inevitable cuts and squeezes on budgets looming, when a clear opportunity occurs to promote, support, celebrate and encourage live theatre arises without 'extra effort', surely it doesn't take much presence of mind to make the most of it?

Everything was in place, and yet the coverage was - at best - variable.

There. Rant over. Congratulations to all those nominate and all the winners. Some great performances on the night, and I really enjoyed seeing the musical numbers - of course! Angela Lansbury clearly proved why she has been a respected performer for so long, and she can certainly still cut it.

How time flies...

I find it hard to believe that the last post I made was not only 5 MONTHS AGO (umm....what?!?) and was written on a hot sunny day whilst wandering around Dubrovnik. Certainly seems like a lifetime ago now...

Well, Panto, various gigs, new headshots and lots of 'water under the bridge' not withstanding, I find myself getting back up to speed with things work-wise again, and have got around to reviving my Blog. My website will follow (...the reviving of, I mean...) and of course my random Twittering is ongoing.

Lots of exciting ventures coming up over the next few months, so that should give me plenty to write about.

And if that is not the case, then I will jolly well want to know why!

Dubrovnik day

Have traversed the city walls, I've now retired to a shady corner of Pred dvorom, just around the corner from the market, for a sit down and a cool drink.

The first time I visited the city a couple of months ago, it was chucking it down with rain, but the last few times it has been - as today - bathed in glorious, hot sunshine.

Being merely an amateur photographer, and perhaps not having THE most advanced equipment, the brightness does make it that bit harder to get good photos sometimes: the contrast between the light areas and the shadows is stark; all too easy to get over exposed snaps and so on. Still- it does make for some stunning colours, particularly the sky, the red tiled roofs, the worn, white stone streets, the clear blue of the water.

We only have one more trip to Dubrovnik, on our penultimate cruise, so I'm just wallowing in the atmosphere!

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Location:Pred dvorom,Dubrovnik,Croatia

Blogging from the wall

I'm currently standing atop the city wall in Dubrovnik in some glorious sunshine. Cool, huh?

I'll try and add some more detail later- because people are barging past me at the moment (mainly British tourists it has to be said!)


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Location:Placa - Stradun,Dubrovnik,Croatia

Nature is a wonderful thing!

There are the odd times when you're in a bad mood. Not for any particular reason- you just are.

And I can tell you, nothing can lift your spirits more than looking out into hhe sea and seeing a large pod of Dolphins swimming directly under you! Oh my goodness- it's fantastic!!




I was outside on one of the open decks in the crew area, and hear 'splashing' in the water below. You can always hear the movement of water when the ship is steaming along, but this was a different splashing sound. I peered over rail to discover it was the sound of the dolphins leaping around below.

You often get to spot dolphins ( and sometimes whales...) from the ship, but because of the position of the deck I was on, they were playing around directly under me. It meant I could not only watch them leaping out of and diving back into the water, but could also see them as they swam under water - what an amazing sight.

Mood enhancer -nature's way! :-)

(PS - the photo is not mine. I didn't have my camera with me, sadly. But enjoyed the moment nonetheless)


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Location:Bunićeva poljana,Dubrovnik,Croatia

Christmassy things in The Canary Islands

Admittedly it is 30 degrees at the moment, and the middle of August... But I have been busily putting up details of my first excursion into the lands of Panto later this year, at the Guildhall Arts Centre in Grantham.




Check out my Facebook Page for the links.



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Location:Calle San Francisco,Santa Cruz de Tenerife,Spain

Sunny Santa Cruz

We're enjoying a daytime off on La Palma today. Gorgeous sunny day with a nice breeze which is keeping it cool enough to bare!

We have a show tonight- "Tropical Fever", which should be interesting. At least it should be suitable weather for it, and the current bunch of passengers seem a good sort. :-)


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Location:Av Marítima,Santa Cruz de La Palma,Spain

Complex Cobh

Cobh (Cove) is an interesting place. To be brutally honest- and no doubt I'll be offending someone by saying this - but I think it seems to have more going for it in it's past than in it's present.

To be fair, today is a bit grey and damp, and nowhere benefits from that kind of backdrop. The town is a one-horse kinda place, with some pretty buildings and obviously situated on an impressive natural bay.




As it's a Sunday, there is not much open other than the Churches and the convenience shops. So I am hunkered up in a local hotel to get my Wifi fix.

Although I had given up on the town, and heading back to the ship shortly I've just been accosted by Johnny, who was initially asking me about my iPad and turned out to be a very interesting guy. So we had a nice chat about computers, film stars and pulling pints. And as he's a rare and antiquarian book seller, I have his email address in case I'm ever looking for anything!
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Location:Westbourne Pl,Cobh,Ireland

Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen

I've just been sitting in the Rose garden next to the Rosenborg Palace, and it's truly beautiful. The weather is stunning today - clear, blue skies; bright, warm sunshine. Something of a "Mary Poppins" moment, with the scent of the rose bushes wafting around, and little scurries of sparrows taking a wee dust bath in the gravel path at my feet. Just remove the tourist hordes, and it would be perfect! ;-)

Both times that we've visited Copenhagen we've had lovely weather, so my opinion of the city may be coloured by that somewhat... but it's another great European city.



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Location:Kongens Nytorv,Copenhagen,Denmark

Hot in Helsinki

...well, actually I'm fairly cool at the moment! Sitting in the shade with an iced coffee, so I'm keeping out of the sun for a while.

We're docked in Helsinki, Finland today and as we were unable to get off last time we visited, it's great to have a chance to explore the city a little.

Having read the tourist blurb on the little guide book, it appears (and actuality confirms) that Helsinki is quite a 'modern' city - historically, the main available building material being wood, which has, on the whole, been lost to fires over the years - with the bulk of the architecture being constructed in the past century or so. No doubt there are notable exceptions, but I've sadly not got many hours to root them out!

Neil and I are doing our cabaret tonight, so we have a sound check with the band later this afternoon. Just time to finish coffee, and snap a few more photos before heading back. A day at sea tomorrow, so you can bet it'll rain!!


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Location:Centralgatan, Helsinki, Finland

Easing round Estonia

We're in Tallinn today - and it's fab. Enjoying wandering around the old town and snapping happily away at all the mediaeval architecture and little squares, towers, minarets and so on- really pretty.

I'm currently sat in the gardens at the foot of St Nicholas' Church (Niguliste) enjoying the sun and the free wifi provided by the local council (take note!) I've withdrawn 250EEK (Estonian Kroons) and have not really checked the exchange rate, so have little idea what it's worth... So I think I need to grab some lunch in a cafe somewhere and find out!

Off to St Petersburg tomorrow, and it will be the 1st time I've managed to get ashore there, so I'm looking forward to it.

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Location:Harju,Tallinn,

Super Stockholm

Well, I've enjoyed it here- the last time I was in Stockholm was over 20 years ago on a visit with the Scouts (yes, I was a Scout!) and I don't really remember much about the city.

It's great though- lots going on, plenty of history, fab architecture, lots of parks and open spaces...love it :-)

Sadly we only have a few hours to enjoy it, but I think I'd like to come back and spend a bit more time.

Off to Estonia tomorrow and a stop in Tallinn...


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Location:Regeringsgatan,Stockholm urban area,Sweden

Morning in Kristiansand

We're docked in Kristiansand, Norway this morning. Only for half-a-day, so I managed to force myself up this morning, and off the ship by 8:30... Quite impressive for me!

It's a pretty town, and the weather today is stunning, so I wandered through the town, along the river, around the forest, by the Harbour -the works!

The town was empty this mooring, what with it being a Sunday I imagine, and it was beautifully peaceful. A little less peaceful now as about 3,000 cruise passengers have descended. Hey ho.

Heading back on board now... But maybe and ice cream first ;-)

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Location:Markens gate,Kristiansand,Norway

A wee test...

I just installed a new app to allow me to blog from my iPad... And if you're reading this... then it's working!

Hopefully I can then "blog" more frequently, when the urge takes me :-)

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Location:Above Bar St,Southampton,United Kingdom

End of an era...

I had a great evening, spending it at the Mountview Christmas concert. Mountview was the drama school I attended and where I started doing all this singin' and dancin' mullarkey back in the depths of the mid-1990s.

It was a great evening, and the students sounded great. There seemed to be HUNDREDS of them - although I'm sure there weren't quite that many! It was a fantastic concert, and the Church in Sloane Square was packed with people, and we were treated to a selection of songs and carols - including some arranged by Paul Sabey (Head of the Musical Theatre Dept.) in his own inimitable style ... Anyone who has been to Mountview and worked with Paul will know what I mean!!

It was a rather more special occasion tonight as Paul is leaving for pastures new, so tonight was his swan song. Paul has been responsible for building the MT course from the very beginning, and has taught countless students over the years. I think it's fair to say he has an impact on all the students who have passed through Mountview and I have no doubt that he will be sorely missed.

It certainly got me thinking back to my time there, and the people I trained with, the shows we worked on, the classes we attended - and brought a lump to the throat, a tear to the eye and a smile to the face. Overly poet perhaps, but true nonetheless. Life and the world has changed vastly since then - even though it was only 10 (or so!) years ago - and it was such a fun, exciting, tough, thrilling, challenging time that it all came flooding back tonight.

So - long live all the 'Sabey Babies' out there, and I hope the future generations of students passing through those "hallowed halls" come to realise that they've sadly missed out on some screaming top notes and 20-part harmony singing!

Lots going on...

Phew. It appears to have been MONTHS since I last blogged on here, so I am going to remedy that now - and hopefully moreso over the next few days.

There has been a lot happening in the passed couple of months and there's a lot coming up too... corporate stuff, charity concerts, the White Christmas shenanigans, and then of course the Cruise.

I'm going to digout some links, news and pics - so watch this space!

"You Lot" at the Roundhouse...

This was all Tony Hawks could come up with to call us for our performance of Steve Sidwell's Heathrow Overture tonight at the Camden Roundhouse. To be fair, we didn't come up with anything brilliant in the heat of the moment ourselves, so who can blame him!

We were performing the piece - written by Steve for the opening ceremony at Heathrow T5 - as part of the BMW 'Modern Spirits London event tonight. You can see the original performance of the piece on Steve's website.

If you haven't heard of Mr Sidwell, you will have probably heard his work, as a composer and arranger for many pop artists, commercial ventures, theatre events and so on, and if you're UK-based, you will remember his Honda Advert from a couple of years ago.



That piece, in the same vein as the Heathrow Overture, makes use of a choir or chorus of singers to create a soundscape of a car ... or in this case an Airport! - and using only our voices and bodies to make cleverly represenattive sounds. Steve's skill is in converting what he hears in the "environment" to a creatable sound from the vocal chords... some of it is amazing!

As ever, it was lovely seeing lots of chums for the event... and when there's a chance of nicking some jam making raw materials - so much the better!

Restoring the faith...

Two amazing shows in a week - hurrah!

I've just been to see "Sister Act - The Musical" at the London Palladium, and - yep, you guessed it - you HAVE to go and see it.

For fear of being a bit gushy about the show, everything about it was great, and sums up how good a piece of Musical Theatre can be. The Producers have done the show proud, and there appears to have been no expense spared on the casting, the orchestra, the sets, the lighting, the costumes - all of it.

Tonight Debbie Kurup was on for Dolores, and did a fantastic job. I'm sure that Patina Miller is awesome too, so you can be sure whoever is on will be great. Sheila Hancock is, of course, one classy bird, and she brings that class to the show. Not that it lacks it on it's own.

Sat in the auditorium with a friend at the end of the show, we both agreed we'd LOVE to be in a show like "Sister Act". It was so much fun, and a real joy to have a new show with a brand new score as well, nothing recycled or re-used. There a some catchy tunes in there... working to the (somewhat infuriating at times!) old adage of being able to hum the songs at the end of the show. And I bet you'll be itching to work on some of the Nun's moves too... go on, 'ave a go! Katie Rowley Jones does a great job with "The Life I Never Led" and the Mother Superior's song "Here Within These Walls" is gorgeous too. But then it's not as if you can't rely on Mr Menkin to write a good tune!

Well done to all those in it "wot I know" and all those I don't. I have no doubt it'll run and run, so get in there now so you can be the first to tell all your chums about it!

(Crikey - I should work in advertising or something....)

Live theatre rocks....

You could sit indoors and watch TV. You could spend your evenings assualted by an ever increasing glut of rubbish reality shows. You could say that it's too expensive to go out, and that it's REALLY too expensive to go to the theatre.

Well. It's worth it. There is nothing to beat it. The whole thing... sitting in the auditorium; waiting for curtain; orchestra striking up. The sound, the lights, the sets - it's all good.

As it happens, it was watching "Priscilla" at the Palace Theatre last night that made me think it. But it applies to anything really. And do you know what? There wasn't a recent reality TV "star" in the place. At least Zoe Birkett has trained!

AND, the only person in the cast with a recognisable set of TV credentials was Jason Donovan, who - I think it is fair to say - has proved himself as a theatre actor before this. He was great, but it was the whole show and whole cast that made the thing work. Especially Tony Sheldon, who was fantastic.

So go and see it. Or go and see something else. Just go and see stuff. And don't let people ask "Who's in it? Anyone off the tele?" - but encourage people to ask "Who wrote it? What's the story? What's the production like?"... anything.

The theatre last night was very full, and to a man (and woman!) everyone loved it, stood up, cheered, clapped and had a great time. Yep - it cost them more than sitting at home, but I bet it was better than X Factor!

Back to the drawing board...

I'm on the train heading down to London (despite the tube strike!) for rehearsals for "You Don't Being Me Flowers"

Of course, those of you who've already seen the show will be aware I'm in no need of the rehearsal and know exactly what I'm doing at all points during the performance - honest! - but we have a few new guys & gals joining the team, and they've been busy this week working on the material with the creative bods, so Tim & I are joining them today for some 'refreshing'!

It won't hurt - it's been over a month since the last gig, so a bit of refreshing will be ... well ... refreshing! ;-)

All the upcoming dates are on the You Don't Bring Me Flowers website, so have a look and see if we're heading your way.

Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch...Right!
That connects with...
Turn, turn, out, in, jump, step,
Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch.
Got it?...

New song sung...

Along with the various bits and bobs I've been up to lately (The WestEnders ; You Don't Bring Me Flowers etc) I have managed to fit in recording a couple of songs for composer Mike Buck, with lyrics by Nicol Walsh.

One of the numbers I did is here, titled 'Kiss, and Say Goodbye', which I particularly like - even if I do say so myself! It's an un-edited version at the mo, but I think it's a very pretty song.

Have a listen if you get a minute. The other songs are on my website in the Recording section... if you have more minutes!