New Look
It's the May Day Bank Holiday, and I finally decided it was time for a major overhaul of my website.
With the help of the guys over at SquareSpace, I now have a site that should, in theory, look great no matter what device you're viewing the site on. This is very much a "soft" launch and I hope to add more content over the coming months, including my back catalogue of blog posts as well as embedding some video and audio where appropriate. As ever your thoughts are welcome!
While the site has changed, real life for me has stayed constant through April. I continue to build up my freelancing work as I now juggle five keyboard chairs, four of which are in London. I thoroughly enjoy peering at my diary at the beginning of each week to see what delights await over the coming days - a Matilda here, a Les Mis there, a day off, a day sight-reading a workshop of a brand new show (wink-wink). This past month I've seen more friends & colleagues and more shows than probably the last six months combined.
As well as playing on shows, I managed to see three productions as a punter. Sunset Boulevard lived up to the hype and, not being au fait with the show, was an extremely rare opportunity to experience a Lloyd Webber score without knowing it as a whole beforehand. There were, as a result, some surprisingly powerful moments exquisitely played by the full orchestra on the stage of the London Coliseum. Glenn Close was, of course, the perfect choice to reprise the role of Norma Desmond.
I also saw the press night of Show Boat. I've seen it previously in a production at the Royal Albert Hall a few years ago and this Crucible version has done a great job of maintaining the flow in what is quite an epic storyline, plus keeping the run time well below 3 hours! Finally, I got to see In The Heights in its new(ish) home at the King's Cross Theatre. The production won three Oliviers at the beginning of April and my night at the theatre made it very clear why those accolades were thoroughly deserved. The show is in spine-tingling form.
May sees me continue the depping work, including a trip to Edinburgh next weekend to help out on Poppins, which I'm very much looking forward to! There's also the Hither Green festival this month where the entire community descend on the piazza outside my flat for a world food fayre, amongst other festivities. I also have another visit to the Royal Albert Hall, this time to see the film Gladiator accompanied by a live orchestra. No doubt I'll catch a few more West End shows, too. Now I'll let you get back to exploring my new site! Speak soon.