On With The Show(s)

Wow, that was a busy month! And this is just the start...

So I'm up and running as Musical Director for THE ADDAMS FAMILY UK Tour now. I've completed my first full venue and I'm LOVING it. The company are really rather fantastic: a brilliant cast, hard-working and lovely technical team and a band who are nightly knocking seven bells out of this fab score. We're currently all on our way to Cardiff for the Welsh premiere of the show, then later in August it'll be time for the Irish premiere in Dublin. Considering I've just come from playing the piano-heavy Poppins score, this next statement is rather telling: save for the odd am-dram, I don't think I've ever played so much piano during a show as I have done with THE ADDAMS FAMILY!

There were a couple of days available to finish and record the song for Tram Tracks that I wrote with my sister. You can hear the results below. I'm quite pleased with how my first song has turned out! It serves its purpose, if perhaps running a little long. Laura & I quite like the idea though of an epic adventure-style song detailing what would otherwise be a rather run-of-the-mill journey. It went down brilliantly in a concert jam-packed with similar songs at the Bridgwater Hall.

I had some very exciting news this month regarding work in 2018: I'm going to be Musical Director for the very first MATILDA THE MUSICAL UK Tour! It's already highly anticipated and tickets are selling fast, and I simply cannot wait to take this beautiful show to some of the greatest theatres in the land. See my Now & Next page for tour details. I've joined the team at an auspicious time as they are just wrapping up adult cast auditions, as well as rehearsing a new cast for the London production. Both processes are extremely useful for me to observe ahead of rehearsals starting in earnest in the winter. Every day spent with the RSC troupe has been an absolute joy, and every single person I've met has been so welcoming. The tour is expected to continue well into 2019.

Back in the present, August is of course centred around my current tour. I leave for Cardiff in an hour or so and, other than a couple of brief returns to the capital to witness what is going to surely be an incredible World Athletics Championships, will be away from London for the duration. I'm also very much looking forward to the Guinness awaiting me in the Irish capital later this month!