Andrew Corcoran

musical direction - piano/keyboards - higher education

Sun & Shows

Another month in the freelance world goes by. Mrs Henderson Presents bowed out at the Noel Coward Theatre, one of the shows I was helping out on, so I've replaced that by making a triumphant return to the Chicago piano chair (now combined with elements of the 2nd piano and accordion chair) which is currently touring around the UK. Having played the show 574 times in London, the show felt unnervingly familiar even after nearly four years away, a different cast, a different theatre and a lot of new notes to play.

I got my promised few days in the sun, relaxing by the pool and Mediterranean Sea in the north of Minorca. I was somewhat distracted by news from home, though, as it was the same week as the EU referendum, when British politics started to resemble a one-off special of The Thick Of It. Still, it was warm and sunny and the food was great, so I certainly made the most of it!

July gets off to its traditional start of lots of tennis watching as well as playing keyboards for Showcase 2016 at The Lowry, the annual get-together of am-dram societies from around Manchester to strut and sing their way through 15 minutes of a favourite musical. I have an extended trip to Norwich to help out once again on the Mary Poppins tour and also my first dip of the toe in the water of Arts Educational, helping out with a small summer project.

Enjoy the sun! Once it eventually arrives, that is.

More of the Same

The freelancing continues! A busy month full of one show here, one show there, a trip up to Edinburgh for four performances of Mary Poppins at the start of the month, and a trip to Southampton at the end of the month for the very same show. I'm now up and running on both chairs on the Mary Poppins tour, bringing the total chairs I concurrently play on up to six, with music for three others currently sat on the piano over there being learnt (or relearnt).

The advantage of the bitty nature of the work is it opens up opportunities to see other events, meet up with people or generally sort my life out at home. I saw my sister for the first time in three months, newly back from her round-the-world honeymoon, perfectly timed with an evening soaking up the Eurovision Song Contest. I also went to see the Gladiator movie at the Royal Albert Hall, another part of their season of films with a live orchestra. In a rare treat for me, I hadn't actually ever seen this film, so it was a perfect evening taking in the score for the first time whilst enjoying a story I didn't know the ending to. My next filmic adventure will be Independence Day later this year. Can't wait!

June (busting out as it once did) sees me balance the freelancing with making sure I see my favourite sporting moments. I've already failed at the first instance by agreeing to play Mary Poppins at the same time the French Open Tennis final is scheduled to be played. D'oh! I'm sure I will cope (and the pay packet of course helps). Today I'm off to see Funny Girl at the Savoy with my mum who's popped down to London for the day, and later in the month I'll finally get some full-time R&R in when I join my mum & dad in their apartment in Minorca. I should finally get that tan started! (Ha.)

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.

Freelance Keys-Depper

Work as a freelancer tends to come in waves. Following a relatively frantic few days, I'm now faced with the prospect of the first five days of April with a clear diary (for now). I'm certainly looking forward to a bit of downtime!

The start of March saw the end of the Jersey Boys tour. As fully expected, the show went out in an explosion of noise thanks to the fantastic audiences at the Edinburgh Playhouse. The city made for a great backdrop as we flew through five days' worth of shows and socialising.

Less than a week later and I was playing my first show on Mary Poppins, on the notoriously tricky Keys 1 chair, in Birmingham. Hence there wasn't a huge amount of time to down tools after the previous few months on tour, but that's pretty much how I like it anyway - no standing still! The show has been great fun to play and I'm 8 performances into it now.

I've also learnt and, as of last night, played the Keys 2 chair on Mrs Henderson Presents, a show I'm yet to see from out front but from the pit (and based on audience reaction) seems to be going down a treat. Completing the set of current "M" musicals, I've also made a return to depping on Matilda at the Cambridge Theatre. It's great to be back playing on that tremendous production!

Away from the depping, I've been having meetings about prospective future projects, I've been to see Raiders of the Lost Ark with live orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall (I'm a sucker for those kind of nights) and I took my mum to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when she came down to visit my sister and I. We also both went to see aforementioned sister singing at the fab restaurant-cum-cabaret venue Circus, as she briefly returned from working in Australia before jetting off on a round-the-world honeymoon trip - lucky sod! I also made sure I had a pleasant Easter weekend back at my parents' house in Cheshire, since not many shows are going to be booking deputies around a bank holiday weekend...!

The freelancing continues as ever in April. I have a ticket to see Glenn Close in Sunset Boulevard... and that's about it! Hopefully much more will have happened by the time this month is through. I'll be back with an update then.

Off-Road

I'm coming to the end of the Jersey Boys tour. Next Saturday will see the show close in style at the Edinburgh Playhouse. Following on from tours with The Glenn Miller Story & Wicked, this also marks the end of being on the road after almost 14 months straight and I look forward to bedding myself back into the capital (and my flat) once again!

I've also been fortunate to have had 17 months of near-constant work spanning four separate shows that dovetailed nicely one after another, making some great friends along the way. The unknown nature of the forthcoming enforced bout of freelancing always has an element of anxious excitement, but with a number of great productions on the horizon I'll definitely be making myself known to relevant parties.

February saw the Jersey Boys tour finish up in Northampton before moving to Wolverhampton. Neither of these towns are especially exciting, although I got to stay in the same wonderful digs in Wolverhampton that I used on a previous tour, which certainly helps. I've been staying away from London, largely because my bathroom is being refitted, but it's given me a chance to spend some time with family up in Cheshire, made better by a 10-day break on the tour before it plays its final venue, Edinburgh.

Last week was therefore a good chance to spend a few days at the Mary Poppins tour, which is currently in Manchester, seeing it both from out front and from the pit. The show is in typical "Cam Mack" sparkling form and I very much look forward to depping on the Keys 1 chair next month when the show moves to Birmingham.

Talking of next month, other than the aforementioned Jersey Boys swan song in Edinburgh and Poppins in Birmingham, that's all that is planned, which in a way is rather nice. I'm planning to check out some shows and concerts and there's a filing cabinet in Hither Green that could do with a good sorting out. Back next month with an update as a freelancer!