Scottish Getaway

It transpired that, with the sheer length of the Matilda Tour (both in performance weeks and rehearsals) I had accrued some additional holiday days. An unexpected bonus, I decided they weren’t going to be wasted days. Most of the scheduled weeks off from the show largely end up being time to take stock at either my flat in London or at my parents in Cheshire. If I’m in London, it invariably turns into a week of admin, washing and theatre-going with the odd box set thrown in of an evening. So I took a few days towards the end of our run in Edinburgh with the aim of driving as far north as anyone can get on the UK mainland.

Before that we had the task of settling the show into the Edinburgh Playhouse for its Scottish premiere. By my workings-out, Matilda the Musical played to its biggest ever audience in the world at this theatre, with over 3,000 patrons in watching at most performances. It’s definitely a different scale to the intimacy of RSC Stratford or the Cambridge Theatre, London! But it made the story & score all the more epic, the performances that bit more rewarding and the ovation at the end just that tiny bit louder…!

Edinburgh is my favourite city to tour to. So many things to do and see, so much history, fine food and drink, and walking around Old and New Towns is an utter joy. I was in two minds as to whether this was the city where I should have holiday, but having now clocked up over a year’s worth of work in the Scottish capital, I felt as though I wouldn’t be entirely missing out. So in the final week, my car and I set off north, visiting Inverness, John O’ Groats, the far north and west coasts of the Highlands, as well as the Isles of Skye & Mull. Whisky Distillery tours, fabulous food, incredible views, seriously comfy accommodation and exceptional wildlife abounded across my six days and 1,031-mile trip. The photo above was on my final day, as the clouds parted at the perfect moment to capture what much of the trip felt like. I was very lucky with the weather!

Back now in London on the official week off and it is Bristol next for five weeks, my favourite English city to tour to (I don’t count Manchester as I feel biased having been brought up there). With no more rehearsals or auditions on the horizon, everything feels really rather settled on the tour. There’s a real feeling of just enjoying these final few months of the most epic tour I’ve been a part of since my Chitty days.

11-show week

The Matilda company survived Bradford! Not that there’s anything explicitly wrong with the Yorkshire city (indeed the city centre continues to improve and the curries were absolutely fantastic) but we hit cast change hard at the end of a gruelling 16-week run non-stop. Our final week saw 8 performances and 3 dress rehearsals - an 11-show week!

Once the curtain came down on that 11th performance, however, a week’s holiday awaited us. The tour has essentially been paused for 7 days. No emails, no WhatsApp messages, just everyone enjoying some away time before hitting the next venue. Next? Edinburgh!

I have arrived two days early into the Scottish capital, largely to enjoy the sights of the city before our busy first week setting up the show here. We are still busy rehearsing the new children - they have each done one performance in front of an audience, so to ready them for the change of venue they get three days in a rehearsal room first. As ever, these new kids have amazed and humbled me with their work ethic. Every single one pulled it out of the bag in that final week in Bradford. Our 3 new Matildas - Sophie, Olivia & Freya - totally stepped up and should be rightly proud of their achievements after ten weeks of rehearsal.

We are only in Edinburgh for 4 weeks. I could have easily done 10 weeks here! But we’ll make the most of it and I can’t wait to seek out the social life here to see what’s changed and more importantly which of my favourites are still here.

So it’s the end of my week off - a week where I purposefully didn’t make many plans and ended up hiring in a hot tub for Mother’s Day! I had one of my usual Cheshire Chill-Outs, made extra special by the fact that my new niece was around for the week. I thought about heading off to a nearby spa hotel, before deciding that I could bring the spa to my parents’ house instead…! My mum was rather pleased, as you can imagine. Cheers mum!

New Arrivals

A little late with my update this month, which only serves as evidence of how ridiculously busy things have been over the past few weeks. I left Plymouth early to head back to London, working with the new cast of children as they prepared to join the tour. The show has now moved to Bradford, and current cast met new cast as everyone congregated at the Alhambra (and its very useful studio theatre doubling up as a rehearsal space) to complete the rehearsal process for 20+ new pint-sized members of the Matilda cast.

As I write, we are halfway through technical rehearsals. We tech Act Two next week and then we dress and open them the following week, before hot-footing it to Edinburgh, our next venue! Back to Bradford, though, and I’ve been ensuring I find time to sample its famous cuisine of Pakistani Desi flavours and sumptuous curries. I’ve been trying to find more of the well-established favourite haunts around the area, and was blown away by Shimla Spice up in Shipley. I still have Mumtaz and Akbar’s to cross off this time around!

In family news, my sister (whose birthday is today, in fact) gave birth last week, making me an uncle for the very first time! Welcome to the world, Léonie. Apparently I have to teach her piano at some point.

Snow in Plymouth?

Almost… not quite. Into February, and the Matilda tour is in Plymouth. Whilst most of the South West of England has been cut off by snow, the coastal city is just slightly sodden. We’ve been here almost three weeks, and with rehearsals for the new cast of children taking place elsewhere in the country, our full attention has been on the show each night, as well as making most of the winter season in this seaside resort!

Audiences have been flocking to the Theatre Royal in this usually quiet post-Christmas period, making us feel very welcome here in Devon. This is my fourth show here, and I have been rediscovering the likes of the Barbican, the Hoe, and visiting Fort William Yard for the first time. Our two woodwind players on the tour, Sue & Duncan, own an old mill a few miles north of Plymouth, and they hosted the most amazing Sunday meal a few days ago. I couldn’t think of a better way of spending a weekend at this time of year!

A great feed with the fabulous Matilda Band! L-R Yvonne Parsons (cello), Sion Jones (trombone), Andrew Corcoran (me), Mike Steel (Assistant MD), Felix Stickland (guitar), Simon Wells, Duncan Ashby (woodwind), Sue Phipps (woodwind), Jim Davies (trumpet).

We have just over two weeks left in Plymouth, then all hell breaks loose in our next venue, Bradford, as Cast Change meets Matilda Tour. Better enjoy the relative calm while it lasts!!

Christmas in Cardiff

For a few short weeks, the Matilda tour has felt more - how should I say - ordinary? Rehearsals have purposefully not been scheduled over Christmas and New Year, largely due to extra performances and prescribed days off. Other than a few rehearsals for our new male swing and a returning Matilda preceding that, the tour has had a chance to really settle down nicely again with a run of continually sold-out performances at the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff.

I was fortunate enough to get three whole days off over Christmas, returning to Cheshire once again to be with my parents. A very Chilled Christmas! Lots of great food, drink and relaxing. Perfect. Most of the company managed to have similarly relaxing times, and spirits have been high. We’ve just celebrated New Year 2019, with about half of us watching fireworks explode over the theatre from Roald Dahl Plass. All very apt.

Attention does of course now turn to 2019, the year that the first Matilda Tour will come to an end having started rehearsals way back in late-2017. In the immediacy, we have rehearsals! Elliot Harper’s run as Miss Trunchbull is about to begin, and he starts with us tomorrow. In just two weeks, rehearsals for our final cast of children will get underway in London and carry on until April. Then there will be just four months left of this epic tour. Time really is flying.

I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas and I’ll be back with an update in a month’s time once we’ve all settled into 2019!

Well-Deserved R&R

Did I really say rehearsals had ended in my last post? I should have known better…

The behemoth that is the Matilda UK Tour has now finished its fantastic Manchester leg and everyone is having a well-deserved week off before moving into the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay, for a six-week run over Christmas. Most of the company have jetted off to find slightly warmer (or colder!) temperatures, whilst I plumped for a few days R&R at the Cheshire Abode, before a few days sorting out and catching-up back at my London flat (which I haven’t really seen since July).

The final few weeks in Manchester were busy on two fronts (not including the 8-show weeks): we completed our search for our final cast of children for 2019, culminating in a big weekend of auditions in London (shared with the West End production). Rehearsals begin again in January - not too far away! We have also welcomed Tom Mather to the show, who will be one of our swings. Brand new to the musical, he has now been in full-time rehearsals with us for the past 3 weeks and has already made a (brief) appearance during a couple of numbers in the show when we had a few people off. We continue to rehearse him into the rest of the show over the coming weeks as we settle into our Welsh run.

I’ve managed to catch a few other shows during the pockets of down time, finally seeing the fabulous Kinky Boots when it arrived in Manchester. Whilst back in London, I’ve tried to catch shows that I know close soon: Company at the Gielgud, and Bat Out Of Hell at the Dominion. I don’t think I could’ve seen two different types of musicals if I had tried! But really glad I got to see both fantastic companies before they end their runs early next year.

Talking of 2019, I don’t think I will get back to London in any notable capacity until at least February now. Our six-week run in Cardiff, which includes a busy Christmas schedule immediately followed by rehearsals for our new Miss Trunchbull, Elliot Harper, then goes straight into a few weeks at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth. I do at least get back to my parents in Cheshire for a couple of days around the Big Day itself, so that’s something to look forward to. Have a great Christmas! More updates in the new year.

Manchester Continued

Only a quick update this month as the Matilda tour gets settled into its Manchester run. Rehearsals reached their conclusion (for now) and all the new children and adults are performing fully in the show. We are welcoming new members of the backstage technical team as some staff move to other productions, so we have people learning how to call the show, mix at the sound desk and operate the lights. Lots of new faces to learn as ever!

Old school friends and family members not nearly seen enough continue to come and see the show while it’s at the palace, so I’ve been having lots of lovely catch-ups. As a thank you for tickets, my sister arranged for me to have a relaxing spa day at a hotel nearby. While I’m a big fan of the odd jacuzzi, sauna & steam, this was actually my first ever spa to include a massage and a facial (yes, totally ridiculous for a 36 year old never to have had treatment, I know). As a pianist who also conducts every night, it was totally worthwhile getting some of the tension massaged out of my shoulder and upper back. I already want another one…!

Just over three weeks left of our Manchester run. Do come along if you haven’t seen the show yet!

Busy Bee

So our new set of Matildas are now performing and the rest of our kids cast are settling in. We are also underway in our new temporary home of the Palace Theatre, Manchester, playing to stunning audiences every night. So rehearsals have finished, then? Not on your Nelly.

Having began the process way back in June, we have two weeks of rehearsals left as three of our new children cast learn a second role, a covering arrangement unique to the Matilda UK Tour. We have also welcomed a new adult ensemble member, Richard Astbury, who has just left the London production, as well as a new swing, Katie Lee, who debuted in the role of Hortensia last night.

All these new additions have meant rehearsals continue relentlessly. We have a dress rehearsal planned for next week, at which point things should start to calm down, although we have already begun the process to audition for the 2019 children’s cast, so it never really stops.

It is a joy to be back at the Manchester Palace. For me, it’s my childhood theatre, where I watched all the big musicals as they began their first outings from the West End. I know, therefore, how much the audiences are appreciating seeing Matilda for the very first time in Manchester. The cast are definitely feeling the love! As a city, Manchester is blossoming. I haven’t really worked here that much since I began this career, as most shows I’ve worked on have played Salford. As a result, its been great to re-explore the city as a 30-something. For the first time, I even have digs a mile away, although I still have the very welcome option of driving 45 minutes to my parents house in Cheshire, which is indeed where I’m spending the weekend.

I’m also loving meeting up with rarely-seen friends and extended family while being back here: school friends who now have families, am dram mates who were there back when I was learning from early mistakes, and family members who have never seen me conduct a show before. It’s a real boost at this stage of the tour, making all those hours of aforementioned rehearsals worth the slog. I look forward to meeting up with many more over these remaining eight weeks.

Cast Change

August did flash by, as I fully expected it would. The month was totally dominated by rehearsals for 19 new children who will join the tour for the next six months or so. They have been rehearsing since June in London and joined us at the beginning of August to acquaint themselves with the technicalities of the show proper, including all of its moving parts and the various adults that make appearances during the performance!

Our two new Matildas, Sophia & Scarlett, have excelled already high expectation and their first performances were an absolute triumph this week. The rest of the young ensemble have been inspirational in their devotion & focus towards a stunning debut performance, honestly making the whole rehearsal process overall easier than I was expecting it to be! They are joining a fantastic company making it even more so, and I can't recommend enough that you get yourself to Manchester & Cardiff in these next few months to see them in action.

The existing company, both on stage, backstage, creatively and administratively, have stepped up to the plate admirably and, pulling 12 hour days back-to-back for almost a month, somehow kept spirits high to ensure the new children are well-rehearsed and prepared. We officially ended cast change last night with a "Sports Day" front of house (adults only!) which involved Scoot-offs, newt-chucking & hockey limbo. Far too much fun, but well deserved after a long week of dress rehearsals!

It was, of course, goodbye to our first cast of children - my first cast. We have been through A LOT together since all beginning our journey with the show back in mid-December last year, and it was especially poignant to me to say farewell to two Matildas, Poppy & Lara. I look forward to seeing every single on of them further their theatrical careers a little further down the line. For now, get back to school!

Ten weeks in Birmingham are almost up, amazingly. Later this month (after an extremely well-earned break) we sit down for another ten weeks in the city I grew up in: Manchester. I have a long history with the Palace Theatre, having seen many of my first musicals there with my mum, and taking part in a couple of shows with my dad there, too. I haven't really worked there enough in my career, yet, as this will only be the 4th show I've done, but this extended stay will more than make up for that. I'm looking forward to lots of old friends & family swinging by to see our amazing show.

Family matters took an unfortunate precedent for a time this month, in fact, as my grandad (on my mother's side) passed away. The last surviving grandparent, always proudly supportive of my endeavours, it was an emotional send-off to a great man who joins his wife to carry on their adventures elsewhere. Rest In Peace, Grandad.

Relaxing Into the Tour

Well, July was *almost* a complete month of summery sun! A day of rain towards the end, though, was rather welcome considering how brown the UK had become.

Temperatures into the mid-30Cs caused a small amount of discomfort down in London where are new cast of kids have continued to rehearse all month, but my infrequent visits there have always been a delight as they clearly continue to enjoy the process of learning Matilda. In a few days time, they will finally join us up here in Birmingham and the month-long process of integrating them with the adult cast and with the fully-automated set can get underway.

Back on the tour proper, the most notable event of July was arguably our first Relaxed Performance for Matilda on the road. An autism-friendly event, the idea is for families to be able to enjoy the musical without the worry of disturbing other patrons too much. The house lights are left on (albeit on a lower setting), the auditorium doors are kept open and extra members of front-of-house staff are constantly available for assistance. From a show perspective, sound is less amplified, lighting effects are made subtler and small directional changes go in. It was a pleasure conducting this performance, especially as it fell on my 36th birthday! The focus and energy onstage was expertly geared towards providing the audience with the same experience that the usual show offers, and the reception at the end of that matinee proved that that had been achieved. Everyone had a spring in their step that day after that!

I also moved past 4,000 professional performances in my career this month. Yes, it's rather strange of me to keep count, but as I started counting back in 2004 it's proved very difficult to stop! It all stemmed from a biography in a programme I once saw where a principal claimed to have done "over 20,000 performances" in her career. Knowing they definitely hadn't counted, it intrigued me enough to see just exactly how many I would end up doing. And happy to see after 14 years I'm still going strong (just about)!

It was Showcase this month. This is the amateur dramatic spectacle that usually takes place at the Lowry in Salford every summer. It's full of familiar faces from years gone by and is always far too much fun, especially enjoyable to step back into the depths of an orchestra pit, behind a keyboard, and play things other than Matilda! Well, except that one of the medleys this year was, in fact, Matilda...!

August will flash by, I reckon. By the end of the month, our new set of kids, including two new Matildas, will have performed their first shows. Before that, much rehearsing awaits! Let's hope the weather outside stays kind. But if it doesn't, we probably won't notice much anyway.

If Ever There Was a Lull...

If ever there was a lull during this tour of Matilda, this was that month. Milton Keynes has been relatively easy-going: rehearsals are pretty much done and the theatre is more than well-equipped to deal with a large show like ours. Most importantly, the air conditioning works! Very useful during this rather elongated heatwave that the UK is enjoying.

Of course, by "lull", there has still been much to do. More of our understudies have been getting a chance to get on stage, and many technical departments have used the opportunity to train up new and existing personnel into specific roles on the tour. On the music side, Phil Cornwell has successfully joined us as one of our conductors, taking the helm for a couple of performances here in MK.

Audiences here have been great, as ever. It's also been lovely to live out in the suburbs around Milton Keynes this time, rather than commuting. The weather has helped, of course, but all the walking and cycling routes have been great to explore, especially around the lake and numerous parks. The area is much greener than I've ever given it credit before, what with Central Milton Keynes being so full of concrete!

Away from the tour, but still within the Matilda bubble, rehearsals for our 20 new children got underway this week. I was there for their first afternoon of music calls, everyone fizzing with excitement! They'll be joining us for technical rehearsals from August.

July sees a new venture for the tour as we begin our 10-week sit-down at the Birmingham Hippodrome. A great theatre, a great city - let's hope the weather stays good for the entire duration! (not likely)

Ends and beginnings

May, again dominated by the Matilda Tour (which played all month in Sunderland) saw the end of one process and very much the start of another.

The show itself continues to settle into its rhythm. The sheer effort it takes to put on each performance is quite like no other show I've worked on. It takes over six hours to prepare the production for a Monday performance, over three hours on any other given day and even the cast have to be in almost two hours beforehand. But the theatrical experience that each audience experiences each time it totally worth it.

The process that came to an end was officially our rehearsal period. 169 days after teaching "Bruce" to a load of kids in a hall in London, we had our dress rehearsal for the 2nd cover understudies. That now means every child is rehearsed and every adult company member knows the tracks they perform as well as the tracks they cover. Stage management are happy that everyone knows technically what they are doing, and wigs & wardrobe are happy with the look of every character. Oh, and I'm of course delighted with how everyone is singing their roles! The "cover run" was well-timed, as one day later saw some company members having to cover these exact roles, which they of course did brilliantly. In fact, the whole company pulled together magnificently to maintain our spectacular show.

The one that begins? Rehearsals. Again. We have now cast our next set of children who will start performances in September. They initially rehearse in London at the end of this month before joining us on tour in August so that they, too, can be teched & dressed into the production. More exciting times await and we can be sure (although it was never a surprise) that this tour will never get boring!

The show moves to Milton Keynes next week for a 4-week run. We'll continue to prep for these rehearsals from there. And, who knows? More understudies may get the opportunity to get out in front of an audience.

Irish Eyes Were Smiling

Well, that went fast... no sooner than we travelled to Dublin, opened, threw a pint or two of Guinness down our necks and did some more rehearsals did it seem as though we were flying back to the UK once again!

Dublin never fails to disappoint. The weather did its best to, of course, as the month of April threw strong winds and incessant bands of rain across the Grand Canal area. But the audiences really turned up and showed their appreciation for Matilda, which was of course making its Irish premiere. Standing ovations at every performance!

I was recently in the Fair City with The Addams Family, back in August 2017, so there wasn't much left for me to explore. That was no bad thing, as pretty much every weekday was spent rehearsing children or understudies. Our kids cast are now fully rehearsed, and our first cover cast (the principal understudies) teched and dressed. I did manage a few trips into the city centre, though, and even an impromptu train journey out to the seaside town of Bray one Sunday.

Now it's time for another week off. This is one to try and make the most of, as we then have 18 (EIGHTEEN) straight weeks of performances ahead of us, taking in Sunderland, Milton Keynes & Birmingham. By the end of that third venue, we'll be saying goodbye to a fair portion of our children's cast and introducing some new young faces to the tour.

For now, though, it's a week of life admin for me: accounts, dentist appointments, car servicing, a friend's wedding... before I know it though we'll all be up in the North East to show audiences there how great Matilda is.

Touring Underway

The Matilda Tour is officially underway. This is an absolute beast of a production and once performances started it only meant that our rehearsal workload increased, as the child ensemble continued to be honed, our Matildas noted and overall fixes to the show implemented. On top of that, understudies began their work on the principal characters in the show, a number of children also learnt second characters and my assistant, Mike, worked quickly to get up-to-speed with conducting the show.

All in all it was a pretty incessant end to Leicester and, after 15 constant weeks of work on this amazing show, we were all due - and indeed given - a well-deserved week off! We said goodbye to Leicester, to the ingeniously confusing design of Curve, packed the show into trundles & trucks and all headed off in separate directions. Some have jetted to warmer climes, although it seems most just wanted home comforts. I spent half the week at home in London seeing friends and repacking, and the other half - a full Easter bank holiday weekend - with family in Cheshire, enjoying full respite away from showbiz.

Tomorrow I return to it all. The show went down a storm in Leicester. Reviews were glorious and those who work (or used to work) on the original West End production were nothing but positive when coming to see the touring version. The original creatives were especially pleased. Tim Minchin didn't make it for press night, but gave the company such a lift coming to see it a few days later and spending time before & after the show chatting with audience members and cast alike (photo proof above). His positivity was infectious and really buoyed the company through the final few performances in Leicester.

We return, refreshed and raring to go, with performances from Wednesday in Dublin - the Irish premiere of Matilda. We're here for a month playing a sold-out run. We continue to rehearse the children as we move into a different rota and therefore different combinations of kids cast, plus the understudies prepare for a full technical run later in the month. Busy as ever! Happy Easter.

My Mummy Says...

It's Mothering Sunday and I've steeled myself away from Leicester for the first time in five weeks to spend it with my gorgeous mum, Karen. We're both flat-out on the sofa both having worked quite ridiculous schedules in different parts of the country, but ultimately very content.

We are now underway with previews at Curve, completing a relentless four-week tech period and rehearsals have stepped to another gear I didn't even know we had, as the children's cast continue to be refined, understudies are hastily dealt with, fixes are put in place and my own music department is readied for covering arrangements.

The show looks sumptuous, and I am assured that it achieves similar levels in sound quality. The cast have worked ridiculously hard and all are performing their socks off; the technical team have pulled the rabbit out of the proverbial hat and producing magical transformations every night; and the musicians are simply divine, playing Chris Nightingale's stunning orchestrations with aplomb at every performance.

We reach Press Night on Thursday. There's a slightly odd feeling amongst those of us working full-time on this production as we ready ourselves for the very long 18-month road ahead. It's quite difficult to see past these first two months as the first aim is, as previously mentioned, to get children and understudies ship-shape, but already auditions are taking place for our next cast of children who begin rehearsals in July, and soon I have heard we will be formally announcing our 2019 venues.

Annalise, Lara, Nicola and Poppy - our four Matildas - are reminding us every day how special this show is to be a part of. All four are working so hard and the results are outstanding. The mechanics of this show are complex, and from the conducting podium I really feel like I'm squeezed in amongst the cogs, wheels & bolts that hold this show in place. But the ultimate aim is for this show to be a real experience for everyone sat behind me, and it looks like we're achieving that.

I can't wait for you to all come and see it at some point. We're really proud of this production. Here's to our official opening and to a successful run of #MatildaOnTour!

Off to Curve

Today, rehearsals for the Matilda tour reached a milestone. After eight weeks, we had completed our work in the rehearsal rooms and are now ready to begin our next month of preparation. The days have often been long, running 10am-8pm up to six days a week, but the sheer fact that it is this wonderful score and script that we get to work on has kept a bounce in the step of every company member as we have strode in to work each frosty morning.

The reason for the lengthier rehearsal process is to ensure the children are as knowledgable as possible in regards to every aspect of their show, especially when it comes to safely performing the staging and choreography. Also as there are up to three children covering each character (four in the case of Matilda), sequences have to be run multiple times. This week alone we have had to do four full runs of the show in the main hall.

I'm having a truly wonderful time discovering the score. There are so many layers to peel back and still much work to be done, especially in regards to adding in the band and working with sound. There are just over four weeks to go until our first performance. All the songs have now been taught, so in that respect it's a case of maintaining the high standard we have set.

There are moments in the rehearsal room where I've figuratively stepped back and reminded myself what an incredible tour this is to be a part of. The children are ridiculously inspirational and I have a feeling this is all going to be a lot of fun on the road! Tomorrow I leave for week 1 of 7 in Leicester, ready for technical rehearsals to begin at Curve on Monday. Soon the tour will really feel underway.

In The Beginning

2018 officially begins, although for me the new year began on December 11th when rehearsals for the Matilda tour got underway.

We have spent three weeks concentrating on songs, choreography and scenes that involve the children in the cast. The sheer amount of information they have to take in means all of this extra time before the adults start is very much used! These preliminary weeks also allow stage management, wardrobe and the rest of the production staff to ready the rehearsal spaces properly for rehearsals in January, with brand new props and elements of the set appearing in the space. Tomorrow, Tuesday 2nd January, is when the adults begin their rehearsals ahead of the official company Meet & Greet on Wednesday.

The children have been working very hard, especially impressive considering they've had to battle the distraction of the festive season! I managed a quick visit to Cheshire to spend Christmas itself with my parents. It was just the three of us this year, as my sister and her husband are working in Berlin through the winter, but a very pleasant (and relaxing) day was had. I am now once again trying to relax on New Year's Day before the madness of rehearsal gets going again!

January is fairly straightforward: rehearse the Matilda company six days a week, rest on the seventh. Any divine intervention is of course welcome.

Hamilton was excellent, by the way. I managed to see a preview performance. I'm sure you're all planning to go and see it at some point, so there's no real reason for me to go on about it. Have a wonderful 2018, everyone!

Towards the Darkness

Since my last update, I've said goodbye to The Addams Family twice. We finished the UK Tour with a 100% total sell-out run in Dartford, with people even purchasing standing room only tickets! The autumn was a punishing schedule of weekly touring doubled-up with rehearsals for the Singapore leg, but ultimately a LOT of fun.

We said our goodbyes to the three cast members and seven musicians who left the show at that point, and then I had a few days away from the show before my flight left for Singapore. I squeezed in a couple more visits to Matilda as I continue to prep for rehearsals, learning all about how the show was put together and seeing how the show runs from a conducting perspective.

For Addams Family Singapore, there were quite a few unknowns facing us on our arrival. How different would the new set be? How would the in-house lighting and sound systems provided differ from what our technical teams had been used to? What would the typical audience reaction be? And, for me, how would my new band of seven local musicians fare with a very involved musical score?

This was my second visit to Singapore. Exactly ten years before, I had been there with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for a six-week run. For that, though, we had shipped all the equipment and used a mostly UK band. On my arrival this time, I had a couple of days to acclimatise before the technical rehearsals began, so I had a look around to see what familiar sights I could find... the answer was: not many! The skyline has dramatically changed and Marina Bay had risen out of the sea, upon which they had built an extravagant hotel and gardens. I did, however, find my old theatre, the Esplanade, which thankfully hadn't appeared to have changed one bit.

This time around we were playing the MES Theatre @ Mediacorp, a Silicon Valley-style area about 20 minutes drive from the Central Business District. It's not really a touristy or residential area and, as the theatre had only been open for a year and was hosting its first musical with The Addams Family, they were banking on the show to build a fanbase for the venue. The stage was so big they had ordered a replica set to be built to bigger specifications! Once the automated flying system began to behave, the show settled in nicely and looked gorgeous in that theatre.

The new band massively stepped up to the challenge of readying themselves for the show after just three days' rehearsal. I had sent across a recording of the previous tour for them to prep from, which they did (rather extravagantly in some ways, even picking up on certain ad libs and interspersing them into their own playing), and the hard work totally paid off. Everyone who came to see the show commented on how extraordinarily good it sounded, and overall the planets aligned to make the three-week run a fantastic honeymoon send-off for a brilliant tour.

Away from the show, there was much more freedom than in previous weeks to enjoy my time. The band knew all the best eateries and drinkeries, introducing me to some fantastic cultural delicacies and finding me the best Murtabak (an indian dish of stuffed prata that I ate extensively ten years back) in the land. I revisited the Zoo & Night Safari, also checking out the newly opened River Safari. We were given a travel card that worked across the country, and I loved getting buses and trains to different parts of Singapore to have an explore. And, of course, I spent the sunnier days relaxing by the hotel pool!

The Addams Family played its last performance on Sunday 3rd December and most of us flew back the following night. Some have stayed out in the Far East to continue travelling and exploring. I, however, needed to get back ready to begin the next adventure. Yes, it's time to get into Matilda Mode! I've decided to slowly nudge my body clock back to UK time, which meant I woke up around 4am today, but means I have plenty of morning hours to sort my life out and finish my prep on the Matilda score ready for Monday's opening rehearsals. This month we concentrate on the children's roles. It won't surprise anyone to know they have a LOT to learn, so they have a three-week head start on the adults.

Aside from that, there is of course Christmas to get ready for. I'll once again be joining my parents in their Cheshire abode and this is the first year that I won't be performing a show over the festive period, which gives me a little more time to celebrate with them. I also have quite a list of unwatched West End shows to get through. I already have tickets booked for Hamilton next week, but my plan is to tick a few more off before I leave for Leicester in February.

As the finale number of The Addams Family indicates, that show has now Moved Towards The Darkness and I will miss my kooky clan terribly. But the Miracle that is Matilda awaits and I cannot wait to get started! Have a wonderful December and will speak again at the start of 2018.

#TourLife

October was in many ways a very ordinary month of touring: a week in Belfast, Glasgow, Wolverhampton & Milton Keynes apiece. It has been a busy schedule as we prepare the show for its transition to Singapore next month, and every single working day for me in October started at lunchtime and ended well after 10pm. However, The Addams Family only does performances Tuesdays-Saturdays due to the amount of time it takes to shift the set from city to city, so I have enjoyed - and certainly made the most of! - a two-day Sunday-Monday weekend every week.

The UK tour finishes this week in Dartford - a complete sell-out as the perfect storm of Halloween, London interest & the end of the tour saw a real ticket rush. We say goodbye to Sam Womack, Les Dennis, Jess Buckby (a member of our fabulous ensemble) as well as the UK band. We then have just one week off before we head over to Singapore to get used to our identically-built set and our Singapore set of musicians ready for our three-week run over there. In the interim I will be continuing to prep for the beginning of Matilda rehearsals, which for me get going almost as soon as I step off the plane from Singapore in December!

Fun with the Family

A busy month on the Addams Family tour, finishing up a great run in Salford, followed by a week each in Sheffield, Bristol & Woking. All four cities brought with them fantastic audiences which really buoyed the performers and ultimately makes the show such great fun to conduct each night!

We welcomed some new recruits to the tour this month: I have a new Assistant MD starting, Joe Hood, who takes over from John Donovan (who heads off to MD The Band). We also met some new cast members who are being rehearsed in to the show ready for our run in Singapore: Lavinia, a new ensemble member, Corey English who will be Fester, and Rebecca Thornhill, who takes over as Morticia. I will in fact be working with Rebecca for quite a while, as she will also be reprising her role of Mrs Wormwood on the forthcoming Matilda tour!

Talking of which, there was another quick visit to London this month to drop in on the London production of Matilda. I had another fabulous insight into the rehearsal process, sitting in on the day of the full sound check with the band. It felt like a concert performance and is a really good way to hear the orchestrations, harmonies and sound effects all working in sync for the first time with the new cast. It makes me all the more excited to get started with the tour.

October kicks off with a brief visit back to Cheshire to wish my mum a happy 64th birthday today. We're sat drinking Champagne as I type! Apologies for any spelling errors as a direct result. Tomorrow I fly to Belfast to enjoy a week of Guinness and Bushmills, as well as of course more Addams Family fun. Later in the month we take the show to Glasgow, Wolverhampton & Milton Keynes before culminating in a Halloween performance in Dartford, our final UK venue. Time really does fly when you're having fun!