BLOG 24!!! What a great Christmas!!!

Hi Everyone,

How are we all???

How funny that this is blog 24 and I happen to feel 24 pounds heavier now that the Christmas week is nearly over and I have eaten lots and lots of wonderful food! I had a great time!!! I love my family and being at home so much!!! I got back to London this afternoon so here is what has happened over the last week:

I did my last day in the studio before the Xmas break of 'Marcaroni' last Thursday which was great, but I think we all knew that it was the day before a rest, so our minds had already begun to switch off which was annoying because it made the day seem really long and I personally was fighting to keep the lines in my head 'cause my mind was frazzled! But it was a lovely atmosphere and the company had Christmas lunches delivered to the studio for us which was very nice of them! The company ('Ceidiog' run by Nia Ceidiog) really are great people to work for - the production of the programme is great but they also really look after everyone who is working for them, and when you're working so hard and such long hours (7am-6pm) every day it makes it a lot easier knowing your work is gratefully appreciated by the management!
Then i got a train from Cardiff to Rhyl and I was so pleased that nothing was affected by the weather apart from when I got to Chester we had to hang around for a while, waiting for some delayed trains from Euston as they had loads of Irish people on them trying to get home for Christmas because Dublin airport was closed so they needed our train as a connection! Some of them will have had to travel for 22 hours to get home! They were so tired bless them! I felt lucky that my journey was only delayed by an hour and twenty minutes (meanwhile Moma Evans was waiting patiently in Rhyl train station bless her) but I got home eventually!

Christmas eve I was doing Santa duty delivering presents to different family members etc and doing a bit of last minute food shopping with my mum! Then I got home and helped my mum prepare the veg etc for the Christmas lunch then just watched TV.

CHRISTMAS DAY!!! I woke at about 9am. Had breakfast with my Mum, as my Dad was outside on the farm. My Dad always has to work harder than ever at this time of year as all his sheep are lambing. I went out on the farm to help him for a couple of hours Christmas morning to make sure he could finish in time to join us for lunch! It was SO COLD, and the main thing I was given to do was to change the water in each of the sheep pens - This involved smashing the layer of ice which had formed on the top of the buckets with my hands, empty each bucket then run the tap to fill them with fresh water- however, the water pipes are metal and had frozen over, so my Dad said "just cover the pipe with your hand for a couple of minutes and your body heat will defrost the ice"- well...I managed to do this for a good two and a half minutes and......no water came out! - my god that was like torture on a Christmas morning it was so cold! I ended up having to use another tap further away! When I later got in the house, I ran warm water over my hands for a few minutes, but they didn't warm up for ages! Ha. What a wimp! - I'm sure my dad was just doing it for a laugh!

Our Christmas lunch was amazing - Everyone thinks their Mum's xmas dinner is the best don't they?!, but i must tell you, my mum's really is the best (so there!). I was stuffed - not even room for a handful of Celebrations from the tub my Nanna gave us!!!

Christmas evening, all our immediate family members and the kids went to my sister's house and we had a great time just eating and drinking and laughing! The perfect Christmas for me personally is just having plenty of time to enjoy your family and that's what I had this year! I felt very grateful!

Boxing day - There has always been a tradition that we take it in turns to go round to different family member's houses for boxing day but since there have been grand-children and babies etc it is now held at my folks place (aka The Ranch) because we can't all fit anywhere else! Ha.
I got considerably drunk (in a good, happy drunk sort of way) on boxing day and ended up being games organiser which consisted of games like the Cornflake box game - which is basically a challenge to see who can pick up an empty cereal box off the floor with their mouth without putting your hands or knees on the floor - sounds easy but once everyone has done it, then you tear a bit off so it gets smaller each time! I am proud to say that I won - My brother got quite frustrated that I was better than him, so he ended up standing and the box so it was flat against the floor - but in true dancer style I got down into the splits and still managed to pick it up (I could barely walk the next day - drunken splits are not good everyone - remember that!!!) We also had a game which resulted in the 'grown ups' (Dad, Mum, Aunts & Uncles) wrapping their Husband/Wife in toilet roll against the stopwatch to see who can mummify their partner the best - My mum didn't even leave a gap for my Dad to breath! Us kids were on the floor with laughter! Just a couple of the many games played on what can only be described as a bloomin' marvellous boxing day!!!

On Monday the 27th I went with my good friend Aimee to watch the pantomime, Peter Pan in Rhyl. One of my students from my summer school was in it and he was brilliant! I also know Tara Bethan who played Peter Pan and did a great job of it too - she was the year above me in high school and we have worked together a few times since. Funnily enough we were singing together on T.V on Monday evening! It was the concert I told you guys about that I did between Wolverhampton and Edinburgh with Oklahoma! It was held at the CIA in Cardiff and it featured people from Wales who have been successful in reality T.V over the past 5 years! I have to say it was great to see something really commercial on the channel S4C and thought it was a cracking programme!
I shall post the link to the online 'catch up' video of it on my Facebook fanpage - it's in Welsh but i'll let you know where my bit comes in the programme incase your interested in checking it out!

So Aimee stayed at the ranch on Monday then on Tuesday we went to a local pub, The Brookhouse Mill to meet our friends Carys and Helen for lunch. We had a right laugh and a good catch up! I have really enjoyed the novelty of waking up everyday this past week thinking "what have i got to do?, where have I got to go?" and realising that I don't have to do anything - I never give myself time to do nothing but it did me the world of good I think! However, I do think that it's because of me stopping all of a sudden, that I now have a sore throat and bad cold - booooooo!!! But hey, as I'm the sort of person who likes to look at the positives in life - at least it happened when i don't need to sing or even speak in general really!

Yesterday I chilled out all day and learned lots of Marcaroni script for when I return to the studio for 5 weeks next Tuesday! Then last night all the immediate family and the kids came to the ranch again for another dinner (Beef this time!!! No Turkey for a while now). Love my family lots!

So woke up today and my Mum has obviously caught my cold, but worse than me, so I told her she wasn't going to take me to the train station and the minister of our local chapel very kindly took me to Chester as he was driving that way anyway and I got the train from there! It's good to be back in London to be in my flat etc! But although I have said it a few times in this blog- you can't beat a good ole family Christmas and that's exactly what I had! The End!

So 2011 is nearly here! This past year for me has been incredible ....I have met some wonderful friends and worked with some too, toured the UK enjoying performing The Rocky Horror Show, Oklahoma! and the beginnings of Marcaroni. Also my summer school West End In Wales was a huge success again this year! I also loved both my visits to New York - where I will live one day (I hope - just for a couple of years!)....but I have a feeling (and this too is me thinking positive, as i have learned to do by reading 'The Secret' by Rhonda Byrne-highly recommended!) that 2011 is going to be an even better year! I am really looking forward to playing Fiyero in WICKED from February 7th, recording my debut album which is scheduled for a summer release, running my summer school again and having at least one holiday! There are also a couple of other exciting things in the pipeline (a non-frozen pipeline!!!) which i will tell you about if and when they happen!

Folks- that was my Christmas week, hope you enjoyed reading about it! I will say as always, please keep in contact via Twitter and my Facebook FanPage! I love hearing from you and appreciate your time and effort in supporting everything I do!
I want to put out a special mention to one of my fans, Paula, from Ireland, who sent me a wonderfully thoughtful Christmas gift! Thank you Paula, I love it!

Let me know what your doing tomorrow night to celebrate 2010 and the last decade and to welcome in 2011! I shall be at a friends house with a group of friends drinking champagne and enjoying good company!

You are all wonderful and always remember that! Life is great!

Thanks for reading!

See you in the next decade!

Mark

Blog 23!!! IT'S CHRIIIIIIIISTMAS!!!!!!

Good evening everyone!!!

What about this weather eh??!?!?!  I hope you're all ok and safe and warm and healthy! i have had many comments on Twitter and facebook about various problems some of you have had! Let's all hope it calms down soon eh!?!?! Too many people been singing 'I'm Dreaming Of A Whit Christmas' I believe - careful what you wish for as it might come true!!!

So it's been a busy old time for me since I last Blogged ("When is it not?" i hear some of you cry!). The end of the week last week was busy with Marcaroni! It was all going well we were running to schedule at the end of the first week and then the snow came along and because it was so severe the production Manager and producer decided we should finish at lunch time (after they provided Fish & Chips-bonus!) otherwise people wouldn't have been able to get out of the car park etc! So now we are 1 episode behind the whole time which is very annoying! We'll catch up somewhere I'm sure!

So Friday afternoon/evening was lovely. I made sure I did absolutely nothing and just watched TV and did things online! It was exactly what I needed! And a half bottle of Red too! - Cheeky!!!

Saturday morning I hit the shops in central Cardiff by 10am to beat the crowds and that I did! It was about time i started my Christmas shopping! I thought i'd start it and finish it in that one day! And I did near enough! But my goodness, it's exhausting isn't it?!? Trudging round the shops in the snow for 6 hours! Glad i only did it for one day! Had to buy myself a couple of treats too of course! Actually it was just a new pair of boots I felt I needed for the snow, but I liked them so much I didn't want to wreck them in the slush! I soon got over that and they barely leave my feet now!

Saturday evening I went to watch a few friends of mine who are in Mamma Mia which is playing the WMC in Cardiff Bay until mid January! Was great to see them and the show was good! Seen Mamma Mia about 8 times now in different places! Worth seeing! It's fun! Then I spent a few hours catching up with my friends after the show until the wee hours of the morning and consumed rather a lot of alcohol and wow did I feel it on Sunday morning!!! I remembered then why i don't drink much!!! I wouldn't change it though, it was a fun night!!!

So sunday morning i was a little delicate then I went to the gym for a couple of hours before meeting my friends again for a healthy Wagamamas in the Bay!!! Lovely!!! Then I more or less got an early night!

Monday morning started with my daily swim (I've been getting up at 5.45am for the past week and a half so I can fit in 50 lengths of the complex's swimming pool before getting picked up to be driven to work by 7am) Then a good day on set! It was the first time we had another actor on set (Rhodri who plays Roli Odl) instead of just myself and Non who plays Oli Odl! We were so relieved to hear someone else talking so we could have a bit less script to memorise! So that was good! Monday evening it was an early night for me as usual.

Good day again on Tuesday and then after work last night Non knocked on my door (she's staying in the apartment next door!) and joined me for a chill out night with no script to learn because today was the first Choreography day for which we have an autocue (TV screen with the words on it)!!! We were suppose to film 10 numbers today of song and dance - we only completed 4!!! They're blooming great though! We have Steve Alias (West End actor and choreographer) as our choreographer who is great especially with the story telling of a song which is important with kids' stuff!
So we're now a little behind with the choreography stuff too! Booooooo! it'll all come together though! - My legs are aching now though! Little did I know that Marcaroni was gonna be giving it whack kicks and pencil turns and full on ballet movements!!! I was soaked with sweat - We heard the words "OK just one more take" about 17 times before we actually did finish! Ha!

So that brings us up to the present time where I happen to be sat on my sofa in my wonderful apartment! I'm about to pack my stuff to head home to North Wales for Christmas! I can't figure out weather to get a late train tomorrow after work or weather, by doing that I run the risk of getting stuck at some train station in the snow in the middle of nowhere until the early hours of the morning or weather it's best to wait and try and travel home on Christmas eve! I just want to get there to see my family asap and get in the festive spirit!!! I'll wait and see what the weather's like i think!

So.... a few things to announce - I am on BBC Radio Cymru (Welsh Radio Wales) tomorrow morning live between 9-10am if you want to listen! Also Christmas day I will be on the radio talking to Margaret Williams (legendary Welsh singer) again on Radio Cymru, about 4pm i think it's on! Then i will be on S4C - The concert I did at the CIA in Cardiff sometime ago which was a collection of the Welsh people who have been successful on reality TV which will be shown on the evening of December 27th!
New Year's Eve I will be on a programme called Cyfle Cothi on Radio Cymru which I believe is being repeated New Year's day too!

ALSO: Looking forward to this one - I'll be singing at a concert at the New Players Theatre in London to showcase the music of American songwriter Bobby Cronin who will be there on the night too! It's a great line up of very talented West End Performers so come along if you can - it'll be fab! All the details I'll put on my Facebook Fanpage! I'll also be posting reminders in the new year etc on Twitter and Facebook!
I think that is about it!

Folks - It's Christmas in 3 days!!! I can't wait!!! Hope you're all prepared and all looking forward to it! Let me know what you're doing!

I won't blog again before Christmas day now so I would like to wish each and everyone of you a very merry Christmas - and I have looked through the settings of my blog page and have been overwhelmed with the amount of people who read my blog and also - in so many different countries - and so, I have decided to wish you all a Merry christmas in your native language as a gesture to say thanks for your support and continued interest in what I'm doing - I hope to meet you all someday if I haven't met you already! I have used my 'itranslate' app on my iphone so don't blame me if they're not right! Here goes...

U.K - Merry Christmas
U.S.A - Merry Christmas
Netherlands - Vrolijk kerstfeest
Ireland - Merry Christmas
Germany - Frohe Weihnachten
Australia - Merry Christmas
Russia - (Some letters I don't have so I'm using a * instead, sorry) - C Po**ecTBOM
Malaysia - Selamat Hari Krismas
Spain - Feliz Navidad
Thailand and Japan - I'm afraid I only have the English letters on my laptop to type but I wish you a very Merry Christmas and my iphone has taught me how to say the words in your languages so I am saying them out loud to you now!
And a special Nadolig Llawen to my Welsh Folk!

Festive greetings to all you lovely people!!! May your Christmas be filled with love, joy and happiness!

Life is great and don't forget it! Embrace every moment good or bad and treasure it, learn from it and never forget it! That's my philosophy on life!

Big love

Chat soon

Mark

Blog 22!!! Marcaroni has been born!!!

Hi everyone!!!

How are you? hope you're all well.

So...having been speaking about it since the beginning of my Blog a few months ago, Marcaroni is underway and the character himself has well and truly been born!!! Ha.

But before I chat about where i'm up to with it all let's catch up on what I did the end of last week.

So Thursday I had be at the Apollo Victoria theatre (Wicked) to have some costume fittings for when I start in February! The tailor they have making the suits for that show is a genius!!! I have never had anything fit me so nicely in my life. i had some costumes still there from when I understudied the role three years ago but upon trying them on again, I realised that working my butt off in the gym for the last couple of years, has in fact made a considerable difference to my shape as I could barely move in them - I looked like I was trying on my little brothers clothes or something. Very funny, and it's resulted in new clothes so I'll be feeling wonderfully smart on stage. Hurrah! Now all i need to do is remember what I'm doing and I'll be fine. Hahaha!!! I cannot wait to begin!!!

Thursday evening, i went round to my lovely friend Lucie's flat to have a good old catch up with her as it's been a while. We were at college together, and we've also worked together on two pantos, a few TV dancing jobs, Opening ceremony of the WMC, Night of 1000 voices (Twice), Chess in concert, and she was my dance partner in Wicked when we were in the ensemble! She's a wonderful girl, a good friend and VERY talented!

Friday I met my friend Graham in the morning and my friends Hollie and Michael in the afternoon which was all lovely. Michael had to leave early as he's playing the lead in the new show the Three Muskateers which is playing in kingston at the mo. Hollie and i wondered around Spitalfields market in east London for a couple of hours having a laugh and catching up.
Then I met my friend Dom (who was Rocky in the Rocky Horror Show) for a cuppa tea before he had to go into work as he's the assistant Dance Captain on Legally blonde!!!

So the end of last week was wonderful, just relaxing and making the most of some time to meet friends i hadn't seen for a while. The week was topped off by spending Saturday afternoon with my best friend Sally in the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park drinking mulled wine and eating christmassy treats. mmmm Yum!

Saturday night i sat at home learning Marcaroni script, setting up my new Macbook (which I'm writing on now - lovely) and watching the X-Factor! Not gonna talk about the X-Factor much as it's over now and i think it's consumed enough of our lives already, however I thought that all four acts in the final deserved to win. They were all very different but extremely talented in their individual ways and I believe they deserve a medal for dealing with the pressure!!! I had not even 1% of a glimpse of what they went through when I did the reality show Your Country Needs You for the BBC two years ago and that was stressful enough!!! It is really really hard trying to put yourself in a place in your head where you don't let things distract you and effect your ability to perform the best you possibly can in the live shows!!! Matt Cardle I think is great and deserves every success!

So then Sunday I travelled down to Cardiff (with an overpacked suitcase) to settle into my wonderful apartment which they have provided for me. I stayed at this complex 6 years ago when I worked on the Opening ceremony of the WMC here but this apartment has amazing views and it is lovely to have all this space to myself so I can focus on the job and learn scripts each night in peace!!!

I went in on Monday morning to discuss a few ideas with the choreographer of the programme Steve Alias who is great and we were working on the physicality of Marcaroni as I wanted him to be very animated and full of theatrical gestures (as he's an eccentric quirky composer) so that was fun. Then the exciting bit was deciding what he should actually look like. The costume has been made since a few weeks now but there was nothing decided on hair and make up etc, and daft as this may sound - it's actually very tiring sitting in the make up chair for hours having different things tried out on you. I think it's because I'm the sort of person who is always on the go that when you stop and sit still for a long length of time tiredness hits you! Anyway, we have decided on a look that I'm very happy with. The hair is slicked back starting with a ridiculously large quiff at the front that works it's way back into a long pony tail which our hair/make up lady, Linda, attaches every morning to my hair and it's tied together with a red ribbon! Not camp at all! Haha! It fits really well with the outfit. We all agreed that the hair looks the same as when the beast gets turned into the prince in Beaty and The Beast, the Disney film! Ha!

Yesterday was my first day on set and it was fun. Discovering the characters little 'isms' and what makes him quirky! I have based a lot of his theatrical arm gestures on what I used to do as my Emerald City character in Wicked three years ago. Very flamboyant and quite over the top. It's such fun! However keeping that energy at the moment is fine as we've completed 4 episodes but when we're on maybe episode 43 of 52 I might find it a little harder to look so fresh faced and jolly. Ha!!!

So all in all I am happy to be working on something so completely different. I'm very comfortable here in Cardiff (there's a pool so I go swimming every night - lovely) and all that I need to say is it's Christmas in less than 10 days now!

10 DAYS!!!!!! I cannot wait!!! I hope the weather stays ok for us all and that everyone of you stay safe during the wintery spells of snow and ice. Please be careful.

I shall blog next week which will be my last one before christmas. Hahahahahahahaha. Exciting! I'm starting my Christmas shopping on Saturday here in Cardiff. I'm only really buying for my nieces this year - everyone else in my life we just arrange to spend special time together instead which is more important to me than some jumper from Next that doesn't fit properly!!! Ha.

Keep in touch folks - 'Mark Evans' for the facebook page, MarkHEvans to follow me on Twitter (let's see who the first person to 'tweet' me on Twitter is, to tell me what the H stands for in my middle name!!! There's your challenge!!! Also my website address is www.MarkEvansOnline.co.uk (which will not be updated as soon as we thought I'm sorry to say, early new year now but still gonna be cool).

Stay happy folks - if you're feeling down think of how ridiculous I must look with a ponytail on the back of my head with what looks like a little girls ribbon on it! ha that'll make you smile (i'll post a picture as soon as they have been done and i'm given permission to- you won't believe how different, and young I look)

Big festive love to you all and warm hugs all round.

Mark

BLOG 21!!! Friends!!!

Hey everyone,

How are ya'll???

All is well with me! Thought I'd write the blog whilst chilling on my sofa, quite disappointed that I got home tonight just after Coronation Street had finished! Ha - I've only had a week and a half of having my evenings free and I'm hooked on Corrie!!! Loving all the drama during this 50th anniversary week! Won't talk too much about it as it'll be boring for all of you who don't watch it - but my god that was a good stunt for a soap and also - didn't that Tram Driver press the emergency stop button with some gusto!!! That actor knows that the clip of it all will be shown for decades now and he put his all into that button - ha, hilarious!!! Well done him!!!

Anyway so the last post of my blog was last Thursday, so here's my week! It's not been that busy to be honest!!! Been trying to make sure I make the most of time to see my friends and learning script for Marcaroni! So Friday evening I visited my friend Aaron who lives near by and we had nice food and a good chill out night. Saturday my brother and his girlfriend ended up staying at my flat as they didn't like the hotel they had booked so took them into London and as they did touristy things I went to watch the best show I have seen in a while - 'End Of The Rainbow' starring Tracie Bennett as Judy Garland. Not gonna preach about it, but if you fancy watching a comedic, emotional, moving, overwhelming performance and have a great time out at the theatre, then catch it while you can at the Trafalgar Studios in central London!
Then I met my brother and his girlfriend in the evening for a few drinks in town before heading back to devour two large take away pizzas from Pizza Hut!!! Mmmmm!!!

They then left on Sunday and I had a spring / winter clean of my flat before heading round to my friend Nathan's house to pick up the edited photos he took of me in the shoot for my new website which will be launched in a couple of weeks!!! I was on Twitter and tweeted about how I'd quite like to be airbrushed every morning the way that Nathan made me look on those pictures! I would look at a picture and think, 'oh I like that and I think I look ok', then once he's finished the editing on it I say, "yeah I really like that, it's great" then he'd show me the original again and I looked TERRIFYING in comparison! It's genius technology which gives things that extra edge! Ha ha!!! I'll let you judge for yourselves when you see the new site!!!
Sunday night I watched the X-Factor! I predicted the result correctly and am looking forward to see who wins in the final this weekend!!! Message me or tweet me who you think will win and let's see how many us you are right! - I don't have a favorite!!!

I am really getting into Twitter now!!! Never really invested much time or effort into sussing out how it all works before but I'm quite enjoying using it now - It's really simple, and It's even easier with my iphone4! If you want to sign up then I recommend it - I tweet regularly now so if you wanna follow me, my twitter name is MarkHEvans!!! Tweet me folks!!!

So Monday I got back to the gym which was good then had a couple of things to do in town then bought myself a new laptop - a MACBOOK PRO. I am not using it yet as I'm still backing things up off this one but I will be typing my next blog on my new sexy, shiny, silver beautiful new purchase - which I had decided to buy myself as a 'Well done on a successful tour of Oklahoma' and to 'Celebrate returning to Wicked as Fiyero' and also 'to rejoice being back in London!'

However, having said that, I leave London on Sunday to go to Cardiff! The kids T.V show I will be playing the title role in - 'Marcaroni' begins next week! It will start with a day of choreography on monday then straight in with filming episodes 1 and 5 and part of 6 on the Tuesday! I have been sent pictures of the set and some of the quirky things that have been added! It all looks great and really cute for kids! I am still overwhelmed by the amount of script I have to learn over the next couple of months! 52 episodes, filming at least two if not three a day, every weekday for 7 weeks - hmmmmm slightly anxious but I like a challenge and I'm looking forward to getting into a routine and discovering how long it takes to learn each one! I reckon maximum 45 mins work on each script will do it - I'll let you know! Ha

This morning I was in the Wicked building (Apollo Victoria theatre) shooting the Fiyero pictures for publicity and brochures and the for the theatre - It was great to get in the clothes (again, after about 3 years since I worked there) and good to have a giggle with Louise Dearman who plays Glinda! I think I had more pink lip-gloss on than her after posing for the kiss pictures! Hilarious - how do girls wear it? It's sticky as hell!!! Ha.

Met my old flat mate Grace last night, my friend Matt tonight, meeting my mate Lucie tomorrow night then friends Hollie and Michael and Dom on Friday then seeing my best friend Sal on Saturday then I leave Sunday. So this week will have been great for good catch ups with some very special people who I've missed by being away on tour for so long! Next year is going to be a great year shared with wonderful friends and good times! Can't wait!

Right I'm gonna stop rambling and get me tired carcass to bed!!! Keep in touch folks! Let me know what your doing for christmas, New Year and.........my birthday??? Yup it's January 2nd - how dull right! Everyone always has a hang over, or forgets about my birthday or gives me an unwanted christmas gift they were given which they've then re-wrapped in left over christmas paper turned inside out and handed it over to me with a look of "I hate you for being born on this date of the year" in their eyes!!! But to be honest I wouldn't have it any other way as I don't like a fuss, and won't make a fuss until my 30th which is a good 5 years away so we'll see where we all are by then!!!???!?!

Hope you're all well and happy!!! Love reading your comments and tweets remember - so keep in touch!!!

Mark

PS - I told my mum I was going to be very hands on in helping her make this years christmas lunch so any suggestions for interesting or unusual festive things to do with the veg would be greatly appreciated! I'd rather tell my mum I got the idea from someone reading my blog than "Oh Mum, I just nicked it from Delia"! Cheers

Blog Number 20!!! London Again!!!

Hi everyone

Hope you're all well

I am actually writing this post from my flat in London - HURRAY!!!  how I have longed for this moment to arrive!

Last blog was last Thursday the day it was announced I shall be taking over the role of Fiyero in Wicked from February 7th. So... Thursday night in Trieste we all had a night out and it was very unlike me, but I felt like celebrating my Wicked news and ended up staying out until 5.15am!!! I still got up for breakfast at 9.30am! It was a great night out and I did a lot of laughing! I was a little merry going to the bar at one point and in my slightly drunken mindset I thought I could speak fluent Italian and went to ask the bar man for two glasses of prosecco (sparkling wine) but I said "due prosciutto!" which translates as "two ham!" What an idiot! We laughed about it a lot the next morning!

The last show on Sunday was good! I have never felt relief like I did at the end of the dream ballet of the last performance (end of act one)! The ballet has been hard work this year!!! It's lovely knowing I won't have to even think about trying to point my feet for at least a year. It really has been a challenging yet wonderful experience playing Curly in Oklahoma! and I see it as a real achievement that I managed to get through the whole contract without missing a single show - 236 performances!!!

We finished the show at 7pm on Sunday then went out to a place that served great food and cheap German beer! It was a nice way to finish the tour! Then we all flew back to London Stansted on Monday and said our goodbyes and that was the end of that chapter of my life. It's odd how as an actor your life, to a certain extent revolves around whatever work your doing at the time! It's good to get back to London and back to reality!

Can you believe this weather?!?!?!?!?!!

I arrived back from Italy after our flight was delayed by about an hour and a quarter and it was so cold here! I had scheduled to have a haircut with my friend Wayne who then roped me into helping him pick up a piano from North London in a huge transit van then bringing it back to his flat in south east London - only thing is, he lives on the 4th floor! Yup - we had to lift it up four flights of stairs and then into his lounge! It was so heavy but it was a right laugh too! At one point I had the weight of the whole thing balancing on my face!
Anyway - my point was, I could tell on Monday that it was going to start snowing during the night, but when I woke up on Tuesday, I was in shock at just how much snow there was! I had to get into London to go to the Apollo Victoria theatre (Wicked) for costume fittings etc and I left 2 hours to get there but to my surprise the trains were on time! I'd even been prepared by layering up beyond belief ready to stand on the platform for ages in the cold but then I was sweating buckets cos the train was there on time with it's heating blasting out! But that was the last time any journey went to plan this week! I watched Wicked on Tuesday night (Louise Dearman as Glinda and Rachel Tucker as Elphaba are INCREDIBLE and I can't wait to work with them!) then to get home I had to get 3 tubes and share a taxi with a complete stranger! Then all week it's taken about 2 hours to get in or out of London! Nightmare! How do they cope in Canada with this sort of weather! ANYWAY... that's the end of my moaning!

I was suppose to be going to visit the Rocky Horror Show in Aylesbury tomorrow to see all the cast and company before the tour finishes on Saturday night but due to this weather I am not going because I just wouldn't be able to get back afterwards!!! Any Rocky Horror fans reading this - enjoy the last weekend of shows! I wish I could be there! Give it an extra special Time Warp for me on Saturday and enjoy yourselves!
Was also suppose to be having a reunion of all the staff of the summer school I run (West End In Wales) in central London on Saturday night but not sure we're even going to be able to do it because it's such a hassle getting into central London!!!

So my view on this weather is - it looks lovely and feels very festive but it's a right pain in the backside when life needs to carry on! I hope none of you reading this have suffered in anyway because of the cold  or the ice and snow! Please be careful!

So this weekend has gone from being pretty busy with seeing friends to having no plans at all really! So I am going to relax and enjoy my flat and probably just watch the x-factor! Ha!

Keep your messages and comments coming - I read them all and love to hear from you! Also if you're on twitter, follow me - MarkHEvans! I have been on it for quite a while now but only now am I really starting to understand it and use it!

Stay safe folks and keep smiling!!!

Love your lives

Mark

Blog 19! Wicked, Wicked, Wicked!!!

Hi Everyone!!!

Well who’d have thought that Blog 19 would hold such exciting news!

February 7^th 2011 will be my opening night as FIYERO in the West End production of WICKED!

As some of you are aware I was in the show as an ensemble member over 3 years ago and now I shall be heading back to the Apollo Victoria theatre in Victoria to play Fiyero, so there will be plenty of opportunities for all you people who have supported me and followed anything I’ve done in my career to come and see what I can only describe as an incredibly spectacular West End smash hit which I consider myself very lucky and very proud to be returning to, to play a role that has been a huge ambition of mine since I heard the original Broadway cast soundtrack over 6 years ago.

I am thrilled that I shall be working with the wonderfully talented ladies who are playing the two lead roles, Louise Dearman as Glinda the good and Rachel Tucker as the green girl Elphaba! I’m looking forward to watching them in the show next week.

I shall still be recording my album at some point next year but it will no longer be in February as I will be busy with the show, but it will still happen and hopefully still be released next year! I’ll keep you up to date with any news on it!

So… the last time I blogged was on Saturday before what was our unofficial ‘last matinee’ of the contract and it was our last day in Derry. There were some funny subtle jokes made between the cast which made it a very fun day! My favourite, was during the smokehouse scene where I sing the song ‘Poor Judd Is Dead’ and during the song a little toy mouse was very slowly moving across the front of the stage! The audience wouldn’t have seen it (as it was behind a wooden block we have to hold all the sound cables) - just myself and Pete who I’m on stage with at that point. It was the genius work of Leon Kay in the ensemble who set it all up before the show had even started with a mouse on one side of the stage attached to a very long wire which Leon was pulling from the opposite side of stage! VERY CLEVER! We found it very amusing!

Then we finished Saturday night and said farewell to 5 company members who weren’t coming to Italy, we all had a drink in the pub then I got an early night before flying back to London early Sunday and had a productive paper work day and watched bits of Telly just chilling.

Monday I went to meet my friend Wayne for a coffee and then I found out I got the offer for Wicked so headed over to my best friends house to have a celebratory dinner!

Tuesday was a 6.45am wake up call to head to Stansted for our flight to Italy (Trieste) which was pain free travelling – although can we just all appreciate the fanfare that is played on a Ryanair flight if it arrives on time! Hilarious! If you’ve not experienced it, fly Ryan air just for the comedy value!

Trieste is absolutely stunning! We all went for a big company meal on Tuesday night which was great fun! I am throwing caution to the wind this week and eating whatever I want, and also drinking whatever I want! It feels great! Love Italian food!

The audience were lovely last night it - was a full house and this auditorium is incredible, however they were completely silent as it’s all being translated and the subtitles are projected on a number of screens around the stage! It is bizarre not to get any reaction at and sometimes they laugh before the funny line has been delivered because they read it on the screen! It’s quite challenging and took a while to get used to but we’re all just very grateful to have come here this wonderful city!

I think that’s all for today’s update! While I have been typing I’ve received more than 25 text messages from friends who have heard about Wicked via the press release (little did they know I’m in Italy and it’ll cost them more to send a text here – mwahahahaha!!!)– Thanks to anyone who is reading this who has sent a message too. I am thrilled and to receive your words of congratulations means a lot!!!

So this may be the last Blog before I perform the last show of Oklahoma!!! It’s been an incredible tour! I shall let you know how the last weekend goes and all I can say is, keeping reading if you want to follow me through Marcaroni and Christmas all the way through to Wicked where my life will become green once more! Any Wicked fans – look forward to seeing you soon!

Keep safe and keep smiling everyone!

Mark!!!

Blog 18!!! Oklahoma's gone GAGA!!!

Hey everyone,

Good morning,  or should I say 'Top of the mornin t'ya' - although Irish people don't actually say that to my knowledge.
I am sat in Starbucks in the shopping centre in Derry in Northern Ireland where we have been with the show since Tuesday!!! I'm actually sat here with Danny who plays Mike in the show but I told him I need to be rude and ignore him while I write my Blog! Although he is eating a  delicious looking mince pie and I want one too - it's already becoming a distraction!

Anyway....

So we opened on Tuesday to the most unreal crowd!!! We have never had such a reaction - it was like an episode of Friends with the canned laughter, then ridiculous cheers and whooping and applause at the end of every number, the show was about 6 minutes longer just because of audience reaction - which means the Band members were happy as they get over-time payment if the show exceeds 3 hours haha!

This whole week really has been about our end of tour party which was held at the amazing Waterfoot Hotel here in Derry on Thursday night which was also the night of the Oklahoma Golden Cob Awards! It was an incredible night full of great food, lots of drunken folk, pictures and videos on a projector screen, and lots and lots laughing!!!

I am proud to say I came away clutching a Golden Cob award. I had been nominated and won the category for 'Best Entrance/Exit' - There is a bit in the show where everybody is at the annual box social and it's the auctioning of the girls hampers - people start bidding for the hamper of Laurey (my love interest in the show) and when my rival for her affection Judd Fry starts to bid I get worried and decide to go and get the saddle off my horse Dunn to sell to bid a higher amount of money than him - you with me so far?! So there is a tense moment of silence as I pierce a threatening look into his eyes before I turn acting really cool to exit the stage to fetch the saddle- however in one venue the stage was particularly narrow and I turned and literally smacked my face and whole body into the pros arch which is the solid wing at the side which frames the whole stage and in our show it's in a light  blue colour to replicate the sky! There was no way to disguise it - the whole company were laughing as were the entire audience! So I got the award for 'accidentally walking into the sky upon my exit!'

The awards were amazing though they were made by one of our stage management guys Will Tse! He's a genius! It will be on my mantle piece as soon as I get home!!!

The highlight of the evening however was the premier of the 'Oklahoma Presents Lady Gaga and Beyonce's Telephone video'!
For the majority of this year the entire company of Oklahoma have been working hard on re-creating the entire 10 minute music video which was famously premiered and so hugely popular earlier this year when Lady Gaga and Beyonce released their great song, Telephone!!! It took a lot of time and effort and organisation particularly from Gemma Sutton and Chris Gardner, between sorting out the casting, costumes, technical requirements not to mention working out which location to use for each section of the shoot which is very difficult when you are only in each venue on tour for 5 days!!! But it was shown at the party on the big screen for the first time to everyone in the company and it exceeded everyone's expectation and really is in my opinion a MASSIVE achievement! Touring life is not easy and to achieve something like this on top of performing over 240 shows in over 33 different cities over 34 weeks is AMAZING!!! I am very proud of everyone involved and am going to post it on my facebook fanpage BUT........... BE WARNED - It does contain explicit language and also I am on there looking like what can only be described as a terrifying tranny about to drop into the gutter - I will never attempt to be Lady Gaga again!!!

Please watch the video on my facebook fanpage and if you don't get it all - YouTube the original by Gaga and Beyonce and you'll see just how accurate ours is whilst keeping the true Oklahoma style!!! Enjoy it!!! It's funny!!!

So today we lose a few company members who are not able to come to Trieste in Italy with us next week as it was an additional week to the original contract- those people will be missed and we are sad we couldn't have kept all together until the end - Gary Davis, Ste Clough, Rachel Williams, Ed Bussey and for me the biggest loss for the end of my tour personally is Laura Bradbury who is our wardrobe mistress, but she is also the person who has spent approximately 120 hours of her time this year curling my hair - she is a great gal and has been a big help to me in getting me in the mood to do the show when I'm feeling tired or under the weather just by having a laugh in my dressing room!!!
Laura is setting up her own business called 'Just Sew Perfect' which is going to be based around Manchester - she will be specializing in alterations for bridal-wear and will also be available for dressing the brides and bridesmaids on the wedding day and will be working in conjunction, if desired by the client, with her make up artist friend who will come and make the morning of the wedding very special - she's a wonderfully talented lovely girl who deserves every success so if you are getting married or know of a friend who is, Laura's website will be launched in the new year so keep your eyes pealed!!!

I can't believe we only have 9 performances left - It only seems a couple of weeks ago when we were all discussing how we were entering single figures with how many WEEKS we had left!!! It's gone so quickly  yet still been a lot of hard work so the fact that after today we will only have 7 left to perform and that those will be in Italy fills me with mixed feelings I suppose - I have loved this opportunity to play such an incredible role and one that's iconic in musical theatre and is one of the most famous roles written by Rogers And Hammerstein but I am also absolutely cream crackered and have been ready to get back to London and stop being on the road for a good few weeks now so the way I look at the end of this tour is that it was an ideal length of time, I'm so glad it happened and I shall miss it but am ready for a change!!!
And what a change it will be too- once I have tried on my complete outfit for 'Marcaroni' I will post a picture on my facebook page - it's a 'slightly' different look to Curly in Oklahoma!!! Haha!

Right I'm off to work - I imagine this afternoon some of the cast will be attempting to play a few pranks on other cast members as it's an old musical theatre tradition (within reason) to have a little fun on the last matinee of a long running show and attempt to make the other people on stage laugh, or look silly or change something for comic effect etc providing nothing is different as far as the audience who are seeing it for the first time is concerned! I have nothing planned personally but am pretty certain there'll be a few jokes played today - it's not our official last matinee but it's our last one in the UK so I'm looking forward to a good fun show!!!

Anyway I think people are waiting for me to leave Starbucks as it's busy here and I finished my Frappuccino ages ago and can feel people giving me evils from the counter - what a welcome!!!

I hope all is well with you wonderful people who are reading this,

Keep smiling because this life is too short and we should embrace each moment as much as possible!!!

Love your lives

Mark

BLOG 17!!!!!

BLOG NUMBER 17!!!!!!!

So I am sat on a train back to North Wales and making the most of the downtime to write to all you lovely people!!!

Apologies for the lack of blogging this week – I’ve had loads to say but no internet to actually upload it! As I’ve written before, my folks live on a farm in the middle of no-where in North Wales and I can’t even get phone signal there let alone reception on my internet dongle!!!

Last time I blogged I was sat in the hotel room in Cardiff feeling very refreshed and ready for a good days recording – and that it was too. I arrived Caryl’s house (she’s the writer of Marcaroni) and she was running late so ended up spending a couple of hours with her lovelydaughters making peanut butter cookies which was great – I ate about 6 then got on with the recording before being driven by Tony (good ole Tony my driver) up to my folks place ready to start the week with Oklahoma in Rhyl!!!

SO THE WEEK IN RHYL!!! Where do I start!?!?!?

We opened on Tuesday to an incredible reception. I really felt like I was being welcomed back to the home land. I walked on stage for my first entrance singing ‘Oh What A Beautiful Morning’ and got a huge cheer and entrance round from the audience – I was so overwhelmed, all I could think was “for god’s sake don’t trip over the box” ‘cause I jump up on a box to sit on a water feature thingy near the beginning of the song, and believe me I have tripped up on it numerous times trying to look cool and do it without looking where I step – it’s even been mentioned in a review in one of the venues “Mark Evans  as cowboy Curly resisted the urge to corpse after he absolutely stacked it on a bit of the set” (or something along those lines-ha). Anyway, I digress, they were a wonderful audience and it remained that way for the entire week. It was a real pleasure to perform to such wonderfully warm crowds in the Pavilion and to see the theatre so busy!

Thursday I spent in silence to try and rest a very tired voice. I was given another Zac Efron film to watch by Alex in the cast after I told her I’d enjoyed his performance in ‘The Death And Life of Charlie St. Cloud’ – It was ’17 Again’ where he plays a 40 year old guy (acted by Matthew Perry) once he’s been transformed into a 17 year old to revisit that part of his life. It was very good and yet again I thought Zac Efron did a great job!

I then went to pick up my niece Ellie who is 4 from school which was amazing! Spending time with kids is like someone giving you a lesson in life- if only we could all be as innocent and carefree as 4 year olds I think the world would be a much happier place – Clearly I understand that is impossible and would get dull but I like the thought at least!!!

On Thursday after the show the ‘Friends Of The Rhyl Pavilion’ group (about 60 people I’d say) held a reception for us all in the bar of the theatre and I can honestly say we have never had a reception like that. You would not believe the amount of food that was on the buffet table and so many genuinely lovely people who were so kind in what they were saying to us and had seemed to really enjoy the show and really appreciated us being there which is lovely, particularly having been touring with this show now about 8 months visiting over 30 different towns – It’s nice to be welcomed in such a way (even better that it was my local theatre-good ole Welshies eh?!?!?!)

Friday daytime we had rehearsals for our replacement ‘Andrew Carnes’ in the show – Gary Davies who plays the role can’t come to Italy with us to finish the tour as he has other work to go onto so we needed to have rehearsals – it was quite fun actually because everyone was in a bit of a giddy stupid mood. Ha.

So then Saturday came and I had to give the car back that I had very kindly been allowed to borrow from the minister of our local chapel in the village at home. It was very handy and nice to have that feeling of independence you get when you have your own car. The two shows on Saturday went well. Mum watched the show for the 6^th and final time with my Dad and auntie and uncle!

I was picked up by good ole Tony on Saturday night to go down to Llanelli (about an hour west of Cardiff) to stay in a hotel ready to get up Sunday to record the final 13 songs for Marcaroni. It was a very productive day and we have now finished recording my vocals on all 52 episodes now I won’t be in until I start filming on December 13^th!!! I have 52 scripts to learn in the mean time!!!

Then last night good ole Tony drove me back to London which took a lot longer than it should’ve because of traffic but I didn’t mind as it gave me time to study and do some research for a couple of meetings I had  today.

I am now about to arrive Rhyl on the train so my Mum can pick me up to take me home for the night. I am over 90 minutes delayed but I don’t care as I have had a good day and delays are not going to ruin it – however the bottle of red wine I have waiting for me at home will make it a lot better!!!

I fly to Derry in Northern Ireland tomorrow. Thursday night is our end of tour party. It’s a big one – we’re having an awards ceremony which we’ve all submitted nomination forms in for which include as an example – best mishap on stage etc! The next blog will be after the party next weekend and I shall give you the lowdown on who won what and if I have an award to put on my mantelpiece in London!!! It’s going to be a great party!!! I will also post the link to our lady Gaga video which I think I have mentioned before. Gemma (Laurey in the show) decided when we were in Sunderland to take on the challenge of recreating the Lady Gaga/Beyonce 10 minute music video to their smash hit ‘Telephone’. The entire company have worked on it all year since then and it was finished last week and will be shown for the first time at the party next week!!! BE WARNED: There is footage of me in heels as Lady Gaga!!!

Anyway I’m getting tired of typing. I think you’ll agree it’s been a busy week and weekend – but a very productive exciting one!!!

13 more performances of Oklahoma! left!!!!!!!!!!

Keep messaging me folks. Love hearing from you. Hope you’re all well.

Keep smiling.

Mark

Blog 16 - RHYL!!!!

Hi everyone,

Hope you're all having a good Monday morning so far.

Last time I blogged was Wednesday last week before two shows at the Alhambra theatre in Bradford. It was a good week there in general. The audiences seemed to enjoy it and we were all relieved by the end of Saturday as it was our last 8 show week of the tour. We realised also that it was also our last English venue. Funnily enough our last 5 venues of the tour list are in 5 different countries - Edinburgh (Scotland), Bradford (England), Rhyl (Wales), Derry (Ireland) and Trieste (Italy). Lots of traveling!

WE OPEN IN RHYL TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday night last week I headed over to Leeds after the show to stay with Haley, Daniella and Charlotte, my good friends who I worked with on The Rocky Horror Show as they were performing in Leeds last week. It was great to have a good old catch up whilst eating pate on toast and garlic bread and crisps and Haley's special birthday cake with a picture of her face on it (all about the carbs that evening). I really miss my Rocky Horror people. The Rocky tour finishes exactly one week after I finish Oklahoma! and so I'm going to go see the show and catch them all before it ends in Aylesbury. Any Rocky fans reading this - I'll see you there!

Saturday night I got a lift back to North Wales with Alex and Beth from Oklahoma! and dropped my case off at my parents farm (The Ranch as we 4 kids call it!) had a few hours sleep before getting up and heading down to Cardiff - two words, NIGHTMARE JOURNEY!!!

My wonderful Mum dropped me off at Rhyl station to get a train to Crewe to get my connection to Cardiff Central - oh nooooo, someone somewhere decided that Sunday the 7th of November was not a day for easy travel as far as Mark Evans was concerned.
Long story short, I was told I had to get a rail replacement bus which ended up being 35 mins late and the driver confessed he didn't know how to get to Chester railway station, "brilliant" I thought. So myself and three random guys I've never met squashed ourselves into a taxi and split the fare to Chester to then get a later then planned train to Crewe. I then had to get a train from Crewe direct to Cardiff Central - funnily enough I only ended up being 70mins later than if the journey had gone to plan!

So then I got picked up and went straight to Acapela Studios to record a new radio programme with the Welsh opera star/TV & Radio presenter Shan Cothi (I adore her). It's basically a new series for Radio Cymru (Welsh language Radio Wales) called 'Cyfle Cothi' which is like an opportunity knocks type thing. They announced on the radio a few months ago that people should send in demos of themselves basically doing their performing party piece so either singing a musical theatre song or playing the harp or belting out a bit of opera etc etc and then the demos would be whittled down by a professional panel and the top 6 would each get to work with a mentor in their specific genre. So I was the mentor for the musical theatre programme which is apparently going to be broadcast on New Years Eve and New Years Day.
So yesterday is was a pleasure to meet and 'mentor' if you will a girl named Laura Blundell. She was a joy to work with and I hope she found the session helpful and will benefit from the advice and tips I was giving her on her vocals, performance and about the entertainment industry in general.

So it ended up being a lovely day and to top it off they gave me a room at the St David's hotel in Cardiff Bay which is just beautiful - I stayed here a couple of years ago after the Welsh BAFTA awards but didn't have time to enjoy the spa or room service or breakfast back then. It did me the world of good to be able to relax last night. I feel refreshed!

So after a good nights sleep and a hearty breakfast I am about to be collected by Tony -Remember him?, he's in charge of driving me around from one place to another for anything to do with the Marcaroni programme - (He's a bit like royal mail that way, although he always makes sure I arrive on time!!!)
I am recording the second batch of songs this afternoon as we actually start filming in about 4 weeks - EXCITING!!! I have my first costume fitting before heading to the studio so I shall let you all know what a fool I look in it when I write the next Blog!!!
After I finish recording Tony is driving me back up to North Wales to The Ranch!!!

All that's left to say is "Any North Wales folk - see you at the Pavilion Theatre, Rhyl some point between Tuesday and Saturday this week!!!

Keep your comments coming. Only three more weeks of Oklahoma! so catch it while you can if you're Welsh, Irish or Italian. All English people, you had your chance and if you missed it, SHAME ON YOU! Obviously I'm joking!!!

Have a good day everyone.

Love your lives no matter what

Much love and positivity

Mark

Blog 15!!!

Morning everyone.

So it's Wednesday morning and I am in my digs in Bradford. It's a cute little self contained two bedroom apartment about 3 miles from the town centre and I'm staying with Gemma this week. It's very nice here.

I had a great weekend. Travelled back from Edinburgh on the train on Sunday morning which went quickly considering it was nearly a 5 hour journey. I then went straight to my good friend Haley's 30th Birthday celebrations which which in Holborn in London at a place called 'All Star Lanes' which is a bowling alley but it has a private hire room with it's own bar and waiter and two bowling lanes - it was a lovely day!!! Lots of really nice people there to celebrate the birthday of a very special girl!!! And I got a few strikes so all in all, a successful afternoon haha.
Then I went home to sort out loads of boring stuff with paper work etc which I always end up doing on a weekend - dull (the joys of owning a property)

Monday I had to go into London for a meeting which went on a bit longer then anticipated. Haley and I were going to drive up north together on monday afternoon but we decided as that was her actual birthday day we didn't want to spend 4 hours of it in the car. So I headed down to where she was staying and we had a lovely night in with good food big laughs and birthday cake! Brilliant.

So then we headed up here in the car yesterday. She's in Leeds this week with Rocky Horror which is only about 20mins away from Bradford. I arrived the theatre dropped my things off and headed straight to the Vodafone shop to get my new phone as I have not one that works for the last week! I now have an iphone4 - AN IPHONE4!!!!!!!!! HURRAY!!!!!!

I don't care what anyone says, it's probably the best technological invention ever (clearly being dramatic but it's amazing!)

So as well as learning loads of lyrics and script for different projects at the moment I am now glued to my iphone learning all the amazing things it does!!!

We had a nice audience last night in Bradford. After this week we only have three more weeks which is a little overwhelming really having performed it SO MUCH over the past 8 months and now we only have 28 shows left! Wow!

RHYL NEXT WEEK!!! Looking forward to being at home with my family. I have to say, I know I keep going on about Christmas but I realised yesterday that if I feel slightly tired or rundown I eat drink or think of something christmassy because it makes me think of the 10 days off I get at Christmas with nothing to do but eat, drink and enjoy my family and time to relax!!! I CAN'T WAIT!

Anyway I'm off to do two shows.

I hope you're all well.

Keep in touch because it's good to hear how you all are and what you're up to.

Love your lives and remember everything is easier when you smile.

Speak soon

Mark

BLOG 14!!!!!!!

Hi everyone.

So I know I said in the last blog that this one was going to be full of gossip from the big Oklahoma fancy dress halloween party that happened last night well......I didn't go. I have felt a bit coldy this week so thought I would come home and rest instead. Then Joe, from the cast decided he wasn't going either so we had a chinese and watched a bit of TV cos we're sharing a flat this week. Which for me- as a self confessed old man was a lovely night. Apparently the party was not very successful anyway - not many people ended up going for various reasons, not may people in fancy dress, the venue wasn't very good and the music was too loud and badly mixed by the DJ - So yes I'm very glad I had a night in instead.

Edinburgh is such an incredible city. Wish we were here for two weeks. There's  a group of us going on a late night ghost tour tonight which should be fun.

As you know I'm a bit of a gym freak, so I'm also thrilled that this week there is the most amazing Virgin Active gym and pool here - loving it.

This weekend is going to be very busy (now there's a surprise) I'm getting the first train back to London on Sunday morning which gets me into Euston at about 1.30pm. Then I'm heading home to touch base before meeting me wonderful friend Haley who I played opposite in The Rocky Horror Show as she's having birthday celebrations on Sunday afternoon then I have lots of boring mortgage and tax stuff to sort out Sunday evening before packing for Bradford (which is where we are next week- locals GET YOUR TICKETS) as I'm getting a lift up there with Haley after I have a meeting in London on Monday afternoon.

Rocky Horror Show is in Leeds next week and we are in Bradford which are 20 minutes away from each other on the train - SOOOOOOOOOOOO looking forward to seeing good friends on Monday and probably whenever I can get over there during the week. I miss my Rocky Horror peeps a lot.

Don't think there is really anything else to report so I am going to head into Edinburgh city to make the most of being here. It's been great only having 7 shows this week as it gives us more time to enjoy the city.

WE ARE IN RHYL FROM A WEEK ON TUESDAY (9TH - 13TH).
People from home - this will be the only musical of this nature I will ever perform at the Rhyl Pavilion so get your tickets booked if you fancy seeing it.
I can't wait to be living at home with my family for a week.

Also I know this might be a bit annoying for some but - I am VERY excited for Christmas this year. I have a whole 10 days off to be with my family. It's the first time I haven't been working during the Christmas week in 8 years!!!

Marcaroni is such a great job and I've barely even started it yet!!! Ha

Hope you're all well and happy.

Keep smiling 'cause life is good - especially if you live in Edinburgh haha

Mark

Blog number 13!!! - Edinburgh!!!

Hi ya'll,

Hope you're well.

I'm sat in my wonderful apartment in Edinburgh. I LOVE THIS CITY!!!!!!

So the last time I blogged was Thursday and it was the day of the party for Beth at our lovely digs in Wolverhampton. I had a meeting the next day in London so wanted to be in bed by midnight - I managed it, but between feeling sick from eating my body weight in party food and the ridiculous shouting coming from certain drunken cast members who were sat eating wotsits in the massive jaccuzzi for hours, I might as well have stayed up all night and partied with them cause I didn't really sleep.

Friday went well though, had a meeting and bumped into a good few friends randomly in London so it was all good.

Saturday matinee was our 200th performance of Oklahoma so including saturday night and the two previews at the beginning of our run we will tonight be performing our 204th performance. 

We only have 37 shows left. 5 weeks. Wowzers!!!!

After the show on Saturday night I was picked up by a driver and taken to a wonderful hotel in Cardiff. I was on the 12th floor on the corner of the building so it was more or less surrounded by windows with an amazing view of the capital.

I was in Cardiff for a concert at the CIA which is a great venue. It was to celebrate and showcase any Welsh performers who have been successful in reality TV so I was sharing the stage with Rhydian, Shaheen Jafargoli, Only Men Aloud, Ysgol Glanaethwy, Tara Bethan, Sophie Evans, Jukebox Juniors, Eclipse, and with the Mark Jermin stage school and the Debbie Chapman dancers.

It was a great night. Really enjoyed it. It's going to be broadcast on S4C between Christmas and New Year.

It was really weird as it brought back lots of memories. Before each performer entered they showed a montage on a huge screen showing what they did on the show and their success afterwards and it was a real trip down memory lane seeing shots of me on the BBC programme and shots of Andrew Lloyd Webber and I walking with my Mum and Dad around our family home in North Wales - good times.

So I've had a good weekend and flew to Edinburgh direct form Cardiff yesterday afternoon and spent time with my friends Aimee and Carys from school. Aimee and I went for dinner to a restaurant called the Outsider which was wonderful. Really great food.

So I am now getting ready to go to work for our first show this evening.

Any locals, come say hello if you're seeing the show.

RHYL IN TWO WEEKS FOLKS!!!!!!

I will probably Blog next on Friday as we have a fancy dress Halloween party as a company on Thursday night so I shall tell all gossip from that when I can.

Hope you're all well and happy.

Love your lives and keep in touch - love hearing from you all.

Happy Tuesday

Mark

Blog Number 12!!!!!

Morning everyone!

How are you all?

I am good thanks for asking! It's Thursday morning and I'm in my wonderful digs in Wolverhampton. There are 7 of us from the cast staying here and it's amazing. It's on 4 floors, all the rooms are huge and mine has an en-suite. Amazing kitchen, really cool lounge in the basement, and.......a massive Jacuzzi in the  main bathroom. Any actors reading this who work in Wolverhampton in future, you should really stay here, it's very reasonably priced too - check them out online, it's called 'theatre house'. There's a website and facebook page! So having a very comfortable week here.
It's Beth's (Gertie in the show) birthday today so we're having a company gathering (big party) here tonight. I have to get an early night though as I have to head to London tomorrow for a meeting - dull!

Audiences here in Wolves have been great. We had a very welcoming reception at the front of house bar of the theatre on Tuesday. The 'friends of the theatre' had put on a buffet and we had drinks and everyone was very complimentary about the show.

So the last time I blogged was on Sunday, so here's what happened Monday. I had a meeting to get to at 10.15am but because I was stuck at Bermondsey on the Jubilee Line underground train for 45 mins I didn't arrive until 10.25 - wasn't happy. But that was all fine. Then I had a meeting with Helen who runs my website and who set up the blog for me and my facebook page (to whom I'm very grateful as I'm thick as two planks with technology!) and we were discussing the plans for the new website which is under construction at the moment - very exciting.
Basically the website I have now was constructed so quickly (in a week) as soon as I found out I was in the final 6 acts to perform live on Saturday nights with the BBC program (Eurovision-Your Country Needs You in January 2009, for those who don't know about it) I wanted something online so that if people 'googled' me they would have a bit more information about me etc etc. So it was all about padding it all out to make me sound a bit more interesting back then haha.
Nowadays, there is so much going on in my life and career that Helen and I think it's too cluttered and a re-design will make it a bit nicer to look at and a bit less 'busy' and little clearer where anyone can find the information they want.

Then on Monday afternoon I had another meeting in central London before heading back to my flat to chill for the evening and my friend Daniel came over for dinner and a chill out as I've not seen him for ages. He randomly brought over two trout for us to eat which was very tasty but hadn't been filleted. We were laughing actually, saying that we should remember if ever we take anyone on a first date to a restaurant, don't order trout because it's the most unattractive thing to be chatting then having to pull a tiny bone out of your mouth that's covered in mushy fish. HAHAHA. - I'm talking about food again!!!

Hold on a second..........

Sorry, I had to just nip to the loo then. Ha. I basically drink so much water because of all the singing I have to do that I spend most of my time needing a wee and just putting it off hahaha. So I have decided from now on -Unless I'm on stage, if I need a wee, just go - cos life's too short to be uncomfortable. Ha. Told you I just write what's in my head didn't I.

I am doing a concert this Sunday in Cardiff at the CIA. It looks set to be a great night. It's basically a night that features lots of the Welsh people who have been successful off the back of reality TV. Which looking at the line up - there have been lots.  Rhydian (or rather 'Ry-dee-an' said in that guys voice off the X factor) Only Men Alound choir, Cor Glanaethwy, (both 'Last Choir Srtanding' BBC) A couple of dance troups from Britain's Got Talent' Tara Bethan (I'd Do Anything) and a few more too as well as me. I reckon it'll be good. It's being broadcast on S4C (the Welsh Channel 4 which is available on digital outside of Wales too) for those of you who can't make it to the CIA!

Right I'm off to have my second breakfast of the day, before heading to work for two shows.

Any people who have been to see the show this week, thanks for being great audience members.

Don't forget all you Scots, we're in Edinburgh from Tuesday next week so I look forward to seeing you all in the audience - book your tickets!!!

Also, folks from North Wales, this will probably be the only time in my Career that I do a touring show of this type playing a role like this which is being performed in Rhyl so if you want to see it, buy tour tickets as it's selling well. From November 9th-13th. See you there.

Love your lives folks cos it's blooming great.

Speak soon

Mark

ps no longer going to proof read these things cos they get longer each time so I apologise if they're a mess. Ha

Blog Number 11!!!

Hi everyone.

So here it is, the actual full sized blog that I have been trying to find time to write all week.

I am sat in my flat in London (thank goodness) so nice to be back here.

Heading to Wolverhampton on Tuesday until Saturday so get your tickets all you brummies in the midlands!

Manchester was a great week. Probably one of my favorite of the tour. Having had sunday night and monday at home with my family in Wales I was slightly refreshed from a manic few weeks. Opening night was great - lovely audience (and it remained that way all week-great), then myself and about 6 other people from the company had a big night out, and as I've written in the past, I don't go out and get drunk with the responsibility of playing Curly in Oklahoma! but I had the whole day set aside to recover if I needed it. But after drinking a large amount and dancing for approximately 3 hours solid (no break at all-seriously, I think I sweated out all the alcohol, i looked a state) and eating a not very meat looking meaty pizza at 3.30am, I managed to get up at 10.30 the next day, do some shopping, a good two hour workout and then met up with Joe and Ben from the cast for coffee and a wonder around town - the show was a delight that night. I have to admit though it did catch up with me on the Thurday though. We had two shows and my body was aching so much from dancing like a fool all night on the Tuesday. Ha

Good times though and definitely long over due.

So I had a call from my agent on Wednesday saying I have been asked to go in for a meeting for something new - by the way the one of the few things I will never talk about in my blog is what auditions/meetings I'm in for, it's just a boring topic of conversation and it's not exciting basically 'cause it's just something actors do to get jobs and we do SO MANY and most of the time you probably won't get it for so many reasons so it's just not really interesting, unless something funny happens that I feel you should know of course, like if I witness someone dancing so vigorously that her boob pops out (I say that because that has happened in a meeting I was in once- she popped it back in as and carried on without even blushing - now that's a pro)

Anyway reason I was telling you this is because my agent gave me the glorious news that I would have to choreograph a dance solo displaying two very distinct styles for myself to perform to the panel. My agent and I were laughing at the thought of me doing a 'Flashdance' style routine in a pair of hot pants and ankle warmers - fear not I am not wearing that. 

So I hired a studio (Sunshine Studios on Newton St in Manchester is very reasonably priced if anyone ever needs a space to rehearse by the way) and Alex Grierson from the cast came to offer her opinion on what I was putting together and basically told me when things looked naff and suggested alternatives - Which is funny in itself because towards the end of the week in Manchester she was playing Aunt Eller in the show as Marti Webb was unfortunately unwell, so on friday she was Choreographer by day and old woman by night - that's versatility for you!!!

I chopped off a considerable amount of my hair toady. I was getting sick of it, it was too long to curl properly for the show (for those of you who have not seen Oklahoma!- because of the character name Curly I have my hair curled for EVERY SHOW!, which involves using dainty little lilac and pink curlers and popping them in my hair which takes Laura our wardrobe mistress 30 minutes beofre I'm actually due to be at work, then go to physical and vocal warm up with a hair net and headband on before taking them out 20 mins before curtain up - EVERY SHOW!) - so I had to chop some of it off 'cause it was a mess. The guy who cuts my hair is one of my closest friends Wayne Fitzsimmons who is known in the West End as 'Hair Dresser To The Stars' - he's a very talented West End performer who happened to train and work at Tony And Guy in Birmingham before he trained in musical theatre so he's everyone's friend in showbiz and we go back about 5 years now - top bloke. So that was nice to have a good old catch up over breakfast and a barnett recovery! Then I came back to my flat and knuckled down to learn some lyrics for a concert I have in Cardiff next Sunday. I am singing four sings and I have a busy week this week between the show and other things so need to make the most of any free time.

But now I am sat down ready to watch the X-Factor before having an early night.

Don't forget folks, these are our last six venues with the show - Wolverhampton, Edinburgh, Bradford, Rhyl, Londonderry, and Trieste in Italy.

This Saturday matinee in Wolves is our 200th performance so that's how many times you've missed the show if you've not made the effort so far, so get your tickets booked folks. 6 WEEKS LEFT!!!

Hope all is good with you all and you're all well and happy.

Please keep your messages and facebook comments coming in - it's great to hear from you always.

Happy Sunday

Love your lives

Mark

ps X-Factor  has started so I ain't gonna read over this again so apologies if some of it doesn't make sense but as you know by now I just write what's in my head and hope you enjoy readin it.

Blog Number 10!!!

Hey guys.

Hope you're all well and happy.

I apologise for this short Blog and for not having written for a few days - Manchester and life in general has become pretty manic (as if it wasn't already). I basically have lots of songs to learn for different concerts, gigs and meetings, a dance routine to choreograph for myself which I have hired a studio to use in central Manchester tomorrow - I'd rather have some time to enjoy all that Manchester has to offer but hey it'll be nice to do some full on dance stuff again.

So I will blog on the weekend and fill you all in on any news etc.

The audiences in Manchester are fantastic. If you've been to see us this week- hope you've enjoyed it and thanks for the lovely reception!

Keep smiling folks and be grateful for all you have in life 'cause it's all good, no matter what is happening!!!

Talk to you on the weekend!

Mark

BLOG NUMBER 9!!!

Hey Everyone.

So I’m sat on a Virgin train home to my family in North Wales and I don’t have any internet but I’m hoping that if I type this up on a ‘word‘ document I will then just cut and paste it onto my blog when I get some reception on my dongle – I know what you’re thinking, I’m a technological genius – well I’d have to agree. Haha. If I don’t get it posted before I reach my parents farm (or the ranch as all us kids call it) then I won’t have a hope in hell of getting any internet up there in the hills, which is the exact reason I go home – to see my amazing family and to be somewhere that is so isolated I don’t get phone or internet reception at all. Bliss. I really need that for a whole day tomorrow as I feel I haven’t stopped recently.

So the last time I blogged was when I was rushing out to see the new film release ‘Death And Life Of Charlie St Cloud’. I told you I’d give you the low down after I saw it and I have to say I loved it. Zac Efron is a BRILLIANT actor in my opinion and having watched High School Musical a couple of times (understatement) from researching it for when I was auditioning for the stage show I think he has transformed himself into an incredibly diverse actor and think he’s a very talented young man. The film is great. I would recommend it highly, and for that reason I’m not going to tell you anything that happens as I don’t want to ruin it.

Swansea audiences got busier on Friday and Saturday which was nice. Got a lift back to London last night with Ed who is our assistant MD (Musical Director) which took 3 ½ hours and managed to have a whole 9 hours in my flat, before I had to leave again. The 9 hours included 5 hours sleep before waking up sorting out dull mortgage paper work, doing lots of office work and general admin stuff for different things, washing clothes packing for Manchester and leaving again.

I am officially now a limited company!!! Myself and my summer school as well as any venture I decide to take on in the future will fall under the company name ‘Watch And Learn Entertainment Services Ltd’ – which if you take the first letter of each word and put them together it forms something that is very special to me – thanks to our Judd Fry, Mr Pete Galhagher for taking on that challenge of making a sentence out of the letters W.A.L.E.S!!!!

So then I met up with a good friend of mine this afternoon for lunch in central London before watching the matinee of Jersey Boys. I had seen it about 2 years ago but fancied seeing it again and had a couple of friends in it who I wanted to see. I enjoyed it even more than the last time. If you haven’t seen it and fancy seeing a West End show that is slick, well directed, a great production, incredible music and a superbly talented cast – then Jersey Boys is perfect. So refreshing to see a show where there wasn’t one thing that disappointed me – I’m sure a lot of actors will agree that from working in the industry and if you watch a lot of theatre and know how it all works then sometimes you notice certain things that let a production down slightly but Jersey Boys had none that that for me! Loved it!

I am so excited to get home. My Mum is collecting me from Rhyl station (By the way – Any North Welsh folk reading this, Oklahoma is in Rhyl from 9^th-13^th November –so GET YOUR TICKETS BOOKED!!!) This train just can’t go quick enough.

Tomorrow is devoted to dispatching all the DVD’s from my summer school ‘West End In Wales’ then chilling out with my family – especially my four nieces!

I received the final draft of the first six scripts for ‘Marcaroni’ the other day – only 46 more to come. I have got some serious memorising to do! It’s all gonna be great though.

We are in Manchester from Tuesday this week so anyone local, come see the show, although I think it’s sold really well so be quick to get your tickets. Looking forward to Manchester. Great city and all I’m gonna say is……….. EDINBURGH IN TWO WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Edinburgh is my favourite UK city outside of London and can’t wait to be there again for a week.

Anyway, I think I have written enough now haven’t I!!!!!!

By the way did you all see my post on the Facebook page – this morning at 10.10am? It stated that today was unique as at that time it was 10 minutes past the 10^th hour of the 10^th day of the 10^th month in the year ’10!!!

Also, within this month there are 5 Fridays, 5 Saturday and 5 Sundays. That only ever happens once every 823 years apparently. I love facts like that – makes me appreciate being in this lifetime!

Thanks for reading everyone. I’ll blog again in Manchester – for now, picture me in the peace and quite of the Vale Of Clwyd in wonderful North Wales.

Love your lives folks, ‘cause we all know it doesn’t last long enough.

Mark

Blog Number 8!!!!

Hi Everyone,

So this is not going to be as long as number 7 as I'm gonna rush out in a minute to the cinema. I wanted to catch an early afternoon movie so that I have time before work to try and learn songs and lyrics for a concert I have at the CIA in Cardiff in two weeks time.

I have decided to try and see 'The Death And Life Of Charlie St Cloud'. Although it starts in 30 mins and the walk to town from my digs is 25mins and don't know where the cinema is exactly so wish me luck. I'm sure I'll blog later to inform you of weather or not I got to see it and if it was good or not, if I don't see it I shall enjoy what Swansea town has to offer - as of yet I've not been anywhere than the theatre.

I had a live radio interview last night between 11-12pm. I was really enjoying it, dancing around in my seat to the songs I chose (one of which was 'Forget You' by Cee Lo Green - Amazing song) and I was moving around so much I spilt a whole bottle of water all over myself and the floor and the chair I was sat on - Oops. It really is a good song and that was my excuse. Haha

The audiences here in Swansea have been pretty quiet which is a shame. I thought they'd have been very busy but never mind - Manchester next week which is apparently very busy all week. Can't wait for Manchester. I have decided that I am actually going to go out one night in Manchester and drink and allow myself to get a bit drunk if I feel like it. We only have 7 shows next week so it's a bit easier and we're coming to the end of the contract nearly and I am missing out on many social gatherings because I'm making sure I look after myself and my voice etc but next week I'm gonna have a bit of fun -
Wow I make my life sound so boring and disciplined don't I. It's not. I just know how to make my job a lot easier by being careful when it comes to alcohol and noisy bars!!!

Right I have to run - I'm sure there was plenty of other things I was going to write about but if I don't go now I havn't got a hope in hell of catching this film.

Love to all.

Love your lives!!!

Mark

BLOG NUMBER 7!!!!!

Morning everyone.

How are we?

All is good with me on this fine (yet slightly dull weathered) Tuesday morning.

Had a good 9 hours sleep last night. I was really tired. I finished recording at 6.15pm last night then Tony (remember Tony, my driver who I mentioned last week!) picked me up and brought me to Swansea which is where we open in Oklahoma! tonight. Any locals come to the Grand Theatre this week to see us. Every evening til Saturday 7.30pm and Wed, Thurs, Sat matinees at 2pm. That's the promotion bit done. haha.

So I had a good weekend. My last blog was Sunday morning after I had a lovely big breakfast in my nice hotel in Cowbridge. Then I had a long day 11am-9pm in the studio. It was good though as the entire Marcaroni cast got together for the first time to record and it was great to see who is doing what. I'm going to be working with such a cool group of laid back people, I seriously can't wait to have a real laugh this Christmas period. Who'd have thought that working on a new kids TV show could be so much fun!!! It'll be a lot of hard work though. I have someone coming to Swansea to give me the scripts for the first 26 episodes this week which I'll need to learn asap because in a couple of weeks I'll get the next 26 episodes. We're doing 52 all in all which means we're scheduled to film 2 episodes a day! So I think by February I'm gonna have smoke coming out of my ears and trying to focus on recording my album after that will be a task and a half!!!

Anyway, I got up Monday morning (yesterday) for my nice breakfast again and there was only one other couple in the restaurant as it was about 9am and they stopped serving at 9.30am. Now I admit the breakfast wasn't quite as nice as the morning before but - I have never heard such a moany miserable couple in my life. I'm ashamed to say they were talking Welsh (I like to consider Welsh people to be friendly and nice). She went over to the buffet and was winging at the 'pathetic selection of cereals' she then complained to the waitress that 'everyone had been dipping into the breakfast', I felt like saying 'well whadda ya expect you dumb a** it's a flamin buffet'. - She made the chef cook a fresh breakfast for her and her husband and didn't even say thanks and then on her way out, she walked past the pastry selection and said 'drycha ar y croissant's 'na'n blydi oer - ych a fi' which translates to 'look at those croissants, they're bloody cold, disgusting' - And I thought to myself, if that is the most important thing in your life to think about, then you need to go do a bungey jump or something because you are a boring old moany woman, get over it!!! 

Rant over! 

When I arrived my digs last night I dropped my stuff off, walked down a HUGE hill to Tesco to do a bit of a food shop for the week forgetting that of course I then had to walk back up the HUGE hill in the rain carrying my groceries!!! I didn't mind though as I'd been in the studio all day so it was nice to get some air. The landlady showed me a tin full of Welsh Cakes she'd made - I thought "Noooooo, I can't eat anymore Welsh Cakes' - On Sunday, Nia, the girl who is playing one of the fairies in Marcaroni brought in a box full of the most amazing Welsh Cakes ever, I think her Mum had made them. I warned her that this can't happen over Christmas cos I won't fit in my colorful, neoprene Marcaroni suit. Ha

People have been asking me about X-Factor and Strictly Come Dancing in radio and press interviews recently and to be honest I watch more of the X-factor than Strictly, but on Saturday night, I caught Anne Wydecombe's dance. She was BRILLIANT!!! In the entertaining sense and not in the actual dance ability sense of course. I look at someone like her and think, you're amazing, you are so open and honest and you don't care what people think of you and she was very very funny. I would like to be her dance partner. Wouldn't it be great if we could all look at life in the way that she looks at dancing 'It might not go right but I'll give it a go'  Anne to win I say. HAHA.

With regards to the X-Factor, I really enjoy it but only because I have now accepted that what they are doing is creating an entertaining T.V show and that it's actually very little to do with finding the best talent providing there are a couple of good ones in the mix to make the final. A lot of people get annoyed by that but I just think, well I enjoy watching it and think it's superbly edited and it has no effect on me weather the winner is eventually Cher or Diva Fever or even Jedward so why not just embrace the good things about the programme and be happy. I agree that Gamu is talented but she has still had great exposure from the millions who watch ITV so I'm sure she'll do well even though she didn't make Cheryl Cole's top three. (Has she gone back to Tweedy now or is she keeping Cole? I dunno)  

Right I'm gonna head into Swansea town in a little while to suss it out as it's been about 5 years since I was here last. I have a meeting with John Quirke tomorrow who is the wonderfully talented man who is going to be the MD (musical director) of my album. How exciting.

Keep sending in your messages and comments guys. Always good to hear from you. 

ANYONE WHO LIVES NEAR MANCHESTER - WE'RE HEADING YOUR WAY NEXT WEEK SO BOOK YOUR OKLAHOMA! TICKETS AT THE OPERA HOUSE!!!

Happy Tuesday to you whatever your doing and thanks for reading number 7!!!

Love your lives

Mark