Blog 28!!! Hope you like it!!!

Hi everyone,

How are you all? Hope you've had a good week. 

I'm writing this from the studio in Cardiff again in chunks while I'm not needed on set! It's so nice to do something different to just learning lines or drinking water! 

I have been pretty busy since my last blog last Thursday! (Now there's a surprise eh?!)

Thursday evening I went to the gym as I knew I wouldn't be able to go over the weekend because my sister and two brothers were coming down to stay.

Friday day time was a really long tough day. I was so looking forward to seeing my family that night that the day seemed soooo long! Granted we're working long hours anyway (7am-6pm) but time seemed to drag and we were spending the afternoon re-visiting scenes that needed slight alterations which is pretty soul destroying when you have a mammoth schedule and all you want to do is get through it! So re-doing some scenes was tough, but it was worth doing an good to get it done to ensure each episode is top notch! We have seen clips of the edited programmes and they look great! We are going to be making a pilot in English so that the producer can pitch the idea and the programme to other channels universally. I think it would be great for all kids to have the opportunity to enjoy this programme because it's so fun and new and fresh and very educational!

So anyway, as soon as i finished work on Friday I popped to Tesco to stock up on food to make italian style nibbles for the arrival of my brothers and sister to have with a good few drinks, then prepared everything before heading to meet them at the train station! They were very impressed with my apartment and the view from my balcony! If only i owned it eh?!?

We had a lovely evening and ended up chatting playing cards until about 2am! Perfect!

Saturday morning we all went for a swim in the pool where I'm staying before breakfast then headed into town to do some shopping and i ended up buying a lot more than I thought I would - you know when you randomly just see loads of things that you really like, which never happens when you purposely go out to buy things! So I made the most of it which was nice as I now have a good few additions to my wardrobe!!!

Then we grabbed some food and a couple of drinks before heading to Hollywood Bowl in Cardiff Bay, for a couple of games of bowling - I won the first one which I was thrilled about because we decided that whenever one of us got a strike then the others had to drink a certain amount of alcohol! It was so funny because I shocked myself and my siblings at just how many strikes I kept getting! It was hilarious! I'm usually pretty rubbish!!! Then we had lots of fun in the arcades before heading out to a few bars in Cardiff. My brothers got stupidly drunk and decided to stay out for a couple of hours longer than my sister and I. My body clock is so out of sync with late nights at the moment because of my filming schedule so us two were acting like grannies and heading to bed!

So Sunday morning it was a chore to wake my brothers up in time to head into town for lunch before they left on the train and I went to rehearse 10 dance numbers with the Marcaroni crew! I hate saying goodbye to my family, especially as I know that due to my work commitments this year, between Wicked and various concerts and T.V/Radio stuff and recording my album, I'm not going to be able to get back to see everyone in North Wales half as much I would like! That is the one massive downer about being in London, the distance - but looking at the positive, at least it's only 2 hours 40 mins on the train from Euston!!!

So then Monday morning came and it was back to the weekly routine of getting up at 5am so that I can go for a 40 minute run or swim 60/70 lengths of the pool (loving working out at the moment as the gym is in the complex I'm staying at and is so convenient!) I shall miss that when I leave next Friday! I only have 6 more days on set with Marcaroni and one day left in the dance studio! It has flown by because we've been worked so hard and have had so much to do, but we're still going to be grafting like troopers to get everything finished by 6pm next Friday! This has been a huge project and will be a massive achievement for all involved once we reach the end! Can't wait to see the end product once it aires for the first time in April!

Tuesday evening after work, Myself and Non & Elan who I am working with went out for dinner (Went to Spice Root in Cardiff Bay - it's amazing!!!) and then watched the new film starring Natalie Portman, Black Swan which I thought was insanely brilliant! What an imaginative masterpiece it is! Apparently it's had a mixed response but as far as I am concerned I thought it was incredibly acted, very well written, beautifully shot and perfectly produced! I definitely highly recommend it! So nice to see a film which is based on dance without it being cheesy predictable and slightly naff! I was so impressed by Natalie Portman in the starring role she obviously immersed herself into the life of a professional ballet dancer in training and to prepare for the role! What a stunning dancer! I was very inspired by every aspect of that film! There, that's enough about that I feel!

So… here's a funny story - I woke up at 5am on Wednesday morning and as the gym doesn't open up until 6am I was rehearsing all my Wicked material (as any sane person would at 5am eh?) and I was in the kitchen going through the choreography for 'Dancing Through Life' - my biggest number in the show for those of you who haven't seen it - and was doing this for a good 10 minutes then I looked out the window of my apartment on the 6th floor to discover that a woman in the apartment block diagonally opposite had been watching me, as she was stood there smiling and applauding me! I laughed out loud, bowed and turned the lights off and left the room, slightly embarrassed but also relieved that clearly she thought that snippet of my performance as Fiyero was worthy of applause! Ha! Must have brightened her morning to see some looney 6ft 2 guy doing contemporary choreography in his kitchen at 5am!!!

I open in the show in WICKED a week Monday and can't wait! I'm heading back to London tomorrow night and will be rehearsing for Wicked on Saturday as well as doing an interview and photo shoot for M magazine! I have found out today that some of the shots will be slightly more revealing than I thought! All I'm going to say is that I am relived that I've been working so hard in the gym this month to work off the bits of Christmas that decided to cling on to my body for as long as they possibly could!

Looking forward to touching base with London and my flat and then getting back to Cardiff to kick off the final week of Marcaroni!!! Next week's blog will be the last one before I am back in the land of all things green again! From the green land of Wales to the green world of Wicked!!!

I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who send comments and messages and tweets to me! I love hearing from you  (especially my 'early birds' who tweet me between 5-7am to cushion the blow of the early morning!) You are all wonderful. Thanks!

I hope you're all well and happy and are enjoying my blogs!

Keep smiling cause life is great

Mark

Blog 27!!! Written on set!!!

Hi everyone. 

How are you all this morning???

I thought I would have a change of scenery so I am writing this blog from the set of Marcaroni. I have a morning with not as much to learn and a couple of scenes I'm not in so I thought I'd utilise this time I have. Also, I have found that whenever I'm on set and not doing anything I get really tired really quickly (fell into a deep sleep twice on Tuesday), so it's better to just keep going!

I have kind of got into a routine of blogging on Wednesday evenings but i couldn't last night as i had a meeting with someone about a possible Welsh documentary about me that might happen this year, along the lines of 'life as a West End performer. It's in the very early stages and might not happen for a while yet but never the less, last night i had to talk about myself and my life for a good two and a half hours as part of his research, and after a long day in the studio I would've much preferred to chat to him about something a bit more interesting, I know all there is to know about me so would've been nice to hear about someone else. Haha!

Yesterday was a tough day. Basically as far as Marcaroni filming schedule is concerned it is very ambitious, filming more than two episodes a day - however we are now, somehow well ahead of schedule because things have really settled in and it's all running like clockwork…..apart from the choreography days!!! Each episode of the show, my character of Marcaroni composes a new song for the children of the 'big big world' to learn- so every sunday we have to learn 10 dance numbers and every wednesday we have to film them. As you can imagine these days are really long and hard going! Granted, most of the moves are simple enough so that children can pick them up, but that sometimes makes it harder because they're easier to forget. Our choreographer Steve Elias is doing a great job though. He is great at the story telling elements of choreography which is so important with a programme like this because not only is it fun and exciting, it's also very educational so telling the story through movement is equally important as the script!

The bosses at S4C, which is the channel it will be broadcast on are absolutely thrilled with the work we've done. They've seen the rough edits of some of the programmes and they think it's going to be an incredible addition to the programmes they have on the channel already! This is great news for us and nice to get such a good response after all the hard work we're putting in.

I am finding that the 5.30am wake up calls are getting harder every morning. I go to the gym for a run or a swim every day when it opens at 6am for about 40 mins before heading to the studio to be in the make up chair for 7am - which probably sounds crazy to some of you but it keeps me in shape and gets me really motivated for the day ahead. It's just me and a lovely kind looking older lady who uses the rowing machine that are there together every day. We say 'hello' to each other every morning and that's it - we've never chatted because I think there's a mutual feeling of "it is far too early for polite chit chat so let's just get on with what we came here to do in our own little half asleep way"

I open in Wicked two weeks on Monday. I am so looking forward to it. Looking forward to getting on stage with everyone and being back in the Apollo Victoria theatre performing to that incredible auditorium and of course the audience and all the fans! The support that the Wicked company get from the Wicked fans is incredible - it's like no other show, such loyalty and devotion and I think that having such a fantastic group of people showing such support has really added to the success of this hugely successful award winning show! Without sounding too theatrical, It really is an honour to be heading back into the show!

Oooh hang on things have come to a stand still in the studio 'cause there is a strong smell of burning - it stinks! If this place goes up in smoke, I will be heading for the nearest exit clutching my laptop tightly 'cause this bad-boy is a dream! Speaking of which - two days ago, the fire alarm went off here so we all had to evacuate the building! So myself and my co-star Non were stood in broad daylight in public dressed like the most ridiculously colourful, happy, spritely people feeling very stupid getting strange looks from passers by - we then found out upon re-entering the building that is was because someone forgot about their toast in the toaster! It was hilarious 'cause no-one would own up to it!

Anyway, the burning smell this morning is still here but they've decided to carry on regardless, so to all of you loyal people who read my blogs and follow anything and everything I do and show such incredible support, I thank you and wish you well in your lives as i sit here and go up in smoke (because 'we can't stop as we can't afford to lose precious schedule time- nothing like health and safety eh? haha) I'm obviously being dramatic. It is all fine here! - still stinks though!

So last Friday night I went out in Cardiff with my friend Amy from the panto as her guest to their company meal, which was lovely. We went to an all you can eat indian/chinese/thai restaurant (Of course i ate all three and plenty of it too!) then we all went to a bar called 'WOW' as they'd put on a 'champagne' (think it was Lambrini) reception for the company. There were two drag artistes hosting the night and they ended up singing the 'Time Warp' which brought back many fond memories of my time with The Rocky Horror Show! Loved that tour so much and miss all the company very much! Looking forward to getting back to London when I start Wicked so I can actually be there to spend time with friends! 

Saturday daytime I spent a lot of time being productive, working on my summer school, album, concerts, website etc. Then in the evening the MD of my album, John Quirke came over for a few hours to discuss songs and arrangements and ideas! I am so excited about it! I have been wanting to make an album for ages but didn't want to do it until the time was right! I can't wait to get in the studio to start working on it! It is gong to be a real variety of songs, both in Welsh and English and the track list is going to be semi-autobiographical so that there is a kind of through line story going from beginning to end of the album! There are to be a few surprises too which I am saying nothing about until they have been confirmed but it makes me excited thinking about it - l I am having another meeting with the record label next week to make our final decisions before progress begins with orchestrations etc! Sh-boom!!! Scheduled to record in April for a summer time release!!!

I am sooooooooo looking forward to tomorrow night! My sister and my two brothers are coming down to stay with me in my lovely apartment I'm staying at in Cardiff bay! We didn't buy each other Christmas presents this year because we saved the money to just enjoy a good weekend in each other's company, without partners or kids or parents - which has not happened since we all flew the nest about 10 years ago! It's going to be great. They arrive about 9.30 tomorrow evening and are here until 3pm on Sunday! My sister has never been to Cardiff either - she's gonna love it! Love my family!

Just had to take a break from writing to shoot a scene in which I was shovelling porridge into my mouth for a good twenty minutes - now i want to be sick - The glamorous life of an actor eh??? Anyway……

My new website should be live within the next few weeks! I'm loving what my site designer Helen has done with it and also the pictures from the shoot I did with my great friend Nathan Amzi a few months back! Hope you all like it when it is live! I much prefer it!

I'm finding this very therapeutic - writing on set! Takes away the dullness that sometimes comes from hanging around for things to get set up etc! However, I do have a lot to say in this afternoon's scenes so maybe I should get studying!!! 

Get in touch folks - love hearing from you! Twitter name - MarkHEvans, Facebook fanpage - Mark Evans, Website www.MarkEvansOnline.co.uk, My summer school - www.WestEndInWales.com

Also get booking your tickets for the Bobby Cronin concert at the New Players theatre in London on February 27th! I have been sent one of the songs I'm going to be singing already and it is stunning - He's a wonderful composer and it'll be a real shame to miss his first ever London showcase! Here is the link to see who else is performing and to book tickets.

http://www.newplayerstheatre.com/london/events/thesongsofbobbycronin.asp

Right folks - thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed this week's blog.

Keep loving life and smiling because it makes everything feel great!!!

Sh-boom

Mark

BLOG 26!!! You want answers???

BLOG 26!!! You want answers??? 

Hi everyone,

How are we all on this fine Wednesday evening???
I'm good -  A bit achey, because I've had a full day of filming song and dance numbers for Marcaroni. I said after the first song that it was like shooting a pop video as that song was slow and lovely and all about the wind - but then we went immediately into a song about a little grey chicken who lays anything but eggs - which resulted in us clucking about like a load of chickens on acid haha! Such a variety in my day to day professional life at the moment! So yeah, I'm a bit tired BUT I am being treated to dinner tonight which is being cooked for me by Non and Elan who work on the show! They're staying in the apartment next to mine! Treat!!!

So basically a very brief round up of my week for you as the most important thing about blog 26 is ANSWERS!!! - I'll explain in a mo!

So the end of last week was good- lots of hard work on Marcaroni then over the weekend I had a combination of gym, shopping, watching Cinderella panto in Cardiff (which was great), having dinner with friends, and learning dance routines all day sunday!!! So it was busy but nice to do some social things as well as either work on the show or be sat in my apartment learning scripts!!!

One exciting thing- my friend Laura Hamilton is one of the contestants on Dancing on Ice this year!!! She was in the skate off on Sunday night - purely because she's probably the least known celebrity on there - she's a kids TV presenter, but she is going to do so well - she is, apparently, as far as the skating is concerned, the favourite to win, but unless she gets more of a following and a real buzz about her she is going to struggle! I worked with her on the panto I did in Bromley two years ago, which was exactly the time I was involved in the Eurovision reality TV series and she was very supportive of me during that so if you could please vote for her and ask your friends and families to spread the word about supporting her- I'd be very grateful, and so would she!

One last thing before I give you some answers - I watched 'Burlesque' last night at the cinema, which is the new film with Cher & Christina Aguilera. I had heard good things about it but I have to be honest, apart from her good voice (which was kind of over produced on this occasion) I didn't like it. I felt like the characters weren't accurately executed, which i think was more of a problem with the script than the actors, it was very unsure of what messages it was trying to deliver to the viewer! I felt it didn't have enough drama and heart and was quite disappointed!!! Never mind, it's good to watch things you don't enjoy sometimes! I'm only being honest - and I apologise to Cher if she is reading this - actually, Cher, if you are reading this, first of all thank you for following my blog and second of all, use less botox - it might make it easier for you when you try looking sad...or angry...or happy...or excited... or even alive!!! Other than that, I thought you were great in the film! Well done!!!

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Answers ............

This week I challenged those of you who follow me on Facebook and Twitter to think of the most interesting question you could for me and that I would pick one question to answer which I thought I could give you an equally interesting answer too and would let you know something about me that you might not already.

Now having read through all of your questions (and there were lots - I was overwhelmed and impressed) I have decided that I will tell you which was my favourite and answer that one first but then answer a few more too which I think you might like to know the answers too!


So my favourite question was sent in from Sarah Jones, and although it may not be the most groundbreaking question to some of you I liked it because there is scope for her to find out a lot about me in my answer - so here it is:


Q - Do you have and life ambitions/personal goals outside of acting/singing/dancing?

A- Although my career is such a massive part of my life and i feel very blessed to be able to do a job that I love so much and have worked so hard for over the last 15 years, and also, that I know so many young ambitious people would aspire to do to - it is still just my job, and i try and focus as much as i can on things outside of work and musical theatre in general. I am currently in the process of collecting everything I need, to apply for a U.S visa so that I can get to New York and work, but not only to work but to experience life in a different part of the world and New York is a city I fell in love with when I first visited in February last year and then again in September and I would love to have the chance to live there - even for a year or two and meet new people do amazing things.
Another ambition of mine is to buy a couple more properties at least - which is a massive task. I bought my flat which is in south east London just over two years ago and love it but would like to settle somewhere else. I love the idea of having a few properties and that's one of the reasons I work so hard all the time so i can make more spondooly.
I know that there will come a time when I don't necessarily feel I want to be working as hard as I do at the moment and I think that time will come when I settle down with someone. I am currently single (which is the answer to someone else's question-ha) but of course, I'm like most people on this planet, and like to think that I will meet the right person to settle down with at some point. I also love the thought of having children - I adore kids and am just a big kid myself really - as you'll see if you catch any of Marcaroni when it aires from April, as all I do is prat around like a looney child who's had way too much sugar on his birthday!!!
So I think by choosing to answer that question it shows you a bit more of what really matters to me. My priorities in life are health, happiness, family, friends and then my job!!!
Thanks for that question Sarah!

So a few more questions and answers now but a little more brief!

Q: Do you have any pre/post show rituals or traditions that you follow
A: Not really other than making sure I am vocally and physically fit for the show my warming up etc. I also, as most actors do, have some little insecurities that pop up and make an appearance in my head sometimes, so at these moments I listen to some calm music and read 'The Secret' by Rhonda Burne which is my favourite book and in some respects proved a lot of things to me about the way I live my life and it gives my reassurance when I need it!

Q: Fancy a pint?
A: After the day I've had - Yes please!!!

Q: If you were stranded on an island and could have 4 people from the Wicked company - past or present flown out to you, who would they be?
A: Good question, with a relatively easy answer - Ashleigh Gray, Caroline Keiff, Lucie Waugh & Oli Tompsett - Ash, Caroline & I were the three amigos when I was there 3 years ago and I adore them. Lucie had been a good friend of mine for years having trained and worked together before Wicked so it was very special that she was my partner in the OZdust ballroom, and Oli - because he's Oli, an incredibly funny, kind, genuine guy who always makes the most of life which would be a handy, being trapped on an island!

Q: What was it like working with Craig Revel Horwood?
A: I worked with Craig in Snow White at Venue Cymru in Llandudno last year. I can honestly say, he is one of the most hardworking people I have EVER worked with. We were performing 12 shows a week and our only days off were the days he had to travel down to London to film Strictly Come Dancing. He was singing, acting and dancing to an incredible standard and above all he's a lovely, lovely guy! he deserves the success he is getting off the back of Strictly! P.S what a director - genius!!!

Q: What skill would you like to learn?
A: My goodness, so many! I would like to learn to ride horses, speak Italian, Spanish and many other languages. I 'd love to play the piano, guitar and many other instruments. I would like to learn a bit more about music engineering and technology. I want to sky dive (not a skill if your strapped to someone but it just popped into my head) I'd like to be a great ice skater. So many!!!

I am going to leave this blog with that exact question for all of you - What skill would YOU like to learn???

Thanks again for all your questions. I really enjoyed reading them and will try and get back to you when I hopefully find the time.

I'll sing off now as this blog got looooong but I shall of course write another next week!!!

Love and happiness to you all!

Keep smiling

Mark

ps ain't spell checked this so I apologise for errors!!!

Blog 25!!! My New Year Antics!!!

Hey everyone,

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!!!

So this is blog 25 and I am no longer 25 years old! My birthday was on sunday which made it a busy old weekend!

So... I last blogged after getting back to London last Thursday. So that night was spent generally catching up with my life in my flat after Christmas in North Wales and also doing lots of work on my summer school West End In Wales in preparation for the launch at the beginning of February!
I'm really excited about it - more so this year than ever! - For those of you who don't know, I run a week long musical theatre summer school once a year in St. Asaph in North Wales to promote youth theatre and give the local talent (and not so local, as last year we had a lovely young girl from Mexico on the course) the chance to work alongside myself, two other west end performers and a fully trained professional faculty to produce an hour long showcase to perform to family and friends and industry folk at the end of the week.
I started it in August 2006 and this year we are celebrating our 5th Birthday, so it's going to be bigger and better than ever! Anyone wanting more information should visit the website, the address for which i will put on my blog once it's been updated with this year's course details on it on the 1st of February.
So yeah, it was good to get a start on all the hard work and preparation while I had some time to kill.

So new year's eve I met my best friend Sal and her fella Olly to drive up to our friends in Hitchin, near Stevenage to have some dinner and drinks and then we all went to another friends house near-by for a bit of a social/party and to bring in the new year!
Get this - we worked out that I must have had about 3 bottles of champagne to myself that night and wasn't drunk at all - and for someone who rarely drinks that is pretty impressive! My friend Craig was annoyed that I stayed so controlled all night so he was encouraging me to do shots of gin from an egg cup he found to make me drunk and embarrass myself - but alas it had no effect! What can i say ladies and gentlemen, I am hardcore...haha - I am so not, I had half a glass of wine a couple of weeks ago and was DRUNK!
I think I got away with new year's eve because i basically ate the most anyone, or anything has ever eaten in the entire history of eating mammals on this planet throughout the course of the evening so it soaked up any nasty booze!!!

I treated us all to a lovely bottle of Champagne - It was a bottle of 1998 Dom Perignion that had it's own box that was given to me from our director of 'Spamalot' 4 year's ago (legendary director Mike Nichols), as an opening night gift! I thought it was a lovely gesture so decided to keep it until I was offered my first lead role, then forgot to drink it when I was offered Troy Bolton in High School Musical, so I then decided I'd drink it on the first day I moved into my first property, then when I moved into my flat there was so much dust and mess everywhere from all the work I was doing I decided it wasn't appropriate timing, so then I saw it in the cupboard before heading up to Hitchin on the weekend and I thought to myself "Evans, (that's what I call myself when I talk seriously to myself) you should celebrate a great 2010 and welcome in an exciting and even better 2011 in style, so stop being such a plonka and drink your bloody champagne!" So we did - and it was lovely!
I secretly toasted to everyone who has ever supported me and those continue to do so in anything and everything I do, therefore if you are reading this now - I toasted to you on my new year's eve! I would like to re-itterate how consistently grateful I am to you all for your continued support and for your kind words and messages on Facebook/Twitter! I am LOVING Twitter by the way - I really like hearing from you all! Get your friends to follow me and get in touch, it's a great invention!

So midnight was lovely, we lit chinese lanterns and watched them float in a very romantic way into the first night sky of 2011, and it was at that precise moment I realised I was the only single person out of about 24 people that were there, and so, I just appreciated my special lantern all by myself! Ha!

We stayed in Hitchin that night and so on New Year's Day we went into the town for a bit of a browse, a coffee and some food, then Sally, Olly and I drove back to Sally's flat in Surrey to get an early night as we were shattered and it was my birthday the next day! So on the morning of my 26th birthday, Sal and I had breakfast then headed to meet friends for coffee before watching 'Love & Other Drugs' at the cinema (which is the 'movie theatre' for all you cool American folk reading this) (& 'the pictures' for the people like my Mum reading this - love her!)
What a great film - highly recommended! I want to get back into watching more films again - I used to watch more on tour but that's 'cause there's nothing really to do during the day when you're in a city you don't know apart from go to the cinema! Love watching good screen actors that inspire me!
Then the evening of my birthday I visited my friend Dom who I worked with on Rocky Horror and we watched a DVD of the film 'Chocolat' - another great film and highly recommended! Nice to see Johnny Depp as a non-quirky character for a change!
So two films in one day was a good start to the whole I wanna see more films thing eh?!?!?!

Then I went home to pack my case for my return to the wonderful city known as Cardiff and to this great apartment where I am sitting writing this now (when I should be learning script!)!

I had a good journey, however, literally as the train passed the 'Welcome To Wales/Croeso I Gymru' sign... it started to snow, which I thought was just typical, but at least it didn't stick around and out-stay it's welcome this time!

So not much else to report really, other than that I am back into the swing of things with Marcaroni and we're doing well considering the bulk of work we have to get through by early February- it's really difficult to not get frustrated when you have to learn so much script every evening! My life is spent carrying piles of overly-highlighted paper around! Non, (who plays 'Oli' in it) and I have developed a phobia for large highlighted paragraphs because that means there's chunks of dialog to memorise - haha!

But it's good to be working through it and to be back swimming at 6am every morning again to work off the STU-HOO-PID amounts of food I ate over the festive period! Why not eh?!?!?!

Anyway, get in touch as always. I feel I have more to say but if I have left anything out, I'll pop it on the FaceBook fanpage! Follow me on Twitter if you don't already - don't be afraid of it, it's simple, just join up and type away!!! I'm MarkHEvans.

Keep smiling folks. Hope you're all well!?! Let me know how your first week of 2011 is going!

Love your lives

Mark

PS One month tomorrow I open in Wicked!!!