BLOG 45!!! Hollywood Glam!!!

Hi eveyrone,

Happy Thursday aka Blog Day.

Hope you're all well. There was suppose to be a heat wave this week wasn't there? Don't know where it is but it's not in London right now! Clouds!!! I'm quite glad actually as I have lots to do today and when it's sunny I just wanna stop everything and sit in the sun! Ha.

So I just sat down on the train into the theatre and thought i'd start the blog now. I am heading in early today to meet a special someone who is going to be duetting with me on my album. We are rehearsing the album track with the person who composed the song so we can get a real feel for how we all want the track to sound.

The reason I am not telling you who these people are is because it will all be revealed in a video blog very soon.

Did you see the first video blog of mine by the way? It was posted on Sunday. Check out my Facebook page if you didn't see it.

So last week's blog was done after my folks had been with me so it was a late one which is why I'm going to try and get this one out early today. 

Friday last week I spent the morning working on lots of music stuff for my album, printing, downloading audio tracks etc etc as the time has come for me to stop having to think about all the preparation for the album and actually start nailing these songs so that when I hit the studio for the first time a week on Sunday (5th June) I will be able to get the exact sound that I want. 

So I was also using the time to sing through some of the songs whilst cooking. My freezer needed de-frosting while my parents where down so I had to take all the food out and then of course had to cook it asap as i couldn't re-freeze it. My goodness, if you'd have seen how much steak and chicken i was cooking you'd have thought I was working in a cross between KFC and McDonalds - just with real meat instead of substitute meat! Just kidding. I'm sure all their plastic looking food has meat in it….somewhere…maybe?!!

Then I had a meeting with my agent before heading to the gym with my pal Haley. It was great fun - I was making her do boxing with me and we were taking every ounce of any aggression within us and smashing it into the punch bags. It's such a great feeling - You should try it!!! :) 

Haley had to leave after 90 minutes and I carried on - only realising when I was leaving that I'd actually been in there for two and a half hours! How crazy is that?! I love it!

I felt so geared up for the show after the gym session. It's so true what they say "energy creates energy" - If you feel tired or slightly lethargic then go for a run or do some star jumps or something :) - or even the 'Wicked Summer Work Out' that's circulating the internet. Hahaha!!!

After the show I headed home to rest and then Saturday morning got up to make some phone calls that I'd been meaning to do - You know what it's like when you need to call people and it's not urgent but you should contact them, but you know it's gonna be a long conversation….well a whole bunch of them that i decided to get done. Sometimes I really dislike talking on the phone. I'd much rather meet and chat face to face, especially when you are doing business phone calls and you feel the conversation has come to an end and then the other person starts talking a load of useless rubbish again. Booooooo!!! hahaha.

Had a good two show Saturday then I caught up with a friend which was lovely. 

Sunday morning i woke and packed my bag for an eventful day consisting of recording on Jon Robyns' album, meeting the lads from Wicked for a BBQ chill out afternoon and then heading to a boat on the Thames for a birthday party. 

So I arrived the studios where i was recording for Jon's Album just after midday and started filming for my the next edition of my video bog immediately. Check it out - 

<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/24284493?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0&amp;autoplay=1" width="398" height="224" frameborder="0"></iframe>

I am going to try and embed them all into my weekly blogs from now on to break up some of this text that seems to get longer every week, haha.

No need to write about Sunday's recording though as you'll see what we were up to in the VLOG.

Once I'd finished I headed over to East London for the BBQ which was great. Great food lots of banter with the lads and drank lots of wine so I decided to slow down a little else the night ahead would've gotten a little messy.

About 7pm we got the Thames Clipper (commuters' boat that regularly travels along the Thames River - another form of public transport in London) from Greenwich to Central London so we could arrive the HMS President which is permanently docked on the Thames to celebrate Rachel Tucker's (Elphaba in Wicked) birthday bash. Her party theme was Hollywood Glamour and everyone looked amazing. It was a cracking night and I really enjoyed it. Come 11pm though it really did feel like I'd been awake for about 27 days - I was so tired so I made a cheeky little exit to get my last train home and got straight into bed and was out like a light!

JUST GOT TO VICTORIA ON THE TRAIN - I'll continue this blog in a little while!

So I'm now sat in my dressing room. Got drenched walking a few yards in the stormy weather. Drying off with a cup green tea now.

So where was I?……

Monday I had given myself a pretty empty schedule to recover from what i thought was going to be a hideous hangover - but although I had put away about two and a half bottles of wine during the whole of Sunday (don't judge me! I can tell you're judging me right now! Stop it!)  I didn't feel bad at all. Forced myself to drink two pints of water when I got in and i think the amount of BBQ food i'd eaten soaked up a lot of the alcohol. So I felt fine,  Sh-Boom!!! Had myself a big breakfast and then headed into town.

Monday afternoon I met my friend Hakan from Germany who I haven't seen since I graduated from college nearly six years ago and it was so good to see him. We spent a couple of hours catching up before i had to head to work to do a quick phone interview for a magazine then got ready for the show. 

Monday night was the first time Gemma Atkins who understudies Elphaba was on for the role and it was lovely to play opposite her as we were at college together and sang a few duets in college shows! It was just like the olden days but less desperate and we are now getting paid! HA

She did a great job of playing it and I felt proud of her. 

I stayed at my mate Sally's house on Monday night and we woke Tuesday to have a good work out at her gym. She is a demon on the treadmill. I ran 5 k then got stuck into my weights. After that we had a lovely lunch then i decided to pop in to my old college Laine Theatre Arts as it's just down the road from Sally's place.

It was a real trip down memory lane as I haven't been back for over a year - I taught there for a while when i was working in SPAMalot 4 years ago. I admit i felt OLD being there!!!  Now I know that I'm not old at all but i think back to 6 years ago when I was wandering around that college in my third and final year and it's almost hard to remember it. So much has happened in my life since then that the time has just flown. I had a nice catch up with some friends who are teaching there and some of the staff who taught me too so it was a very nice afternoon! 

Then I grabbed some dinner at Giraffe - probably my favourite restaurant near the theatre here in Victoria then i headed to work. After the show i went straight home to watch Grey's Anatomy - why does each episode seem to end in such a sad way? After each episode I have to watch something light hearted before going to bed otherwise I'd be depressed. ha. Love the series though.

Wednesday (Yesterday)  I had a chill out morning before heading into the theatre for two shows. Last night  I had some friends watching the show which was nice as i hadn't seen them for ages so had a catch up on the train home then bed!!! 

Which brings us back to today. It's now 9pm so the blog hasn't gone out as early as I'd have liked but hey ho - I've been busy!

I got lots of footage of me rehearsing with my two special 'soon to be announced' album folk so keep your eyes peeled for the next video blog where all will be revealed!

Hope you're all well. Thanks for reading and for your continued support in everything i do. I had a moment last night where i felt grateful for all the good things in my life, and if you're reading this now, please consider yourself a good thing in my life - not that that should mean anything to you but I just thought I would say it!

Keep loving life! 

Sh-Boom!!!

Mark :)

BLOG 44!!! Radio, Champagne and Parents!!!

Happy Thursday everyone!

How are we all?

I am pooped (tired!) as i've been walking around London all day with my parents which consisted of a casual paced meander while my Dad asked every few minutes "what's that building Mark?" and most of the time I had to say "i don't know" but then that's cos most of the time he was usually referring to something a simple as a terraced house! hahaha!

I do love having them visit though. It is like two worlds collide for me, when I go home i can quickly go into small village, chilled out, fresh air mode, where as it is of course much more daunting for them to switch into the mode of 7 million Londoners, underground trains and chains of coffee shops and restaurants everywhere! It reminds me that at one point, I had to adjust to all this myself! It's such an overwhelming city, London, and when you live here you quickly forget how life exists outside of it in a way! I am so grateful I have my parents farm in the middle of the North Wales hills to escape to whenever I can! 

So last Thursday night I….hang on….I can't think that far back, I'm just gonna check in my diary - OK……so……i didn't write anything in my diary! Ha. I think I just headed home after the show? oh yeah i did, and I watched a bit of Grey's Anatomy but not much as I fell asleep. 

Friday I worked more on the preparations for the Radio Pilot which I was to record on Sunday, then I headed into town to meet my three Rocky Horror girls Haley, Charlotte and Daniella for a coffee and bit of shopping - then I hit the gym and managed to get through my entire workout that my Personal Trainer did with me earlier in the week, without him being there. That might not sound very impressive to you, but those of you who have worked out with a PT, you'll know how much their encouragement and support helps you push yourself that little bit more - but i coped all alone! Ha. It made me feel really geared up for the show!

Saturday morning i had a nice big breakfast to fuel myself for the day as i know that on a two show day, having worked hard at the gym the day before, it can be a real struggle energy wise to get through. Then I came into town a little earlier than usual to buy a few birthday gifts for my friend Charlotte in the show as it was her birthday on Saturday!

The two shows were indeed a struggle energy-wise. When I'm on stage it's great but then when you get in the dressing room it's shocking how quickly your mind and your body can shut down on you and you have to really motivate yourself to get going! But that's part of being an actor, and from experience you find ways to knuckle down and deliver the best performance you can!

After Saturday night's show we had leaving drinks for one of our stage management girls and I decided wasn't going to stay very long - I said goodbye to everyone and then went to the station, only to watch my train leave without me, so I went back to the bar, said Hello to everyone and enjoyed myself for another half hour, which was nice but it did mean I didn't get home until 12.30am and i was up at 6.45am on Sunday to begin a long Journey over to Cardiff to record the radio pilot!

Funnily enough though, waking up at that early time of the day was easier than i thought it was going to be. I'm hilariously OCD when it comes to early mornings -  The night before, I lay all the breakfast stuff out and get my clothes ready and have my bag packed so I can almost practically do a Wallace and Grommit style wake up call and go through the machinations of my little wake up routine, which requires no personality until the very last minute when I leave the front door! Ha

I travelled over to the studio in Cowbridge (20 minutes form Cardiff) via train, tube, tube again, train again, and then a car! Sounds like a song eh… "get here if you can…"

For the record - I loved presenting my own radio programme!!! I really hope they commission a series for it. For those reading this as your first Mark Evans Blog then read the last couple of issues to get a better idea of what the Radio Pilot was about.

I arrived at about midday and the camera crew of my T.V documentary where there filming so needed to shoot some stuff for them explaining what was going on and why it was happening and where we were and how it was going to work and how this could effect my career etc etc etc. 

Then Bethan the producer and I had a chat through things and did the final bit of re-scripting before my lovely guests Tara Bethan and Rhys Taylor arrived. 

We more or less got straight into recording the chat. We had a really good laugh and considering i know them relatively well, especially Tara - I managed to learn a lot more about them just from asking the questions I'd prepared and because of all the effort i'd out into researching the two of them! 

It's good in life isn't it, when you feel like all the effort you put into something is worth it! Well it definitely was for this.

Once we finished recording the chat we rehearsed the songs and music we were to perform live in the studio. During this I took a quick couple of minutes to record my first ever Video Blog which will be uploaded this weekend! It's a very short one to begin with but i am learning how to edit videos - been shown the basics and will get better by teaching myself I'm sure - I know I'm gonna get addicted cos I feel ever so clever when I press things on my MacBook and it does what i intended instead of nearly blowing up in my face, which could have happened a few years back had i tried anything technical - so the video blogs are gonna keep coming and will keep getting bigger and better over the summer with all the various things i'm working on and fun stuff too - so you will all feel you are living this exciting year with me!!! Sh-boom!

The rest of the recording went really well and then once I wrapped it up with a bit of filming for the T.V documentary I had the evening off from 7pm to have fun!

Basically, way back in September/October when I was touring with Oklahoma I had to spend 4 days on random weekends here and there recording the 52 songs for the kids T.V show Marcaroni which I completed filming in February and which is now on S4C. Well that recording was done in a studio owned by Caryl Parry Jones who wrote Marcaroni (The studio's in a building outside her house) - Caryl is now a good friend and so are the rest of the Marcaroni company so Sunday evening we had a mini reunion of four of us from the show! It was AMAZING!!! We drank way too much Champagne, ate way too many Krispy Kreme doughnuts (which i bought en route through London) and laughed until our stomachs were hurting! It was the perfect escape from London! Not that i needed it, but i was worried by not having a day off over the weekend that I would be exhausted but clearly the saying is true 'A change is as good as a rest' and it did me the world of good to enjoy being with lovely people having a great time!

Caryl is the co-host of the most popular radio programme on the welsh station, BBC Radio Cymru titled 'Caryl a Daf' and so she was leaving her home on Monday morning at 6.50am to get to work so I decided to get up at 6.30am to get a lift with her to Cardiff train station so that i could get back to London. My goodness did i look dreadful. I expected to FEEL awful, but because i had such a great night I think I was still on a bit of a high BUT when I looked in the mirror of the gents loos on the train I looked like I'd been tied to the front of the train as it raced at 150mph through a heavy storm of hail stones which had been pelting against my face!!! ROUGH!!!

Got back to London around the time that a normal person with any sense would have been waking up in Cardiff nursing a hangover haha, and went for a swim to clear my head which was still slightly bubbly from the night before's beverages!

Felt good after that and fitted in a couple of hours work online with my manager before meeting up with my friend Colin. Most of you who read these blogs know of my friends Laura and Colin who were on Dancing On Ice this year. They just got back off a holiday together so I arranged to meet up with them, then Laura couldn't make it as she had grown up things to do - she's moving house! :)

So, because Colin heads back to Toronto (where he lives) at the end of this week, we decided to do a few of touristy things. We visited Abbey Road studios which is where the famous picture of The Beetles crossing the Zebra crossing was taken and because Colin wanted pictures we ended up walking across that crossing about 7 times…AND……the last time, a guy in a car got so impatient because we actually stopped still with our legs wide like they do in the picture, to pose whilst the kind american lady took our picture for us, that he actually attempted to run me over! I have photographic evidence, his wheel was about 2 inches from my heel! Hilarious! We laughed hard at that!

Then we walked from there all the way back to Victoria for me to go to work! By this point with all that walking I had started to feel the effects of the late night and early morning! Urgh! 

After the show Monday night i caught the train home with my mate Aaron who lives near me, I'd sorted tickets for him to bring his parents to see the show, so by the time I said goodbye to him at the end of my mammoth day i felt drained of all energy! What a long day of random buzyness! Good though!

Tuesday I had a meeting with my friend Nathan to discuss and work on a venture of mine that he is now involved with and then i headed to work for a quick rehearsal before another hard work out at the gym with my Personal Trainer. Really enjoyed it! If you seriously want to see a difference if your into working out, go to the gym with someone - doesn't have to be a trainer but having someone spurring you on makes it much easier. I get a lot of people tweeting asking for gym advice and that is my main advice for this week - train with a friend!!!!!!!

After Tuesday night's show i headed home to tidy my flat for the arrival of my folks the next day.

Wednesday was our two show day but i had a meeting at 11.30am with my manager and a couple of people who run a very exciting company which we are in discussions with so watch this space for more info on that!!!

After the matinee I met my parents and took them for food before showing them around back stage at WICKED before they watched the show.

My Dad hasn't been down to london in a long time - He hadn't even seen my flat until last night and I bought it two and a half years ago. Ha. So they both really enjoyed the show and afterwards we picked up some nice M&S nibbles for the train home and then practically went straight to bed when we got in!

Today I walked them for miles and miles!!! During tonight's show I received a text from my mum saying 'We're home - My legs are aching! Thanks for a lovely time and well done in the show, just a shame you can't sing better!'…….My mum is clearly a comedian now! Ha. It really made me chuckle! Loved having them here!

So that's it folks! Another crazy week in the life of Mevans! (That's the name i call myself when I sign in at work).

Hope you enjoyed reading! Don't forget to keep your eyes peeled for the first video blog! I'll post the link on twitter and Facebook! In future i will be embedding them in these blogs but was unable to do that for today!

Have a great week folks and get in touch! Hi to all new Twitter followers and of course hello and thanks to you old faithfuls!

If you've enjoyed reading this then pass it on! 

Stay happy people and enjoy your lives folks!

Sh-boom!

Mark :) 

BLOG 43!!! A very CAMP week!!!

Alright folks?

How you doing? Happy Thursday to you all.

I'm sat in Costa coffee again on Old Compton street waiting for my manager to arrive to have a meeting about lots of different things. So thought i'd start writing this before she arrives. I'll pick it up later if I don't finish it now.

So last week when I was writing I had just got over having no voice and was heading back to work that night after i wrote my blog. 

Before the show i had a vocal massage which reset my larynx to where it should naturally sit, which makes singing and speaking so much easier and it's healthier when it's placed properly to perform any show 8 times a week. So that got me fully back to normal and then I met my friend Aaron for a catch up coffee and we did a bit of shopping before I headed to work.

It was so good to get back to the show. I hated being away and when I started the opening number on Thursday night it was a little reminder just how much i enjoy this job. It was great to be back.

After the show i headed home to get a good night's rest with no talking and lots of water and sleep!!! Did me the world of good.

I woke on Friday morning and gave my flat a good clean before settling in my office space to do lots of research work.

Basically this Sunday i am recording a pilot for my own radio programme for the Welsh radio station BBC Radio Cymru.

For these of you who are wondering, a pilot is what you call a one off programme, be it Radio, T.V or whatever, where you use it as a trial to see how things work and also on most occasions it is used as a pitch to certain producers or companies to see if there's interest in developing the project further. So in this case, what we are doing is recording my programme to hopefully see if there's scope to get a regular series out of it.

I was approached about it a year ago and discussions and preparations and negotiations have been under way since then (now you see how everything takes so long!) - 

The idea is that 'Mark A'i Ffrindiau' (Mark And Friends) will be an informal music based programme in the Welsh language with light hearted interviews with studio guests where we also perform new and original songs as well new versions of classic songs live in the studio - kind of like a cross between Michael Ball's radio show and  Radio 1's Live Lounge. 

It's not all going to be musical theatre based and once the series is commissioned (thinking positive and hoping that it will be) the programme will be very different every time.

I have done so many radio interviews and I'm so excited to be on the other side this time hosting my own programme and to be able to have so much input and make it very personal.

I have two guests for the pilot. My main guest is the wonderfully talented and very beautiful Welsh musical theatre and T.V star Tara Bethan, who most recently played the Narrator on the tour of Joseph which she started immediately after being on the BBC show 'I'd Do Anything' where they were searching for Nancy in Oliver. We have so much in common and lots to chat about as we went to the same school and have worked together a few times and i also might have secretly managed to dish up some gossip on her! Mwahahahahaha!!!!

I would like to invite you to send in questions for Tara to my twitter account @MarkHEvans and whatever time I have on the programme I'll try and read them out then let you know the broadcast date. 

I will be asking her about her training and how she got to be so successful so if any of you (and I know of a lot of you who asked me will have…) have any questions about how to get a career in theatre/T.V then send them in for her.

So yes, that's what I was working on for most of Friday afternoon. I really enjoyed it.

HOLD IT…..My manager just got here - back in a bit…….

I'M BACK!!! - I'm now sat in my dressing room and am about to get the 15 minute call for tonight's show. 

Friday night after the show i had a couple of drinks with some of the cast which was nice. It was my chance to celebrate being healthy again! Ha

I had brunch with a friend before the two shows on Saturday and after the matinee I headed to Sainsbury's to stock up food and BBQ wise on behalf of myself, Ben Stott who plays Boq in the show and Charlotte Scott who's in the ensemble and covers Nessarose, for our Wicked camping weekend which was amazing.

I headed straight home after the show on Saturday and then Sunday morning I woke to sort a few last minute things out for the camping excursion before getting picked up by Nikki D-J and Ben Stott to head down to East Sussex.

There were 21 of us there from the Wicked company and I have to just say, if you ever want to go camping we'd all recommend Blackberry Wood where we were because it is a great little set up.

Our camp site was fab. It had a little communal area with a stone circle for a fire and some wooden benches in a big square - it reminded me of 'I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here'. We pitched our tents and a giant teepee in one part of the site and in another section a small walk away was a little adventure playground with zip wires, balance beams and tight ropes etc. 

It was a lot of fun and of course all of us got really competitive when trying to cross the tight rope - but I will take this moment to brag that I was infact the first person to cross it (never mind that lots of others managed it afterwards - I DID IT FIRST!) :) 

It was great that there was so many of us there for the weekend because we could occasionally split into little groups to go off for walks or play games or whatever. It was a stunning area with fields that had grass up to our knees, which we eventually all ended up playing frisbee in and getting lost in the grass whilst diving to catch the frisbee. Also when it got too dark we all wore glow sticks and attached glow sticks to the frisbee so we could see it fly. It was hilarious! Just looked like a load of weird little alien's moving around in the darkness.

We had also played a very competitive couple of games of rounders in a near by farmers field which was dreadfully uneven and resulted in many people falling and the rest of us laughing! We had a million rules for the game which no-one understood and it was just everyone shouting at each other and having lots of banter! Ha

I'm now in the interval of the show.

By the time it got to 7pm all I had really eaten was crisps and biscuits because we all decided to save our disposable BBQ's until the evening - Well I was feeling a little sick of junk and was craving proper food, and I have to say, mine, Charlotte and Ben's burgers, steaks and kebab's went down a treat with a little gin and ginger beer! Perfect camping combination.

I got really cold by the time it got late and couldn't sit close enough to the camp fire. It was fun though, all singing and playing games. It's so great to be a part of such a joyful happy sociable company and i'm so glad that our ace stand-by Elphaba, Nikki D-J decided to organise it. Hats off to her!!!

Slept relatively well in my new 3 man tent which was almost full of inflatable mattresses with just enough room for 3 people to wedge themselves in and then not be able to move for the entire night! ha. 

After breakfast and a general tidy up of the camp site which was quite frankly in a hideous state, I got a lift back to London town for a much needed shower. Now, now don't be rude - it wasn't because I was smelly, simply because we'd been out in the sun all day and my skin was as dry as a desert - so a freshen up was in order!

Then….I worked my a** off at the gym for 2 hours to ensure I didn't give the crisps and biscuits of the weekend a chance to make themselves at home on my body. HA

The show was good fun on Monday, every one was in great spirits after a fun weekend together.

I headed straight home on Monday night after the show and really appreciated my bedroom and bed and general lack of tent surrounding me! 

Woke up early on Tuesday as i had a vocal massage booked in in central London for 10am and then I spent the entire day until 4pm in various coffee shops re-scripting the radio pilot from the guide lines I'd been given by the producers - I wanted to do that to ensure it is very personal to me and that I add any little things that I want in there and then I called to pitch all my changes and alterations and final ideas to the company and they are very excited about recording it all this Sunday. Sh-boom!!!

I then headed to the gym to do a warm up before having my first session with a Personal Trainer who worked me really hard. I wanted to also chat to him about nutrition and my diet etc - I clearly decided not to mention the indulgence of the weekend! Haha. I found the session really beneficial as I basically wanted some new ideas for my workouts cos I was getting bored!

After Tuesday night's show, we had a reception in the front of the theatre as there were about 280 people who had come on an excursion with Whatsonstage.com and it was lovely to meet many of the loyal fans. What I always really appreciate is people who are so polite and patient - I always ensure that whenever I can, I take my time when meeting fans and anyone who supports me and the show and Tuesday was a pleasure. Hi to all of you who are reading this who came on Tuesday and i'm glad you all enjoyed the show.

After that, I had promised to go and say hello to my auntie who had come to see the show with 10 of her friends from her W.I (Women's Institute) from North Wales and they were such wonderful ladies. I felt like i was with the 'Calendar Girls' and was contemplating taking all my clothes off and covering my nipples with the crockery on the table! (If you ain't seen 'calendar girls' I reckon that last sentence you just read will be a good contender for my most random comment ever made in a blog!!!) 

I was only going to say a quick hello then run for my train but they were so nice and really appreciated me being there so I sat and had a glass of wine with them and got a later train home after answering all of their questions about the show and how it works and they were so interested! 

I'm trying to persuade my mum to bring her W.I down!!!

So yesterday morning (Wednesday) before the two shows i went to Sainsburys and bought lots of good food and spent the morning preparing packed lunches and salads and meals etc - then left for work, realising once I'd sat on the train that I'd left every ounce of the food I'd prepared…..in the fridge!!!!! Oh well never mind.

Last night I had some friends watching the show which was nice - Christopher Biggins, Nathan Amzi and David Bedella - all of whom i worked with on The Rocky Horror Show so Charlotte (from Wicked who also did Rocky with us) and I met our friend Haley after the show and we all went for a lovely meal in Sophie's Restaurant in Covent Garden.

What a great night!

Which brings us to today… I came into town to give a statement to a guy from the British Transport Police about my phone and then headed into meet my manager Rebecca which is where I was when I began writing this edition of my blog!!! 

So thanks for reading, again! Hi to all newbies who might be reading this for the first time - if you wanna catch up on what I've been up to since September then have a read through all the blogs - ooh i wonder what I should do when it gets to September this year and i will have been writing them for a year!?!?!?! I will be so happy when that day comes. I had never really been into writing until I launched my blogs last year and I love it now - I find it very relaxing and a good way of documenting what I've been up to in my crazy busy little day to day life.

Get in touch on Twitter if you don't already @MarkHEvans and also get those questions in for Tara and the radio pilot! 

Keep smiling people and if you ever need a lift I can recommend listening to the song 'I Got Life' from the most recent broadway cast recording of HAIR! It puts me in a good mood and reminds me to feel gratitude for everything I have and not to dwell on what's maybe missing in life! How deep! HAHAHA

Till next time

Sh-boom!!!

Mark

BLOG 42 - A week of extremes!!!

Hi Everyone,

Happy Thursday ,

How you all doing? Hope you've had a good week. I am sat looking out the window at what is the first dull day in quite some time. Is that the end to the wonderful sunshine? Hope not.

So it's been a funny old week really. I had a really busy weekend and then the last couple of days I have had no voice and been on complete shut down trying to get some rest so it's a blog of extremes this week.

Let's start with last Thursday - I reckon there was only about 20 minutes of Thursday left by the time I'd published last week's BLOG. It was a manic day and once i got to my friend Sally's I went online to upload the blog then ate about 5 slices of toast because I'd not been feeling too great during the show and wasn't hungry then was just completely ravenous by that time. Then we took 15 minutes to listen to the song I was recording with her the next morning then we both just headed to bed. Tired after a really busy day.

Friday morning I woke at about 8.30am to watch the coverage of the Royal Wedding - I surprised myself at how interested I was in the wedding. I found it really exciting that something so hugely positive was happening in the city that I live in and in our country - In a world and time of too much doom and gloom I was inspired by everyones celebrations of two people completely besotted with each other getting married and doing it with the perfect wedding.

I could only watch the footage until 10am because then we had to leave to go to the recording studio to work on the track I was duetting on with Sally for her EP. So I more or less missed the entire wedding. haha. We took a 2 minute break to see what she looked like getting out the car and then back to work. 

I was a bit rubbish that morning. My voice had decided it wanted to sit and watch the royal wedding and though my brain and body were trying to persuade it to work properly, i think it was having a bit of a tantrum and was pretty determined not to sound good - ha, but we got there eventually and Sally's EP is going to sound amazing. Very proud of her!

So we had finished by 2pm then I went to meet a couple of mates for a late lunch before heading into Victoria (where Wicked is) - dropped off my bags in my room then decided to walk the short distance to the Mall and outside Buckingham Palace to soak up a bit of the amazing atmosphere that was still buzzing by 4.30pm. One thing I was so impressed with was that by 4pm (only 2 hours after the wedding had all finished) the Evening Standard newspaper had printed and dispatched their Royal Wedding collectors edition which was full from front to back with pictures of the wedding and all the correct info on what happened when and who arrived with who, wearing what etc etc. Now that is some incredible planning and work well done I say.

So after I got back from B'ham Palace I picked up a paper and a slice of carrot cake (yum) and went to sit in my dressing room watching highlights of the wedding for an hour before I had to head onto stage to Warm Up for the show.

That evening it really hit me that I actually get paid to be a prince as my job. Fiyero Tigelaar (my character) is what the script refers to as a 'winkified prince', so Friday evening I was inspired by Prince William in my stance and physicality and had prince Harry's mischievousness which I felt worked well for Fiyero! Ha.

After the show I headed home for a good night's sleep after a long day.

Saturday morning I woke and decided to go for a swim before work to energise myself. It was lovely - I had the pool to myself and did a good 50 lengths. Then i went into the building and there was a slight nervous air around the building because the choreographer of Wicked was in to watch the matinee - and when I say nervous, I think it's more adrenaline because Wayne Cilento is an INCREDIBLE man. His work on this show is amazing and one of the biggest perks of being a part of the company is that when we rehearsed and worked with Wayne you get to see those moments where he demonstrated the choreography and you see exactly what he wants and the meaning behind it all and how it's layered with so much thought - the musical staging in this show is so much more than just movement for movement's sake, which is what i think it takes to create a masterpiece which I honestly believe is what Wicked is, which is the reason I'm so proud to be associated with it.

So after the matinee Wayne was very happy with the show. There are many productions of Wicked worldwide and he said he's always delighted to see the London production and it's always in such 'good shape' - Wicked is going into it's 5th year in London and it's more popular than ever. Isn't that incredible. 

After the evening show on Saturday i was straight home, watched an episode of grey's anatomy and then headed to bed 'cause I had the longest journey in the history of any journey ever made to do the next day - ok so that's dramatic. I was taking my family to watch the last show of the Dancing On Ice Live Tour as a treat and to thank them for supporting my good friends Laura and Colin who were runner's up in the T.V show. So I needed to get to Manchester, having said I'd take them there as it's closest to them in North Wales and for me it takes about 2 hours from Euston on the train - and in true panto style…. OH NO IT DIDN'T! Maybe that's how long it should take normally but on the Sunday of the Royal Wedding bank holiday…..oh no! 

I had to wake at 7am to get a train into London then 2 tubes to Paddington, then a train from there to Reading and then a 4 hour train to Manchester!!! Boo!!! - No actually it wasn't too painful. I read my book, slept a lot, watched an episode of Grey's Anatomy (and cried - I never really cry at T.V/films but it was a great episode) then i arrived.

I met my family for a lovely late lunch (mum, sis, bro in law, auntie & uncle) and then we headed back stage at the M.E.N so I could introduce them to Laura and Colin and also to Chris Biggins who my mum just adored. My sister and I were sat next to each other and devoured a bag of cadbury's nibbles and a bag of winegums before the show had even started. The show was great. I can't get over the professional skaters being so good. When they come out and do their partner work it's just breathtaking. It makes me wanna get up and have a go but i know that I'd just be like Bambi and absolutely stack it on the ice! 

It was clearly a very emotional night for a lot of the cast because it was their last day with the people they've spent the last 7 months skating with - it reminded me of finishing a job, you always feel relieved that it's over but quite emotional that it's the end of an era. It gets much easier with the more work you do. You kind of have to just think 'on to the next thing' otherwise you'd be depressed all the time.

After the show we went back to see Colin and Laura and Biggins, to thank them for a great night and then we got into the people carrier my uncle had borrowed for the day - baring in mind my sister and I wanted to have a good catch up so we sat in the back where there was barely enough room for one 7 year old let alone two rather tall adults! It was a rather uncomfortable journey, but we had a good chat. My sister is one of my best friends - only trouble is I don't see her nearly enough so moments like that are great to fill each other in on any gossip!!!

When I got home everyone went to bed but my Dad had waited up so I sat and had a chat with him for about n hour and a half, which ended in me taking pictures of us with my iphone using the 'fat-booth' app which takes a normal picture and then changes it to make you very fat. Well my Dad and i nearly died laughing - seriously, he's a heavy smoker and couldn't breath. Ha. Just kidding. It was great to have time to chill and laugh together though because we are both always so busy that it rarely happens.

That night I slept in my old bed - nothing better.

Woke early Monday so i could fit in an hour with my nieces just chilling in their half built playroom - my bro in law is constructing a playroom and they like being in there even though it's just bricks and concrete at the moment! I adore them.

I then got the train back to Euston and had to rush down to the theatre where I had arranged to meet the Musical Director of my Album to discuss orchestrations and arrangment ideas and i got very excited. He is a great guy named John Quirke and has some cracking ideas to make the album as good as it can possibly be musically. 

I just can't wait to get in the studio and start singing my little head off!!!

After the show on Monday night my voice was really delicate and felt like it was about to disappear so i headed straight home to rest it and had been drinking so much water i was in the bathroom all night. However, I woke on Tuesday and had to accept the fact that part my singing voice had gone and that it was not wise for me to be singing on it so I had to take time off from work which I hate doing and very rarely have to do - especially vocally. I am one of those lucky people who can usually get through anything singing wise but I knew that I needed to give it some time to rest. So the lest two days have been pretty boring really. Talking as little as possible. I have seen a couple of friends but had to let them talk at me instead of being able to engage in conversation and basically give myself time to recover. As soon as I let myself stop i just felt exhausted and I have never drunk as much water as I have done this week. I am, as you know, a busy person who is always in control so to have to sit and do nothing was pretty rare but i embraced it and i think it's done me the world of good and I'm heading back to work tonight. Sh-boom!

Thanks to all of you who sent messages over the last couple of days. I really appreciate them. I'm not the sort of person to broadcast any negativity so I just decided to keep off the radar a little until I could be myself!!!

So I woke today and I'm heading to the gym for a steam and for a good old vocal massage to reset things to where they should be and then I'm meeting a mate to chat and warm up the clack for tonights show!!!

Still got lots of things coming up in the near future which I am excited to tell you about and will do when i can. Manic summer kicks off in about two weeks!!! Bring it on!!!

Keep your messages and tweets heading in folks cos I love them and love hearing from you. 

Check out my new YouTube channel for any videos I will be adding will officially be embedded here!

http://www.youtube.com/markevansonlinetv

And I think that's about it. 

Enjoy your week until the next BLOG!!! 

Keep smiling

SH-BOOM!!!

Mark