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
