BLOG 58!!! Nudity, Guitar lessons & more ballet!

Hey Everyone,

Happy Thursday.

So the last time I blogged I was heading to a contemporary ballet class last Thursday and surprise surprise I'm going again today which is why this blog is again posted pretty ealry in the day. 

My body is being put through a lot of hard work by my brain at the moment but it's all good and I'm enjoying getting back into training myself again!

So the class on Thursday was pretty intense but because it's early in the day it makes you feel really motivated and you finish and it's still only midday so the day can be enjoyed. So after the class my friend and I went for lunch to my favourite little cute cafe, Bills in Covent Garden and then I had to head to the theatre for an afternoon of press and media stuff. 

The afternoon started with a photo shoot for a magazine, which I'd requested to style myself, so took a suit case full of my clothes into the theatre and ended up only wearing a couple of pairs of trousers and one shirt and a t-shirt because the rest of the time I was wearing a little less…you'll see the pictures when the magazine is out! It was bizarre though because the shoot was done in the auditorium so I was getting changed there, and at one point I was chatting to a couple of the stage management folks from the show whilst changing and suddenly it hit me, I was sat literally just in my underwear in the auditorium of one of the biggest West End theatres in London! The best thing about it is the thought of all those people who are now sitting there night after night and they'll never know that Fiyero was there in his skanties a few days back! I will never reveal which seat number! Hahahaha.

After the photo shoot there were interviews for the magazine, online stuff, the Wicked site, and lots of general stuff so it was a pretty busy afternoon but I enjoy all of that because i am so proud of WICKED as a show and really enjoy playing Fiyero in it so it is easy to chat about it in interviews and be really genuine and not feel like I have to 'promote' it and say good things about it, I just do naturally!

Afterwards I grabbed some food before the show and then headed straight home after the performance to chill out. 

Friday morning I woke and spent 2 hours listening to the mixes of all my album tracks and was making tiny little specific notes and tweaks and changes to send to the label to make sure that each track is mixed to perfection as far as my personal opinion is concerned. That was actually quite exhausting but it was good to get it done. So excited about the album release. So close to telling you about the launch. Hopefully within the next week I'll have enough information to tell you what we're doing. The album is released on October 17th!!!!!!

On Friday afternoon I headed to a studio in East London to do a photo shoot for Louise Dearman's new companion (I play opposite Louise in Wicked incase you don't know her by her name). I was one of a few people at the shoot who were all friends of mine so it was a nice chilled out afternoon where we got to have a laugh and wear nice clothes! 

Afterwards I headed straight to work for the show.

Saturday morning I woke, did a little work and headed into town. I actually completely changed my route into work so that I could get off the tube at St.James Park to go to that branch of Sainsbury's because they stock the Quorn equivalent to chicken breasts which I know is really random but I'm a little bit addicted to it! I love chicken but since having this stuff I feel it digests better - any of you veggies out there agree? I asked my personal trainer if it still has the same protein intake and he said it should do so I am now a fan of quorn breasts - but can only find them in that one shop!

That was a random subject to write about - I'm a weirdo! 

Saturday's shows were great. After the evening performance I went for a few drinks to the Plaza Hotel near our theatre with a few people from the cast who I don't get to see much of because our social lives clash and it was lovely!

Sunday morning I headed into meet Ben, Zoe, Paul and Nick from the show as we were all travelling down to Chichester together to see the production of 'Singin' In The Rain' at the Festival Theatre. We had such a fun day. Lots of laughs, beers and good times. The sun was blazing and it made me want to get up on stage with the cast and dance in the rain. Andrew Wright the choreographer of the show, who I have worked with a few times, has done a fantastic job of the choreography and it was executed perfectly by a very talented cast. There was such a strong ensemble in the show! I was very impressed with them.

After the show I got to say a quick hello to a few friends who were in it and then we had a couple more drinks before heading back to London on the train.

When I got in I watched a couple of DVDs of live music concerts as inspiration for a festival I'm doing this Sunday - The 'Festival Of Hope' in North Wales. I'm rehearsing for it with my dancers tomorrow and can't wait to get up there and perform. It is completely different performing, at events like this as oppose to theatre or T.V stuff, I like the challenge of having to really get the audience involved and that's why it's great to watch other masters work their magic - hence the DVDs.

I love learning things and soaking up valuable information (clearly, as I'm heading to a ballet class!)

Monday morning I woke nice and early to sort a few things in my flat before practising my guitar for 20 minutes because i had arranged to have my first ever guitar lesson at 11am that day. So I left the house and got on the train two stops over to where I needed to be to head down to 'Twang Guitars' music shop in Penge. I arrived at 10.50am nice and early and very keen and said to the guy behind the counter, I'm here to see Phil for a guitar lesson. The conversation then went as follows:

Man behind counter: "Erm I don't think so, phil just left and he said he'd be back at two!"

Mark: No he can't have, i'm booked in for 11"

Man behind counter: "Oh right……." (long pause)

Mark: "Should i maybe call his mobile?"

Man behind counter: "Yeah you might wanna give that a try"

(Mark produces his phone and searches for the number and presses 'call')

RING RING, RING RING

Female Voice: "'Ello"

Mark: Hi is that Phil? (knowing full well it wasn't)

Female voice: "No it's his wife…who's that"

Mark: "My name is Mark, Evans, i have a guitar lesson booked with Phil in 4 minutes"

(She mumbles to phil who is clearly driving the car)

Female voice: Oh right erm, well you see, what with everything going on this morning, he's erm, he's erm..

Mark: "Forgotten?"

Female voice: "Yes he's forgotten…..erm…..would you like him to….."

Mark: "No that's fine thanks. Have a good day"

(Mark exits the shop clutching his guitar)

I decided to laugh as oppose to being angry but thinking back it really isn't very good is it?! And what's worse is that i haven't heard from Phil himself to apologise. How funny! So…..if any of you know of a guitar teacher in London then let me know!

I decided to then head to my dressing room and play the guitar for an hour myself before heading to a ballet class.

The class was really hard on Monday and i felt like a 6ft 2 giant prancing around looking like an ape who'd dropped a breeze block on both of his feet! Very elegant. I still enjoyed it however as I like a challenge. 

After ballet I met my friend Lucie and we had a Starbucks in a little park and a great catch up before i headed to work for the show!

Tuesday I woke and had a rather chilled out morning before heading into town to have a meeting with my manager and a couple of people which was great. Discussing life beyond Wicked on December 10th etc. Exciting times! 

After that I headed to the gym to meet my personal trainer Fraser who is setting up his own website soon, and when it's done i shall be blogging about it for sure because he's a great trainer and I would highly recommend him to anyone interested! After my session I had a swim and a steam before heading to my dressing room to strum my guitar a little before work!

The show was good then I headed home and started reading a book called 'Being An Actor' by Simon Callow which I bought a few weeks back. I read about three pages before being interrupted by a phone call but I reckon i'm going to like it - i'll let you know what I think when I'm a little further into it.

Before the matinee on Wednesday (yesterday) I met a lovely friend, Michelle who I worked with on 'Oklahoma' last year and we had a good catch up. Working in London really is a joy when you can squeeze time in to see friends. After the matinee we did a question and answer session with some kids and their parents/minders which was lovely. One very young boy asked "How do all the hard things work?", what he meant was, how does Elphaba fly and how does the Glinda bubble work and the big Oz Head in the wizard's palace scenes - we all thought it was very sweet!

After last night's show I was very tempted to say 'sod going to ballet in the morning i'll go out for a few drinks tonight' but then i remembered about my gig this Sunday so thought it's best to be a good boy and not go out drinking so that I can be on top form on the weekend! I realise I haven't done a VLOG in a couple of weeks. I will try and get enough footage of the gig on Sunday to create a VLOG about it and hopefully get it out for next week.

What did you think of my first ever newsletter that went out yesterday? Let me know! I have announced a competition to name my guitar so start sending your guitar names into my Facebook page and when I receive one I like I will officially announce the name of my guitar and who the individual is that suggested that name!

And that's it I suppose. I'm off to limber up at Pineapple! 

I hope you've all had a good week. Keep loving your lives because it's aaaaaaaall good!!!

Big smiles

Sh-boom!!!

Mark

BLOG 57!!! Includes a exclusive announcement!

Morning Everyone,

Happy Thursday. 

Hope you're all doing well today and have had a good week since my last Blog. It's A level results day today right?! Good luck to all of you who are waiting to hear.

Last Thursday I was right in the thick of it with my summer school West End In Wales. 

On that day we started piecing the show together and it was a very exciting day seeing everything that was to be in the showcase come together but by the end of the day we realised we still had a lot of work to do to get the showcase to the standard set in previous years. We ended the day by heading home to reschedule the friday so we could utilise all the possible time that we had and then we went out for our staff meal. 

Every year on the Thursday night of the summer school, I organise a night out for everyone who works for me on the course and my mum came along too so there were 9 of us, and it was one of the most fun nights out I'd had in a long time. The whole group I had working on the course this year were amazingly talented and great teachers but more importantly from a sanity point of view, they were a real laugh to be around. Sally and Drew who are two good friends of mine were both staying at my parents farm with me too so that was lovely. Mum did all the cooking and really looked after us - she really is amazing, and then we just had lots of time to work on the summer school but we also had lots of time for chatting and relaxing and almost turning ourselves inside out from laughing so much. Good times!

So the Thursday night was fab. There was lots of wine consumed but I felt fresh as a daisy on Friday morning and it was a very successful day with two great dress rehearsals of the showcase and everyone was in good stead for the last day of the course on Saturday.

Friday nights are always late during the West End In Wales week as we have to print off, sign and laminate a certificate for every student, fine tune everything with the technical running order and then battle it out between us over who we think deserves one of the awards during the presentation. We handed out 13 awards for various different achievements after the show case on the Saturday.

So I woke Saturday morning after about 4 hours sleep and we headed to the venue to rally up the students and get them geared up for a fab performance and that it was. They did two shows and they were excellent in both. I always  feel so proud. When I look at all the young people in front of me giving it so much on the stage and seeing their passion really reminds me of how I used to be at that age and I feel so lucky to have carved out a career for myself in this difficult industry and feel lucky to be working in such an exciting art form….not that it hasn't come without ridiculous amounts of hard work mind!

I presented the awards and certificates after the second showcase and then it took us about an hour to do the get out from the venue and head back to my folks' farm (The Ranch). 

My film crew for the T.V documentary were filming me on the first and last day of the summer school, and on the last day they were asking lots of questions about why I set up the course, and what memories does it bring back and how it makes me feel seeing my business venture thrive now that it's in it's 5th year, and i actually got pretty emotional….(probably just 'cause I'd only slept for 4 hours the night before and I was drained of everything within) - but I have never felt as passionate about anything as I do West End In Wales and it is very important to me to try and help young aspiring performers and to try and inspire them to do what they want instead of feeling they need to 'fit in' with what's 'normal'!

Saturday night, all the staff (apart from Sally who went to Spain and Manon who had work to do) came up to The Ranch along with all of my family, so there were about 24 people in total and I provided a chinese banquet for everyone - by that I mean I ordered in from a lovely place nearby….I certainly didn't cook chinese food myself for 24 people after a week of West End In Wales.

It was really good food and we had been given many thank you gifts from the students in alcohol form (champagne, asti, wine etc etc) which was devoured entirely by the end of the night so the atmosphere was lovely!

During the evening, the weather was so nice and the location of the farm is so unbelievably picturesque that I decided to take Drew and Gareth who'd been teaching for me, on my Dad's quad bike up and around some of the hills. As Drew said, it's like your continuously driving through a beautiful painting. I love being from North Wales and from the Vale of Clwyd particularly.

We then took the bike in the field so Drew and Gareth could both have a go at driving it. It was really funny and we laughed a lot, particularly as I accidentally put my hand in a load of cow s**t! Hahaha! Nothing like being on the farm!

It wasn't too late a night. It ended in watching the amazing film 'Mona Lisa Smile' which has some of the best cinematography ever. Really great film. It was a wonderful last night of the summer school week.

Sunday morning Drew, Gareth and I got an early train back to London then I popped home to sort a few things out and have a little hour to myself to think over the manic week I'd just had then I set off into town to watch a show called 'Dames At Sea' which Drew (from the summer school) has choreographed and my friend Gemma Sutton is playing the lead in it. We played opposite each other as Curly and Laurey in Oklahoma last year. She was wonderful on Sunday, she's so talented and certainly was the star of the show. I really enjoyed it all and Drew's work on it was fantastic. He is going to be the next big thing as far as choreographers are concerned I guarantee! I would put money on him being the most in demand choreographer around in no more than 5 years time! Just you wait and see!

Had a good few wines after the show then headed home for a good sleep! I was well and truly drained. Seriously didn't have a drop of energy left in me.

Woke monday morning and headed over to see my friend Haley as I hadn't seen her for a good catch up for a couple of weeks then I went to do a ballet class at Pineapple Dance Studios. Yes…you heard me….A BALLET CLASS!!! I have been meaning to get back to do some technical classes for some time now and I have a little more time for myself and what I want to do over the next 4 weeks so I am getting back into training, which I believe is very important if you want to be the best you possibly can be. So it was my first ballet class in 6 years and it was great! I'm actually going to another one this morning. Contemporary ballet. Can't wait. Then I have a photo shoot and interviews etc all afternoon for a big magazine feature which I'm unsure if I'm to talk about but you'll see it eventually - so today is busy, which is why this blog is uploaded so early.

After the class on Monday I met my manager to touch base on all we need to do for different things and she could tell I'd had a long week cos she was like "you need some sugar!" haha. I think it was more the ballet that sapped my energy though.

It was weird getting back to work on monday night. I think because I'd been so busy, I hadn't had a moment to think about the show at all, so it actually felt like I'd been away about a month and not just a week. The lights seemed really bright, the sound seemed really loud and it was just generally quite bizarre. I also fell over in the opening AGAIN…which made my day 'cause it was hilarious. I love being able to laugh at myself when things go wrong! 

It was lovely to get back to work though. I was definitely refreshed after the week off and also very inspired after spending a week with young people who are desperate to be doing what we as a company here are doing every day which is working on a west end stage, and it filled me with gratitude, and for those of you who have read The Secret which is the book I adore, you'll know that the feeling of gratitude and love puts you in a very positive frame of mind

Then with that positive mindset I went to stay with my mate Haley and her lovely sitter Gem which was great.

Woke Tuesday and had a very lazy morning before heading into have a training session with my personal trainer then a deep stretch session then a swim before getting my hair cut at work and then did the show.

Got home on Tuesday night and there was a CD waiting for my in my mail which contained 11 of the 12 tracks on my album and they were all in the right order and so I decided to play them on my T.V so the sound was really good and I just sat there and listened through what is nearly my entire album and it felt incredible. After all the hard work I've put into it, it is all worth it. I specifically picked songs that would create a variety of music styles when people listen to the entire album from beginning to end and last night it proved to me that I have made the right decision to do that because it definitely kept me really interested all the way through, so when you all hear it for the first time I really hope you're going to love it - it really is very personal and each song is on there for a definite reason which will all be revealed within the CD inlay!

I woke yesterday morning (Wednesday) and played the album loud again whilst I got ready to head out to meet me friend Dom who's in Legally Blonde the musical and about to start We Will Rock You rehearsals, and we had a good catch up over brunch. Then after the matinee I met my mate Joe who was Will Parker in Oklahoma and we had dinner. He and his friend David (who is also an actor) have a board game they've devised and had manufactured last year, which is brilliant. They worked on it for a long time and launched it late last year. It has sold thousands of copies and has been picked up by some fantastic retail companies and is also available from their website www.gameforfame.co.uk! 'Game For Fame' is such a laugh, we played it on tour and had such fun. Highly recommended if you like games or if you want to buy someone a really cool and original present! Check it out!!!

After the show last night I came home to chill and get a good nights sleep so I was ready for my dance class this morning. I've had a good breakfast to get me going and I'm really looking forward to it.

And finally………… I have an announcement to make. My album is officially going to be available to buy on……… MONDAY OCTOBER 17th. So get yourselves ready cos I really think you'll like it. We have decided to release it slightly later for a couple of reasons which you'll find out soon enough. But for now, just know that you will be able to download it and buy it in CD form on October 17th……..And for all of you wonderful people who keep tweeting me about the album, I'll start the countdown on your behalf…..it will be out in officially 60 days from today! 

And that brings me to the end of this week's blog. I hope you enjoyed it. Whilst your reading it, picture me sweating my rear end off in a ballet class. Just call me Billy!

Keep smiling folks, because everything about life is indeed wonderful!!! 

Sh-boom!

Mark

PS - Newsletter is in the process of creation and will be released VERY soon so if you haven't already, then sign up to the mailing list on the left hand side of this blog!

BLOG 56!!! Summer School Madness!!!

Hey Everyone,

Happy Thursday

How you all doing? I am sat here in my old bed in my folks house in North Wales. Just writing a brief blog this week as I am super crazy busy with everything for West End In Wales. I am writing this on Wednesday evening because I am having to get up at 6.45 to head to the venue of the summer school tomorrow morning (Thursday). 

So what's been happening this week. Thursday I had a full day of preparation for my summer school before heading into the Victoria Palace Theatre to film an interview with a couple of the young actors currently playing Billy & Debbie in Billy Elliot so I could include it in a video montage of west end interviews for my students this week and also to be hosted on the new look website - WHICH IS NOW LIVE FOR YOU TO LOOK AT! - Click www.WestEndinWales.com for the new look website and for lots of information on theatre etc. It is early days and once this summer school is over I shall be adding so much more to it so you can enjoy browsing it.

I then did the show before heading home to enjoy a bottle of champagne with my flatmate as I finally gave myself some time to celebrate the fact that I have released my first ever single and that it got to number 5 in the itunes world music charts. It was a lovely chilled out evening!

If you want to have a listen to the single check out my new look Facebook page which now has a 'band page' which hosts all music and videos you would want to see. 

I'm still listening to mixes of my album and I'm looking forward to you hearing it. We're in discussions currently about a definite launch date depending on when we can fit in the launch udders we have. You will be the first to know  - providing you have popped your email in my mailing list which is on the left hand side of this BLOG page.

So Friday I realised I was ahead of myself with the planning for the summer school so I cleaned my flat and packed up for my week in Wales so that i didn't have to do it last minute. I get a kick out of being organised because i always have so much to do that when i find myself having completed most things - it means I finally get some time to myself without working.

I then went to meet my friend Nathan on his lunch break from Rock Of Ages rehearsals to discuss things for the website launch and we ended up going for lunch with a few of the cast including my friend Oliver Tompsett who is playing the lead in it which is worth buying a ticket for alone and Justin Lee Collins and Shane Ward. Having seen the show on Broadway twice and seen the cast list for the London production, I would seriously recommend you get your tickets booked asap.

Friday night's show was great. I headed home for a good nights sleep before heading into work on Saturday to be told that we had some VIP guests in watching the matinee and there were lots of security going to be involved…..Well it was only Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and the family. We were all thrilled that they were in. I never get star struck ever. But I had a sudden thought before going on stage that, i have seen so much of their work and loved them as actors but you never expect that people like that will ever really be in a position to experience your work as an actor and there they both were with the kids watching us in the show. Put us all in a very good mood. 

I then went for dinner with my mate Sally (who is teaching for me this week and who is a god send!) in between shows before having a little guitar session with Rachel in the show. Then had a very buzzing second show - I always have more adrenalin when I perform my last show before having anytime off. It's because I love the show and it's like my body and mind's way of telling me to make the most of it.

Sally stayed at my place in London on Saturday night so we could both travel up together early Sunday morning.

My mate Aimee collected us from the station and drove us back to my folks' place - aka The Ranch, where Sally and Aimee both worked for me on the summer school preparations all afternoon whilst I was filming with my camera crew for my T.V documentary for 4 hours of the afternoon. They were asking all about my childhood and all about how i felt leaving home and how it is now that it's been 10 years and all about my summer school and it was the most glorious weather all afternoon, so it was a really nice filming session as I got to literally sit in fields up in the hills over looking the most breath taking scenery which made me realise just how lucky i am to have been born and raised in such a beautiful area and how privileged i am to have such an escape to return to.

I finished filming just as my other friend and teacher for this weeks course arrived - Drew Mconie, who i have know for 6 years, but to you he's probably recognisable after having a successful stint on the BBC's first series of 'So You Think You Can Dance'. He is incredibly talented and i am thrilled that he was available to come and teach for me because the students on my course are loving working with such and inspiring talented person.

I am very proud of all of my staff. On Sunday evening we had a staff meeting just so I could brief everyone and so that we were all on the same page and i looked around at the wonderful talent that was sat before me and thought, "My goodness I really wish that there was something like West End In Wales available for me when i was growing up because I'd have loved to work with these people" - And that's the exact reason I set it up.

So that takes me into Monday which was the beginning of the course and basically, I am not going to mention too much about the summer school because when i get the chance i will edit a big video montage and VLOG about it all, but just know that I am having a great time, the students we have are very talented and a joy to teach and I cannot wait to get the proud feeling i always get when I watch them perform the showcase on Saturday.

I shall be back in London on Sunday and back to WICKED on Monday which means i shall be back to my normal social network self. I have VERY limited internet access here in the hills and barely have a second to breath while i'm at the summer school venue. Thanks for all your tweets and messages of support and also for your concern for my safety during all these horrendous attacks in London. I cannot begin to tell you how disgusted I am at the low life scum who are ruining some of the best cities in the UK - i mainly can't begin to tell you because i will never shut up and I am already about to fall asleep on the keypad of my laptop.

Keep loving your lives people and keep thinking positive. Let's prove that there is more good than bad in life, in this country and on this planet. 

Thanks for reading.

Keep smiling.

Sh-boom!

Mark 

Blog 55!!! Just a little launch of my debut single!

Hi everyone,

Happy Thursday.

Hope you've all had a good week. It's been nice weather eh?!

So it has been a very eventful week for me. My single was released on Monday and it hit number 5 in the itunes world music charts! I am absolutely delighted and can't thank you enough if you  bought it. The reaction from you all has been amazing and it has filled me with reassurance that it's all been worth it - Having had so much time passed since we agreed to do an album (last September) I have made every creative decision myself from themes to song choices, and all the text for the sleeve and choosing the photographer and the final pictures etc, so when the time finally came for it to go public, i think it's only natural that i started to wonder, my god what if no one likes it?! Ha. But I am very proud of it and am so delighted that so many of you say you keep playing both tracks over and over. Sh-boom!

So last Thursday….. my goodness what did I do. I seriously cannot remember. Ah yes that's right, I worked solid on the summer school all morning before heading out to buy lots of sheet music for the showcase. I also picked up a guitar song book with 20 songs in it that only use the same four chords so I was excited to get back to the theatre to see if I could play them, so after meeting my friend Haley for a quick hello and catch up and then dropping off an opening night card to the Trafalgar Studios for my good friend Ashleigh (who has duetted with me on my album) as she opened in a musical comedy entitled 'Betwixed' - GO SEE IT!!!, I then headed back to the theatre, picked up my guitar and strummed out the best rendition of Dolly Parton's 'Jolene' that I possible could (with a good few pauses for my fingers to find the right strings). Then I did the show.

On friday I yet again, worked hard on my summer school stuff all morning before meeting a great friend of mine Edwin and his best friend Jo as I needed to pick something up off them and it was lovely to catch up. Then I went to the Novello Theatre to see my friend Hollie Taylor who's currently performing in Betty Blue Eyes. I interviewed her for our new West End In Wales website which is launched on Monday, and then we had a good old catch up putting the world to right. I adore her - what a lovely friend!

During the interval of Wicked i also interviewed Sean Parkins who is our Dance Captain and Swing, which will also be hosted on the new look westendinwales.com site soon!

After the show on Friday I headed home to properly work out my busy weekend in my head. 

I woke Saturday morning to do even more work on the summer school before heading in for the matinee. In between shows I was busy editing a very special video for all the lucky students signed up for my summer school - which starts ON MONDAY!!! 

Then did the evening show before heading home to use my flatmate's styling advice to help me decide what to wear for the Festival on Monday. It all started by me saying "Fish…(that's what we call each other….long story) what does one wear to a launch for their debut single?"  He laughed at me and then I put on a little fashion show and decided to just go with a smart casual look which you'll see in this weeks video blog! 

After pulling out most of my wardrobe to create potential launch outfits I then had to tidy up, pack my bags and get to sleep as I had an early start to get back to Wales on Sunday morning.

Sunday morning i woke at 7am and headed home to North Wales, well actually only went as far as Chester where my friend Aimee picked me up and we went shopping for props and costumes for the summer school before heading home for me to see my family (especially my amazing nieces) and had some tea. 

In the early evening I needed to have a meeting with someone very talented in the local area in North Wales who you'll be seeing more of in the future (I'm saying no more) to discuss a few business things. It was a very lovely evening.

Aimee and I then went back to my folks place (The Ranch) for me to rehearse my songs for the launch and for us to do some work on the summer school. We were working on it whilst watching the T.V tribute to Amy Winehouse - It's absolutely devastating isn't it?! What a dreadful shame. Ridiculously talented and what a troubled life which ended too early.

We then waited until just gone midnight to check out my single on itunes and amazon. It was a great moment. Seeing my first single available to buy! Then immediately once midnight struck my twitter account went wild with people saying they were downloading the two tracks and listening to them and enjoying them and retweeting the links etc - I am so lucky to have such supportive fans!!! Thank you so much.

So Monday's launch you can check out on my VLOG:

http://vimeo.com/27270618  (Copy & paste it into your search bar)

Immediately after I stepped off stage I said farewell to my family and was then ushered into a taxi to the train satiation at 2.30pm to get back to London in time to do the evening performance at WICKED. I was tired to say the least! Great day though! On the train journey back I took the time to answer a very well researched interview for London Theatre. They'd really done their homework - asking very thorough questions and it was a pleasure to answer to someone who'd invested such effort into the interview. Here is the link to the interview if you want to have a read.

http://www.lastminutetheatretickets.com/blog/index.php/6811/interview-with-mark-evans-fiyero-in-wicked-the-musical/

While i was in Wales I was doing some promotion for the GWYL GOBAITH (Festival Of Hope) which is an English & Welsh language open air music festival which I've mentioned a couple of times which I'll be doing on August 28th. Get your tickets. It's a wonderful night and a great atmosphere. Everyone sits around with their picnic tables and chairs set up and picnic blankets and takes over this giant land. A few thousand people attend so don't miss out! I can't wait!

After the show I went home and my brother was there with his girlfriend waiting for me as I'd given him my spare set of keys to let himself in. They just came down for a couple of days to enjoy London!

I spent Tuesday morning doing a lot more West End In Wales work before meeting the acting coach of the course, Gareth Aled who's been regularly working as an actor at The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden this year. It was a great meeting, he inspires me let alone the students of the course! We are on the same wave length as far as educating students is concerned which is why he's the perfect staff member for my course.

Afterwards I shopped for more sheet music and other things I needed before meeting my personal trainer at the gym who worked me so hard that it even hurts my man boobs to type this now - two days later! It was a great session and good to get me focused!

Then I had a meeting with the musical director of the summer school to brief her on what she's doing next week before heading to warm up and doing the show. My brother and his girlfriend were watching so we grabbed a quick drink after. They loved the show. 

I yesterday morning (Wednesday) and yet again worked on more summer school stuff as I had to meet my choreographer Drew between the shows and needed to give him all the info he needed. So I worked on that, then bid farewell to my Brother and his 'Mrs' before heading into do the matinee. Drew Mconie who is the choreographer for West End In Wales was on the BBC show 'So You Think You Can Dance' last year, and he was incredible on it. Get on YouTube and check him out. His choreography work is impeccable and he is tipped as one of the best up and coming choreographers and I'm so proud and delighted to have him choreographing for the summer school this year. The students are in for a treat.

I went back to stage door after meeting Drew for some food and was given a few gifts which had been left for me after the matinee. I have tweeted a picture of the collage of me that was given to me, it was incredible and very thoughtful. I also had a letter from a lovely 10 year old girl, who had bought me some sweets (percy piglets) with her own pocket money! That is probably one of the sweetest things that has ever happened to me. I consider myself a very generous and thoughtful person and therefore really appreciate it when I experience generosity or thoughtfulness and kindness in return - especially from a 10 year old! 

It made my evening!

Headed home after the show last night because there were some major issues one of my West End In Wales assistants had been having with internet and emailing etc - just what you need after a two show day, so I headed home to sort it out and work on it until early hours of the morning.

Which brings me to right here, right now, Thursday Morning and still working on summer school stuff! I adore the summer school and it is one of the most enjoyable  and rewarding weeks of my year, but it's also one of the hardest weeks work wise and nobody understands the amount of preparation that has to go into it to get it running to the standard I insist on keeping up and improving on year to year.

I have a holiday in September - I will definitely need it!

I want to thank you all again for reading this, buying my single and generally being marvellous! Your support is amazing! Keep tweeting and messaging cos I read all of them!!!

Keep smiling and love your lives!

SH-BOOM!!!

Mark