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
