Hi Everyone,
Happy Thursday.
Hope you've all had a good week. Mine's been great. After I posted last week's blog I went to get my laptop fixed and the good news was that they didn't need to send it away and they fixed it there and then. I was so relieved.
After being in the Apple store I met my friend Nathan who designed my website for West End In Wales. He has now taught me how to update everything myself so everything can be done much more regularly. So check it out. www.WestEndInWales.com - since last week there have been a few video interviews added, lots of tips and tricks for aspiring performers with advice on various aspects of theatre. There will soon be a huge section on stage management and all the 'behind the scenes' jobs that happen in theatre for all those who are interested in working in this industry but not on the stage.
The idea behind the website is that everything posted on there is interactive so please feel free to leave comments and if there's certain information you want to know, get on there, drop us a comment, leave it with us and we'll get the information to you if it's not already somewhere on the site.
After my little technology wizkid lesson with Nathan I hit the recording studio to lay down an exclusive acoustic version of one of my album tracks which will be available to download soon! Watch this space!!!
The show was great on Thursday night but I was tired after a long day of running around and needed my bed by the time I got home.
Friday was a full day of working on things to upload onto the www.WestEndInWales.com site - I really enjoyed trying things out and working out for myself how to do it all. I really hope you young performers find the site helpful, it's going to continue to evolve and grow week on week!
I headed straight to work from home which is a real novelty for me as I'm usually rushing around doing things in London before work, so by the time the show finished on Friday, I felt like it was too early to just go back home again having only been away 4 hours. Ha. I did go straight home though!
I was so looking forward to the weekend. It was to be my last Sunday off, and infect last day off in general for 10 weeks (until I finish my run in Wicked on December 10th) and there was nothing I wanted more than to spend it with my best friend Sally.
So after two great shows on Saturday I quickly legged it out of the theatre to get the earliest train possible, only to discover that they couldn't find the driver, so I got on another train and guess what, they couldn't find that driver either. I mean seriously folks, if any of you reading this have a passion for becoming a train driver, I'd definitely say it's a good career choice as there clearly aren't enough of them knocking about. I felt like doing the whole "Is there a doctor in the house" line but changing it to "is there a driver in the station". Anyway, I eventually got to Sally's parents house (her parents were away) and it was just her and I and her friend Mel. It was lovely. The whole weekend was basically an opportunity for us to start discussing things for Sally's wedding and Hen Party etc - I am Sally's chief Bridesman - like a bridesmaid….without the frock!!! She's having three gals and three guys and it's gonna be amazing.
It was lovely to catch up over some nice food once I arrived her folks place on Saturday night.
We woke Sunday morning, had a nice breakfast before heading to what can only be described as the most stunning wedding location ever. It was not a normal bridal fair we were going to, it was an invite only event for people who have booked to get married there, just so you can see examples of how things can look, table layouts, floral arrangements, the hotel rooms, and meet possible photographers and cake decorators and even magicians (random). It was a really nice chilled out event where the three of us were just sauntering around drinking champagne and being mischievous taking pictures in stupid poses and so on…I'm sure you can imagine Mevans here acting the fool in this stunning 5 star hotel where the England Rugby team go to use the spa facilities! Ha. Good times.
We headed back to Sally's flat afterwards just the two of us in the evening to crash, watching the X-Factor and a couple of films. This was amazing as Sally does a lot of teaching during the day and I obviously work evenings most of the week and so to have some time to chill out all day together was great. We watched 'The Devil Wears Prada' as it was on the T.V- I'd never seen it before, it's such a great film eh? I think Meryl Streep is an absolute legend anyway but in that role she was just perfect. Loved it.
On Monday Sal was teaching early so I headed to the gym for a run and a swim then met my friend Tim to watch 'Crazy Stupid Love' at the cinema, which is the new film starring Ryan Gosling and Steve Carrell. We loved it. It's a great movie and I'd definitely recommend it for a laugh.
Tim and I had a good catch up afterwards and then I headed back to the gym (for a second time that day) to have a session with my personal trainer. My goodness it was hard. I finished it feeling really unwell. I couldn't move from being sat in the changing room afterwards. I think the main reason was because my body has adjusted so much to my new diet, that on Sunday, Sal and I had a few things that I'd cut out from my daily dietary routine, so between that and two work outs in one day my body decided to let me know that it hates me. I seriously thought I wasn't going to be able to get through the show, but I had to force myself to think positive (as always) and I didn't let it get the better of me, I pushed my way through the physical warm up before the show, had some food and luckily by the time the show started I was feeling ok. Wasn't nice, and there's proof that the body can be quite a fragile thing when treated badly!
I headed home after Monday night's show to get an early night because Tuesday was to be a busy day.
I woke Tuesday morning to get some work done on my laptop, then dropped off some things in my dressing room before heading to the National Theatre to watch my friend Craige in a play called 'The Kitchen'. I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed it. I went with Zoe who plays Nessarose in Wicked and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. It was so cleverly directed, staged and choreographed. The whole cast basically had to go to cookery school to learn how to chop and whisk and cook as professional chefs would so that they were doing all the actions properly, but the ingenious thing was, that they were doing it all without food. So it was just all the kitchen manic drama that you might see on Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmare's but beautifully executed without any food being there at all! Very different piece of excellent theatre and wonderfully acted and well worth seeing!
Zoe and I then headed to work to eat before the show. Tuesday night's performance of WICKED was very special as it was officially 5 years to the day since the original London cast opened the show. In the audience we had lots of fans, family, friends and most importantly, lots of the principal actors from previous casts along the years came back to watch and were each introduced individually onto the stage at the end of the show to take a bow. The whole show finished with a massive explosion from 4 confetti canons and hundred of Wicked balloons fell from the ceiling. Then of course there was a party. It was lovely to catch up with some familiar faces especially as the majority of the principals from when I was in the show 3 years ago had come along so it was lovely to see them. At the party there were lots of press photos and videos which you'll all see soon enough I'm sure and we had an amazing 5th Birthday cake which was all chocolate with green and brown shapes made of icing on top and we were all drinking green champagne - I was very paranoid that for all the press photos I would have green teeth from the drink, and then people would think that the kiss I do with Elphaba had gone a little far, so much so that her make up had stained my pearly whites. Hahahaha.
It was a great event and I was very proud to be a part of it. I cannot wait to to be invited back in another 5 years time to enjoy other actors performing these incredible roles at the 10th Anniversary of Wicked. It is most certainly going to be here for years to come!
I woke yesterday morning (Wednesday) rather early to head to meet my Mum and Auntie from Euston train station as they had both come down for a day out, to visit me and to watch the show. We had a few hours to kill before I needed to head to work so we walked from Euston to Covent Garden as it was amazing weather with not a cloud in the sky. I took them to one of my favourite restaurant/cafes 'Bills' and we had a nice lunch before walking to Victoria to the theatre via Trafalgar Square, St. James Park and Buckingham Palace. They both loved it and just kept making comparisons to how things are "so different to North Wales" ha - And I tell you what, trying to get them to stretch their little legs to walk at a moderate pace to ensure I wasn't late for work was a pretty big task. They kept stopping to look at the most random things. I loved seeing them.
They watched the matinee and then we went for some more food afterwards before I plonked them in a taxi to Euston and then I did the evening show. Next time I see my Mum will be at the album launch party. Woohoo.
Last night I went to 'West End Bowling' which is an evening were different shows compete against each other in their teams to see who'll win the evening's competition. It was great fun and nice to hang out with a few of the guys from work after the show instead of having to rush off all the time. I had a great night.
It was actually held in the building where my album launch party is going to be - but the party is in a separate private suite, and I cannot wait to see all of you lovely people who have already booked your tickets for a corker of an afternoon. We have some great things planned. If you haven't bought your £10 tickets yet and want to then use this link:
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/132843
Another thing folks - my debut album is out in just over two weeks - I can't quite believe it. Next week I am being sent the first copy. I can't wait to have it in my hands after all the hard work. Tomorrow I shall be sending out a newsletter to everyone on the mailing list and in it, will be a video of the entire album making process which I've put together - kind of like my first ever pop video - It has brought back some amazing memories of this year for me just by editing it and looking back over all the footage i've filmed. If you are not signed up to the mailing list then simply enter you email address in the black box on the left hand side of this page (click on 'Get It Now'). We will also be sending some other FREE things your way soon so SIGN UP!!! Woohoo!!!
Well that brings me up to date doesn't it really. It's been a great week and I've had a lot of fun. Remember to check out www.WestEndInWales.com website and spread the word. I want to help as many young performers as possible.
Thanks for reading folks.
Keep smiling and love your lives.
SH-BOOM!!!
Mark
PS every week I see people on Twitter saying things like "Does anyone know if Mark Evans' Blog is out today yet?" -
If you click the word 'follow' at the top of this page now, then you will always know when I post a new one! Sh-boom!
PS every week I see people on Twitter saying things like "Does anyone know if Mark Evans' Blog is out today yet?" -
If you click the word 'follow' at the top of this page now, then you will always know when I post a new one! Sh-boom!
