Hi Everyone,
Happy Thursday,
So I'm guessing now you have all heard my most recent news??? It was officially (and finally) announced in the press on Tuesday of this week that I am currently rehearsing to take over the lead role of Sam in Ghost the Musical which is playing at the Piccadilly Theatre in London's West End.
I was offered the role about 4 weeks ago and have not really been able to chat about it until the official announcement but I had a couple of rehearsal sessions last week and started full time rehearsals on Monday of this week and it's going really well. I open in the show on January 13th opposite my new leading lady Siobhan Dillon who will be playing Molly. We open a month before the official cast change in February as we are replacing Richard Fleeshman and Caissie Levy who are going to play the roles in New York when the show opens on Broadway in March.
These two weeks are to be very exhausting (and already are) but I'm making sure I really make the most of my last couple of weeks playing Fiyero in WICKED because I LOVE IT!!!
So this week since my last blog - After I posted last week's edition I headed into town to start working on Ghost. I had a voice session - which really helped to combat some of the gunk that was still on my chest from my illness, and then I had a couple of hours working on the accent of the character which was great fun, before heading to Wicked to do my first show back after a week of being sick as a dog (a very sick dog at that - infact, the dog I'm comparing myself to, I imagine was the sickest of dogs that ever did exist!) It felt great be back in the show and no longer lay in bed feeling sorry for myself.
The show was easier than I imagined but I think that was probably because of adrenaline too. I have to admit, I desperately needed my new inhaler after having a little dance through life but other than that it all went swimmingly.
So I woke on Friday morning to tidy my flat a little whilst talking to myself in my new American accent and then headed in to the Piccadilly for a costume fitting and then my first ever guitar lesson. Now I have a confession to make. One of the main reasons I started to teach myself the guitar back in June was because I watched Ghost and saw that the character Sam played the guitar, and for those of you who follow me and what I do, you'll know that if I want to do something, I do everything in my power to make sure it can happen. So I thought "Mark, if you wanna play that role, you gotta play the guitar" - so I did and I now have to iron out a good few bad habits but I really enjoyed my first proper lesson on friday with my new teacher Andy and I can't wait for my next one. I still can't quite believe that the first time I ever played my guitar in public was at the auditions for Ghost and that I am actually going to be playing on a West End stage but hey - if you're gonna do something, might as well be thrown in at the deep end right? (good job i'm a good swimmer!!!)
After my guitar lesson I headed over to Wicked. Friday night's show was a lot harder because I didn't have the adrenaline of the night before to get me through and it was a struggle to keep my energy levels up but still enjoyed it non-the-less! After the show I hung around in Victoria near the station because my friend Aimee was driving down from North Wales to stay at my flat with her mum for the weekend and so they picked me up (after getting lost and being late, haha) and then we headed back to my place. I was sleeping on the lounge floor as they were in my bed.
We woke Saturday to work on some preparation for the first WEST END IN WALES Sunday Funday which we did on Sunday. We then headed into my favourite breakfast place in Victoria, Le Pain Quotidien for brunch before I headed in to do the matinee and then met them for tea before they watched the evening show. Saturday night was rather emotional at Wicked as we said farewell to one of the ensemble guys Anthony Hansen who has left early to go and play Aladdin in Croydon over Christmas. It was a real wake up call that it was the beginning of the end and that we only had two weeks until the majority of us were leaving. I don't want to think of it as a sad time, I really want to try and just celebrate an incredible time in the show. I will of course be emotional on the last day, I think we all will, because not only do you work with these people, you also see them every day and they become very close friends, and no matter how often you keep in touch and meet up after the show ends, you'll never see people as much as you do when you work with them and that's the best thing about working in theatre, is that you get to work with people who are so similar to yourself. I've made some incredible friends at Wicked and I shall treasure them forever.
So Saturday night after the show we headed straight back to my flat to get to sleep as we had a 5.30am wake up call on Sunday to do the car journey back to Rhyl in North Wales to run the Sunday Funday. It was a very long journey and I'm very grateful to Aimee for driving the whole way. I was trying my best to fight my eyelids and stay awake but I failed miserably a good few times and left her to fight the tiredness whilst I slept next to her.
The workshop was exactly as we wanted it. A relaxed fun day of acting, singing and dancing but primarily the chance to catch up and enjoy a chilled out 4 hours in the company of like minded people who have a real passion for performing. The group that Aimee and I had were fantastic and I felt inspired by working with such imaginative creative young people. Well worth the journey back.
Immediately after the workshop finished at 4pm I jumped straight on a train back to London to try and get to bed as early as possible to start rehearsals for Ghost properly on Monday morning. I have to admit, I was exhausted by the time I got back from Wales - A 5 hour car journey, a 4 hour workshop then a 4 hour train journey! My bed was very welcoming on Sunday night!
I woke on Monday morning raring to go with the rehearsals and headed to the theatre to work with the creatives and my beautiful Molly, Siobhan! It was great to finally get stuck in with learning the roles. We have an insane amount to learn but it's all going in very quickly and it feels great. I am already getting excited thinking of the opening night.
There's not much I can really report since Monday as all I've done is either be in rehearsals or at Wicked (or travelling to and from each venue and home to my flat). Wednesday I had some family watching the matinee and then some friends watching the evening show which was nice. I am trying my best to sleep as much as I possibly can at the moment because there's not much down time for my brain.
Anyway I must stop writing now and get a wriggle on to get to rehearsals by 10am.
I can't thank you enough for all your amazing messages of congratulations and for all your support since the official GHOST announcement went out on Tuesday. I look forward to seeing you all in the audience sometime next year.
Keep loving your lives and I'll start the new Ghostly saying right now……. BELIEVE!!!
Enjoy your week.
Sh-boom!!!
Mark
