Hey Everyone,
Happy Thursday.
Well this week has definitely been an eventful one and an incredible one. I am typing this blog very early this Thursday morning before heading to rehearsals for Ghost.
Last Thursday after rehearsals I had to leave early to get to the Apollo Victoria Theatre by 1pm to read out one of the winning pieces from the 'Wicked Young Writers' awards'. Michael Mapurgo was hosting it and HRH The Duchess Of Cornwall is the patron for the project. It was wonderful to meet her and we were all very impressed with the entries that were read out and it was great to meet all the youngsters who were finalists in the competition.
After that I hit the gym with my mate Paul from the Wicked cast and we worked hard before heading for dinner. It was nice to actually do something different to just rehearsing or performing. Thursday night's show was good - it really had got to the final countdown! Went to bed thinking "Only three more times to dance through life!" (stagey thought i know!)
I am very good at making the most of things and taking mental images and storing them in my brain's memory box to think back fondly. I have had an incredible 10 months at Wicked and I'll fast forward from Thursday to Saturday morning (all that happened friday was a Ghost photoshoot and performing Wicked) I went to my Saturday morning guitar lesson which I loved and then headed down to the theatre for the last time.
I arrived stage door and there was a big group of people there with gifts and cards and taking pictures and were wonderfully supportive and wishing us all well. It put me in a really good mood and then I headed to a really fun last ever warm up on stage with the cast. We were doing silly dances and singing stupid stuff. Rachel Tucker (Elphaba) was lying on her side on the stage and I decided to lay down behind her and spoon her like we were asleep. Next thing we knew we were having an additional cast member every couple of seconds laying in front or behind us until the entire cast was in a long diagonal across the the stage in a big spooning line with hundreds of photographs being taken. Good times!
The matinee was really fun. There were lots of subtle little fun jokes and pranks played on each other and the audience really enjoyed it. The atmosphere in the theatre all day was great on and off stage.
After the matinee, myself, Rachel Tucker, Ben Stott, Zoe Rainey & Louise Dearman had what we called 'The Last Supper' in Rachel's room. We all brought in food and really had a giggle and made the most of being in each other's company in that theatre for what was quite possibly the last time ever.
Then it was the half hour call for the final ever performance of WICKED. So I rushed over to whack some make up on in my room before the 15 minute call arrived which is when the 'cast change conga' happens. It starts with the swing boys on one side of the building departing their dressing room and they conga all the way around every dressing room in the entire backstage area (and it's massive!) picking up the cast members from those rooms, culminating in the entire cast being collected on stage in hysterics, feeling exhausted yet full of hyper energy ready for the last show! Perfect!!!
Then it was show time. The audience on Saturday night was insane! If you were there, which I imagine a considerable amount of you reading this would have been, thank you for being such an amazing crowd. The atmosphere on stage, in the audience and in the wings was just insane. It was very emotional but I think that's mainly because the subject matters in Wicked actually consist of many references to goodbye/ friendship/ the end/ time to leave etc etc and so it's hard to say these things for the last time to your fellow cast members on stage without it being with an element of sincere personal truth -
Fiyero: "It's time to go"
Elphaba: "We can never come back to Oz can we?"
Fiyero: "No"
One of the hardest things was singing 'As Long As Your Mine' which is the love duet with Rachel Tucker (Elphaba-the green witch). We get on so well and have so much fun working together that it is really sad when it comes to an end. I'll miss working with Rachel! I'll be honest, whenever I finish a long contract of a show, I always feel ready to move on and leave and start something new. I'm sure many of you find that odd, but as much as you love Wicked or any show, imagine performing it 7 days a week, 8 shows a week, for over 10 months - the same lines, the same songs, the same choreography, it does become difficult to find the inspiration to think of ways to keep it as great as you can possibly make it. I think 10 months playing Fiyero, was for me, the perfect length of time. I enjoyed every day of it but was ready to pass the role on to someone else by the end, feeling I had taken every bit of enjoyment and pleasure out of an amazing job without it turning boring and stale in the slightest.
Wicked will always be a VERY special part of my career and life.
So after the show there were lovely speeches made on stage and then after meeting and chatting to loads of people at stage door (a couple of hundred at least) we headed on down to the end of cast party which was a lot of fun. The best thing about it was having the opportunity to drink alcohol with Louise Dearman and Rachel Tucker! The roles in Wicked are very demanding vocally so having to be weary of alcohol consumption is a must but we all let out hair down for a very special occasion on Saturday.
I woke Sunday morning with a delicate head and at a relatively slow pace, I began to sort through the bomb site otherwise known as my flat. I had been clearing things out of my dressing room for weeks but not had the chance to arrange or sort it once I got home - so it was all just in piles of mess in my bedroom - it was not what I wanted to be doing on a hungover Sunday but I was relieved to get it done and headed over to a friends house on Sunday night to chill out and watch the TV.
I woke on Monday morning and had a horrendous journey into London for rehearsals. I often find that if you have one thing that goes wrong at the beginning of your journey in London, the whole thing goes a bit 'tits up' as they say! Luckily I managed to get to rehearsals on time. There was a lot ot do on Monday and we didn't have a lunch break because I needed to leave at 3pm so we worked right through then I rushed to get on a train to Cardiff where I got picked up and taken to the recording studio to lay down the songs for the Marcaroni Christmas Special which I have been filming for the past two days. Well we didn't finish recording until 11.30pm in the studio so it was a good 14 hour day and then Non (who I play opposite) and I were driving around trying to find our hotel for ages afterwards. By the way the Blueberry hotel in Pontypridd in South Wales (which we found a half hour later) is amazing! Really nice - incase you ever need somewhere to stay if you're around that area! Loved it there.
Woke on Tuesday morning at 6.15am as I needed to be in the make up chair for 7am! I looked rough as a……..something really rough! It's a wonder what a ton of Channel base can do for ones pig like face of a Tuesday morning! Thank god for make up!
It was a long day filming and acting like a hyperactive idiot on set all day - The story of the Christmas Special was that my character, Marcaroni (who is very excitable anyway) doesn't know what Christmas is, so everyone informs him of all the amazing things that happen that time of year and he gets stupidly hyperactive! It was in one word……EXHAUSTING!!!
Tuesday night I was planning on seeing the Cardiff Panto but because we were behind schedule I couldn't make it in time and so ended up having nice food and a few drinks with friends in the hotel and got to bed.
Another early morning yesterday (Wednesday) and it was basically a whole day of playing catch up with the schedule. It ended up being a 13 hour day with only one break of 40 minutes to wolf down to lunch and sit down for 5 minutes! It all got completed though (albeit 2 hours later than we were supposed to) and it is actually a ridiculously quick turn around and will be on the TV next Wednesday morning, Friday and Christmas Day on S4C (Available with subtitles on Sky or online!)
Although it was a really loooooooong day and very tiring, I do feel a little more Christmassy since doing it. I can't believe it's Christmas a week on Sunday - I have some serious preparations to get on with!
Speaking of getting on with things I best stop typing and get to rehearsals. I am loving learning everything for Ghost. We open January 13th and I cannot wait! Just hope we're feeling well prepared by then! (We shall see……..!)
Thank again to all of you who are Wicked fans and fans in general for all of your support, not only over my last weekend in the show but throughout the year! I adore you all!
Only one more blog before Christmas! Woohoo!
Have a great week everyone! Love you're lives and enjoy these last few weeks of 2011 - I can tell already that 2012 is gonna be a great one! Can't you??
Keep smiling
Sh-Boom!!!
Mark
