Hey Everyone,
Happy Thursday, happy blog day and for me it's HAPPY WEEK OFF WORK DAY!
I am not performing in Ghost now until the matinee of next Thursday and my voice/body/brain could not be happier. It's gonna be a really good week including my best friends wedding - no, my actual best friend is getting married I'm not just watching the film that has Julia Roberts in it!
Aaaaaanyway, It's been an interesting week since my last blog. Lots has happened and I've been busy. Last Thursday in between shows I went to film a message for a video advert campaign for the website Stage Status which is a new social media site for the theatre industry and anyone interested in theatre - I think it's a great idea and so I was very happy to be a part of the campaign. I then chilled in my room before the evening show.
After I went home the whole of the internet erupted with the news from the Daily Mail that Ghost is closing and that we're all losing our jobs in the autumn and all the fans of the show were in an uproar saying it sounded ludicrous. Well I can tell you that nothing has been confirmed officially. It is true that there is another commercial show that wants to come into our theatre and this is the only theatre that it could come into logistically and practically for various reasons which are too dull to write about - however it is also true that the producers of Ghost don't want the show to close until it really must. It is very uncertain when we will be finishing it could be in a couple of weeks (highly unlikely) or we could reach the end of our contracts in February but all I can say is - come and see the show and spread the word because if Ghost was selling out there would be absolutely no problem but unfortunately as with almost every show in the West End, the sales have taken a little dip recently because of various reasons - none of which is the fault of anyone involved with Ghost or the Piccadilly Theatre.
People have asked how I am feeling about possibly finishing the show before we were originally scheduled to finish and my response is always that I'm genuinely thrilled to have had the opportunity to play this role, it was one I definitely wanted to do and have loved playing it for the past six months and for that reason I am just going to treasure whatever time we have left and celebrate a great job as oppose to wallow in self pity and despair that the show is closing - and as far as getting other work is concerned, that never worries me because one simply has to have faith and trust that everything that is meant for you will come your way and make you happy!
The only slight disappointing element for me is that I genuinely think that Ghost is one of the most incredible shows I have ever seen and the fact that it is having to come off, resulting in people not being able to experience this incredible show is a travesty and that's the only thing that upsets me! If you ain't seen it then book to see it soon!
Friday I had a busy day which involved working on some things from home in the morning and then heading for a physio appointment before having a meeting and then work. The show was good on Friday night but I needed to get to bed cos I was shattered afterwards.
Saturday morning I woke and headed into work early to have a guitar lesson and then after the matinee I went to the gym to keep the blood pumping ready for the evening show which was great and then I went out and I GOT REALLY DRUNK!!! We had an amazing impromptu night out from Ghost which involved a few ports, a good few wines and many a cocktail which made Sunday VERY tragically hung over - so I spent the day in bed or on the sofa or attempting to eat. I then in the evening had a hideous journey through the jubilee chaos of London to Watford Junction which seemed like I'd travelled to Spain it took so bloomin long - but once I got there it was definitely worth it. My friends Matt and Tom had gotten married on the Saturday and they had invited many of their friends and families to a celebratory black tie sit down dinner on Sunday followed by live music and dancing - it was stunning and to see how in love two people can be was inspiring! It was a wonderful night.
The journey home was much better and after sleeping for just a few hours I woke and worked on lots of summer school stuff ready for August and then headed into town to meet a friend for scones and tea (in honour of our Queen of course) and then went for a swim and a steam before work. The show was great on Monday night.
London was absolutely incredible over the weekend (as was the UK and beyond) to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. It was the most positive and amazing atmosphere I've ever felt in London - it was like an electric current constantly humming through the air. It made me energised just by walking around town!
After the show on Monday I headed home to do more work on the West End In Wales summer school which I then continued with in the morning too before heading in to London to meet a friend for late lunch! The show was great again on Tuesday night. The audiences have been fantastic this week which makes the show that much more rewarding when you hear an incredible response from the crowd.
I woke yesterday morning (Wednesday) and did lots of research work for a couple of projects I am working on at the moment as well as doing a load of phone interviews with different journalists as promotion for my new album release and then I headed into work to rehearse with Rebecca who is the understudy to Molly as we are doing a few songs from Ghost at an awards ceremony at the end of next week so we needed to run through what we are going to be doing. It will be the first time I've ever performed with my guitar live on stage away from Ghost and the Piccadilly Theatre. How exciting!
After the rehearsal a small group of us went to a little restaurant near by and basically laughed out loud for a long while as I read out all recent tweets from 'GUS THE FOX' who you all must follow on Twitter if you don't already. If you want to know my exact sense of humour then follow Gus. It makes me howl with laughter until my stomach hurts when I read some of what he writes - however be warned that he uses fowl language and some (or most) of what he says is obscene!
So that was fun and then I headed in to perform my last show for a whole week and I loved every second of it. Last night I got in and drove straight to the local supermarket to stock up so my house is full of nice food for my week off and then I ate lots whilst watching 'Miranda' the first series as I want to watch more comedy stuff and recently bought the first two seasons on DVD - Love her, she's a genius!
So this morning I am chilling whilst writing this and then in a short while I shall be heading to see my good friend Ashleigh who is currently touring with the Susan Boyle musical 'I Dreamed A Dream' so it'll be great to catch up with her. She also sung the duet on my album tiled Alive so we need to have a run through of that because we might just be singing it together at a gig that is coming up soon! ;-)
Thanks for reading folks. I hope you enjoy this coming week as much as I know I will!
Much love and positive energy to you all
Believe
Sh-boom
Mark
