BLOG 37!!! A rather social week!!!

Hi everyone,

What's happening in your lives on this wonderfully dull skied Thursday afternoon? (ok so now I'm  reading over this a second time and the sky has brightened up- Sh-Boom!)

I have a good few things to sort out today and errands to run etc but thought I'd write my blog before hand instead of doing it once I get to the theatre as I want to use my time at the theatre tonight to reply to fan mail. I sorted out so much of it last night and I promise I will have all replies sent out by the weekend (providing there was a stamped addressed envelope included, else I'll be a poor man from buying all the stamps!) Anyone wanting to send in anything, please address it to me and send it to the stage door of the Apollo Victoria theatre (you'll find the address online) - i have singed photos and things I can send out!

So I finished last week's blog just before heading to our WICKED 80's themed quiz night! WOW! What a night it was. It was hosted by a guy called Freddie Veneer (Cast member Gareth Chart's alter-ego) and we had so much fun. I dressed as Boy George which people found hilarious - The glass from which I was drinking had more lipstick on it than most of the drag-queens in all of Soho! Ha. My team didn't win - we were somewhere in the middle but I shocked myself in knowing the answers to a good few questions as i'm usually rubbish. It was a fab night which ended in lots of dancing to 80's songs and a rather tipsy Mr Evans (to say the least).

I was sleeping in my lounge that night as I had carpets being delivered the next morning so had to have the bedroom and hallway empty- now picture this…

9.30am I'm laying on the mattress in the lounge in a light morning snooze when all of a sudden BZZZZZZZZZZZ the door buzzer goes - I stand up way too quickly and realise i have a VERY delicate head and I'm wearing minimal clothing as I must have taken the Boy George outfit off and just clambered into bed- so I stumble to the door, pick up the receiver and in a barely audible voice, I whisper "hello..", then a big old enthusiastic bloke bellows "CARPETS"…. my response - "alright…erm…just gimme a minute". I scramble around the piles of clothing in the lounge searching for something comfortable to put on and head down-stairs to let them in as quick as my legs will possible take me (which was pretty slow that morning, believe me) - I open the door, welcome them upstairs, show them the rooms, offer them a cup of tea, make them the tea, give them the tea, tell them I'm just gonna grab a shower and then TADDAH!!!!!…. I look in the bathroom mirror and was horrified! You've never seen so much eye-liner and mascara all over a blokes face in your life! I was so embarrassed! I remember using a face-wipe to remove it the night before but clearly I didn't do a very good job! 

So I had my shower and then felt the need to explain to the guys that I had a fancy dress party the night before and that I don't usually look like Lady Gaga on a bad day when I wake up! They just laughed at me.

I left the house as the loud banging was a little too much and when I returned with a few things from the shop, they had practically finished! Very quick, and I am so happy with the results. It looks great. So then once they'd gone I fitted a blind to my bedroom window and headed into town to meet my friend Haley to do some shopping! 

We had lunch and looked around a good few shops and then I headed to work! I was so ready for my bed after the show that night so I headed home, decided to just stay in the lounge again and get an early night then I woke early Saturday to move all the furniture back into my room and sort it all out nicely and give the place a good spring clean before heading to the pool to do 50 lengths before the two shows!

Work was really fun on Saturday. I've discovered that when I am really tired my body goes into some last resort energy and adrenaline supply which fills me with stupidity and giddy energy so I'm just acting the fool back stage and having a laugh! it's fun…..doesn't last very long though cos once i get in the shower after the show, my body knows it's the end and then there is a large wall I imagine is made of breeze blocks that my brain and body takes great pleasure in slamming me into as if to say "that's enough now Evans, you need to rest!" So we had a few quiet drinks in the pub after work and i headed home for a delicious Pizza (I'd been craving one all week!) mmmmm!

So Sunday……. WHAT A DAY!!! It was the Dancing On Ice final and for those of you who are new to my blog I am a friend of Laura Hamilton and her skating partner Colin Ratushniak and so I headed to the studio that night to watch the show live. 

First of all Haley came to my house to pick up her car as she parks it here then we headed to her house to have lunch and get ready for the glitzy night ahead. 

We arrived the studio at about 5pm and had a couple of drinks before heading into the actual Dancing On Ice studio and took our seats. Well…we were only sat in front of Richard and bloomin' Judy! I posted some pictures on Twitter so take a look if you wanna see! They were lovely lovely people, and it was so nice that although we were clearly there to support different people we were cheering just as loudly for everybody as we did our own peeps! 

So I imagine most of you watched the programme so I don't need to fill you in (if you didn't, there's a little thing called itvPlayer you should watch!) However, highlights for me were all the production numbers that the contestants created - Laura's was HOT! It was to the song 'Express Yourself' by Madonna and they kind of themed it very similar to the raunchy video - Haley couldn't believe her eyes when she saw what the boys were wearing - or not wearing should i say and Laura looked gorgeous! Then Jason Gardner did the most showbiz reveal of someones scalp I have ever seen - he's apparently spent about 20 something thousand pounds on getting his hair transplants and after Laura and Colin reprised their favourite routine of the series he announced proudly "I take my hat off to you" which he did and there it was - thousands of pounds worth of fuzz! Ha. I'm just kidding, he actually looks great and it really suits him. But that was the moment that Laura and Colin got the only full marks judges result out of all the contestants on the entire series! I jumped out of my seat so quickly and erratically I nearly gave Judy Finnigan a black eye and deafened her with my screaming!

They announced that Chloe was in third place which I thought she handled so graciously - I found myself turning to her parents and I put my hand on Judy's knee and said what a great job she'd done and Richard thanked me by squeezing my shoulders - then I thought "Mark Evans, who do you think you are, you can't just cop a feel of Judy's leg like that!" but then Richard practically gave me a shoulder massage in return so I felt it was justified! Ha!

Laura and Sam danced their Boleros which were both incredible. We were all on the edge of our seats the entire way through willing them to do so well and they both did. They then announced the winner and it was so intense as it really could have gone either way but Sam and Brianne were crowned champions and they deserved it  as much as i personally felt Laura and Colin did. Sam was a great entertainer and a cracking skater. 

We then hit the wrap party but didn't stay too long as we were just so drained from the atmosphere being so intense, and i also needed a shower because the studio was hot and I was sweating like a filthy pig because of the nervous energy surging around my body! I can't imagine what I'd be like if I was actually the one on the ice! ha.

So Monday I had a lovely chill out with a friend eating nice food along side a river in the sunshine and that was all I could manage to do because I was tired after the night before and ended up going to work that day feeling i hadn't really had a day off at all, but it was definitely worth it! Monday night after the show i went to meet a couple of friends in central town for some cheese and wine and then got the train home and had a good night's sleep. Tuesday for me consisted of a much needed lay in (which I don't allow myself very often) then sorted a few things out in my flat before heading into town to do a good 100 lengths of the pool before work. 

After the show on Tuesday I got on the train to stay with a friend who was going away with work so had a lovely evening just chilling and laughing and chatting! Great night! Then woke early Wednesday morning and headed into central town to meet Haley for a brunch before we both headed to do our matinees! 

The two shows yesterday were good then had a drink with my good friend Wayne and his Mum in the theatre before heading home to briefly Skype my friend Becca who is playing the lead role in Rock Of Ages on Broadway, then we were both so tired we had to sleep!!!

Which brings me to today - sat on my newly carpeted bedroom floor cos it's really squidgy and thick and comfy and I'm typing this for you to read - hope you've enjoyed it! 

If you have any questions you want me to answer or want to just get in touch get - send in fan mail to the theatre or juts use Twitter (@MarkHEvans) as that's best and I try and reply to as many as I have time to!

Ooh… also - you know i was writing last week about the book I read, 'One Day' by David Nicholls - Well because of my super fan Paula McCann (McFann) sending the link of my blog to David Nicholls on Twitter he sent me a message thanking me for the kind words I'd written. I was really over-whelmed by this. I respect talent so much and he has it in bucket loads and to have him contact me was amazing!

Also if you follow me on Twitter you may have noticed that this week Tom from McFly suggested he and I swap jobs for a day as he wants to be in Wicked!!! How cool would that be!!!

Anyway folks, I'm off to have some lunch - pasta bolognese I prepared the other day then I'm off to the gym (to burn it off haha).

Stay happy, keep smiling and keep in touch!

Sh-Boom!!!

Mark

BLOG 36!!! Busy week!!!

Hi everyone,

Happy Thursday,

I am currently sat in my dressing room having just had my haircut at work - the great thing about having to look a certain way for the production you're in is that they cut your hair for you which means no expensive trips to Tony & Guy! I clearly needed a chop though, as i was sharing a dressing room for two nights this week with Ben who plays Boq and when I was styling my hair for the show - which involves lots of volume boosting moose and a roller brush, blowdrying from the back and working forward (so technical eh?!), well when I was half way through, he decided I looked like a cross between Gwynneth Paltrow and Posh Spice in the 90's - not the exact look I was going for as Fiyero. So anyway - my hair is now good again!

The reason we had to share a room was because my dressing room was being painted - it's all done now - It's nice and clean and new looking. I don't know why but when they asked me what colour i wanted the woodwork to be painted, i chose green…… GREEN!!! Why, when I'm surrounded by so much green anyway I don't know, but it work's well, it's like a mint colour and I think it's classy!

I do think that Ben is having withdrawal symptoms now that he has been left in his room all alone again though! Ha! He is such a nice guy - really like that our dressing rooms are next door. We were thinking of asking Claire Sweeney to bring the 60 minute Make Over team in to knock through the dividing wall and add a balcony! haha - Oh it's not Claire Sweeney anymore is it - I'm so not with it!!!

Haha get this - Ben's just come in to my room saying his dressing room is getting painted next week so he'll be in my room - ha! Good times!!!

Anyway, this week….hmmm. 

After I typed up last weeks blog where I was sniffed by the waitress (by the way, loads of you got in touch asking what cologne I was wearing - ha, I wear 'TERRE D'HERMES' and I actually agree with the waitress that the smell is in fact "fit"!), I met up with my friends for lunch and then just chilled out before heading to work.

My friend Haley popped over after the show for a cuppa and then I got to bed as Friday was a busy day!

Friday I woke and headed in the pouring rain to the bank to discuss pensions and all that sort of stuff and after two hours I was glad to get out of there. Then I headed to meet the wonderfully talented Michael Bruce who's a musical theatre composer and who's album I sang on and who's album launch I performed at on Sunday, to rehearse for the gig. When I say talented, I really mean it! All I can say is buy his album… 'Michael Bruce- Unwritten Songs' on itunes and that'll be the proof - he is so good and he's young and he's british and a genuinely lovely guy who deserves to do well! Also look at www.portraitofaprincess.com to witness pure genius!!!

The rehearsal was good and it was greet to sing his music, then I went to have another long meeting with a financial advisor who again talked figures and used stupidly long words and made my head hurt by the end of the day, so I had to go for a swim before work to clear my head!!! Felt better having done all of that stuff though, but wow, talk about an overdose of maths!!! I got a 'C' in my maths GCSE and that was a struggle!!!

So during Friday night and Saturday morning's train journeys I finished reading my book. 'One Day' by David Nicholls - I don't like abbreviations usually but this deserves a big old OMG!!! It's such a great book! I wanted to give you a full review but don't want to give anything away. I just really want you all to read it as I think it will be enjoyed by a really broad reading audience - the writing style is in my opinion perfect - it's a page turner and very unique and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! I want David Nicholls as a friend cos he's great and really funny!

Saturday before the show I met some friends from Rocky Horror for brunch at one of my new favourite cafe's in Covent Garden called Bills which was lovely and then headed over to the Apollo Victoria for two good shows! After Saturday night's show i met my friend Haley and her parents as they were visiting from Scotland and we headed for a couple of quite drinks at a nice bar in central London before i got the last train home, enjoyed two bowl fulls of wholegrain cereal and headed to sleep. What a party animal!!!

Sunday I needed to be at the Delfont Room (front of the Prince Of Wales theatre where Mamma Mia is performing) to rehearse for the Michael Bruce concert by 3pm and once I was there it was a very well organised calm afternoon and it was wonderful to be a part of a concert like that which didn't involve everyone stressing about remembering lyrics or that they didn't know what they were doing, because most of us knew the material already having sung it on the album. Went for a tasty Wagamamas after rehearsals before getting ready for the show - which was jam packed and sold out - a great atmosphere and not only is Michael Bruce's composition work incredible he also has the gift of being able to have the audience in the palm of his hand and won them over with his charm immediately. I do a lot of these sorts of gigs and enjoy them all but with this one i actually considered myself proud to be associated with it as it was just an evening of pure class between Mr Bruce himself, the performers, the wonderful 10 piece band and the venue with a very warm atmosphere! Thoroughly enjoyable evening which culminated in a meal and cocktails with a few friends in Soho before getting the bus home! (Trains were cancelled on Sunday…booooooo!!!!)

The reason we were drinking cocktails was not only to toast to a great concert, but to celebrate the amazing result of Sunday's dancing on ice! Laura and Colin skated incredibly and they are through to the final without having been in the skate off! I obviously couldn't watch the show live as I was doing the concert but immediately afterwards I was found shmoosing with showbiz people at the bar, whilst having my phone in my hand with the voting number for Laura and Colin on redial and I am not even going to tell you how many times I ended up voting! TOO MANY!! Ha

So thrilled that they are through! And guess who'll be in the studio this Sunday……yup you guessed it….ME!!! I am going to watch with my friend Haley and we can't wait! I am delighted that by me spreading the word (rather frequently ;)!!!)  about them to all of you faithful fans of mine, that now you are all followers of them too and I can not thank you enough if you are voting! All I ask is that you please, keep your support through to Sunday night! I have been hearing of some of the things they've been up to in training and the programme is going to be AMAZING!!! I really want them to win so please vote for them. Laura and Colin have said that the atmosphere at the studio is not as competitive anymore, all three couples in the final are just thrilled to have gotten this far - BUT…..I AM competitive and i want to scream my head off when Phillip Schofield announces that "the winner of Dancing On Ice is…..Laura and Colin!" ha - please help me make that happen! Love you all for our support! Shpeel over!

I am now in the interval of the show and everyone is excited as we have an 80's themed company quiz night tonight - it's fancy dress, which i usually, to be honest don't enjoy but i have got an amazing Boy George outfit which I'll be sporting this evening and I reckon we're gone have a cracking night!

So Monday morning I went for a swim before meeting two wonderful friends of mine who were over from Monaco and came to see the show. So we went for lunch together in the afternoon and then I took them to their hotel before heading to work. They thoroughly enjoyed the show and it was nice to hear their thoughts on it all afterwards over a drink!

Tuesday morning i started revamping my flat. I moved everything from bedroom into the lounge, ripped up the carpets from the bedroom and entrance landing thingy majigy and painted the lot  as I have carpets being delivered and fitted tomorrow morning!!!- I got a lot done but come 3pm i had to get out of the flat as the sunshine was roasting - so I dropped tools and went to Victoria for a gym session and a Starbucks Frappuccino (spelling???) before the show. Then after the show had a drink with a couple of people I had in watching before heading home!

Yesterday I did a couple of things to the flat before heading to pick up the boy george outfit from my friend Wayne and heading into town to enjoy a good walk in the sunshine before two shows! Then last night i stayed at a mates house before heading into the gym today and then….birthday lunch with three friends in the sun at Carluccios near Bond Street then we walked to the Hummingbird Bakery for the biggest doorstop of Carrot Cake ever!!!  

Just check out my twitter for a picture! It was delicious! 

I LOVE CARROT CAKE!

Then i headed to work - which brings me to this moment here where I'm sat about to do act two and I've just realised looking in the mirror that my new hair makes my look younger then Justin Bieber (who apparently is a big fan of Laura and Colin on dancing on ice - HA)

Right i'm off to act a bit and sing a bit and kiss a green girl a bit and then go back in time to the 80's a bit to feel thick as a plank when I let our quiz team down by not knowing any answers!!! Ha.

Hope you're all well.

Keep in touch via Facebook and Twitter etc!!! 

Enjoy the sunshine and enjoy life!

Sh-boom!!!

Mark

BLOG 35! Get a whiff of this! :)

Yo yo yo (I'm so ghetto!!!)

How are you all on this fine Thursday afternoon? ….(I am now proof reading this and it's evening as I had to meet my friends before I put this edition live on the site, but continue to read as though from this afternoon please- Sh-boom!)

I'm writing this week's edition from a kinda weird little cheap cafe in Purely in south London before I meet a couple of mates for the afternoon! I say kinda weird because the staff are dancing around behind the counter and clearly not concentrating on what they're doing as they've brought out the wrong food to the two geezers next to me twice and apparently they don't serve anything but white bread for their sandwiches- I mean, come on, it's 2011 folks! Also, all of their cakes are covered in glitter! Random! However they are playing Jessie J's album so I'm happy! Ha!

Have to just say at this moment that I am a mere three chapters away from finishing my book 'One Day' - I have been taking my time to casually read it whenever I can grab a spare moment and shall write a proper mini review on it by next week when it'll be done but I have to say now - READ IT!!! What an incredibly talented author! Excellent book, highly recommended! One Day by David Nicholls!

So what's been going on this week…hmmm - oh yeah, so last Thursday evening after I finished writing my blog on the train (after taking all evening to write it) I stayed at my bezzie mates house and I ate three amazing pancakes with big lumps of gloopy nuttela and banana! With a nice glass of port! Delicious- then had a much needed good sleep!

Woke Friday morning and after a quick breakfast with Sal's fella Olly, I went to meet the one and only Oliver Tompsett! For those of you who do not know, Oli is a friend of mine who played Fiyero in Wicked the last time I was in the show and I was his understudy! He has the most amazing dog by the way. Also he's one of the most talented guys I know! Basically, I hadn't seen him for a while so we had a good catch up, but the main reason for us meeting was because he and his brother who are amazing song writers (Oli's album 'Sentimental Heart' is still played regularly on my iPod!) have written a track for me for my album and I am writing the lyrics so we just had a session working on finessing things and progressing things ready to record it in June! Exciting times. Love working on things with Oli - we're like twins, equally passionate and equally stupid (I say that with the upmost respect of course) we're just a couple of stupidly tall geeks really! Ha

After we were done I went for a nice long swim in the pool then met a couple of mates for dinner before work. I was getting really tired by the end of last week because of being so manic earlier in the week, so Friday night I headed home for a good night's sleep then Saturday I woke and had a high energy breakfast to get me through the double show Saturday!  I stayed at a friends house on Saturday night to have a bit of a chill and then headed to East London, Shoreditch High Street on Sunday for the most INCREDIBLE Sunday roast! 

I love Sundays, I dressed as a trendy geek (anything that's not 'winkified prince' - as in Fiyero) and headed to what i believe is the coolest part of London - I am getting more and more into clothes and fashion now that i am back in London and don't have to live out of a suitcase and can actually have a full wardrobe - only problem is, nice clothes require a healthy whack of spondoolie don't they!?! - and i want to buy another property by the end of this year so I'm restricted when it comes to shopping - torture!!! Why can't everything just be free eh??? HA.

But anyway….I digress, spent Sunday afternoon in a pub called..the water's something or other… erm, the water's edge… no… er…. oh yeah 'The Water Poet'… or maybe i just completely made that up - ANYWAY - it was a really cool place with miss-match furniture and my friends and i sat under an outdoor heater and enjoyed incredible food, and lovely wine and cheese and biscuits and deserts and just laughed with a great atmosphere in the pub while the rugby was screened in the back ground! Perfect afternoon with perfect company!

Sunday evening, I have to say I was extremely disappointed in the 'BBC red button'  coverage of the Olivier awards. Instead of just showing live footage from the stage they kept cutting back to a couple of blokes with a couple of mics in a tiny room at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, as if WATCHING a radio broadcast was suppose to be interesting! Boo! Congratulations to all the well deserved winners though - what an honour!

Although the Olivier Awards frustrated me - Dancing On Ice on the other hand, did not! Wow - what good telly eh? It was a very intense night! I do feel that Jason Gardner is picking on Sam a little and should lay off! What a drama over a hat! But all I'm, gonna say is - Laura & Colin…..AMAZING! For those of you who may be reading this edition of my BLOG as the first ever one - my friend Laura Hamilton is one of the celebrity contestants on Dancing On Ice this year, and she was my Cinderella in Bromley Panto two years ago when I played the prince! She and her pro partner Colin are amazing and I honestly believe they deserve to win the entire series! I ask you please please please, this Sunday to vote all that you can to make sure they get to the final which is next week! They never thought they'd get this far and truly deserve all the success they're experiencing! 

I have a gig this Sunday so will not be able to watch live but my mum texts me the number and i shall be tweeting it to you all and asking very politely if you will please vote with me- 

A couple of people have asked if I work on commission for them with all the support I give….haha, but i simply want to help them as I know exactly what it's like to do reality TV and to stand there at the end of a programme waiting to hear if you've been voted for or not and it's the most sickening feeling ever and so if I can help my friends in anyway, I will, and I do, and I know that my loyal fans have been supportive of them too, for which I'm very grateful! Keep it up guys! Thanks!

So Monday I did a good session at the gym then met up with some friends from The Rocky horror Show for lunch then ended up meeting another friend to go to the Tate Modern museum and just walk around some touristy parts of London - which you never do when you live here so I really enjoyed it!

After the show Monday night, i headed home and watched an episode of Grey's Anatomy - lots of you on Twitter are clearly fans too! Then got a good nights sleep. Tuesday was a very productive day doing more work on my summer school all day before heading for a swim and then to the show. I had three friends watch on Tuesday who worked on the BBC Eurovision programme I did, and I hadn't seen them for ages so we had a good catch up after the show! They really looked after me during the programme and it's always great to see them!

Hold on a minute…. the waitress just spoke to the couple on the table next to me, saying in what can only be described as a broad 'landon' accent - she said 

"'ear's your sarnies my darlings…..'ere, one of you smells really noice, which one of you izit?" 

she proceeded to sniff the gentleman and said 

"nope, sorry, it ain't you mate!" 

then she sniffed the very attractive and well dressed lady and said 

"oh no, how embarrassing, it ain't you eivar,"…….

THEN SHE SNIFFED ME!….and said 

"oh it's you….sorry i just had to comment cos you smell proper fit"

 - she then apologised to the charming couple and bopped her way back behind the counter! Hilarious!

Anyway, where was I, well i guess that's it really. Yesterday I had two shows which consumed the day and after a good nights sleep last night and a productive morning of work today I've now found myself completely up to the present moment and slightly still taken aback by the waitress here in the caf!

I'm actually laughing out loud at what just happened!!! Hahahaha! At least I know I smell good! HA

Keep tweeting and messaging folks cos i love to hear form you! Hope you enjoyed reading this! 

Big love heading your way from a 'fit smelling' giggling man in Purley!

Sh-boom!!! Oh by the way - The Overtones on Dancing On Ice - one word AMAZING!!! Buy their album!!!

Love your lives folks!

Mark

BLOG 34!!! Written in intervals!!!

Hi everyone,

You all doing ok??? Hope so! This week is a bit of a blur in my head at the moment so i'm quite looking forward to thinking back over it and reminding myself exactly what I have been up to! Last Thursday seems like a lifetime ago!

This blog is going to be coming to you from the dressing room again this evening and i'll be writing it in the breaks I have during the show. I tried to get ready super quick today so I could use as much time as possible before the show to write, however in my haste I managed to cut my face to shreds whilst shaving! Seriously, I have four bits of blue tissue paper stuck to my blood ridden neck at the moment - attractive eh? So i am writing this before doing my make up instead, whilst hoping my wounds will heal within the next 10 minutes! 

I don't enjoy shaving everyday - I'm sure all you guys who are reading  this will agree that daily shaving is really harsh on the skin. Ouch! - give me stubble anytime…  O.K so I know all you ladies reading this are now saying "Mark stop being such a wimp, at least you don't have to deal with shaving everywhere else, childbirth and PMT blah blah blah" well my response is "whatever girls - let me have a moment here and give me some sympathy please" - ha :-)

Right back to blogging….

I just wrote that and had to stop as I had my five minute call so had to get ready - I have now just come off stage having just finished what I do in act one! - Just so you can picture how this blog is being constructed today! I'm gonna finish this before act two now… I like a challenge!

So last Thursday after completing the blog and heading into town I more or less just went straight to work and had to continue working on the press launch for West End In Wales which is booking up so fast now! (www.westendinwales.com if you're interested!), then after the show I headed home, feeling very tired after a long day at the office (literally on this occasion) and then doing the show so headed straight to bed…. after a bowl of cereal! I am addicted to late night cereal - always have been always will be - anything that tastes healthy I love it!!! Weird?!

Friday I had a lovely lunch with my accountant who I hadn't seen for a long time and we put the world to rights and sorted out anything we needed to discuss! So I had the remainder of the afternoon to enjoy the sunshine which London has been blessed with rather a lot recently! I did a bit of shopping for opening night gifts for my friend Haley as she took over in the role of 'Meg' in Love Never Dies on Monday night! I LOVE buying presents for people! -actually prefer it to receiving them! Especially if they are thoughtful gifts for good friends! Then I headed for a swim and then sat in Starbucks to do a bit more work on my laptop before heading into the theatre! By the time I sat on the train home on Friday evening (the end of a very busy yet productive week) I was tired of checking my 'to-do' list that I just put my diary away and though 'I need a drink', which doesn't happen very often with me - So I got home had some great food and a large glass of port and it felt like a good beginning to a great weekend - which it certainly was!

Between my two shows on Saturday I met my wonderful friend Caroline who I worked with on Wicked three years ago when we were both in the ensemble! Hadn't seen her properly for about 18 months since I went on tour so it was amazing to catch up! Loving the food in Giraffe restaurant too! So nice!

After the show on Saturday evening, I had a couple of friends over to stay at my flat to have too much food, a few drinks and a lot of laughs which was lovely! We woke Sunday and went to a really nice cafe near-by for brunch, I had Salmon & scrambled eggs and it was so tasty! All this talk of food is making me hungry and reminding me of when I first started these blogs back in September when I seemed to be obsessed with talking about food! I LOVE EATING!!! 

Then we went to another coffee shop for tea and carrot cake! Carrot cake and Banoffee pie are my favourite deserts!!!…Yup tummy's rumbling now!

So Sunday was just a lovely average Sunday, until……

DANCING ON ICE!!! Yes what a night it was! I am friends with Laura and Colin who are in the competition and who I genuinely believe deserve to win the competition - not because I'm being a supportive friend but because they are SO damn good! If you have been watching you'll know exactly what I mean! They're brilliant and two down to earth lovely people!

Thank you to all of you who got behind them (and me after reading my tweets 'please vote Laura & Colin') and voted so much! They were top of the leader board and made it through safely to next week! They are so happy to be in the competition and they know that so many of the Wicked fans have started voting for them since I have been Tweeting about them so they asked me to say how much they appreciate it! 

My friend Wayne came with me and we arrived the studios and I saw Laura's lovely family and had a catch up - then we headed into the studio were I was very tempted to get behind the judges desk and refuse to move! A few question were asked vis twitter about the studio so thought i'd answer them on here - The studio is of course smaller than it looks on T.V because telly always makes things look bigger! It is warm in there, not cold, even though there's ice! And I believe Nicole Scherzinger (spelling?) was singing live! There's your answers!

The atmosphere was electric! Philip and Holly are so good to watch. Having done some presenting work I learnt so much by observing how they worked so well as a partnership -  so completely in control! So yeah we were basically just screaming for Laura and Colin the whole time as were a lot of the audience - it's not surprising we had so much enthusiasm though as they hand out free jam doughnuts during the breaks to keep everyone's sugar levels up - cos you're there for a good few hours!

So I had to go do act two - I failed my challenge! This is my last break of the show now! After the result show of Dancing On Ice we headed to the bar for a few drinks and to chat to folks then Wayne and I drove home! A great night! I want to be an ice skater!!! Ha. 

Monday I did some work in the morning then did a good old session at the gym before taking Haley her opening night gifts to the Adeplhi theatre! She loved them - they were all silly little gist really from Brad to Janet (Our Rocky Horror characters) expressing to her that Love never dies, even though we split up. Haha

She apparently had a great first night! Can't wait to see it!

Tuesday morning i went to a funeral which was very sad and I was proud of my friends who had lost someone dear to them in the way they handled it all that morning! life really s too short and sometimes it takes something like that to make you appreciate life even! It did me, and I am a very positive person anyway.

So when I got back to London I treated myself to a bit of retail therapy and went for a swim before work.

After Tuesday night's show, we, as a cast performed a gig at a member's bar called Soho House in central London to raise money for charity! It was a very successful night and I had a great time - really enjoyed myself!

Yesterday I had a nice lay in which never happens for me so it was a rare novelty. Then headed in to do two shows and I had friends watching both which is always nice! I had a movie night with a friend last night which was just perfect after a two show day!

Which brings us to today I believe! Had a lovely day! Met a couple of mates for a bit of Nandos chicken lunch then popped to the gym before work again! Love it!

SO that was my week folks! Been some really cool things happened and I've really enjoyed it! 

I'm off to bow now! Finish off in a mo! :-)

So I am now half way to my best friend's house on the train - this Blog seems to have taken over my life this evening haha!

I just want to mention how wonderful it is to come out of stage door after a show and chat to people who have come to get anything signed or to get pictures! Still amazes me how far people come to see the show! I also want to mention one fan in particular. Paula McCann I'm talking about you! Paula saw Oklahoma in November when we were in Derry in Northern Ireland and has since become my biggest fan - I might suggest her name becomes Paula McFan! Amazing gifts and cards and the time invested is overwhelming! Great to finally meet you tonight Paula!

Right enough typing! These blogs need to start getting shorter! ha.

I am heading to have pancakes with my best friend as I missed out on Tuesday - Sh-boom!

Keep smiling folks 'cause life is blooming marvellous! 

Til next time

Mark 

I've not proof read this so I hope it makes sense!!!

Blog 33!!! Launch Time!!!

Hey everyone!!!

How are ya??? I'm great! My fingers are close to being stumps today as I've literally been typing, writing and generally playing office since 9am and I'm not used to it! Today is the official launch of this year's course of my summer school West End In Wales. Check out the link:

http://www.westendinwales.com/

It's a one week course where people aged 10-18 who love musical theatre come together to work alongside myself and an incredible faculty of West End professionals and fab teachers to create an end of week showcase. This year I am proud to say is the 5th anniversary of the course and it has gotten better every year! This year I can guarantee is going to be so much better yet again! There are going to be plenty of WICKED things going on during the week and so many new experiences for the students this year! Now, I refuse to use this blog as a form of permanent advertising as that will get dull for you all to read, however the reason I am writing about it now is because I have had a good few emails from people who live outside of Wales asking if it is just for Welsh people! So I wanted to get the word out there that it is open to anyone and everyone between the ages of 10-18 (age has been extended from last year's 10-17 due to popular demand) - last year we had a student from Mexico who was only 13 year's old! We don't provide accommodation but can of course recommend places to stay and if you have family near-by (even chester/ liverpool way is reasonably close) then make what arrangements you can! The feedback we get as faculty every year is over-whelming as there really aren't many courses like this at all where you get to work with West End artistes so closely, for less than half the price of the London courses and with a limited number of students to ensure individual attention is the priority! That's all I'm going to say but spread the word about this! I had a big meeting with the management of WICKED and they think it's an incredible opportunity for young talent and support me and the summer school 100%!

So there we go (It's been a long day and I will be happy to get out for some fresh air once I've finished this!

So the last time I blogged was from the dressing room on our extra matinee last Thursday! I can't believe that even though we did an extra show last week, every one of the 9 performances we did was more or less sold out! The theatre holds nearly 2500 people - makes you wonder where everyone comes from doesn't it!?? The support for the show from the fans is awesome and people really do come from all over the world to see it! I ask so many people who wait at the stage door where they are from and it's thrilling to hear that most people have headed to London specifically to see Wicked - never mind Big Ben, The London Eye and Buckingham Palace - it's clearly Wicked that people want to see - hahahaha!

Thursday after the show my mate Wayne came over for pizza and a couple of drinks and we ended up watching SAW 6 on DVD!!! My god that is disgusting! How someone has the imagination to think of such horrific ways for people to die is beyond me! Urgh! It wasn't scary just hard to watch and pretty awful really!

Friday was a nice day for me last week! I went shopping to buy a couple of carpets, one for my bedroom and another for my entrance/hallway and they are going to be in stock next week! Hurrah! Now that I am living in my flat permanently I have time to do this sort of thing and can be around to wait for deliveries etc - cos we all know how frustrating it is when they say 'it'll be delivered between 7am and 6pm' ...erm yeah thanks for that Mr Carpetright, I'll just waste my life sitting by the front door shall I! Ha!

Then I went to sit in one of my favourite coffee shops! If ever I have a spare half hour or so and I'm in central London you will quite often find me in the cafe of Foyles book shop on Charring Cross Road, which was introduced to me by one of my besties Becca! It's a cool place with great food and drinks and miss-match furniture and free wireless! Perfect! It's got a great vibe! So I sat and did some work and phone calls from there as a change of scenery from my home office - then I headed to meet my Best friend Sal and her fella Olly for lunch in Wimbledon and we had a great afternoon chatting and laughing and discussing adult things like property and pensions etc -
I think back to when Sally and I lived together as students in college and topics of conversation were about musical theatre projects, tap teaching qualifications and Cheeky Vimto's on a Tuesday (Blue WKD and port! Classy) - how times have changed! We have been through a lot me and Sal and it's funny isn't it how some people are just always there, no matter what - I love my friends and Sally's amazing!

What did I do on Saturday? Hmmm Can't remember - My brain is truly frazzled! Oh yeah, I remember -just more or less headed straight to work for the matinee after doing some work at home! I spent a lot of last week learning the songs I had to sing at the Bobby Cronin concert I did Sunday night at the New Players Theatre! He's an incredible composer but he's so clever with his lyrics that they are really hard to learn! So they required a lot of home work! I had an early night on Saturday, after an episode of Grey's Anatomy - I am loving season two! Makes me wanna be a doctor.....

Which funnily enough brings me swimmingly onto the concert on Sunday! So we had rehearsals and sound checks all day which is the norm (I was opening the show and broke the microphone in the dress rehearsal and so I had to start again! Hilarious) - then when it came to doing the show, Hadley Fraser who many of you will know, very talented guy who is actually taking over the role of Javert in Les Miserables from June this year, was given the responsibility of introducing me onto the stage as a voice over (from a microphone off stage like the dude on the X-Factor, you know the one- RACHEL ADEDAAAAAAJI!!!) well he said something along the lines of 'Ladies and gentlemen, please give a very warm welcome to the newest star of Wicked.....Doctor Mark Evans!' Yup he said I was a doctor! He said in the dressing room 'I wanna do something really random like call you doctor mark or something' and he only went and bloody did it! I was laughing out loud as I walked on stage! He's is a funny funny guy! I actually think he was just hoping I was a doctor so I'd give him a physical examination! HA.

So the concert went really well - the audience seemed to really enjoy it which is the most important thing! I had so many people come up to me afterwards saying they read my blog which I think is AMAZING!!! Hello to those people from the concert, hope you're reading again this week! It really does amaze me that when I look at the statistics of my blog and it's readers and the geography of where you're all reading it etc, I have up to 300 people read my blog EVERY WEEK!!!
I am honoured and so pleased you find something about it that either entertains you or interests you!
Won't it be great in a couple of years to look back and laugh at some good times!
So glad I started this blog!

Anyway, after a couple of drinks Sunday night I came home to catch up with Dancing On Ice - now then readers, I have to get serious for a moment. My friend Laura Hamilton and her skating partner Colin were in the skate off on Sunday and they do not deserve to be there - if they were rubbish I'd say, oh well she's had a good time, but they're blooming incredible on that ice and I genuinely think that people last week assumed that they are so good that they'll be safe and people will vote - but clearly too many people thought that same thing, so this week please please please pick up the phone and vote for them! Two amazing people who deserve to do so well from this! I am actually going to watch in the studio this weekend so keep a look out for a guy voting non stop from his seat - that'll be me! Please I ask you, spread the word to vote for Laura and Colin! If they make the final I will post something very interesting for you in a blog! I promise! End of rant!

Monday I had another date at the bank! I was in there for two and a half hours this time! She's really keen. I think I'll be meeting her parents soon! Ha.

Tuesday I went for a swim in the morning then for some physio for a twinge I'd developed in my shoulder (all fine now) then met with a friend to spend a lovely few hours wandering London and chatting and generally having a really nice day! Good times!!!

I swam 100 lengths before the matinee yesterday which meant that by the break in between shows I was sooooooooo ready for food! Went to Giraffe in Victoria with some guys from the cast and my lovely friend Amy who I mentioned did the amazing Panto in Cardiff - she watched the matinee yesterday! By the way - when you next eat in Giraffe (if you ever do) have the Edemame! That's all I'm going to say! AMAZING!

One more thing before I sign off for this week - Jessie J's album is incredible - she's an inspiration to all and a phenomenal talent and......she's BRITISH!!! Definitely recommend her album! Take my word for it, you'll love it!

Thanks as ever for reading folks! Keep smiling cos life is pretty darn good don't you think?!?

Love to all

Until next time.....Sh-Boom!!!

Mark