We're off...

I don't think I have mentioned this, but I am in 'The Wizard of Oz', which opens this summer. We ran Act One yesterday and my goodness... I need to get to a gym! Playing the Scarecrow is great fun and the rest of the cast is superb, but we are all rather unfit and need to get to a gym ASAP. I thought I wasn't too bad, but when I couldn't sing the last verse of 'If I only had a brain' due to harsh panting, I knew something was wrong!

The show is a hoot, but the dialogue really is absolutely crap! The ending is so cheesy and we can't help but break into hysterics every time we do it. The Director is getting fed up of us corpsing, though, and has made a point of saying that he needs us to take it seriously. But when faced with a line from the Lion saying 'and I got a permanent just for the occasion' and Aunty Em saying 'But first, we gotta get you into bed', while all the farm hands are crowded round her, it's impossible not to catch someone's eye and have a giggle. Maybe we are just immature... or having too much fun?

Anyway, it's going to be a great show and the kid's will love it, I'm sure. Act Two today was dire, but it will get better when we stop laughing. Feel free to come and see it...

Little Shop of Horrors

I have been to the theatre quite a lot this weather. 'A Little Night Music' at the Garrick was stunning, 'Les Mis' at the Queen's wasn't great and everything was a bit flat; 'Chess' last week wasn't the best thing I've seen and is definitely dated. Tonight I went to see the touring production of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken's "Little Shop of Horrors" and was absolutely blown away. The cast was absolutely on the money, with fantastic performances from the whole company; noone was at fault. In fact, Sylvester McCoy, a former 'Dr Who' and Dunoonite (Dunoon is where I'm from), was tremendous and Clive Row as 'the plant' was outstanding. Alex Ferns (Eastenders) was hilarious as the Dentist (and the many other characters he played, for that matter), he stole the show. I thought the two leads, whose names have slipped my mind, were perfectly cast and the three 'Street Urchins' were vocally out of this world!

Normally when a touring company comes to Scotland, I always come out of the theatre thinking 'there was something missing'. This company got it right, though. The set was superbly crafted, the plants were amazing and the lighting was gorgeous. I thought the orchestra was balanced really well, but felt sorry for the MD who will probably be in a neck brace by the end of the tour, given that he had to conduct the orchestra with his head while playing the Keyboard - I hate doing that, my hair goes everywhere!


I was offered to Score a short film today, which is great. Trouble is... I can't get "Somewhere that's green" out of my head!