Poppins Into 2017
Happy New Year!
As ever in our wonderful showbiz industry, the festive period was also my busiest work period. Following my stint helping out on Mary Poppins, it was straight back to London to take over temporarily on keyboards and as associate conductor at Jersey Boys at the Piccadilly Theatre. Added into that, the Poppins lot still needed me to be playing rehearsals for the new International Touring cast who start performances next month in Zürich, Switzerland.
I've also had my head down in the above score as I'm now learning how to conduct the show ready to take over full-time as the Assistant Musical Director for its international legs this year. It's a little strange as I've basically been going around with this show since April, but I'm excited anyway to be joining as an official member of the company finally!
I'm holed up in this Cardiff hotel room overlooking the theatre (if you look carefully, you can see the Wales Millennium Centre through the window in the above photo) buried in score prep as rehearsals continue for the new cast. It's all going on!
There has been a small island of calm in this hectic month: I flew to Austria for Christmas itself to join the family in a house on the edge of a frosty forest just outside the city of Graz, where my sister and brother-in-law are currently working on a show out there. It wasn't snowy, but that didn't stop us getting the wood-burner going, mulling some wine and cooking up some great festive meals. A wonderful change of pace for three days.
I also managed to see the press night of Rent at the St. James's Theatre and, just after Christmas, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial film with live orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall. Both scores sounding fabulous in their own right, full justice being done to both legendary productions.
January is full-on with rehearsals for Mary Poppins, as you can imagine. The first public performance for this new cast in Zürich is on February 1st. I'll be back with you when I'm in Switzerland! Exciting times.