How Does This Work Again?

On the 14th of March, 2020, I played my 4,349th professional performance of a musical. 572 days later was my 4,350th, as I played the piano chair on the tour of Chicago the Musical to allow the Assistant MD to have a show watch. This month I have joined the production in Northampton, Bradford, Nottingham & Wolverhampton, and it has been great being back on stage playing with such a fabulous band and cast!

I was also called up to start helping out on the tour of Bedknobs & Broomsticks, a brand new production that has just got underway. My first show on keyboard ended up being rather short notice, giving me just over 48 hours to listen to the show, practice the music and get to grips with all the magical sounds and effects! Thankfully I appeared to get away with it, as I was invited back to learn the other keyboard chair.

As well as the above, work at Edge Hill has really ramped up. Now that the students are back full time, there is a noticeable change for me compared to last year as many more of my hours there are practical-based, whether it is helping students learn songs, perfect their warm-up routines, note bash harmonies and generally help create exciting performances. They’re all really appreciative of any advice I can give, and patient when I end up waffling on about some anecdote or another in the process! The first years continue to work towards an assessed 10-minute performance in December while the third years are hard at work on a workshop of The Girl In The Hat, an exciting new musical that is still in its earliest stages. I am sure the second years are also busy, but I am not timetabled with them this semester!

I have also continued to help out on the music front on an exciting digital project, Frisky & Mannish: PopCorn, which you can get streaming tickets for throughout November. Starring my sister, with excellent technical work done by my brother-in-law (amongst other people, of course), I am very excited to see the final result!

November sees me popping briefly to London to celebrate Matilda the Musical’s 10th Birthday, helping out on a local charity showcase concert, more depping and of course plenty more trips to the Edge Hill campus. Great to have a busy diary once again!