Europe By Rail

As the Come From Away tour hit its stride, news filtered through of a possible extension to the contract. Was it London? A World Tour? Woking? In the end it turned out to be a short run in Trieste, in Italy. I have played Il Rosetti (the theatre) once before on a European Tour of Evita, and remembered what a beautiful venue it was, with a ceiling of stars that lights up.

Before getting there, and after seeing in 2025 with family and friends, we had our final few days of Come From Away in the UK. There were some tears as a handful of company members were leaving before the Italian job, and also a wonderful end-of-tour party on The Quays in Salford, at which I was presented with the People’s Choice Award! It was a nice opportunity (although I had downed quite a bit of wine by this point) to wax lyrical down a microphone about one of the best tours I have done in front of producers, cast members, and many more than I had hoped that I can now call friends.

So with Salford done, there was a five-day gap before performances began in Trieste to allow travel time for cast and set. I headed out a couple of days early, flying to Venice and spending a night there. Some of the band had made a similar decision, so we were all able to meet up by the canals. On to Trieste, the short run did have an air of us being sent on an all-inclusive package holiday together at the end of this tour, albeit with a handful of performances peppered throughout the weekend! The very last day was of course emotional, and the 4pm show time allowed most of us to head out for a slap-up Italian meal that evening in celebration. I slipped away as the evening went on for an early night as I had plans…

I had hatched an idea some months back to sandwich the Trieste run with some European exploration - it was a case of working out exactly what. As previously mentioned, I flew into Venice before Trieste, so I then decided - accompanied by my friend Kevin from the cast - to travel back home to London exclusively using rail travel, in a sort-of Race Across The World style. It took six days, leaving Trieste at breakfast time on Monday morning and travelling via Verona, Milan, Saint Moritz, Montreux & Paris, spending a night in each city and travelling by day. The literal high-point of the trip was the route across the Alps, where special rail services wine and dine you as the train winds through valleys and over glaciers. Exceptionally sunny weather throughout helped it to become one of the most memorable trips I have ever taken - highly recommended! Incredible views, sensational food, beautiful cities and the perfect way to detox from a year of wonderful work.

Back with a bump to real life, sorting the flat out (I now appear to have two of everything, having “lived” on tour for a year) and getting back into freelance mode, I have found myself dipping a toe back into the Matilda The Musical family, as this time of the year sees the West End production rehearse in a new children’s cast. It has been almost three years since I last worked on the show in any capacity, but the memories flood back every time I am there to play rehearsal piano!

January also saw me asked to help out on a workshop, which is always a hugely interesting and oft-rewarding thing to be involved with. It’s also important that details remain scant in public domains until the work is ready for a wider launch, but needless to say it was a truly joyous week, with everyone in the room invested in making the piece as brilliant as possible in a presentation to industry professionals. I hope I get to do more of this kind of thing in the future.

February is yet more freelance mode! It’s a nice change of pace to a contract, with the diary kept fairly malleable and waiting to see how it pans out.