With the onset of revision, everything dramatic seems to have died in my life. Which is very sad for all. Sweeney went very well, the first night there were a few hiccoups but that's all to be expected. Second and third went brilliantly, very glad the family were there that night. On the Friday there was a press reviewer there - all positive things, four stars, very nice. About my performance in particular: "Tom Bovington was an earnest Anthony, who sang Johanna, one of the show's most difficult pieces, with fervour. Sophie McKinnon looked totally right as the object of his affection and the two showed their eagerness to escape together in Kiss Me." Very nice Mr Critic, thank you. This was slightly dampened by a bitchy text from the director to the stage manager, but I'll let that slide. Needless to say, I won't be putting my money anywhere near him again.
The past week has been devoted to two ventures: revision and Spring Awakening. As closing night rapidly approached, I felt driven to see the show more and more. On Monday I went to see it with a friend who hadn't seen it before, K. We were both very kindly bought our tickets by someone I'd met through one of the Facebook groups (I know, online safety and all that jazz but it all was fine) and the show was brilliant as usual. K decided she wanted to see it AGAIN before it closed (typical!) and V wanted to see it for the ninth time, so we got up RIDICULOUSLY early Thursday morning to queue for day tickets. Unfortunately we could only get two for the front row and three others for the dress circle, so K and I managed to nab the day ones. Sitting in the front row was magical, managed to catch eye contact with cast members several times, particularly with Aneurin during 'Totally Fucked' which set K's heartbeat a flutter. Was very sad too - you could tell the cast felt it was all coming to an end, with a few tears and handholding towards the finale.
Then Saturday came, the final night. S and I went up earlyish to hang about London which was very nice in the glorious weather. Whilst in Starbucks, V rang to say she had managed to get me a stage seat! Which I was very happy about. We went to the stage door after the matinee because, as we rightly predicted, the evening would be manic. The mat was also rather crazy but, having got there early, we had prime positions. Because of said craziness, barriers had been erected outside the stage door, with the cast slowly moving down a fan-free corridor to sign things and take photos.
We went to get food, came back and the 'protest' had started. A French man, whose name i later learned was Bastien, had come over from Paris and brought his guitar. He was persuaded by another fan to begin playing songs from the show and before long, the whole crowd had joined in. Slowly, cast members poked their heads out of their dressing rooms to see what the commotion was about and they joined in too! Hearing Connie Walker do the 'Herr Gabor!' in Totally was great. Lots of youtube videos here: http://www.youtube.com/user/29penfold01
The actual performance was amazing. I've already written about it elsewhere and its very long and thus would take up a lot of space, but the crowd was electric, cheering as soon as the swing came in. Every song had a huge applause and you could just tell the cast were enjoying themselves. There were lots of little goofs - Jamie Blackley singing the American, "Looks so nasty in those khakis" which elicited a huge audience response, various smiles, and the boys hanging off the bars and touching audience members during 'Touch Me'.
I was fine throughout the whole of act 1 and only began to get a little teary during Moritz's monologue before he dies. Left Behind began and the tears started, and then I looked two seats left and saw Jamie B in floods of tears - this set me off no doubt, V had to grab my hand and I'm sure Richard Cordery who plays the Adult Men saw me. Jamie was still crying at the beginning of Totally and I felt so bad for him - I just wanted to give him a hug!
The stage door after was INSANE. A friend who was in a bar around the corner text me: "Just heard an explosion of sound, SA?" We later discovered the cast were all having a drink and some having haircuts - as the crowd became impatient the yells of "We want *insertcastmemberhere*" began and the cast member (sometimes in various states of undress) would poke their heads out of the windows. The sight of Aneurin Barnard and Iwan Rheon topless evoked deafening screams from many of the crowd. There was more singing, including a rendition of Totally Fucked where Edd Judge opened his window and called it "They kill for fun!" It was really great.
Eventually the cast came out, and after a long wait we got photos with Charlotte, Sian, Lucy, Edd and Iwan. Completely missed Ni which was sad and Jamie was swamped by people - he eventually said he had to go. However, this was completely made up for by a message popping up on my Facebook wall the next day from him, thanking me for my support and saying how much he appreciated it. I really appreciated his message too, and its made some friends very jealous, which is nice.
Now I'm back to a life of mediocrity - exams, exams, exams. I've sent off my application for the Arts Ed foundation course, which will hopefully give some meaning to my life next year. If not, who knows what I'll be doing!?
