All's Well That Ends Well

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!?

The Sun Sets for Spring

This is really sad news: the London production of Spring Awakening, which was set for a run into October, is closing on 30th May 2009, after only a few weeks in its West End home. This show was beautiful, poignant, energetic; it literally took you from one emotion to another, between songs of sorrow like 'Left Behind' and 'Those You've Known' to upmost glee in 'Totally Fucked' and 'My Junk'. Its easy to blame other shows for Spring's demise: television casting, well known revivals, even the recession. But its simple - not enough people were going to see this amazing show. Its demographic was already fairly small compared to the big hitters of the West End and most people in that group hadn't heard of it. The last time I went, the stalls were almost full but the dress circle was less than half filled and the royal circle, empty. Unfortunately in the current economic climate, a show that is not making enough money, however acclaimed it is critically, just cannot survive. This show brought new people to theatre and showed what a musical can really be. I also desperately wanted to be in it.

I'm luckily going on Friday and I'm going to try and get day tickets for the final performance - I'd really like to show my appreciation for the immensely talented cast and a show that has really touched me. Hopefully I'll be able to.

Two weeks of theatre craziness...

Heard from the NYT on Saturday - 10 weeks after my audition when they said it'd be 8 at the most! However, I cannot harbour too many ill feelings as my letter started with the words 'Congratulations'! Our post usually comes at about noon so when I was woken by letters falling onto the mat at 8am I should have seen it as a sign. When I eventually dragged myself out of bed and went to get the letter, I immediately thought I hadn't made it. The letter was way too thin. However, heart pounding, I opened the envelope, put my hand in, and thought, "There's more than one sheet of paper in here." I pulled them out, saw the word synymous with success and immediately began jumping around my house yelling quite loudly. Went and informed my Mum, who was very pleased and then proceeded to play, sign and jump around to Spring Awakening's 'Totally Fucked' very loudly. My sister found it all very amusing.

Once I'd calmed down a tad, I had the chance to look through the letter and get a lot more excited. The week sounds amazing and after a brief chat with the parents we decided I'd shell out the additional money to stay in halls at Laban in Greenwich, where the course is being held. This has meant, unfortunately, I've had to drop out of a summer holiday to Spain with some friends but they were all very supportive, saying I couldn't pass this up. I also spoke to J and W who I auditioned with, and unfortunately they didn't get in - but it was their first time auditioning, where it was my second. Just shows its worth it to get back the next year, which they're both going to do!

I've already been speaking to some people on Facebook who are on my course, and we've all been discussing what we might get up to, what other drama experiences we have had and where we might go clubbing in the evening! I actually cannot wait.

In other news, the past two nights I had my A2 performance of 'Lord of the Flies' which went very well. The er, disruptive nature of our group meant we hadn't actually had a full run through without pauses or laughter so performing the piece in its entirety was nice, and it seemed to go down a storm with the audience which was brilliant. Many of my teachers who had never seen me perform before also complimented me on my performance, which was very nice. Bit sad its over now though, the last performance I'll have at high school!

Lastly, booked tickets for my third trip to Spring Awakening for S's birthday for next Friday - I'm excited. Does that make me a bit sad?

Spring Time

My last post seems ridiculously long ago and in that time a ridiculous amount of things have happened so it seems ridiculous that I haven't written sooner. Ridiculous.

About two weeks ago I went back to Abacus to have my headshots done which was very exciting and fairly nerve-wracking at the same time. A good headshot can make or break a career and, knowing how important it would be, I got up very early to make sure that I was both looking my best and would make it there in time. Upon arrival, it appeared that an accident-induced traffic jam on the M25 meant that everyone who was meant to be shot before me hadn't arrived and therefore I was to go first. I quickly changed, checked my hair and went into the studio. The photographer was quite friendly although very blunt; at one point he pointed at my face and said, "I'm going to edit them afterwards so that spot there and that spot there, they'll all be gone." Cheers.

After that I went to visit 'the girls in the office' who were all very friendly, and they showed me how my Spotlight page will look. I also threw in a LOT of hints about Spring Awakening auditions and how much I'd like to play Melchior =P They also gave me my contracts to sign, so my life is now bound to them, woo!



My friend S is back from uni in Norwich this week, and I'd already told her to go and see Spring Awakening. She did and loved it, and wanted to go again before she went back. I rang up, booked stage tickets because she hadn't sat on stage and when the operator offered me stage right I had to politely ask, "Could we sit stage left please?" This was merely for perving reasons - I'm not going to say anything more than that. So this Wednesday we rushed up to London after I finished work (spending almost 15 pounds on a train ticket and parking in the process) and saw the show at the Novello which, for me, was the first time at that theatre. The show was amazing, so much better than the second time. I think it was partly that I knew more about it and also the cast had more experience now. I almost cried when Moritz kills himself and then couldn't stop smiling a minute later as the cast bounced around the stage belting out 'Totally Fucked' I love that song. Sitting stage left, I was actually right behind Aneurin Barnard who plays Melchior for a fair part of the show and at the interval I noticed some girls in the audience pointing at me and showing their friends. Suitably embarrased if a little pleased, I turned away.

The second half of the show was brilliant too, although as it neared the end I was sad it was over already! The cast came and did an encore of 'Totally Fucked' which I got quite into and was very nice.

Afterwards S and I went to the stage door, where we were informed that the cast were currently doing a Q&A and would be out soon. Now, they had done two shows that day, then a Q&A... if it was me I would've come out and gone straight home! However, they all stayed for ages to talk to us, sign things and take photos. Luckily they came out almost one at a time so we were able to talk to almost all of them. S sort-of knew Edd Judge so we talked to him for a fair while which was awesome, and also spoke to Charlotte Wakefield who plays Wendla - she is tiny! Before they came out, S and I joked that when Aneurin came out she wouldn't be able to speak and when he did come, she waited for me to start talking before complteley butting in =D. He was really nice, spent a good while talking to us and we had a conversation about us looking similar - at one point he said we could be brothers, and at another he said I could be his understudy and go on and perform whilst he goes for a pint. S joked he shouldn't have said that, I actually would go do it!

Some American women there asked him how to pronounce his name, which they butchered and then said how amazing he was to which he replied: "Don't say that, I won't be able to fit my head through the stage door!" Then S came and asked if he'd had a break yet and he said he wasn't meant to but last week he dislocated his rib and had to go to hospital and have it popped back in. Then he proceeded to lift his shirt and show us - S was very impressed.

Then the Americans asked to have a photo and I offered to take it so they both could be in it, and then I asked if I could have a photo with him which S took - its made a fair few people jealous and people have commented on how similar we look!

I think now, if I get an audition for the next cast, I should walk in and proclaim, "Aneurin said I could be his understudy, now gimme the part!"

"Take that drama school!"

Very exciting news this week - I've heard from the agency. First I'll talk about the audition, which was two weeks ago today. At first we had a workshop with all the other auditionees, typical stuff like drama games and improv and things. Then we had to do some script work which ended up being from Skins but was (luckily!) less racy than you'd imagine. Then we did our monologues - I was a bit worried because mine was quite upbeat and I went third, and the girl and guy who went before me were very deep and intense. The girl did a monologue about a woman who had been raped and the guy did something from Equus so I was second guessing myself already. However, I did the monologue and the acting coach said that it was a good monologue and well performed but not the right choice if you're only performing one monologue, that it was good in a repotoire and if I was performing two or three it'd be great. But if you're doing one, you need to blow people away. However, she did say she was disappointed that I hadn't stretched myself more because she'd thought I could've done more. Which was kind of a compliment!

Then after that if we wanted to sing, we could and I sang 'If I Only Had a Brain' which they said was also an 'interesting' choice but I said I didn't really have any training and it was just what I'd done in a show. Afterwards they said they did like my voice but I definitely needed some training. Lookswise they then compared me to the actor playing Melchior in Spring Awakening.

So I came away feeling quite pleased with myself and waited a week for the email like they said... which never came. I got anxious and nervous and ran home every day from school for an email that never came - boo hiss indeed.

By Wednesday I thought the time that had passed was sufficient enough for me to ring them, which I did and spoke to the head of the agency and explained, and she said that the office had all been really ill and we'd get an email by the end of the week. And then she went, "Well, actually... oh I don't know if I can tell you, but maybe... hmm, well... when you get the email, it'll be a yes!" To which I proceeded to dance around my sixth form centre very excitedly.

So I got the official email a day later detailing photos being taken etc. and I'm just very happy and feeling of worth!