MADTrust events and lots of new writing!

It’s the last week of the Summer Holidays and all I can say is…thank Christ for that! It has been a nightmare trying to find the time to fit in all my writing work; my days are filled with mummy duties and with no school in the morning, her early nights have not been so early.  Add to that my weekend bar shifts and I’ve had to attempt to do everything in the time slot of five free(ish) evenings a week. Hardly ideal. Still, I can see that light at the end of the tunnel now and as from next week, ‘mummy head’ will be firmly locked away in the storage cupboard during the day and ‘writers head’ will have free reign once again. It is rather pleased about this…

Aside from swings at the park, board games and colouring fun, I’ve also managed to make room for a few theatre-related endeavours – both business and pleasure. The past few weeks have been dedicated to new writing mainly, with the SimGProductions ‘Summer With…’ cabaret season at the Battersea Barge and covering recording sessions of the My Land’s Shore demo as well as Joe Sterling’s album.

I spent last Tuesday at the Auburn Jam recording studio in Raynes Park with Joe Sterling. His debut album features a number of songs from the concept musical ‘Roundabout’ he wrote with Bob Gould, who was also with us in the studio, and from what I heard, the plan to workshop it next year is a worthwhile one. There is a varied range of sounds mixed in there and all of them good. They had Jack Shalloo, Jonathan Eio, Ross Hunter and Rosa O’Reilly come in to record that day, with Christopher Orton and Rhiannon Porter having laid down their vocals the previous day; more sessions are planned for September with a host of names, including Craig Mather and Jonathan Williams. Curly-haired Joe shows promise as a songwriter and I have happily added him to the list of new writers that I think are the future of musical theatre, joining other such talented folk as Tim Prottey-Jones, Chris Passey, Dougal Irvine and Steven Luke Walker. There are many more of course, but taking into mind my enthusiasm for new writers, you’d spend the next ten minutes reading off all their names.

The week before Joe’s session, I was in a different studio for a different recording: My Land’s Shore. It was only recently that my attention was drawn to this Welsh musical but, since having looked into the history that its story is based on and listened to some of the score, I’ve found myself rather excited about this one. I’ve made no secret of the fact that the growing fascination with film-adapted musicals and the seemingly endless jukebox shows is not something I believe to be good for the West End. They have their place, but have begun to dominate Theatreland, at the expense of original and fresh new work and it is in danger of turning into a bland and mundane place, where stunt casting runs wild and every show is something you already know! A big, new melodramatic production is needed to breathe some life and creativity back into the theatre scene and lead the cause for the different and unknown – I really think My Land’s Shore could do that. The tale of Dic Penderyn grabbed me instantly and the score is just stunning, simply stunning. Chris Orton and Bob Gould have been working on the show for years and believe it is ready to be seen; I’d have to agree. When the demo recording is released, I sincerely hope you all get yourselves a copy – I want everyone to love it as much as I already do and I know that with one listen, they will. The people they have singing on this recording are superb; people like Jonathan Williams, Rhiannon Porter, Gareth Richards, Kelly-Anne Gower and Mark Evans, not forgetting the ensemble who took part that day. I felt truly privileged to be there in that room with the people and the music… I can’t get any more behind My Land’s Shore than I already am! I can say with 100% certainty that it will find its way to a West End stage and is going to completely transform the theatre scene. It is powerful and epic and…beautiful.

An interview with Joe Sterling will soon be up on The Public Reviews website, as will the article on My Land’s Shore which includes an interview with Chris Orton, Bob Gould and Jonathan Williams, so look out for them!

All work and no play makes Julie a dull girl though. To remedy this, I went along to the three cabarets that made up the SimG Productions ‘Summer With…’ season, which kicked off with Annalene Beechey and Rebecca Locke. Beautiful, talented, funny and they brought baked goods and MD Peter White…what more could you ask for in a cabaret? The following ‘Composers’ cabaret also over very well; an evening with the future of musical theatre – Laurence Mark Wythe, Grant Olding, Dougal Irvine and Tim Sutton, with guests Samantha Barks, George Ure, Stephen Ashfield and Annalene Beechey. The amount of people who showed up for them (sold-out Barge) only shows the level of support they, and new writing in general, have out there. It was all nicely rounded up last night by Jack Shalloo who, as well as performing songs from his ‘London Soul’ album, brought along some friends with him; The Lovable Rogues, Natalie Green and Gina Beck and MD Spesh Maloney. Fun, laughter and good times by all.

A SimG cabaret is always a guaranteed good night out but most importantly, it gives a platform for new writers and performers. The support of SimG Director Simon Greiff is an asset to new work and he did a wonderful job with these summer cabarets. The next cabaret event will be 18^th December; I’d strongly suggest you keep the date free for it.

It really has been a strong few weeks for new writing and it’s only going to continue. Album releases are popping up all over the place, with the two closest being those from Tim Prottey-Jones and Chris Passey. I recommend you get yourselves down to Dress Circle for their album signings, Tim in October and Chris the following month. Not only are they rather talented in the composing department, they’re also rather fun and lovely folk – see for yourselves at Dress Circle (you can also read my interview with Chris Passey on The Public Reviews site. A TPJ one will be following it)!

It hasn’t been all about the new writing lately though. Sunday 21^st August was also the day of the MADTrust Garden Party. We had cabaret entertainment from the superb Gay Soper and also from Will Barratt, accompanied by Nadim Naaman and Kate Batter, all of which did a fine job of entertaining the guests. The cast of War Horse also staged a poolside performance, and none of them fell in, which was good!

The food was amazing and the raffle and auction raised a fantastic amount for the Trust – our auctioneer Christopher Biggins was just grand at getting the guests to empty their wallets in our name… Plenty of fun was had in the pool, even more so as the cocktails kept on flowing, thanks to Freedom Bar, Soho. It was a pleasure to be there and it was great to see everyone having such a good time. Nobody does a better job of making fundraising fun than MADTrust. Of course, our next event is this coming weekend with West End Bares: Clothing Optional; perhaps the most fun fundraiser of them all! ‘Hot guys and gals taking their clothes off’ - does it need more of a selling-point than that? Add to that, our hosts Gok Wan and Sheridan Smith, as well as Ramin Karimloo performing and it promises to be one of the best ‘Bares’ of all. There are very limited tickets available now, so if you want to come along then move quickly. At last check, there were still a few VIP tickets available which grant you access to the after-party; well worth getting your hands on one! I shall be working both shows that day (behind the scenes of course) so I hope to see a few of you there. It will be a sizzling hot night!

There’s a lot of exciting things coming up the following weeks and months and I shall of course endeavour to keep you all up to date here. Among other things, I’m working on a really fun feature right now and also have an upcoming interview with everyone’s favourite French policeman… wink wink.

Thanks to all who have been reading my blog – I do hope you find it interesting! I always enjoy writing it… J

Remember…create, love, inspire!

Miss Julie