Before we move forward, let's look back!....or some such nonsense.

So, I got myself back on the cabaret horse back in August following a very successful visit to Frinton-on-Sea to "star" as the Widow Corney in Oliver! Of course I thought my contribution to the production was massive (or at least important) until my landlady in Frinton came to see it and, during our debrief of the performance, said "You didn't have a very big part did you!". I could just tell that she had hoped to play host to Nancy or, at the very least, the Artful Dodger. Anyway, I brushed it off and left Frinton the next day telling myself "I am a good company member. My input counted" over and over again until my landlady's words had removed themselves from my psyche. So, I was back to London to prepare for a short cabaret set 4 days later.

This set was the start of, what I am hoping will be a brand new cabaret show all about the 80s. However I did start to think about the first cabaret show I did a couple of years ago and how I haven't really capitalized on it's potential yet. It has only had one outing and, although it was flawed, there was the bones of a fairly good show there. Unfortunately, as well as being incompetent I am, also, incredibly lazy.

Following the one and only performance of my first cabaret I was chatting to a friend about it. A very honest friend, who although she had enjoyed the show, had many points of constructive criticism to make. There were a few things that were rooky mistakes to do with staging that I knew I had done and knew I would not make again but the biggest conclusion we both came to was that there were many good "jokes" in there, I just hadn't quite found them yet. This all comes down to laziness but also to impatience. I would be rubbish at cross stitch or something else that took time to complete. That's why I like crocheting. You see results quickly and that's what I want when I write the material for my cabarets.

I'm even impatient when it comes to these blog posts, which is why they are always riddled with mistakes. I say my posts are edited by my sister but I haven't sent one to her to look over in ages because I am far too impatient to wait for her to check it before I post it. So, I MUST stop being so impetuous and take a bit of time to make sure things are hunky dory before I unleash them on an unsuspecting world.

Case in point, during my prep for my first cabaret I did a short set at The Pheasantry as part of Cabaret Confidential. I sang 5 songs that were including in the longer show when I finally got around to putting it together. One of the songs was Stiles and Drewe's "Diva", a song about a woman who can't sing in tune. I have perfected the art of singing out of tune but hadn't, completely, when I first performed it 2 years ago. See for yourself. This is the full version of the first attempt I made at singing out of tune and, for my money, it isn't quite out of tune enough.

I have performed it numerous times since and am much, much better at singing out of tune now. Who would have thought after all those years of training I would end up actively attempting to sing badly!

Anyway, this is the first of a few posts with clips from my past shows but I am hoping, if I can stem the laziness and the impatience in equal measure, I will have something new to offer soon.

  

Diversify! Diversify!.....imagine that said with the voice of a Dalek.

The title of this post makes it sound far more sinister than it actually is. I just thought it would sound funny. Plus, I can legitimately write "Doctor Who" in the tags thus attracting a whole new audience, albeit an audience with little or no interest in the inner workings of a soprano's brain. Although you never know. It's always good to broaden ones horizons which is, kind of, what this diary entry is all about.

So, apart from my foray back into the world of musical theatre during the summer, I have not been performing much over the past couple of years. Not through choice, you understand, I absolutely loved my time in the big tent on the seafront in Frinton. Just imagine a Great British Bake Off sized tent, though not worth £25 million (or is it £75 million), 200 seats but no gingham or Mary Berry. Anyway, this small blip, or temporary stagnation, in my singing career has got me thinking of different ways in which I can pay the rent. Of course, I can think of many ways I could easily pay my bills, unfortunately most of them aren't legal or moral so I am not prepared to embark upon them. However, there are a few things I am capable of doing without throwing my good name in to disrepute.

As regular readers of my diary know, I teach singing to the unsuspecting of Croydon (and Chatham). I teach privately but I also teach at a couple of kid's theatre schools. I have come to realise recently that I have become a little complacent over the past year. I would love to not have to teach at the schools anymore and be my own boss (not because I don't enjoy it, I do! In case anyone I work for reads this, I am not leaving imminently!). I want to be totally in charge of my own destiny but this takes legwork.

I have a friend who also teaches singing privately and she has more than enough students to pay her bills and keep her food cupboards fully stocked. SO, what am I doing, or not doing, that is holding me back?

Part of the problem is she is far more the go-getter than I will ever be. I tend to live in a dream world, hoping that fabulous things will land in my lap. I am a little bit of the mindset, if I think it, it will happen even though I am intelligent enough to know that this is codswallop. Nobody ever got anywhere by day-dreaming in bed. Well, except Angela Lansbury et al in "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" (if you don't understand the reference, look up the film, it is amazing). Anyway, all that is set to change. I have already updated my teaching website, and then re-updated when another friend pointed out everything wrong with it, I have put up flyers in my local area and am now waiting for the phone to ring. It hasn't yet but I am hopeful it will.

In the meantime I am also putting into action plans to start an adult choir (that makes it sound a little kinky, it's not, unless you want it to be). This isn't going to make my fortune, and it isn't meant to, it is more a way to become a bigger part of my local community. Being an actor/singer waiting for the next job to come along can be a lonely business. You cant go out meeting friends as much as you would like because this normally costs money. Money you haven't got when you aren't working and with such an uncertain future you have to save every penny possible. Which is why so many actor friends come to realise that you have to have something else on the go in order to get by between jobs. So if I can add to my teaching portfolio with a choir and meet like minded people in my local area it has to be a good thing. At the moment my best friend is Netflix and nobody should have to say that.

I have never been a hugely proactive person but as time rolls on I think this has to change. I therefore apologise in advance to my Facebook friends and Twitter followers as I intend to inundate my Facebook timeline and Twitter feed with posts about my business. Please understand, as a person who tends to apologise for her very existence, this is the final time I am going to apologise for this!

For more information about singing lessons in South Croydon click on The Singing Stars.

Why can't life be one big summer holiday?...it doesn't have to involve Cliff Richard and a big red bus.

So, we are approaching the end of another summer holiday. In a weeks time I have to go back to the day job, back to teaching. However, my summer has been quite eventful actually. For a change.

I spent a beautiful couple of weeks in sunny (most of the time) Frinton-on-Sea playing the Widow Corney in Frinton Summer Theatre's production of "Oliver!" To say the show had 14 children in it, it was the most "grown-up show" I have ever been involved with. No divas, no tantrums, no sniping, no jealousy, no negativity (except one tiny moment from me that only the glorious director was privy to, and it was not on the scale of my usual meltdowns - I'll tell you about one of them later). The whole process was joyful and hugely satisfying and reignited my passion for what I should be doing.

The show itself took place in a tent! We did four shows in two days! We only got into the tent the morning of the first show and promptly had to vacate it to make way for a coffee morning! However, because the cast was so laid back and happy to be there nobody fussed and we put on a blooming good show.

While rehearsing for "Oliver!" I was also having to rehearse for a Cabaret Confidential. Another 20min slot at The Pheasantry I did in August, 5 days after getting back from Frinton. I had decided I wanted to finally get back on the horse called "Cabaret" and start putting together a new show and thought 20mins at The Pheasantry would be just the ticket to get me started. I decided a homage to happier times was in order so my set (and my show, when finished) would have an 80s theme. I can't remember what I did last week but I can recite all the words to "Wake me up before you go-go" without batting an eyelid (apologies if I have used that "joke" before) so the 80s seemed a good place to start.

Up until the day I was very excited. I was prepared, I knew my words (for once - although I had a small blip in one song, but I wouldn't be me without at least one mistake) but on the actual day I started to panic that people would not find me funny. The singing didn't bother me, that usually takes care of itself, but I was literally terrified that my new material would not be funny and, as I only had a small contingent of people in who actually knew me, sympathy laughs would be in short supply. So I panicked right up until my rehearsal at the venue. After that I resigned myself to it, I thought it would be what it would be. There was no getting out of it. Funny or not I had to do it.

Thankfully my opening gambit, which I won't tell you about in case you come to see my show in the future, was met with a wall of laughter so I knew the rest would be OK. I actually didn't sing as well as I can but I didn't actually mind. I know the theme works and it made me want to go home and immediately start working on fleshing out the rest of the show. Watch this space!

I think I will leave you with that for now. I promised you tales of my meltdowns but I think I will save that for another blogpost. Always leave them wanting more I say.