Life is short and I'll miss you Olivia!

So this year is shaping up to be a repeat of 2016. In 2016 we lost Victoria Wood, George Michael, Alan Rickman, David Bowie and Prince to name but a few. So far in 2022 we have lost the likes of Barry Cryer, Leonard Fenton (Doctor Legg from Eastenders), Lynda Baron, June Brown, Bernard Cribbins and Nichelle Nichols. On Monday Olivia Newton-John was a sad addition to this years list. This is not meant to be a sad post (although I am VERY sad about Olivia), it just got me thinking about how much time I waste doing meaningless things such as binge watching box sets on Netflix and eating far too much all day, every day. Something really needs to change before it's too late.

Don't get me wrong, binge watching box sets on Netflix should not be forbidden BUT it should not be an everyday occurrence and I would love to live by the mantra "Eat to live, don't live to eat". I had already been trying to do something about the amount of time I waste and the amount of food I eat but the news of Olivia Newton-John's passing has caused me to strengthen my resolve and double down on making something more of my life!

To be fair I don't want much out of life. I would like to be happy (I am, but I think I could be happier), I would like to be more tolerant (of all sorts of people and things), I would like to encourage more ladies to join my four choirs because singing is good for the soul, but one thing a definitely want to do is have no regrets about my own singing. 

I stopped performing professionally back in 2015. I didn't intend for Oliver! in Frinton-on-Sea to be my last show but, thus far, this is the case. I am not too sad about this being the last full length musical I ever do as it was one of my favourite jobs (Jerry Springer: The Opera was my absolute fave!) but I don't want to stop singing, for myself, all together. I still sing when teaching the choirs their songs but this is not the same as getting up and singing for an audience. 

Funnily enough I had only been talking about planning new cabarets with a couple of friends earlier today so the news we got today telling us that Sandy from Grease and Kira from Xanadu (my personal favourite ONJ film!) had died has made me think deeply about the fact that life really is very short and should be grabbed with both hands before it's too late.

So, I intend to live as positively as I possibly can and spend more time doing the things I enjoy doing the most (singing) and not spend every bit of spare time I have binge watching nonsense and eating reconstituted potato snacks that are no good for me. This is going to be hard but, I am now ever so determined!

Magic - Olivia Newton John

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.

  

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.