For Katie and I this is the end of our time with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The show continues today and tomorrow with Harriet and Harrison playing Jeremy and Jemima, and at 10.30pm on Sunday night, as the curtain comes down the 40 containers will arrive for the set, wardrobe, equipment and Chitty herself to be loaded into, ready to return to England. I will be leaving at 6am the following morning with the chaperones and the other 5 children for the 14 hour flight home from Singapore. On Tuesday I will be back to school, to return to my normal life.
It has been an amazing year; the nerve-wracking auditions and recalls, the exhausting rehearsals, the fun of performing in Southampton, the thrill of being chosen for Singapore, and most of all the incredible experience of going on tour with such an amazing production.
Thank you to everyone who made it possible - Julia and Maya for getting me started on the stage and encouraging me all the way - Claudia and Alexander for encouraging me through the auditions - Jo Hawes and Catie Entwhistle for choosing me for the role - Catie and Phil for teaching me so much about performing - Pat, Fran and Anne fr being great chaperones and tutors - my teachers and headmistress at Chandlings for letting me take up this opportunity - my parents and my sister Sasha for their support - and a very special thank you to my twin "Jemima", Katie Reynolds, for always making me smile!
About Me
- AdamH
- Hi. I am Adam, and I would like to share my experience of joining the West End musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang while it was in Southampton and Singapore. My most recent news is just below, and in reverse order. This blog will be a reminder of this amazing experience, and yes, I am getting help writing it; remember I am only 9!
Our last night .. nearly cut short!
With Richard O'Brien - The Childcatcher - on our last night.Friday 7th December was the last performance for Katie and I. Neither of us were looking forward to the end of the show as we would be saying goodbye to the cast and the sewer kids, and we knew we wouldn't get to fly in Chitty again.
But towards the end of the first act, disaster struck as they realised that Chitty wasn't working properly. Eddie and Martin from stage management started shouting "stop the show, stop the show" and Rachel, one of the other stage managers, hit the button to drop the curtain.
The audience were told to stay in their seats and we were taken to Goran and Boris (the spies) quick change room just behind the stage. We waited and waited, and we were both really worried that the show would be cancelled and we would not get to finish our final show.
After nearly half an hour there was an announcement. "Please could all of the cast come to the sound box". We were told that they had fixed the problem, and the show could go on. Katie and I were SO relieved!
The rest of the show went smoothly. Katie and I found it very hard not to cry during the curtain call, but Pat had told us that we weren't allowed any tears. Children are only allowed to perform for a certain amount of time, and the delay had taken us to our time limit before the curtain call. For any other performance we would not have been able to take our bows, but because it was our last show Pat let us go on, but they shortened the curtain call.
As soon as the curtain fell Katie burst into tears and Kevin Kennedy took her off. I walked back to the dressing room feeling a bit sad that it was all over.
But towards the end of the first act, disaster struck as they realised that Chitty wasn't working properly. Eddie and Martin from stage management started shouting "stop the show, stop the show" and Rachel, one of the other stage managers, hit the button to drop the curtain.
The audience were told to stay in their seats and we were taken to Goran and Boris (the spies) quick change room just behind the stage. We waited and waited, and we were both really worried that the show would be cancelled and we would not get to finish our final show.
After nearly half an hour there was an announcement. "Please could all of the cast come to the sound box". We were told that they had fixed the problem, and the show could go on. Katie and I were SO relieved!
The rest of the show went smoothly. Katie and I found it very hard not to cry during the curtain call, but Pat had told us that we weren't allowed any tears. Children are only allowed to perform for a certain amount of time, and the delay had taken us to our time limit before the curtain call. For any other performance we would not have been able to take our bows, but because it was our last show Pat let us go on, but they shortened the curtain call.
As soon as the curtain fell Katie burst into tears and Kevin Kennedy took her off. I walked back to the dressing room feeling a bit sad that it was all over.
Raffles Hotel. Tuesday 4th December
Posh children in Raffles.
Harrison eating a disgusting green chewy jelly in Raffles.
With Harrison, Harriet, Harriet's sister Lizzie, reaching for the Christmas lights from the open top bus tour.My mum, dad and sister moved to a hotel off Orchard Road today just 20 minutes walk from our apartment.
They picked me up at 2pm and we went to Chinatown and looked around a Hindu temple. Most of it was in the open air and it was really dirty. We had to take our shoes off first but luckily there was somewhere to wash your feet on the way out. It was strange to see it so dirty as the streets in Singapore are really clean because there aren't many dogs, you get a fine if you drop a single bit of litter and it is illegal to have chewing gum.
We are going to Raffles Hotel for high tea in the Tiffin Room so my dad had to buy long trousers. We bought them in Chinatown and they look like pyjamas!
We met up with Harrison and his family for tea, but they wouldn't let his dad in because he was wearing flip flops. He borrowed my socks to wear with his flip flops and then they let him in. Tea was great and we tried lots of Asian food. Harrison ate a chewy green jelly ball full of disgusting soy sauce and sugar but he couldn't spit it out because he was at Raffles!
Before we went back we met up with Harriet and her family to do the open top bus trip up and down Orchard Road to see the Christmas lights. It takes 100,000 hours to put all of the lights up.
They picked me up at 2pm and we went to Chinatown and looked around a Hindu temple. Most of it was in the open air and it was really dirty. We had to take our shoes off first but luckily there was somewhere to wash your feet on the way out. It was strange to see it so dirty as the streets in Singapore are really clean because there aren't many dogs, you get a fine if you drop a single bit of litter and it is illegal to have chewing gum.
We are going to Raffles Hotel for high tea in the Tiffin Room so my dad had to buy long trousers. We bought them in Chinatown and they look like pyjamas!
We met up with Harrison and his family for tea, but they wouldn't let his dad in because he was wearing flip flops. He borrowed my socks to wear with his flip flops and then they let him in. Tea was great and we tried lots of Asian food. Harrison ate a chewy green jelly ball full of disgusting soy sauce and sugar but he couldn't spit it out because he was at Raffles!
Before we went back we met up with Harriet and her family to do the open top bus trip up and down Orchard Road to see the Christmas lights. It takes 100,000 hours to put all of the lights up.
Pink Dolphins!
Sasha, Niamh, Katie, Sam and I.
Watching the pink dolphins.
I have been really looking forward to today. We are swimming with pink dolphins! We had to be there for 9.15 which was a struggle as we are all used to going to bed late and getting up late.
We went into the lagoon wearing life jackets so that we didn't need to kick our legs to float. The trainer showed us how to teach the dolphins to do a pirouette, wave with a fin and do a somersault. We all had a go at being kissed, shaking hands and being towed along holding onto the fin. Then we got out of the water and did some more tricks, and the dolphin painted a picture by holding a paint brush in it's mouth. It was amazing.
Afterwards we watched a dolphin show, and then went back to our hotel, where we played in the pool all afternoon. It was sunny for the first time since my family arrived. I have got bruises from going down the pool slides so many times.
In the evening we had another go on the luge and then went in the cable car to the main land. It was windy and the cable car was swinging around a lot. It took us over the building site where they are building a new Universal Studios and a casino on Sentosa, and all of the diggers were still working even though it was dark.
We went to Clarke Quay for supper where there are loads of really cool bars and restaurants. Sasha and I wanted to go to a bar where you sit in wheel chairs or on hospital beds and the lights are like the ones in operating theatres, but my mum said that the drinks there were too expensive. We met with Katie and her mum and had rice and peppered crab for dinner in a seafood restaurant where they caught the crabs and the fish from the tanks in the middle of the restaurant and then they cooked them in a kitchen with glass walls so you could see them kill the fish!
We were all really tired but we couldn't find a taxi anywhere and eventually we had to go on the MRT to get to the apartment. Pat has been out for dinner to Raffles with some friends and they came back to the boys apartment for a chat with us before we finally went to bed at 11.30pm.
Sunday 2nd Dec
Katie and I were off today and we were allowed out at 12pm. I went to Singapore Zoo with my family and it was the most amazing zoo with virtually every animal in the world. The elephants had a big container of bananas hanging from a tree over their lake with only a little hole in it. They had to bang it with their trunks to get the bananas out and then fish in the lake for them. There were loads of different monkeys and chimpanzees. It took ages to get a taxi back and by then we were really hot so we went straight back to the hotel for a swim with Katie.
For supper we had the hotel buffet and I had 6 courses.
We are all allowed out over night tonight and it was so nice to go to bed next to my sister.
Sam and Niamh were performing today and there was nearly a disaster as a spark from the sweet making machine went into Caractacus's eye. They said he kept rubbing his eye for the rest of the first scene and dropped lots of lines which is not like him at all.
Marissa was off again so Kimberley had to play Truly Scrumptious again. Things always seem to go wrong on Sam and Niamh's nights; one night one of the dogs fell into the orchestra pit as it was trying to jump into the audience. It was one of the big Retrievers so it is lucky no one got hurt. Dogs aren't ever allowed off the leash in Singapore so they must find it strange to be allowed to run loose on the stage.
For supper we had the hotel buffet and I had 6 courses.
We are all allowed out over night tonight and it was so nice to go to bed next to my sister.
Sam and Niamh were performing today and there was nearly a disaster as a spark from the sweet making machine went into Caractacus's eye. They said he kept rubbing his eye for the rest of the first scene and dropped lots of lines which is not like him at all.
Marissa was off again so Kimberley had to play Truly Scrumptious again. Things always seem to go wrong on Sam and Niamh's nights; one night one of the dogs fell into the orchestra pit as it was trying to jump into the audience. It was one of the big Retrievers so it is lucky no one got hurt. Dogs aren't ever allowed off the leash in Singapore so they must find it strange to be allowed to run loose on the stage.
Seeing the show. Saturday 1st Dec
Katie and I are understudying the performing pair, Sam and Niamh, today but we are going to be allowed to watch the matinee with our parents as we haven't seen it yet. We sat near the back of the stalls and had a really good view of the whole stage. Niamh's mum cried as it was the first time she had seen Niamh on stage as Jemima.
We were all allowed to go out for tea together afterwards, and then we went to a shop that sold nothing but Croc shoes.
Katie's dad and brother fly home to England tonight and Katie's mum is moving to the Rasa Sentosa hotel where my family have been staying.
We were all allowed to go out for tea together afterwards, and then we went to a shop that sold nothing but Croc shoes.
Katie's dad and brother fly home to England tonight and Katie's mum is moving to the Rasa Sentosa hotel where my family have been staying.
Friday 30th November
Tutoring was cancelled this morning to sort out a problem between Sam and I. We will have to catch up on the tutoring with extra time next week as the authorities are very strict on making sure that we do 15 hours each week.
As well as our normal work Fran has been spending time with us all together since we don't have assemblies or anything like that her. She has taught us the capital city for every country in the world, all of the American states, the kings of England from 1066 and the works of William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and the Bronte sisters. It hasn't been that hard to learn as we are all good at learning our lines, and it isn't much different.
In the afternoon we went to a Padong restaurant near our apartment with Katie and her family, and then to Chinatown to see a Buddhist temple. Then we went on the Duck Tour again where they showed us Singapore from the water and the land.
Sasha is going with Harriet's family to see Harriet and Harrison in the show tonight as they have got a spare ticket. We all snuck into the pool at their hotel before they went. It is a really smart hotel but Niamh is staing there too and she says it is like Vulgaria as children aren't allowed in any of the restaurants except one.
As well as our normal work Fran has been spending time with us all together since we don't have assemblies or anything like that her. She has taught us the capital city for every country in the world, all of the American states, the kings of England from 1066 and the works of William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and the Bronte sisters. It hasn't been that hard to learn as we are all good at learning our lines, and it isn't much different.
In the afternoon we went to a Padong restaurant near our apartment with Katie and her family, and then to Chinatown to see a Buddhist temple. Then we went on the Duck Tour again where they showed us Singapore from the water and the land.
Sasha is going with Harriet's family to see Harriet and Harrison in the show tonight as they have got a spare ticket. We all snuck into the pool at their hotel before they went. It is a really smart hotel but Niamh is staing there too and she says it is like Vulgaria as children aren't allowed in any of the restaurants except one.
Afternoon off. Thursday 29th.
We are allowed out for the afternoon with our parents so we went all the way to Changi on the MRT to the Wild Wild Wet water park with Niamh, as her parents don't arrive until tonight. It was great fun and they had a foam pool that blew thick foam all over you.
We got back in time to meet with Katie and her family in Fish & Co which is my favourite restaurant. Just after we had ordered Niamh's parents arrived and they all cried. It is nice that all of the parents are here now.
We got back in time to meet with Katie and her family in Fish & Co which is my favourite restaurant. Just after we had ordered Niamh's parents arrived and they all cried. It is nice that all of the parents are here now.
Performing. Tuesday 27th.
Tony Adams - Grandpa Potts
Tonight my family and Katie's family came to watch the show. Tony Adam's, who plays Grandpa Potts, said that it was the best audience there has been in Singapore so far. That is probably because our mums and dads were being so embarrassing!
There are several changes to the script here so that the audience understand it and it doesn't upset them. They have changed the joke about owls and the bit where the Baron kisses a spy, which is a shame as in Southampton everyone lauged at those bits.
Katie's Stagecoach principal has come out for 3 days to see her, and they all went back to her apartment in the Mandarin Oriental for a drink afterwards, until nearly 2 in the morning!
We aren't allowed to see our parents on performance days, not even at the end of the performance at stage door, so Katie and I won't see them until Thursday, although everone else has been able to go out from 1.30 - 8.30pm today and tomorrow. It is so that we can be well rested for the evening.
Our day out - Monday 26th
With Sasha on the Dragon Walk
Dodging the fountainsIt was so nice waking up in my parent's hotel room this morning, and being able to have a big cuddle with Sasha. We had a big breakfast and then went for a long walk down the beach from the hotel to get tickets for tonight's "Sounds of the Sea" show. We went up in the chairlift to the top of Sentosa, then back down on the luge. We walked back along the jungle path and by the time we got back we were so hot we all had to go swimming.
After lunch it poured with rain and there was a thunderstorm so we played table tennis and relaxed in our room. Once the rain had stopped we went to the Merlion and went right up into it's mouth and onto it's head. We then had great fun playing in the fountains and getting soaking wet. It is amazing what you are allowed to do when your parents haven't seen you for a long time!
After lunch it poured with rain and there was a thunderstorm so we played table tennis and relaxed in our room. Once the rain had stopped we went to the Merlion and went right up into it's mouth and onto it's head. We then had great fun playing in the fountains and getting soaking wet. It is amazing what you are allowed to do when your parents haven't seen you for a long time!
Niamh's grandparents are flying home tonight so she is spending this evening with us. She was crying her eyes out when they left, but was fine a minute later. We went with Harriet and her family to the luge and all raced down. The Sounds of the Sea was fun, although the actors were miming, and there were huge fountains and images projected onto the images, and fireworks.
We all had to get back to the apartments for 10.30pm, so we went by skyrail to the main land and then on the MRT. We had to show the adults where to go on the MRT. I showed my parents around our apartment and our pool. We were all really tired after such a great day, and I was sad to say good bye again so soon.
Seeing our parents - Sunday 25th
Our parents were allowed to collect us from Stage Door after the show on Sunday night. I knew my parents and sister were arriving that afternoon so I thought that they might watch the show that evening. I looked everywhere in the audience but I couldn't see them. They watched the end of the show from the monitor in the lobby with the other parents instead.
When we saw each other we all cried and hugged. It must have been a funny sight for all of the rest of the cast who were leaving through Stage Door at the same time! I kept hugging my mum, dad and sister all the way back to the hotel and until we finally all went to bed, just before 1am.
When we saw each other we all cried and hugged. It must have been a funny sight for all of the rest of the cast who were leaving through Stage Door at the same time! I kept hugging my mum, dad and sister all the way back to the hotel and until we finally all went to bed, just before 1am.
Week 5
My parents and sister are in Thailand this week. Harriet's parent and sister were staying near the theatre for a couple of nights but have gone to Indonesia for the rest of the week. Pat had to text them to say when Harriet was going to the theatre so they didn't accidentally bump into them. No one is allowed to see their parents until next Monday as otherwise it wouldn't be fair and it might make the rest of us homesick. Niamh's grandparents and great-grandma went to watch the show on Thursday and Niamh didn't know they would be there. She saw them in the audience and cried as she couldn't go and talk to them. We are all really excited that we will be seeing our families so soon even though it means that it is nearly the end of the trip.
On Friday we had great news. We are being allowed out with our parents overnight on Sunday night so we can spend the whole day with them on Monday. It was a very big surprise for us all and we are so excited. Over the final 2 weeks, on the days we are performing we will stay with Pat and Fran so we can rest, but on the other days we can go out with our parents after tutoring from 1pm until 8.30pm, except at weekends when one pair need to stay in to cover the performing pair.
This weekend Katie and I were on, and did 2 performances a day on Saturday and Sunday. It wasn't as tiring as I thought, but my feet ached a bit at the end of the 4th performance. The sewer kids alternate so that they only do one performance a day. On Sunday night Marissa was ill so her understudy, Kimberley, was on instead. Last weekend when Harriet and Harrison were performing all of the rest of their family were off - Truly, Caractacus and Grandpa. That is realy unsusual as it is rare for anyone to miss a performance, but amazingly everything went smoothly.
Between the shows at weekends we go to restaurants nearby for supper with the chaperone. It is usually an Italian place called Spaghettis or a Japanese restaurant, but our favourite is called Fish and Co. Katie and I are really enjoying trying the different foods here.
On Friday we had great news. We are being allowed out with our parents overnight on Sunday night so we can spend the whole day with them on Monday. It was a very big surprise for us all and we are so excited. Over the final 2 weeks, on the days we are performing we will stay with Pat and Fran so we can rest, but on the other days we can go out with our parents after tutoring from 1pm until 8.30pm, except at weekends when one pair need to stay in to cover the performing pair.
This weekend Katie and I were on, and did 2 performances a day on Saturday and Sunday. It wasn't as tiring as I thought, but my feet ached a bit at the end of the 4th performance. The sewer kids alternate so that they only do one performance a day. On Sunday night Marissa was ill so her understudy, Kimberley, was on instead. Last weekend when Harriet and Harrison were performing all of the rest of their family were off - Truly, Caractacus and Grandpa. That is realy unsusual as it is rare for anyone to miss a performance, but amazingly everything went smoothly.
Between the shows at weekends we go to restaurants nearby for supper with the chaperone. It is usually an Italian place called Spaghettis or a Japanese restaurant, but our favourite is called Fish and Co. Katie and I are really enjoying trying the different foods here.
Les Miserables
Stagecoach Agency phoned my mum today to offer me an audition for Gavroche in Les Miserables in the West End. It is the role I have always wanted to play, but the audition is while I am still here, and I will be too tall in six months time. It is probably a good thing as I am so lucky to have time off school to play this part, and I can't really ask for more time off now!
My family all leave England today to go to Thailand for a week before coming to see me. They fly in and out of Singapore airport tomorrow, so will only be half an hour away from me.
Last night's performance went really well, although the theatre wasn't nearly as full as last week. We are on again tonight, and as it is a Friday night it should be much busier.
My family all leave England today to go to Thailand for a week before coming to see me. They fly in and out of Singapore airport tomorrow, so will only be half an hour away from me.
Last night's performance went really well, although the theatre wasn't nearly as full as last week. We are on again tonight, and as it is a Friday night it should be much busier.
Posh boys
Pat has called this photo "Posh boys orff to take tiffin at Raffles".p.s. I have even washed my hair!
Week 4
Pat has finally got her Skype working! The internet connection isn't fast enough to use a web-cam, but it was nice to be able to speak to my mum from our own apartment. I am not at all homesick, although I know that Sasha is missing me. I am so used to being here that it will seem so strange to go hack home next month.
We have been making scrap books - Fran bought a scrap book out for each of us, which explains why her suitcase was so enormous. I am trying to remember to take photos too.
It rained all day on Monday so we couldn't go to see Songs of the Sea as planned, and had to stay in. It only rains once or twice each week, but when it rains it really pours. The temperature is in the 30's most of the time, and the hottest part of the day is late in the morning. I always take my shirt off and walk around the apartment in just my shorts, but the other boys won't because the girls are there!
Because the heat tires us out so quickly we can't do too much outside, but we are going on plenty of trips while the others are working. We went to the Toy Museum and there was a glass floor which Sam lay on and really freaked Fran out. We went inside the President's house on another day - it is only open 5 days a year so we were really lucky.
Our day off - Monday 12th November
The Merlion on Sentosa Island
The cable car to Sentosa Island.
The Dragon Walk on Sentosa.We have a day off on Mondays, although we still have to do our 3 hours of school work in the mornings. We went to Sentosa island, which is so close to Singapore that you can get across the water to the island on a really high cable car. There were some enormous stone "mer-lions" - a cross between a mermaid and a lion; the mer-lioness and the mer-cub were on the main land the mer-lion was on Sentosa Island looking back to the main land. They Merlion is enormous, and you can go up inside to seethe view from inside it's mouth or on it's head.
From the Merlion we went on a dragon walk to see all of the brightly coloured mosaic dragons. They have water running down them and lots of little fountains - a bit like the white water rapids at Center Parcs - and there was a toddler playing in the water. It was very tempting to get in there too in this heat.
Week 3
It is our third week here and we have settled into a regular routine of school work, swimming and performing. Now that the run has started we don't do any rehearsals so we are not at the theatre nearly so much. I have been a bit homesick this week, and I am actually missing my sister!Anne left at the weekend to go back to England and we are all missing her. She was a great chaperone and we have spent a lot of time with her over the past two weeks. It will mean that Pat and Fran are around a bit more now though, which will be nice.
We perform in a rota of 6 performances in a row (including 4 performances over 2 days!), then another pair do 2 performances, and the third pair do 6 performances. It means it is very hard work when you are performing and you have to look after your voice carefully, and then you have a long time to wait until you are on again. Katie and I were last on on Wednesday last week, and not until Thursday and Friday this week.
Now that we are over our jetlag we get up around 9am. I am always the first of the boys to wake up, so I play Nintendo until Pat puts her head around the door to say we can get up. The girls always go down to the restaurant for breakfast, but the boys quite like it when Pat cooks breakfast in the apartment. She had to remind us that she is a chaperone and not a maid! After breakfast we relax for a bit, and then it is three hours of schoolwork. In the afternoon we usually swim, and we have been to look at the shops a few times. There are some amazing shops here. In the evenings if we aren't performing we have supper and usually watch a DVD. We alternate which apartment we are in, and when we are in the girl's apartment they have an early night while the boys sleep on top of Fran's bed until the performing pair get home at about 11.30pm. The boy who has been performing wakes the other two up and leads them up to our room while Pat carries the bags. One night Harrison had his eyes shut the whole way and another night Sam had to walk behind me in case he needed to catch me as I was really dizzy. It is horrible waking up in the night.
Toot Sweets
A photograph of Katie and me doing Toot Sweets with the rest of the cast for Tuesday's press call, published today in a Pakistan newspaper.Our First Night - Tuesday 6th November
It is our first night, so I am really excited and a little bit nervous, especially as the other JJs will be watching.
Katie and I were allowed to phone home from the dressing room an hour before the performance so that our mum's could wish us good luck. Fran then took us both off and cut our hair - no one warned me that this would be part of the First Night! It is usually the wig man who cuts our hair, as the boys have to have a long traditional style and the girls have to have a short fringe (which they don't really like but it hides the microphone). Fran isn't a hairdresser, although she said that she cuts her own hair.
It is 8pm (12 noon in England) and Katie and I are the only ones on stage, standing side by side in the middle of the stage behind the two huge sliders. The band strike up for the overture which lasts for several minutes, and the audience start clapping along to some of the tunes. We both know the overture really well, and we know as it is getting to the end. Katie reminds me to smile, as sometimes I concentrate too hard and forget to, and then she says "hands". They get all sweaty while we are waiting to go on. I wipe mine on my knickerbocker shorts, she wipes hers on her pinafore and we hold hands. The sliders open to reveal us as the narrator says "Once upon a time, a long time ago..." and we step forward together into the light.
An update from the chaperone: "It all went very well this evening both the children gave an excellent performance and were congratulated by Edward! They were enthusiastically supported by the others who thoroughly enjoyed their evening out at the theatre."
Pat getting me ready before the first show. We wear a harness under our clothes during the first act for the flying scene so I can't bend over properly.
Katie and I were allowed to phone home from the dressing room an hour before the performance so that our mum's could wish us good luck. Fran then took us both off and cut our hair - no one warned me that this would be part of the First Night! It is usually the wig man who cuts our hair, as the boys have to have a long traditional style and the girls have to have a short fringe (which they don't really like but it hides the microphone). Fran isn't a hairdresser, although she said that she cuts her own hair.
It is 8pm (12 noon in England) and Katie and I are the only ones on stage, standing side by side in the middle of the stage behind the two huge sliders. The band strike up for the overture which lasts for several minutes, and the audience start clapping along to some of the tunes. We both know the overture really well, and we know as it is getting to the end. Katie reminds me to smile, as sometimes I concentrate too hard and forget to, and then she says "hands". They get all sweaty while we are waiting to go on. I wipe mine on my knickerbocker shorts, she wipes hers on her pinafore and we hold hands. The sliders open to reveal us as the narrator says "Once upon a time, a long time ago..." and we step forward together into the light.
An update from the chaperone: "It all went very well this evening both the children gave an excellent performance and were congratulated by Edward! They were enthusiastically supported by the others who thoroughly enjoyed their evening out at the theatre."
Pat getting me ready before the first show. We wear a harness under our clothes during the first act for the flying scene so I can't bend over properly. Final rehearsal
Usually, before the first performance, you have a full run through of the scenes you are in (which for us is nearly all of the first half, and parts of the second half), but we did the technical rehearsal last week instead, as they knew that a television crew was coming to the theater to film Katie and me and the rest of the cast doing "Toot Sweets" this afternoon. We had to do it twice, once for photographs and the second time for a video. We are not sure what it is being used for but I hope we will be able to see it. After the filming we ran through the beach scene, but we didn't rehearse anything else.
As well as it being the first night for me and Katie it is the first night for the "Jaguars" team of sewer kids. It is also Press Night, so we need to be sure that it is perfect, and the other Jeremy and Jemima's are coming to watch too.
My parents and sister sent a big teddy wrapped in tissue paper to the theater to give me a good luck hug!
As well as it being the first night for me and Katie it is the first night for the "Jaguars" team of sewer kids. It is also Press Night, so we need to be sure that it is perfect, and the other Jeremy and Jemima's are coming to watch too.
My parents and sister sent a big teddy wrapped in tissue paper to the theater to give me a good luck hug!
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