It's over and done with - a personal view

WE DID IT!!

We have done what we set out to do - to put on Sunshine on Leith in Perth, Scotland.

It took us 4 or 5 months of rehearsals and I wasn't certain if we'd pull it off. But we did...and what a hell of a ride it was.

There were times when I though about just jacking it all in, such was the intensity of the rehearsals (to my mind at least). But I'm glad I didn't because the outcome exceeded my wildest expectations.

Every single performance was sold out. Every single performance the audience was on their feet, singing and dancing. Every single performance we got a standing ovation, most of them a 100% standing ovation.

I surprised myself with my performance. I had a great time with my lines and my solo singing, even better with the ensemble singing.

And the final performance was fantastic. The crowd loved it. And there was another 100% standing ovation. Bu this time it was accompanied by a wall of sound, so loud was the cheering and clapping.

I must admit that I teared up at that point and couldn't sing the final lines of the finale. I guess it's like that when you come to the end of a short but intense period of action with a groups of friends that you've come to regard as family. And yes, I regard all of the cast as friends.

Oh - and the crew and the band. You're all part of the great Ad-Lib family and without you we would not have succeeded in what we set out to do.

Final thanks must go to our director Victoria Rice. Without her relentless drive and enthusiasm Sunshine on Leith would not have happened. I want to thank her on behalf of the entire cast, crew and band for what she has done. I also want to personally thank her for taking a chance on me, believing in me, for the roles that she cast me in.

See you all next Thursday :-) 

Time to start picking them jaws off the floor

Yeah!!

First night was good - good for getting over the nerves. But it didn't prepare us for last night.

Some of you may know the movie This is Spinal Tap. In it one of the characters pencils in "11" on his amp. Hah. Not only did we hit 11, we went waaaay beyond it.

The audience response last night was amazing. They were singing, clapping, dancing, gasping and crying. Not only that though: they gave us a standing ovation at the end. But not just any standing ovation, oh no. A 100% standing ovation, with jumping, riotous applause, whooping, cheering. You should've seen the grin on the face of each and every cast member. Amazing.

Now, let's see if we can kick it into overdrive this evening.

And there we went

Well, what can be said about last night, our first performance of Sunshine on Leith in front of a paying audience? It was fantastic, amazing, stupendous and any other superlatives that you'd care to think of. And that's just from the POV of the cast. From the audience perspective let's just say that we think they enjoyed it. They were clapping, singing, laughing and dancing in the aisles. And some of them even gave a standing ovation - how braw is that? If it's gonna be like that for the rest of the run then we'll have accomplished the mission that our director give us all those months ago. Oh - has it been mentioned that our directors name is Victoria Rice?

Roll on the rest of the run - we've still got Tonight, Friday and two performances on Saturday.

Here we go...

Here it is - the moment we've all been working towards: the performance of Sunshine on Leith in front of a paying audience.

Aye, important distinction there. We did a final dress in front of an invited audience last night. And wow - we were fantastic. The words were delivered, the band played on, the piper piped 'til he could pipe no more and the audience loved it. We even got a "fantastic" from the director at the end of the first act. She must've loved the second half too, based on the comments she made on Facebook.

But it's a different kettle of fish tonight. Last night the audience was composed of people that we knew, and there were only 20 of them. Tonight we don't know all of the audience...and there'll be 120 of them!! Here's hoping...

There's more to this than singing, dancing and acting

When you go and see a production like Sunshine on Leith it's very easy to forget those who aren't actually on stage, without whom the production wouldn't happen. So without further ado let's set that to rights.

When you come and see Sunshine on Leith this next week one thing that will amaze you is the band that are providing the musical accompaniment. None of them are professionals, but the sound they produce is amazing. It's only fair that they get a name-check, so here goes:

• Claire (band musical director / keyboards 1) - keyboard wizzard.
• Rachel (keyboards 2) - when the first chime came out of that keyboard, it really did add a depth to the tune.
• Martin (electric guitar) - the axeman cometh. And your slide on What do you do? is amazing
• Kris (acoustic guitar) - like Martin, your work on What do you do? is fantastic, brings a real depth.
• Thom (bass) - merge Donald "Duck" Dunn, Jack Bruce & Alan Gorrie - that's you. Keep the funk going.
• Michael (drums) - Phil Collins, Iain Bank & Aaron Comess? They're not even close.
• Joseph (accordion 1) - you and Gary Innes and Phil Cunningham need to jam together.
• June (accordion 2) - do you, Joseph, Gary and Phil have plans to jam any time soon?
• James (bagpipes) - any Proclaimers song that has pipes added is instantly 500% better. You rock!!

All the band are at UHI with the exception of James - he's still at school.

OK, that's the band covered. But what about the backstage people, the stage crew? Oh yes, we have them too:

• Amanda (Stage Manager)
• Blythe, Rosa, Laura & Hannah (Stage Crew)

They've only been with us for 3 weeks but they have the moves (like Jagger?) and get the props on and off in d*mn quick time, Thanks guys - you make things a lot less stressful for us all. Without you it definitely wouldn't happen.

Tunnel + light =

Yes, it's that time in a production when you do actually start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We're coming to the final week of rehearsals for the first UK amateur production of Sunshine on Leith...and it's been a heck of a trip. For some people it's been easier - those who have a basing in drama. For others it's been an eye-opener: the amount of work that has been put into preparation for this production has been amazing. We've drawn on resources that we never knew we had, hit notes that we never thought we could and learnt impossible dance moves too. Well, that last one's not 100% true but if you've got two left feet...

A lot of the learning, the pushing, the teaching has been down to one very special individual: our Director, Victoria Rice. When she started the Ad-Lib Musical Theatre group little did we know that we'd end up doing this. We started off with Little Shop of Horrors, then bounced over to Les Misérables before settling on Sunshine on Leith. A strange progression you might think, but sitting back and analysing it over the past couple of weeks a pattern does emerge.

For example, there's a canon/round in Les Misérables and one in Sunshine on Leith. There's military personnel in Les Misérables and also in Sunshine on Leith. There's a giant man-eating plant in Little Shop of Horrors and...err, help?!

The point is, there was method in how Victoria started us off and the way she continues to lead us onwards. And for that all of us in Ad-Lib Theatre Arts are eternally grateful.

But where would a production of Sunshine on Leith be without music? And where would music be without a band? And what a band they are: a drummer, two guitars, a bass, two keyboards and an accordion. And they are AMAZING. They've had to put up with the cast getting things wrong, repeating sections over and over until the vocals are nailed. They may well have thought naught of the cast at some points(!). But through perseverance the end is in sight.

By the way, did anyone notice the freight train in the tunnel coming towards us? Oh no - it's Opening Night.

Unlike the ECB we can make this work...

We had a first full dress rehearsal last Sunday...and boy, were we hot. Squaddies and Sarge in full combat gear, cleaners in full cleaning gear...and Glen in a surgical gown. And there will be a surprise for you all at some point ;-)

We sailed through the whole thing, and aced all the scenes...unlike the ECB and team down in Australia.

Roll on the next full dress, where it'll be full full dress.