Five Weeks In Rhyl

As with all freelancers, January is a time of organisation, admin and tidying up after Christmas etc. . . which is why I haven't had time to do a post recently! So I thought I'd share some stuff with you of my five week run of panto in Rhyl, North Wales.

Overall, I had a fantastic time with the amazing team that is the cast, creatives and musicians that put on this wonderful show, produced by UK Productions. It had been a while since I'd used a Roland electronic kit - in fact, this was the longest run I'd played on one since I first started out 14 years ago!

The show, Sleeping Beauty, was full of modern pop numbers familiar to a younger audience, but a few Queen classics made it in there, which were a joy to play (Somebody To Love, Seven Seas Of Rhye) and even a little bit of musical theatre (If You Believe - The Wiz).

The Act I opening, a disco-fied version of Leslie Bricusse's Pure Imagination, from Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, was a fab number to kick off the show. Although a  particular favourite of mine was the Toy Dance: a medley of 4 or 5 numbers, including latin, swing, rock and ballad  - lots of different tempo changes, with track too, always fun for a drummer!

As with all pantos, the show relied on a huge amount of SFX from the drummer to add comedy - on this show, I used a vibraslap, flex-a-tone, swanee whistle, siren whistle, woodblocks and other percussive toys (pictured in gallery below).

Aside from the show, it was nice to go out for a day trip to Chester and Liverpool for some Christmas shopping. . . and a beer, or two!

Here's some pictures I took during my time in Rhyl. . . enjoy and thanks for reading!
Stephen
For more, follow #fiveweeksinrhyl on Instagram.