Happy New Year 2022

Happy New Year

1/2/2022

Happy New Year everyone. After an extremely challenging year, I'm sure we are all hoping for things to keep getting better in the world.

The last few months have probably been the craziest in a while. I'm delighted to have taken on the role of drummer on Seriously Collins - The Phil Collins & Genesis Tribute which will be playing at theatres all over the UK this year (let's keep those theatres open, please!!). The show is fronted by the phenomenal Chris Hayward, who has been fantastic to work with and has been a real help in preparing me for the shows. I'm also pleased to be working alongside Keith Atack again, who is a such a laugh and an amazing musician to be on stage with. Most of October/November was spent learning the set, and I have played 3 shows with the production since November - looking forward to a lot more!

Also in November, I was offered a gig playing Godspell by Stephen Schwartz in London for a week with Centre Stage, an amateur musical theatre group based in London. We performed at The Bridewell, a nice small venue just a few blocks from Blackfriars Station. It was a fun play - knowing the shows Wicked and Pippin so well, I'm surprised I've never delved into this one before! The band were lovely, as were the cast - in fact, I even forgot I was playing Amdram at points that week - it was a phenonemal production, performed by some real talent. Go check out the opening of the show 'Tower Of Babble' on the New Broadway Cast Recording. It was one of my favourite parts in the show, and I wasn't playing anything. The harmonies and everything were just exceptional.

Finally, I was thrilled to return to Greenock (Beacon Arts Centre) with Imagine Theatre this year for their pantomime production Cinderella, starring Still Game's Mark Cox and Jane McCarry, River City's Jimmy Chisholm and the fabulous Kim Allan, Michael Lewis and Lee Samuel, who I've also had the pleasure of working with in 2019.

We opened on 10 December, sadly had to close on Christmas Eve due to the change in Government guidelines re Covid in Scotland. We're very proud of the show, how safe things were behind the scenes, and how we managed to get so far without any show reschedules or anyone catching the dreaded virus etc.

This month, it's back to tuition, rehearsals for the Phil Collins show and a photo shoot...