It's not often you get to be behind the scenes of a world famous West End London theatre, but that's exactly where I found myself last Sunday.
For almost half a year the students that attend the performing arts academy where I teach Film & TV, have been rehearsing a show called Lazy Ace. It's a musical all about a conman called The Lazy Ace who has been swindling casinos on the Las Vegas strip. Back in June it seemed so far away, then before they knew it the curtain was raised in Her Majesty's Theatre, home to none other than The Phantom of the Opera.
It wasn't as large as stage as I had imagined, and the wings were tiny. The present building was built in 1897, but it's first incarnation was back in 1739. The layout and location of the dressing rooms was not exactly well thought out, down or up many flights of stairs which carried sound all the way to the stage. I'm sure the 800 plus audience will have heard "shhhhh" many times that Sunday night.
I didn't see the show, but did manage to see two scenes during rehearsal in the afternoon. What a difference the acoustics of a theatre make compared to the school hall they have rehearsed in. On the day there were a few melt downs, mostly nerves and a little stress maybe. One girl had been ill for about a week leading up to the performance and had a very sore throat. Then, during the last rehearsal, she opened her mouth and nothing came out!
Help was on hand from the theatre staff, who presented her with a Chinese potion that the opera singers use for just such an occasion. It was touch and go, but she nailed at the end which just made for an even more emotionally charged finale.
I haven't seen the students since I waved goodbye to the majority of them in London and a number of others at Edinburgh once off the train, so it will be interesting to see this Saturday how many of them have suffered the post show blues.
It certainly had the wow factor, and how on earth do we follow that!
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