Urinetown Blog – The Get In

Hello and welcome to URINETOWN.. Not the place of course, but the blog.

My name is Michael and I have been handed the blogging baton from our smallest and most divaish cast member Archie the bunny.

Yesterday saw the beginning of ‘Show Week’ starting off with our company and crew ‘Get In’ – This day is pretty much self explanatory as to where the cast, crew, band, costumes and of course the set are all moved into the theatre.

The start to the day was an early one, some of the cast went down to the theatre to meet the crew and lend a hand in off loading the lights, set and stage.

The atmosphere in the theatre that morning was euphoric. As the morning went on and the biscuit tin dwindled, the excitement between the cast and crew grew and grew. We could all see the set coming to life.

Then came the time where the cast had to leave the theatre and the set building in the capable hands of our crew, lead by our fantastic stage manager Alex Snow. But the while the hard work back at the theatre continued, the cast met for our last ‘Run through’ before hitting the stage.

We were all put through our paces by the ever gloriously delightful Jo Bakhurst our outstanding Choreographer.

We also had an extra little surprise waiting for us at the rehearsal in the form of a little bundle of joy! The cast finally got to meet the future generation of SMP – baby Jasper McWilliams, accompanied by glowing Mummy Joanna McWilliams.

Once the run through was completed the cast were shipped off back to the theatre to check out if the hard work from our crew had paid off – and I can assure you all, it most certain had!!

The set looks incredible! We had some time to run a few of the dances to check for spacing and tighten up a few little loose ends.

The cast put in such high energy after such a long day which certainly paid off as by the end of the night, it literally had Jo Bakhurst in tears!!

It’s such a pleasure to be working with an amazingly talented bunch of creative people, and even more fulfilling to be able to see our amazing director/leading man Warren McWilliams’ vision for this show being brought into reality. And at last the good people of Urinetown finally get to see their town for the first time, and for what it has always been. URINETOWN.

You can still book tickets at www.millfieldtheatre.co.uk

Urinetown Blog – Week 18, last week of rehearsals!

1. Everyone with Bunny

Why, hello there. My name’s Archie and I play the role of Little Sally’s Bunny in Urinetown. It’s a role that I’m relishing since he is a very different rabbit to me, which is really pushing me out of my comfort zone.
It’s a non-speaking part, however it is very challenging as I’m needing to emote my rabbitness via non-verbal methods. This is a challenge I am rising to spectacularly, as confirmed by our director Warren, who stated Archie the rabbit is an incredible actor.
‘His scenes bring me to tears of joy and I can’t wait for the public to see what he has done with the role, they are truly in for a treat.’
2. Bunny with Sheet Music
Whilst I am loving getting my teeth stuck into the character, it was, admittedly, not my first choice of role. I’d originally auditioned to play Cladwell but was given the feedback that the song ‘Don’t be the Bunny’ would not work if performed by a rabbit.
I do on occasion remind our Mr. Cladwell, played by Carl, that I am in all honestly better suited to the role than he is (were it not for my species). He has, however, not responded well to this.
4. Carl with Bunny
This is my first show with SMP, and after a bit of a rocky start involving a mild/moderate kidnapping we seem to have resolved our issues and I am now fully integrated into the group.
It’s always hard being the only non-human in a cast, but SMP have been wonderfully welcoming and supportive (bar the kidnapping, which I will eventually get over).

 

As this is our last week of rehearsals before we head to the theatre on Sunday, we had two full run throughs of the show on Monday and Wednesday. The focus of the runs were my scenes, since I play such a pivotal role it’s vital that every person in the show interacts with me in a well thought out manner. They are making good progress with this.

Please do come and see Urinetown. I’m really breaking new ground and going in a direction that no one else has gone with the role of Little Sally ‘s Bunny. You would be foolish to miss it, as I think my performance will probably be nominated for some form of award and be spoken about widely in North London am-dram circles for years to come.
The rest of the show is quite good too.
Ticket can be purchased from here: www.millfieldtheatre.co.uk

Urinetown Blog – Week 17

So Urinetown The Musical! It’s a terrible name! But then what’s in a name??… I remember Urine Town coming to the West End 2 years ago and immediately being put off by the name. So I didn’t go to see it. BIG MISTAKE! And boy do I regret it now. It’s a little gem of a musical! Pre the auditions I brought the book and the CD to have a proper look and I’m so glad I did. After reading it I thought wow! this is going to be a great show, I SO want to be in it! It’s funny, clever and the music is glorious and heart lifting, the characters are engaging but the story had a dark undertone that sends a message of fear and control to the Urine-towners. Behold! -This is not your usual musical.

This is my maiden voyage with SMP and I’m so glad I took the plunge. It’s been said but I’ll say it again. You couldn’t meet a lovelier group of people. Really. So I am a character called Sally Shocking Hair. Can you guess my USP? I’m quite timid and easily scared but as the show progresses I gain strength from the rebellion and my fellow comrades as we fight with Bobby for the privilege to pee!

Last week we have been doing singing and dancing recaps and brushing up on those crazy beautiful harmonies. They sound amazing when we get in spot on –with the help of Mike our musically amazing Musical Director.  We brushed up a few of the songs including Run Freedom Run, a (great toe tapper), the harmonies in the Bunny song – I’m a bunny! (wah, wah, WAH) and The Cop Song which has a great routine.

Sunday was Band Call day, which was VERY exciting. We sang through the entirety of the musical but this time LIVE with the actual band that will be playing with us on the night. The live band were brilliant and it was great to hear what we sound like with them i.e. Awesome! Yeah ok I’m biased J

I’m in constant awe of my fellow comrades all of whom are amazingly talented and are seasoned SMP’ers and have been doing it for many a year but also new SMP’ers who are equally skilled and bring such energy. Personally I’m loving the dance routines but I have no professional training (as our fab and very patient choreographer Jo will know as she grits her teeth and corrects my positioning for the umpteenth time) but I’m trying hard to keep up! The team behind this production go above and beyond the realms of commitment to the show and there is an incredible energy around it. Warren McWilliams our legend of a director keeps us going with lots of fun and positivity (I won’t mention the bunny kidnappings!)

My parting advice to you is to take a punt on this show. It’s a special one and needs to be seen by more people. You won’t be disappointed.

 

Book your tickets HERE

Our Urinetown Promo

Here’s our promo video for our production of Urinetown – The Musical

https://www.facebook.com/stmonicaplayers/videos/vb.232410293477137/1182214545163369/?type=2&theater&notif_t=like&notif_id=1464762305980673

Find out what our cast and director think of the show and why you should come and see it.

You can book your tickets at www.millfieldtheatre.co.uk

Big thanks go to Ben Hewis for doing the video for us!

Here’s the cast looking their best!

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Urinetown Blog – Week 16

Hello all fellow Urinetown blog readers! If you came looking for a quick summary of the on-goings of this week’s Urinetown rehearsals, and a few pee jokes, well, urine luck.

My name is Jack McGinn (Billy boy Bill and Mr Xerox) and this is my first SMPee show. I have helped out backstage and front of house for the past two shows, Bugsy Malone and Sleeping Beauty, but this time I finally took the plunge(r) into the deep end and decided to audition for Urinetown.

I had never even heard of the show but after going to the read through and hearing about what the creative team had planned I knew it had the potential of being a weelly terrific show.

So here we are, 16 weeks into the process and only 2 weeks from the show and I can tell you, my first impression wasn’t wrong. This week especially reaffirmed to me how immense this show is and will be.

Monday’s rehearsal was mainly just song and dance recaps, while Wednesday’s rehearsal saw us do a very good run of Act 2, so good that at one point it brought a tear to our Choreographer Jo’s eye (for good reasons, not bad ones). Speaking of Jo, I would personally just like to give a massive thank you to her, Warren and Mike for the outrageous amount of work they have put into this show, it really is paying off.

This week also saw yours truly celebrate his birthday, something my fellow cast members did not seem to forget as they serenaded me just before we finished up on Wednesday. I am very grateful to all of them.

So yeah that was this week in the Urinetown HQ, and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this as much as I have being a part of the show. They truly are a wonderful group of peeple. If you haven’t booked tickets yet then Urine the right place as here is the link. http://www.enfield.gov.uk/millfield/

I think that’s enough puns for the day but seriously guys, go and spend a few pennies and come see a fantastic show.

Signing off,

Jack

P.S: Why can’t you hear a Pterodactyl going to the bathroom? The P is silent

Urinetown Blog – Week 15

Hello there! Welcome to this week’s Urinetown blog. My name’s Kathryn W and I play Miranda Mire, an ensemble member and an ex-librarian who prefers the company of books to people. I’m also sort of a newbie at SMP. I helped out with props backstage two years ago during their production of West Side Story, but this year decided to go for a part.

I’m really enjoying my time spent at rehearsals and getting into my character. I haven’t done anything like this since being at school, which is, a fair while ago, ahem. Anyway, I was very nervous auditioning for the show, especially after hearing how much talent I’d be up against (these people don’t mess about!), but I was very happy to get the call to say I’d got in!

It has been hard work learning all the dances and harmonies, our Director, Choreographer and MD demand the best we can do, and deserve it for a show this good. The more I’ve listened, seen and become a part of this show, the more I love it. It’s dark, funny, touching, twisted and actually makes you ask yourself some questions.  As for my fellow cast members, I have a huge honour performing with some very talented, extremely hard-working and supremely wonderful people.

On Monday we ran through the whole of Act 1, making notes at the end. As our resident ‘cake Queen’ Tina was poorly that day I stepped up to bring cake to the masses, fortunately a success.

Wednesday it was time to go through the whole of Act 2, again making notes on our performances just to get them that much better for all you lovely people who I’m sure already have tickets.

On Saturday some of our group met up and did some flyering around the local areas, to spread the message of peeeeee – North London, you can’t escape!

On Sunday we had a run through of the entire show, complete with costumes. We were also joined by our Stage Managing team and Set Designer, who tells us all the set is looking fab! It sure is going to be a feast for the eyes and ears of anyone lucky enough to come and see it.

Sunday also meant my birthday which I enjoyed spending with my fellow SMP-eers. It really does feel like an adoptive family being part of this group. On a personal note I would just like to thank Warren, Jo and Mike for giving me this opportunity. I’m not only part of what is shaping up to be a fantastic show, but not many people know how much being included has helped me personally. I can’t thank you all enough for, basically, changing my life.

So, if you want to know whether Miranda Mire survives ‘Urinetown-the musical’, you’ll have to come and see for yourself! Don’t miss out, get your ticket whilst there’s still time!

You can book you tickets here

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Urinetown Blog – Week 14

Hi, I’m Mike Benyon and I’m musical director for Urinetown. I’ve been with SMP since joining as a keyboard player for our 1993 production of Alice in Wonderland. I’ve musically directed countless musicals, pantomimes, cabarets and talent shows and have even trodden the boards for a few, while my biggest challenge was taking on the dual role of director and musical director for our 2006 production of Much Ado Ron Ron.
Well, that was my biggest challenge…until now! Having seen the wonderful recent West End production of Urinetown at St James Theatre and the Apollo Theatre I’d hoped that it wouldn’t be too long before amateur rights become available for the show. This happened much quicker than expected. With the incredibly talented pair of Warren McWilliams on board as director and Jo Bakhurst as Choreographer it took very little (actually none) convincing for me to join the production team.
As I’m sure you will appreciate, having being involved with so many shows over the years it gets more and more important to find the next big challenge. It does reach a point where it is no longer enough just to be involved. There is the need to be part of something really special, something that will simply take people’s breath away. When Urinetown came along I knew I had found that challenge.
SMP have always had great casts. Like the top football teams, however, great teams come and go. I have seen the talents at SMP ebb and flow over the years. What was apparent with Urinetown was that we needed the best cast ever. However, as the auditions approached in February it became apparent that while we had some great people, we did not have enough of them! What happened next was a revelation. There were obviously a lot of people who had seen the recent West End production and were desperate to be part of the show.
The ‘newbies’ as they are affectionately known, have been a revelation. They are not only very talented but all have a very professional attitude. They are also extremely nice people which may sound a bit twee, but in a group that has always prided itself on being friendly and welcoming this has been very important. As a result, we have a company that very dedicated and committed to producing the best show ever.
What makes it so important that we have a great cast is that this show is completely full on for every single member of the show. Many traditional musicals are essentially a star vehicle for just a few members of the cast with the chorus coming on to do a few big numbers at various points in the show. In Urinetown the chorus are involved in almost all of the numbers. Not only that, they all have to learn some of the most incredibly rich but complex harmonies ever written for a musical! It would have been an easy option to simplify some of these harmonies or even to get the cast just to sing the tune. Far from it, the cast have worked amazingly hard not only to learn these harmonies but to spend their own time working on them. The result has been some of the best singing we have ever heard at SMP.
Well, it’s now less than a month to opening night. Last week’s rehearsals were very much about re-capping and covering the final scenes and songs before we start doing runs this week. So while all you lovely people have been spending the couple of Sundays in the garden with your barbeques and ice creams, we have been working hard to get the show into tip-top shape.
I am looking forward also to getting our amazing musicians together. This year’s show includes SMP regulars Chris “Chunk” Wall on drums and percussion and Steve Rogers on bass. It also includes the wonderful Erika Gundesen, Flick Chilton and James Goodwin from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Well, Urinetown is a wonderful show as anyone who saw the recent West End production will agree. With our talented and dedicated cast and production team and superb musicians I’m sure it will be a show that will live long in the memory of anyone who comes to see it. If you haven’t already, get your tickets now! Tickets available here

Urinetown Blog – Week 13

Hi all,

How time flies when you’re having fun!

I’m Tina, also known as the Cake Angel or the Queen of Cakes, I’m new to SMP and this week is my turn for the Urinetown blog!!

I can’t believe that its week 12 of rehearsals already! I’ve had the absolute pleasure and honour of meeting and working with some amazingly talented people! I have been welcomed with open arms and I have a feeling that I will never leave! Sorry guys you’re stuck with me!

I am playing Minky Warden, who is a down and out housewife, Mrs Millennium, a staff member of the Urine Good Company, and Julie Cassidy, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I’m enjoying mixing it up with the different characters, it’s definitely keeping me on my toes for one thing!

This show is like nothing I’ve ever done before and I am loving it! The music is so well written and played beautifully by our MD Mike. Jo is like a breath of fresh air as our choreographer, in my many years in the same role, within another group, not once have I ever had to say do the otter! And then along comes Warren our director, is his lime green crocs making us all feel comfortable with talking and singing about pee on stage. These three are just amazing at what they do and their passion and Buzz for the show is truly infectious!

This past week has been a mad, crazy, busy kind of a week.

There have been a couple of birthdays this week so I was on hand with cake to feed the masses but that was just me!

Guided by our leader Warren, Monday was blocking through dialogue for both acts, while upstairs Mike stole bodies to sing through some numbers. The evening went so quickly and I know its because we’re all enjoying ourselves and working hard to make this the best show possible. Everybody was on hand to line up to pee and if we weren’t lining up we were singing about it!!

Wednesday was flash mob day! We’ve been rehearsing a slightly altered end of act one to surprise the audience at the Dugdale Centre for the last few weeks and Wednesday was the day. When we arrived, we all slipped into our costumes and had a quick quiet sing through (except our lovely Marion- sing out girl-soprano power! 😉 ) before heading downstairs during the first act to run it through in the space we had. Then all too soon, the butterflies started, the adrenalin started pumping and there we were only doing a bleeding flash mob! Then just as suddenly as it started, that was it, we were finished and it was time to go home. I know I’m biased but it really did sound and look amazing – imagine what it would be like on stage!!!!

https://www.facebook.com/smptheatre/videos/1166924600025697/

This is just a snippet so please click on the link and have a look at the whole thing

 

, and feel free to share it, we want Urinetown to go viral!! http://smp.snowhosting.co.uk/our-urinetown-flashmob/

Onto our first Sunday rehearsal! It was the hottest day this year so far and everyone was looking and feeling great! Debbie and Wendy bought along ice lollies -best idea ever girls! The suns out lets go play shouts our lovely Jo B!

However, my aching muscles can tell you that was exactly what we didn’t do! Sunday was recap day, us poor people concentrated on recapping previous dances, Run Freedom Run, Snuff that Girl, plus others, while the rich went through some numbers with Mike in the other room. Once we had recapped dances till we could recap no more, and we were all glistening with a thin layer of sweat, we went over the dialogue blocking with Warren before being released into the heat of the early evening.

I am loving every second of this show and I cannot recommend this show highly enough, it will make you laugh, cry and all the bits in between! You will not regret it I can promise you that!! You can book your tickets here. 

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Our Urinetown Flashmob

We performed a flashmob of the ‘End of Act One Finale’ during the interval of DASH Productions ‘Back to the Musicals’ at the Dugdale Theatre.

The number shows the point the where the people rise up under the leadership of our hero Bobby Strong and stage a revolution against the wicked Caldwell B. Cladwell and his corrupt company the UGC.

Do the people succeed? Does Bobby get the girl? Does anyone make it through the show alive? The only way to find out is by coming to see Urinetown at the Millfield Theatre 15th – 18th June 2016

You can book your tickets at http://www.millfieldtheatre.co.uk or by calling the box office on 020 8807 6680

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Huge thanks to David Short for letting us steal his interval and to Paul Everitt for letting us perform at the Dugdale. Thanks to Greg for filming it too!

 

Urinetown Blog – Week 12

 

Alright folks, line up and have your money ready! You know the drill. What? What’s that you say? Ya ain’t gonna pay? Ha! I’m tellin’ ya you’ve got to come see this incredible show and ya ARE gonna pay. No-one gets in for free. It would be dreamy if ya could, but that’s not how it all works. You want to come see the show, we’re gonna take your dough. Get your heads out of the clouds!

Welcome back to the Urinetown blog. I’m Inês and though I am new to these SMP parts, I am already in a position of great authority in the part of Penelope Pennywise, which I feel quite privileged to be playing. That’s MISS Pennywise to you.

Penny is a tough cookie and she runs the only ‘Amenity’ in her part of town. That means she is in charge of making sure people pay the proper fee to pee, and that they don’t pee freely as they please. She used to be quite a catch in her day, but these days she’s a bit rough around the edges. Penny has to lay down the law, but she has a couple of secret soft spots that you may find out about during the show!

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From the start of joining this show, I got a great feeling about the group and the people in it. At this point I can say that my instincts were proved absolutely right and I love working with SMP. Every single person is friendly, supportive and hard-working, and we have an amazing time at every rehearsal. I couldn’t have chosen a better show to be a part of, or a better group of people to do it with! We are guided every week by our excellent director Warren McWilliams, who despite having a tendency to randomly trip on chairs and fall over in rehearsals, runs a tight ship and keeps us in good spirits with his generosity and understanding.

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This past week we tackled a big song and dance number that involves our leading lady being potentially snuffed, or at least getting her hair in a muddle. The routine was once again expertly created by our wonderful choreographer, Jo Bakhurst, who I think is doing a brilliant job! Every routine is very entertaining and has little quirky surprises for our audience. This particular song has an entire clicking section which is hard for our cast, but they are handling it so well. Lucky thing I’m not clicking in it, I am terrible at it!

Yes, the bunnies have been increasingly agitated and there’s no knowing what they’ll do next. But us rich people will be getting back at them in no time and our leading man may soon discover what Urinetown really is, through secret trapdoors and crash mats too! In this part of the show, I get to try some stage combat, which is really exciting.

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In our second rehearsal of the week we reached the final song that needed rehearsing. In it we all become rivers and harmonise like angels, through the patience and musical prowess of our lovely MD Mike Benton as you can hear. Well some of the cast are in heaven by that point in the story, so it all makes perfect sense.

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I hope you will find enough pennies in your pockets to pay the fee to come see our show. We are truly having a blast putting it together and we hope to share the good vibes and utter hilarity with you! Book tickets here:

See you there!

 

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Urinetown Blog – Week 11

Dear Reader

Welcome back to Urinetown!:) My name is Bernadett, a newbie at Saint Monica’s Players and I am presenting the weekly blog for last week. In the past 11 weeks I had the pleasure of working with very talented and enthusiastic people. SMP is a great community and a truly welcoming one. We have a cake angel in the group whose mission is to bake cakes for everyone’s birthday. She is incredible. These rehearsals are always joyful to the heart but thanks to our cake angel they are a real pleasure to our tummy as well.😊

I am playing Ally Upandatem (ensemble), an ex-nurse who is kind, positive and likes helping other people. Urinetown is a funny place though and you can never tell what effect it makes on people. Could Ally stay the same person she is now or will she change for the better or worse? I love this musical for being amazingly complex and giving all of its people a real journey of character development.

Being part of this show, I have learnt many useful things for everyday life too, like how to queue for the toilet, how to skip the line unnoticeably, how important is to fight for things I believe in and to accept the inevitable consequences of our acts. They are always there…

Last week we focused on staging three numbers: Privilege To Pee, Look At The Sky and We’re Not Sorry. They all represent very important stages of the show. Thanks to the brilliant trio, Warren (director), Jo (choreographer), Mike (musical director) the end product of these numbers will be amazing. Without their enthusiasm and talent, the show would not be the same. They work very hard and have us working hard too but do it in a way that makes the hard work FUN!:)

 


I’m very excited to be part of the show and it would be nice if you could be part of it too by supporting us and coming to see the show. You will not regret it I can promise you that.😊

Book your ticket here now. It would be lovely to see you in the audience!

Urinetown Blog – Week 10

 

Hi there, Urinetown welcomes you… but be careful, be very careful for you never know what awaits you just around the corner… It definitely won’t be a random bloke peeing on the pavement – I can tell you that much – that sort of behaviour does not bode well in Urinetown!

My name is Anna and I have joined SMP for their wonderful production of Urinetown – The Musical in an ensemble part of Suzy Whatsherface: a very poor but rather slutty lady (Suzy, that is, not myself!) who was recently bereaved of a dear husband and who did not lose any time in starting a quest for a new one!

SMP is an absolutely wonderful and incredibly talented bunch of people who are making an absolutely sterling job of staging the the best sounding, looking and dancelicious Urinetown production ever.  It is never an easy thing to come in to a long-established theatre company as a greenie but, – and I think I am speaking for all the newbies here, – it was a breeze this time around!  I always feel welcome and a part of the gang and our rehearsals on Mondays and Wednesdays are the two evenings I always look forward to and enjoy enormously.

Well, now that the paid bit of the blog is over, it is time to talk about what we did during the two rehearsals we had this week.  Monday was a recap of all the dance numbers we have managed to put together so far with the help of our amazing choreography director Jo Bakhurst (who should be commended not only for the fantastic dance numbers she has set for us so far but also for the courageous way she has been fighting off some of the crazier ‘dance’ suggestions from our director, Warren McWilliams).  As it turned out, we have done quite a few numbers which, of course, we all handled like pros and which all looked nearly perfect… there was even a couple of times when Jo did not have to pull her hair out in despair… In fact, the dancing looked so good that a young gentleman passing by the rehearsal venue felt inclined to pop in and enquire as to what show we were putting on; at which point he was, of course, laden with a cart-load of leaflets and sworn in to bring himself and all of his distant and not so distant relatives to the show! Force of positive advertising at its purest!  He might have also been promised a wife from an unwed portion of our members, I am not sure…

 

After the action-packed Monday, Wednesday was dedicated to learning a new musical number ‘We’re Not Sorry’ with the help of the wonderfully talented MD Mike Benyon.  Urinetown has some incredible musical numbers with the most complicated harmonies and Mike, somehow, always manages to make us all sound like Pavarottis in our own right.  This song was no exception and by the end of the two hour rehearsal we really had that number down and all perfect.  We always do other musical number recaps if we have any leftover time at the end of the rehearsal sessions; and, after us singing through the recap of the Act 1 closing number – Mike, Jo, Warren and our own local superwoman and organiser (and self-confessed ‘pregnapeach’) Joanna was in floods of tears  from the sheer amazedness of it… Ok, so I might have gotten a bit carried away with the tears situation but the numbers did sound truly great!

Time to finish all the waffling with a little preview of what we have to look forward to in the rehearsals this week; and I am quoting Jo here, – ‘We will be working on Richs’ bits’; I don’t know about you, but it sounds pretty promising to me!

Book your tickets now – you will not be disappointed: the show will be totally amazing

You can book your tickets here

Urinetown Blog – Week 9

Well hello there, everyone, and welcome to this week’s blog. My name is Ellie and I’ll be guiding you through what we’ve been up to this week during rehearsals for our production of ‘Urinetown’. This is my third show with SMP and I’m lucky enough to be playing the part of Hope Cladwell. Urinetown is such a great musical – it’s clever, it’s funny and the music is incredible – and Hope is such a fun part to play. She goes on such a journey during the show and I can honestly say I’ve never played a part quite like it!

I’m enjoying rehearsals for this show so much – there is always a great atmosphere and it is such a treat to work with so many lovely, talented people. It doesn’t hurt, of course, that we’ve got such a dedicated and creative production team to guide us through the process. Having said that, a few poor, unsuspecting members of the cast have found themselves victim to our director Warren’s evil, but ingenious, method of getting us to learn some of the trickier lyrics in the show by holding dear personal possessions ransom.

Monday’s rehearsal saw the lovely Kathryn’s turn to take the test in order to save her cuddly piggy and, thank goodness, she passed with flying colours. Speaking of flying, our wonderful Little Sally – played by beautiful newbie Jenny – saw herself being thrown repeatedly into the air as our choreographer extraordinaire Jo B set the opening number of Act 2, ‘What Is Urinetown?, a brilliantly upbeat number involving the whole cast. Thankfully Jenny was safely caught every time and the number is looking really fantastic. We also got treats – yay! – from Warren as, in a highly unusual turn of events, he himself has fallen victim to a mystery black mailer who has kidnapped a rather important toy bunny from the props department and has demanded treats for the whole cast in order for it to be returned. According to Warren’s cherub wife Jo, he has been tearing his hair out trying to identify the culprit, especially as two more ransom notes arrived through the post this week….

After all that leaping, throwing, catching, blackmailing and eating on Monday, Wednesday saw us recapping all the songs we have learnt so far from the show with our excellent MD Mikey B. I personally was blown away by how good everything sounds, and I cannot wait to hear it by the time show week rolls around in June! So make sure you get your tickets, because this is a show you absolutely do not want to miss.

You can book your tickets here

Urinetown Blog – Week 8

Well, hello there and welcome to Urinetown! It might not look like much but it’s home-Well for two evenings a week anyway!

This week, the blog mantle has been passed on to me- Joe Krajewski. I play the character of Bobby Strong. It’s a great role to play and like many characters in the show, I get to go on a bit of a journey of self-discovery before finding my way to Urinetown. But what is Urinetown? Well if you don’t already know, then you will just have to come and see it- and if you do already know, then you know what an awesome show it is!

I have been a member of SMP for about 22 years now. I joined as a teenager and I am always pulled back. Work means that I can’t always commit to shows but (as I already mentioned) it is a bit like home and I can’t ever stay away for too long. The people are the heart of the SMP family and whether we are pirouetting together in Pantoville; waging war on one another in West Side or singing in unison in Urinetown, we give it our all and we do it surrounded by friends, encouragement and LOTS of laughter! I am so glad to be back for this show.

We have all been working tremendously hard and things are already looking and sounding wonderful, so this week our benevolent director gave us Monday off.

Wednesday evening saw us all refreshed and ready to start. As ever, there were lots of things going on. Upstairs, Warren our director was working on some scenes with ‘The Rich’; downstairs, our MD Mike was teaching us ‘Tell Her I love Her’ and then also ‘It’s a Privilege to Pee’ ; finally, our amazing wardrobe mistresses (Faye and Ellie) were upstairs helping to make cast members look the part. Audiences are always really impressed by SMP shows but one of the regular comments is just how brilliant the costumes look.

I have been really impressed with the number of new and talented members that have joined us for this show. They truly are triple threats and I love watching them in rehearsals. This was the first time that I had heard the beautiful Inês Marcelo Curto (who plays Penny). She certainly did not disappoint with her powerhouse of a voice during ‘It’s a Privilege to Pee’. I was lucky enough to be singing a duet with the lovely Jenny Storey (who plays Little Sally) and was equally blown away by her brilliance- luckily for everyone else, I only sing a few lines in the song! The chorus has been absolutely brilliant through rehearsals. I can honestly say that these are some of the hardest and most varied harmonies that I have ever heard in a show. Mike is doing a stellar job teaching them and the cast really are doing him proud. I can’t wait until we start running it- though perhaps I should learn my lines first!

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Don’t miss out. You can order your tickets here.

Lloyd Webber to work with SMP!

SMP are thrilled that after much negotiation we are able to announce the Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber will be writing a brand new original song for our 2017 pantomime ‘Frosted’.

Sir Andrew is delighted to be working with SMP and with the show’s writer Warren McWilliams. Sir Andrew had been looking for a way into the world of panto for many years and is overjoyed to be working with SMP on their next show.

Sir Andrew said: “Musicals are OK but pantomime is an integral part of British culture and I’ve been searching for a way into it for years. I feel that SMP gives me the best platform to express myself and I look forward to working with the group, who I’ve been a fan of for many years now”

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In another exciting development SMP have also managed to persuade two of Britain’s finest actors to collaborate in this upcoming production. Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hiddleston are both confirmed to be bringing the role of ‘pantomime horse’ to life, though it is still unclear who will play the coveted rear end part.

Tom told us “I’m very excited to be treading the boards alongside those at SMP, the theatres in London’s West End are all fine venues but nothing really matches the atmosphere of the Intimate Theatre, Palmers Green.”

Benedict added “We’re not sure who will be playing the rear end yet but, after watching Tom in those scenes in The Night Manager, I’d be more than happy to be close to that little tushie of his”

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But it doesn’t stop there, the group are also looking at replacing the Intimate Theatre’s seating with chairs made entirely from ice.

The show’s director Luke Clow said: “I want this pantomime to be a fully immersive show and what better way than making all of our seats from ice. Also it means that clearing them away at the end of the show will be much easier as we’ll just let them melt!”

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SMP’s chairman Phil O’Flaherty is overjoyed with how everything has come together. He added “Paying the actors and stopping the ice chairs from melting is going to prove expensive but it’ll all be worth it. At the end of the day we just want to put on the best show we can for our audience and that’s what matters most.”

The group are currently searching for someone with a big enough freezer to make 350 chairs. If anyone does, please get in touch.

‘Frosted – A Family Pantomime’ will be at the Intimate Theatre in January 2017 for updates follow us on Facebook and at our website.

Warren McWilliams’ pantomime scripts are available to hire here and here.

SMP will be performing Urinetown at the Millfield Theatre in June 15-18. To book your tickets call 020 8807 6680 or visit their website here. www.millfieldtheatre.co.uk

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Urinetown Blog – Week 7

Here is this weeks blog written by “Little Becky Two Shoes” Fay Kemal. 

Urinetown rehearsals are fun filled all singing all dancing evenings with lots of high energy performances. 

I’m so excited to have my first all singing, dancing, acting part in an SMP show!!! I can normally be found on the other side of the production as choreographer and wardrobe mistress, so am loving each rehearsal night. Warren McWilliams’ upbeat humour and enthusiastic direction keeps everyone motivated. He has given everyone such interesting characters to portray, so watching people come to life is really fun!!

Dancing led by the imaginative Jo Bakhurst and singing by talented Mike Benyon is really progressing well and looks and sounds great. 

This weeks Monday rehearsal was a busy one with the ‘Rich’ and some ‘Poor’ learning a dance number for ‘Mr Cladwell’ while some principals were put through their paces with songs and dialogue. My trusty co-wardrobe mistress Ellie Goss and I were knee deep in the costume cupboard sorting out the eclectic look required for this show. Wednesday eve was just as busy as all the songs we’ve learnt so far were re-capped. It’s great having so many new cast members for this show, coming together and making new friends whilst working as a team to make this show a cracker!!! So get your tickets fast to avoid disappointment!!

Book you tickets here. 

And here’s a little taster of the number: 

Waltham Forest Festival of Theatre results.

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This week we entered a new play – Career Day written by Paul Levy into the WFFOT 2016

The cast, Becky Gediking, Carla Segel, Marian Lynch, Wendy Cooper and Luke Clow did a fantastic job on the night and director David Bowman and SM Ian Smith did a great job in getting it to the stage.

We received a nomination for the Pat Dancer Award for Best Supporting Player for Marian Lynch and for the second year running Paul Levy won the Vi Gostling award for new writing. Well done Paul! The full list of winners can be found here: http://www.wffot.co.uk/#2016-award-winners

If you didn’t make it down to the WFFOT then don’t worry we’ll be performing the play one more time at the  Welwyn Drama Festival on the 23rd May full details here. https://welwyndramafestival.com/tickets/

Urinetown Blog – Week 6

This week’s blog is brought to you by me ‘Bagsy Barbara’, better known as Kathryn to anyone who knows me!

Rehearsing for Urinetown has definitely been a welcome break a few evenings a week from marking and planning! Although now I have this stress of writing a blog when all I can think about is am I using an exclamation mark incorrectly? Have I included fronted adverbials, relative clauses, the passive voice and determiners? Would I pass a writing SAT if I was marked on this?! Yes that’s what I have been reduced to!

So here goes … Monday evening we were setting ‘The Cop song’ in one hall and ‘Follow your Heart’ in another.

Much fun was had learning the ‘Cop Song’ number! Superb choreography once again by our Jo B (who was just working as a dance instructor this weekend at Potters resort in Norfolk – where loads of us SMP ladies frequent on an annual basis to get our groove on!)

Wednesday evening reduced me to tears. Tears of sheer joy from laughing too much! Which I know I shouldn’t when being taught a song by our wonderful MD Mike. ‘Snuff the girl’ consists of a clicking section – that was very interesting! Luckily, there didn’t seem to be one person who couldn’t click, but remembering the random timings (especially for me) did seem to cause some chaotic moments!

 

A special mention to Fay and Michael for their superb performance and singing – other members of the cast were jealous to not be in with us- longingly gazing in!

We then waved a fond farewell, before the end of the rehearsal, to the members of the cast who were also performing in the Waltham Forest Festival. They did so well, receiving glowing praise! And Paul Levy winning the new writer award was a highlight!

I absolutely loved this week’s rehearsals and know my two boys would recommend you see this show as they love the music- it is all we are allowed to listen to in the car! I do wonder though what their teachers must think of what they say when they snuff the girl, whilst following their heart, not being a bunny, running for freedom from the Cop, and asking for Urine town as it is a privilege to pee!

Don’t forget you can book your tickets for the show here: http://www.enfield.gov.uk/millfield/homepage/18/whats_on_millfield_theatre

Urinetown Blog – Week 5

Hello and welcome to this weeks blog!

My name is Phil and I am playing the part of Mr McQueen (Mr Cladwell’s assistant, a sneaky man who will do anything to save his own skin).

This week we seemed to fit in a lot. On Monday Jo (our fantastic choreographer) set the dance for ‘Run Freedom Run’ which sees Urinetown’s poor folk energetically springing around the stage. It’s such an up lifting, toe tapping song and the dance compliments the song beautifully.

Whilst they were doing that, the rich folk (of which, I am included) went over two brilliant songs. First ‘Mr Cladwell’, a self loving song in which the man himself describes how he has built up such a great company and then ‘Don’t be the bunny’ a dark but funny song about how it is the privilege of the rich to stomp on the poor. After a long but satisfying rehearsal a few of us headed to the pub where both rich and poor were happy to mingle together.

On Wednesday the rich blocked a couple of scenes whilst the poor were upstairs with our wonderful costume ladies Ellie & Fay. I saw a few people dressed up and they looked brilliant.

I can not wait wait for my next rehearsal, every one is an absolute joy to attend and I always leave with a huge smile on my face.

So come along to see it for yourself, tickets are on sale now!

Career Day at the WFFOT2016

This year SMP return to the Waltham Forest Festival of Theatre.

We are back with “Career Day”, another brilliant script by last years “Original Writing” award winner Mr Paul Levy. Congratulations to Paul who has won further awards since and even had his script published! #awesome

Direction & Production this year are by our very own David Bowman, and our charming Cast consists of a whole host of previous nominees and award winners…Wendy Cooper, Carla Segel, Rebecca Gediking, Marian Lynch and Luke Clow, and we must not forget last year’s “Stage Management” award winner Mr Ian Smith, who’ll be looking after the team again.

Our performance evening this year is Thursday 17th March, 7.30pm, at the usual location of Chingford Assembly Hall. As per previous years, there’ll be three separate entry performances on the night (we are on first, eeek) before the adjudicator gives feedback at the end and we all cheer rather loudly for SMP.

Tickets are £8.00 and can be bought on the door, great value for three competition level performances.

Below are some useful links, including dates, times, post codes etc,

 Hope to see you there if you can make it, lovelies, and thank you so much for your time reading this.

https://www.facebook.com/walthamforestfestivaloftheatre/?fref=ts

http://www.wffot.co.uk/

SMP sparkles from us all