Life Is a Cabaret, Old Chum!

Hello everyone! 
Well, it's been a while since I've been on here, nearly a whole moth to be exact! I have missed blogging.
 University has been pretty hectic as of late, mainly due to my Musical Theatre Society's production taking place. For those of you that don't already know, this year at university I have been lucky enough to be the President of our Musical Theatre Society. Each year the society performs twice: an original showcase written by the artistic team in January, and a fully scripted musical in the third term.

This year, our showcase was titled, 'The Phantom of the Musical' and saw the Phantom himself take the audience on a journey of musical delight as he strove to find his perfect leading lady. Featuring songs from Les Miserables, Cabaret, Chicago, Miss Saigon and more, the show was pretty diverse. However, our wonderful Artistic Director wrote an excellent storyline and I'm very proud to say the show was a success!
We performed for three nights to sell out crowds and everybody had a great time. Here are a few snaps of some of my favourite moments:

Myself and some of the boys, they're the best.

Two of my closest friends and I.

Who run the world? GIRLS!

Performing my all time favourite song from a musical with my favourite people. ONE DAY MORE.

Cabaret.

Tiny person, big stage.

Taking our final bow on the final night.

As well as leading and organising a lot of the committee side of things, I was lucky enough to be granted a solo in the show. I sang, 'Life is a Cabaret' (hence the title of the post) and whilst this song proved difficult for me at times, I'm happy with the overall result. Although I've had solo parts before, I've never actually performed completely alone on stage and in character for a whole song; this was something new for me. And I loved it! I really feel like my performing and confidence has improved massively since I joined MTS back in 2012. I know I am by no means the best, but to have people notice an improvement in something I love doing feels great. 

But, more than all of that (and this is where I get soppy, again) I am so very happy to have helped create something that other people loved being in. As I've said before, and am likely to say many times again, MTS means so much to me. The society has become a huge part of my life; a place where I have met many of my best friends and experienced some of my favourite moments of the past few years. To know that other people are gaining a likewise experience from the society too makes me both happy and proud. One of our newest members Suzie, has written a lovely blog post about her experience which you can read HERE. Reading things like this make all the stressing, worrying and late-night last minute organising worth it.

Our university media team came along on the final night and filmed the show for us. You can watch it below. I’ve never been as proud of a show as this.

Performing really does bring people together; we are proof of that. Our members come from a variety of backgrounds; some have performed all their lives whereas for others this is their first experience of stepping onto stage. But, this is all left at the sidelines and in our society, we all come together to create something as a team.  MTS is a crazy, dysfunctional, at times very incestuous family, and I bloody well love it.

There really is no business like show business!

As always, thankyou for reading.

A

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xxxx

Grease Was The Word...

Hey!

As I mentioned in my previous post, last week was show week for me! After months of rehearsals, dealing with quitters, room changes and costume malfunctions we had made it. It was finally time to put on Grease! And what a show it was, I adored every bloody moment of that whole week. We met up for intense rehearsals every day (which mostly ended up with pub grub and a few drinks after, even better) and then on Friday 17th, Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th May we performed. There is nothing I love more, and that could make me more happy than standing on a stage surrounded by my best friends singing my heart out. Yes, it's cheesy. Yes, it's a cliche but my God does it feel good. 

So, now I thought I'd share with you all some of the backstage photos so you can take a glimpse into the best part of my world. :) (Seriously, the cheese won't stop until I end this post...)

Cast photo! (I'm donning the purple polka dot skirt which I got for £3 in a charity shop - win!)

'The Casino's' and the one and only Vince Fontaine!

These girls are my best friends in the society, so sad that 3 of them are graduating this year :(

Kenicke working his magic on the ladies...

I'll give you 3 guesses as to the song...

 I had so much fun working with everyone involved and I am so proud to say that against all the odds we pulled it off. In the space of only 5 months, we lost half a committee, had 3 Musical Director's bail on us and had many members of the main cast walk out half way through rather than being committed and working through a tough time. Nobody expected us to even get on stage, let alone pull off the show as well as we did! If I've learnt one thing by doing MTS this year, its to persevere because in the end, your hard work will pay off.

I owe my happiness in the past year to the people you see in the picture below. I've met some of my best friends through this society, and have become a much better person than I was when I began university. I actually believe in myself again. If you have the opportunity to join a club or society which shares a common interest with yourself, I strongly urge you to do it. Although it will be daunting at first, and it can be difficult to put yourself out there, with any luck you will end up feeling the way I do! It's the best. 

I am so excited (yet equally nervous and stressed) to be taking over as President next year. I only hope that we will not come into the same problems we have this year, although I know that if we do, I'll find a way to cope somehow.

But for now, I'm not going to worry about that. Instead I'm going to look back on the amazing memories I have with equally brilliant people and feel grateful and happy for a while! 

Thankyou for reading! I hope you enjoyed this little snippet into my life, I hope to post more about MTS soon!

A

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xxx

Thankyou for the best year ever. I love you all xxxx