You can't stop the beat!

"Oh, Oh, Oh, woke up today, feeling the way, I always do....." 

            Ah, back to my little London life! This morning I woke up and got all dolled up to see my boys, wearing my new Italian necklace and scarf - brr, very cold here! It was so wonderful to get back to the office today. After having a wonderful fall break, I began to miss working and seeing Robert and Gordon, and on top of all of that I was so excited to go to the Press Night of Hairspray. Once I got in the office, I settled and caught up with them about the happenings while I was away, Again, the industry has been incredibly slow because of the credit crunch, which has really cut castings in half. When there is no casting, there is nothing to put clients up for, which means that clients are out of work and commission is not coming into the agency. This can be a real struggle for Robert who is trying to make ends meet in a very expensive city.

            Right now, the talk about town in the industry is the casting for the musical Sister Act. Luckily, we have a couple of clients who have been called back for that, which is promising. To have a client in that show would mean a contract with a musical, which brings in consistent weekly commission, so we are keeping our fingers crossed. In addition, while I was away a casting director for East Enders came to the acting class to see the talent of our youth clients. Apparently, she was very pleased with most of them, which is great exposure for their careers and for the agency. It just goes to show that when you know the right people and have the right connections, exposure becomes much easier. It also illuminates how, in a poor economy, not even knowing the right people is a big help if castings are being cut.

            After being filled in, I got to work editing the adult CV’s to make sure that they are all in the same font and format. This is to ensure continuity and to make sure the CV’s from Kelly Management are recognizably the same to casting directors. This is a very long and tedious process seeing as we have about 50 adult clients, and each one has to be altered to fit the correct format. I continued on with this job for the entire workday, finally getting through the male clients. But at 2:45pm, we left the office and headed to the National Theatre to see the production Oedipus. This particular showing, which usually stars Ralph Fiennes who I met walking outside the theatre a month ago before seeing Some Trace of Her, was of all of the understudies, so a lot of industry people were invited to allow the actors who do not usually get to play the lead roles to perform and get exposure. The show itself was a bit boring – not really my taste – but I enjoyed the sets, and I always love going to the theatre with Robert and Gordon and comparing notes with them at the end. To see an actor (because Gordon is also an actor) and an agent’s perspective on the productions we see is always so interesting. They address aspects of the show I hadn’t even considered.

            After the show ended, Gordon and I had dinner at a really cute French restaurant called café rouge, where I had the most delicious bowl of French onion soup EVER, and a side salad (let the Italy diet begin…). We had such a wonderful conversation and I just adore him. We are very similar in a lot of ways, and it is so refreshing to be around him when I am usually surrounded by a bunch of girls in the flat. Before we knew it, we were off to the Press Night of the West End musical Hairspray!

Last night was the best night EVER! Robert was so sweet to buy me a ticket – they usually only give agents two, but he bought me a third so I could come. The show, which has been playing for a year, has three of our clients, including the lead role of Tracy Turnblad. Two of the clients have been in it since the beginning, but for the third, it was her opening night! Gordon had never seen the show, and I had only seen it once in Raleigh, so I was very excited. The curtain lifted, the orchestra began to play and the rest of the night was magical J. The musical in itself is a fantastic production, but on top of that, we had great seats (in row J – for Jenny of course), and we got to spot our own clients (who I talk to on the phone all the time) in the show. They all did a great job, and while the new cast definitely have a couple of kinks to work out (Robert was disappointed because he said the original cast was much better – but they would be because they were a family, and this cast is brand new, so I told him to give it time), the show was still incredible and full of that energy I love. At the end, we were all dancing in our seats. But the night was not over yet.

After the show we attended the cast party! IT WAS SO AWESOME! I got to have free champagne and strawberries, meet all the actors, and a bunch of industry people, including the famous American musical theatre director, Jerry Mitchell. 

He is the guy that directed Legally Blonde, and did the choreography for the original Broadway cast of Hairspray. Among our clients, I met all the leads, including Motor Mouth Maybelle who was the original voice of the goddesses in the Disney film Hercules! AND I got to meet Ben Ellis , the actor who plays Link (so basically like a London equivalent of  Zac Efron) who is gorgeous, AND kissed me on the cheek HELLO (he did it to all the girls, but mine totally lingered...). 

Unfortunately, he was actually a horrible actor, good voice, but Gordon and I kept nudging each other because his American accent was so horrible, it was hard to simply make out the words. But what a hot guy – and he is 19 like me! He was actually on a reality TV show here to find the next Joseph for that musical, but only placed third. He soon after booked the job with Hairspray and has been with it since the beginning, so we chatted about that whilst I tried to lock it up and keep my cool. But it was so funny when I saw Jerry Mitchell, because I was so shocked that I was like “oh my god, there is Jerry Mitchell,” and Robert through laughter was like “Jenny, calm down, keep your cool.” Jerry and Jack (the producer) then gave a big speech, with a shout out to Leanne (our client who is the lead) and I was standing right with her, it felt so elite. 

This is Leanne :) 

The speech was so moving and I felt like I was on the inside of a world I would youtube from my bedroom for hours of backstage footage of my favorite Broadway shows. It was an incredible evening and a great way to get back to work and back to London.

Gordon walked me back to the tube (thank goodness, because all the excitement, plus that champagne went straight to my little head), we could not stop raving and wishing we were both in it! As the night came to a close, I fell straight to sleep after a long but wonderful day. It was so surreal, Leanne was wonderful and so sweet to me, and I cannot thank Robert enough for letting me be a part of it all.

 

Love and hugs,

Jenny