June Round-Up

I am absolutely bloody determined to catch up so let's revisit June!

Right at the start of the month, 3rd-5th, I was asked to narrate the audiobook for The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I'd never worked at Audible before but their studios in Barbican are a very calm and productive place to be. I'd do a thousand audiobooks for them if they'd let me!

On the 9th, Jamie Muscato (JD in Heathers) asked me if I'd sing with him at his Sunday Favourites Gig back at our dear ol' The Other palace! I watched the first act wondering if there were any limits to that boy's voice.

The new Theatre Cafe on St Martin's Lane officially opened on the 13th and Oliver and I attended its launch party. We were served a seemingly never ending supply of Prosecco in Latte cups! I ended up singing Oom Pa Pa with every barista in the joint!

The following day we were up early to sing on Stuart Matthew Price's album, Melodies and Motion! Stuart was one of the producers on The Addams Family where Oli and I met so it was lovely to sing a duet written by, essentially, one of our match makers!

On the 18th, I got to see two of my best friends shine their arses off in The Light in the Piazza. Celinde Schoenmaker sang a note in the show so high that I had a physical reaction in my seat and Rob...well *sighs*...Rob did what Rob does best and that was steal the show. That evening I also got to meet Dove Cameron who I've admired ever since I did a Disney Channel brand deal for Descendants and had to listen to her sing If Only over and over as I learnt it!

There is video evidence of the next few days so click here to watch the vlog but I had a meeting with Disney on the 19th followed by a boozy screening of Toy Story 4. The next day I attended rehearsals for West End Live and Ben Forster's concert, during which I felt like my brain was going to fall out the back of my head. 

This brought us into West End Live weekend which always makes my stomach flip. Trafalgar Square is flooded by thousands of avid theatre fans and each show in the West End (plus many more!) give little 5-10 minute performances. We were there with Paul Taylor Mills and MT Fest, showcasing snippets of the workshops we had put together a few months prior. These were Nerds and But I'm A Cheerleader. 

For those of you that don't know, Ben Forster, Celinde Schoenmaker, Ramin Karimloo and I have created a little band called The Cardinals. We officially launched the band at Ben's concert at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket on the 23rd. It felt like such a wonderful relief to finally let the world know what we'd been working on and we've just announced that we'll be performing at The Proms in the Park on the 14th September!

On the 25th and 27th, I began work on my third audiobook of the year, Our Stop by Laura Jane Williams. It's a brilliantly funny and heart-warming story about a man and woman who meet through the 'Missed Connections' section of the newspaper on their morning commute! Definitely give it a read...or a listen! *wink wink*

Finally, squidged in between those recording days on the 26th, I had a fitting for my Fantine costumes for Les Miserables...which ultimately ended up completely changing by opening night! 

Now that I read these months back, as enjoyable as they all were, I really do feel like they were all simply gearing up for Les Mis to begin and for my life to feel a little more stable again. 

July to follow soon!