Our final day

Well a great night last night - probably our best performance to date and a great reaction from the audience.

Just two shows left 2.30pm and 7.45pm and then the long night of clearing out the theatre followed by the slightly less arduous party !!

We're all determined to enjoy the last two shows which will no doubt whizz by !!

Three down - Three to go !!!!

Well we are three shows in and just three performances left - and I am thrilled with the way the show is going.

Touch wood - no problems so far - and the cast, musicians, backstage and front of house teams are all doing great things.

Just about to leave for Friday's show..... it is Friday 13th - so anything could happen !!!!

I'm afraid it's bad news if you haven't already booked your ticket - we're completely sold out for the final three performances so the HOUSE FULL sign will be going up.

Will give you an update after tonight's show.....

We have lift off....

Well after the best part of six months - we have lift off.

Opening night has at last arrived and although it's scary to see the countdown clock on this website counting down in hours rather than days - we all can't wait to perform the show now.

Ticket sales have really picked up in the last few days so if you are thinking of coming give the Box Office a call now and reserve your seats in order not to miss out.

The tech rehearsal was long and stressful (and noisy thanks to a certain alarm !) - but that's all par for the course. 9am start on Sunday and we cleared out of the theatre at midnight.

It was dress rehearsal last night which went smoothly and the show is now ready to face it's audience.

I'll try and update as the week goes on - but hope to see you in person in Thames Ditton.

Almost time for..... Act 1 beginners...

Almost cleared for take off

Well - rehearsals have officially finished !

We had our final rehearsal last night in Surbiton which went well - and was well greeted by a small audience of members from Epsom Players - who will miss the show next week for the minor excuse of they are putting on their own show ! Thanks for coming down.

The acoustics in the hall we rehearsed in last are particularly poor - but that aside no major mistakes and the show is now ready !!

Relatively quiet day Saturday - but I intend getting a good night's sleep tonight for tomorrows marathon session. Arrive at the theatre at 9am and I dare say won't be leaving until close to midnight.

All the set and props to set up and technical effects to work out - but I've got a good team and lots of helpers so fingers crossed....

Esher News and Mail

Nice plug for the show on page 11 of the Esher News and Mail this week complete with photo of Audrey and Seymour.

Had to laugh - there's also an unrelated (I think !!) story on page one of police investigating the suspicious disappearance of potted plants in the Esher / Thames Ditton area.

Only hope our props team haven't gone to extreme measures......

One week to go...

Ok - another late blog - time is flying and I can't believe another week has flown by.

As the countdown clock is now showing it's just one week until opening night and I'm still fairly calm !! I'm sure that will all change when we get to the theatre on Sunday when plenty of Red Bull will be the order of a long day - in fact - is it available on draught ?

The show has really come on a lot over the last seven days with full runs on Friday, Sunday and last night. We spent some extra time on the finale last night and it was well worth the effort.

Hard to believe we've just one more rehearsal before the real action starts - we'll have a final run through of the show on Friday - a day off on Saturday and then to the theatre on Sunday for a full day including band call and technical rehearsal, the dress rehearsal on Monday and the opening night on Tuesday.

There's still bits and pieces to tweak - but the final push will come when everyone is in costumes, working on the set with the full band.

Ticket sales are now picking up - so don't forget to call the box office if you haven't already done so...

Back with a daily update counting down to opening night.....

Meanwhile off to a production meeting tonight.

Momentum building with two weeks to go

Ok - the daily blog has again suffered from not quite being, er, daily - but I've been kept really busy - honest guv !

Three rehearsals since the last blog, Friday night - Sunday and last night - when for the first time the show really came alive. The energy was fantastic and we whizzed through the whole show.

It was the first time in ages we had a virtually full company with the holiday season now at an end - and it was great to see everyone.

Two weeks tonight it's opening night and we will run the show again on Friday, Sunday, Monday and next Friday before our arrival at the theatre on October 8th - so still a few chances to work on the outstanding areas and making last minute improvements.

We're a lot clearer now about the set and the size of it - and in particular a certain plant - all bound to give our stage manager Rachel plenty of sleepless nights as we countdown to opening night.

We're still on the search for stage crew - so please get in touch if you can help or know of anyone - help on Sunday 8th would be much appreciated.

Richard is making good headway with his lighting plans and we have also been in touch with our sound men Steve and Richard this week as discussions turn to radio mics and sound effects.

Julia and the cast are continuing to work hard on costumes - and Bob is standing by to produce our programme which is much appreciated.

Musically is it sounding great - Nicola and her team are combining really well and late on Sunday afternoon the full band of four played through the whole show.

There's one man we need to keep REALLY BUSY at the moment - that's our box office manager Tony. If you haven't booked your ticket yet - now is the time - CLICK on BOX OFFICE on this site for Tony's number - he's standing by !!