I Produced A Show! // University

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So, I produced a successful musical.... whaaaaat? (First year Lauren would be very confused at that)

I can't believe I'm finally writing this post! I was putting it off because it's going to be a mammoth of a post, and I really don't want to forget anything! However, it's been over for a week now, and I really want to start posting more so feel I need to address this first!  Also I was waiting on some more photos, but I got too impatient and figured can use the photos I get for like a yearly round up or something!  I wanted to make this post so I can look back on it on the future, and it would be weird to not acknowledge it on my blog as it was such a huge part of my life!

This post will be  l o n g  and also have lots of pics!

So, around August, Adam asked if I'd like to produce a musical, and I kind of just laughed him off at that ridiculous suggestion. To be honest, I didn't even know what a Producer of a musical had to do, but it sounded fancy, and I didn't know anything about Musical Theatre, so just forgot about it, thinking I was not qualified enough. Also, I wasn't confident enough to waltz into a group of musical theatre lovers and attempt to try and organise them!

After some  a lot of persuasion from Adam, and looking into what the actual role was, I decided to really step out of my comfort zone and say yes- I'm so glad I did that looking back now! But I agreed to step in and help, and here we are today! The Musical in question was Jekyll and Hyde!

I remember my first meeting I had as Producer, and it was with some of the other members of the production team, the presidents of SMuTS (Sussex Musical Theatre Society) and the Treasurer. The meeting was to buy the rights to the musical- and I honestly felt so out of my depth. I didn't know anyone, I didn't really know what I had to do and I had no idea what anyone was talking about and I felt really stupid for thinking I could do it. As Producer, it was my responsibility to sort the buying of the rights to the musical- something I hadn't even thought about before!

But, I persisted, and after meeting the other members of the production team, who made me feel so welcome and convinced me that it would be fine, I felt at ease, and kind of like I knew what I had to do.  We had some meetings to arrange what we would ask people to do at the auditions, and then the audition process began!

Me, Adam (Musical Director), Shannon (Director), Charlie (Director ), Megan (Vocal Coach) and Poppy (Choreographer)

I actually loved the audition process, and honestly I thought everyone who came and auditioned was so brave for standing in front of 6 strangers and singing and acting in front of them! I know I could never put myself out there like that! I feel like after auditions was when I really started to ease into my role, and I felt much more comfortable, as i'd met everyone now, and knew what was expected.

We cast the show which was really exciting, and then we got all the cast together to do a read through of the script, and get to know each other a bit.

Everyone at the first rehearsal/read through!

The rehearsal process was long! But all the other production team members who were in charge of running the rehearsals were all so talented, it was actually quite fun to watch them work, and teach the cast how to sing the songs correctly, or getting the cast all into character.

My role was basically organisation, and making sure everyone was doing their jobs to ensure we'd be able to put on the show in time! I also was tasked with making the programmes for the show, which at the time I hated, and cried over a stupid amount of times because I just felt I couldn't do it! I didn't mind organising the casts bios, and headshot days, but the actual construction of the programmes I found quite hard, but with a lot of help from Adam, and George (President) I got them done in the end!

After a slight hiccup on printing quality, when we got the programmes delivered I was so relieved, and pleased with how they turned out. Our production manager Malcolm, filmed me opening the delivery they came in because he thought I might cry with relief!

It took SO LONG to get a headshot for me, because I kept awkwardly laughing and moving all the time...*

I feel like I'm waffling a bit so I'll speed this up!  I was doing stuff for Jekyll more than my degree/work at some points! Especially towards the end of the process, with three rehearsals a week, and Production Team meetings left, right and centre it was definitely a big commitment! I did thoroughly enjoy it though, despite the stress!

Our promo material!

The cast must have thought I was so miserable when I looked like this in rehearsals, but to be fair this was in the midst of my programme creating breakdown phase... Promise I was nice to them! *

The rehearsal where we put the show together with the band for the first time!*

I have way more rehearsal photos, but they all involved close ups of the cast so I don't want to plaster them all over the internet without their permission, but the cast were phenomenal and worked so incredibly hard. If any of them are reading, thank you so much, I know I said it during teary eyes on our last show but honestly, you were all so great to work with!

We actually all went to an I heart Consent workshop run by Uni, and most of the cast came as well, and it was so great to talk about a topic that is so important, and it was actually quite refreshing to hear peoples opinions! This isn't show related, but I just wanted to include it as it was a different, but needed cast bonding activity and actually everyone who came to it said they found it interesting.

I Heart Consent Workshop

Our last rehearsal before Show week was our dress run, and it had actually snowed on that day, so we dragged the cast out in the snow for a photo shoot (sorry guys, but it looked cool) It was so exciting to see everyone in costumes and it made it feel so much more real! Back before Christmas I had gone to a costume place to help find the costumes and it was nice to see the ones we picked on everyone!

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So, show week rolled around before we knew it, and it was by far the most stressful, but definitely the most fun part of the entire process! We had access to the theatre all week, so Monday and Tuesday was spent helping set the stage up, and getting all the costumes to the theatre.

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday were show days, so every night me and one of the directors, Shannon, would sit in the audience and watch the show- every night I cried because the cast smashed every performance, and after seeing them work so hard I just felt so proud. Especially when thinking back to everyone at their auditions, to seeing them on the stage.

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The show also got two reviews! I had reached out to some of the student papers and asked them to watch the opening night and review it! We had some technical difficulties, but it was our opening night, and it only got better from there!

For future me, read the reviews of the show here, and here! 

Saturday was very emotional! We got the cast in early to say our thank yous and honestly if you ask anyone, they'll tell you I was a crying mess all day! I just felt so overwhelmed and proud that the show had gone well, and I was also proud of myself too, for stepping out of my comfort zone and it going well!

Saying cast thank yous! (Emotionally)

All the cast and crew were so lovely to us all, and they had got me a huge bunch of flowers and some Prosecco and they'd all signed me a card saying thank you for all my hard work, and I cry even now reading the card because they were all so nice! WHY ARE PEOPLE SO LOVELY. Also the card had a cat on it, which made me laugh because I actually do come off as a crazy cat lady to people... woops.

We all got up onto stage after our last show to say thanks to everyone, and my Dad actually took the photos of me on stage! I also was proud because both my Mum and Dad said they enjoyed it, and I really didn't think they would.

I couldn't say this to anyone on the last day, because every time I tried to thank people, I started crying, but to anyone involved who may be reading this, thank you so much! This experience has honestly been the best thing I've ever done, and it's helped me gained so much confidence in myself. I have made some incredible friends, who are all insanely talented, and this whole show is something I'm most proud of in my life so far. It was a huge challenge and definitely tested me at times, but overall the show was a success, and I'm so happy to have been a part of it. Also, sorry for crying a lot...

I'm sure I will have missed something out, but this post is so long I really should stop now!

If you've made it this far, bravo, thanks for staying with me!

Loads of love,

Lauren xx

* Photo Credit to Malcolm Tam.

The Weekend Round Up // Lifestyle

Well heyyyyy there.

Sorry it's a been a while with no blog posts- as I mentioned in my last post, March is the most hectic month for me, so i've been trying to get everything done! (Losing my mind slightly, but we'll pretend things are okay...) Anyway, this weekend was a pretty nice one, so thought I'd just share some photos and chat about what I got up to. 

Apologies for the unprofessional photos, let's pretend its me being really authentic and cool, rather than not taking many photos, and being a prepared blogger... Sometimes you just got to live in the moment...

Fun discovery, people like umbrellas in London way more than the people in Brighton do. They take them very seriously.

The face of a couple who just spent a ridiculous amount of money on a shitty umbrella from a tourist shop.. in the hopes of fitting in with the umbrella crowd.

1: "How will we know when it takes pict-oh"
2. "Let's pretend we're a really cute couple."
3. "Crap, what should we do? ah ill just kiss your cheek..."
4. "Just be weird."
Camden photobooth adventures...
I might just cut this polaroid in half hahaha

Why do i still think the peace sign is cool? We will never know, and I'll probably continue to keep doing it forever.
#cantstopwontstop

The Roundhouse is a really cool venue!

Tom Misch is v cool, and the lighting was soooo coooooool, everything was cool basically.

More umbrella fans... also some people get v aggressive with their umbrellas...

For Christmas, I got Adam tickets to see Tom Misch, so this weekend it finally came round so we drove down to London to spend the day there before the concert. On the journey there we listened to a cool new Podcast i've been obsessed with called 'My Favourite Murder' which sounds weird, but if you really like true crime stories I'd really recommend it! It's really funny, in a non weird way. Obviously murder is not funny... I'm digging a hole, but basically the way the hosts talk about it in a really casual way is funny and makes it easy to listen to! Also listening to a podcast makes me feel all fancy and grown up... the fact i've said that probably proves i'm not, but anyway- podcasts are great!

Tom Misch is great live, and also it was so nice because there was a boy there with his family sat in front of us, and he was loving it so much, getting up and dancing to every song, and just genuinely showing so much joy and passion it was so lovely to see, and i actually nearly cried with happiness for him, because you could just tell this was like the best night of his life! 

If you have never heard of Tom Misch, listen to his stuff on Spotify, he's about to release a new album, and I think he's going to get really big by the sounds of things! I'd definitely watch him live again. I'd even go as far to say it was one of the best concerts i've been to!

Saturday and Sunday were spent doing show related stuff as it is only 9 days away now!! On Saturday we were supposed to do a flashmob in town, but then it rained loads so we just went to Spoons instead! Spoons will never fail you. 

On Saturday evening I learnt how to play Poker with a few friends, and as it turns out, apparently I'm good at it? I have no idea what I'm doing to be honest,  but it was a fun night anyway!

Sunday was a rehearsal day, and we were putting the show together with the band! It was a long day but it was very successful and everythings sounding really good! Bonus points if you can spot me in this photo ;) 

If you are local to Brighton, and fancy coming to see the muscial version of "Jekyll and Hyde" you can get your tickets here. It's running 21st-24th March at the Attenborough Centre for Creative Arts, which is on Sussex Uni campus!

So many people, including myself, have worked tirelessly to make sure next week goes well and I can't believe how fast show week is creeping up on me! Scary, but exciting times ahead!

So that was my weekend, it was actually really fun, and made a change not having work for once!  

Hope you guys all had a nice weekend and start to the week. Sorry if blog posts are a bit hit and miss during March, but there is so much life stuff going on it's hard to keep on top of everything!

Hope you enjoyed,

Love from Lauren xx

5 Things // February Edition

Hi everyone,

So keeping up with my mini "5 Things" series on my blog, I thought it was about time to reflect on the month of February! Also though, how is it March?! I have such a busy month it's stressing me out just thinking about it, but alas, I digress, as usual.

If you're new around here, I introduced this series on my blog, where every month I talk about 5 things I want to remember. It's kind of similar to a monthly favourites, but instead of talking about products, talking about life stuff instead!
You can read my 5 things post from January here, and also there is a dedicated section on my blog under "Categories" where you can find all of the posts i've done so far in this series.

February definitely had it's ups and downs. There were some crappy moments, but i've focused on the positives in this post so lets jump into it!

1. My best friend, Abby, surprised me from America. Probably my fave memory from the month of Feb, was Abby surprising me during some auditions for the show. I honestly had been having a really rubbish start to the month and seeing her made me feel so much better, and we had such a lovely time catching up! It's crazy how even though she's miles away, we still are such good friends, and when she came back it was like she hadn't even left at all!

2. Along a similar line, we went for brunch and I really enjoyed it. Putting going for brunch as one of my highlights of the month seems a bit extra, but our brunch at Redroaster Cafe in Brighton was such a nice day, and I really did enjoy it! We took so many photos in the Cafe, and we chatted for ages, and sat on the beach in the sun and it was just a moment that I thought I would want to remember, so here it is, in my top 5 of the month. Abby, feel privileged. 

3. The show I'm producing is coming along, slowly but surely! If you read my blog a lot, or follow me on social media, then you will know I am the Producer for my Uni's main musical theatre production of the year, Jekyll & Hyde. In feb, rehearsals started up again after Christmas, we recruited some new members to the cast, sorted out all the headshots and I just feel like we are making good progress. This month has definitely been stressful as well, and I've had a few mini breakdowns about the show programme, but this time next month it will all be over, so I'm making the most of it! 

4. We celebrated Adam finishing and submitting his Dissertation, and it was v v cute. Adams degree structure is different to mine, which means he's already handed in his dissertation, and I'm yet to really even start mine properly yet... But we went to Bill's in Lewes for a celebratory meal and it was just nice to celebrate his hard work. Also we went on a mini photoshoot for him to get a pic with his dissertation which was cute as well.  Also I got a Pink Lemonade float which made me feel like a child, but I had no regrets, it tasted a m a z i n g.

5. It snowed!!! In Brighton!!! And we went on a cute adventure and took some pretty pictures. I'm not actually the biggest fan of snow, but it does look really pretty, especially around Brighton! Adam dragged me on a 2 hour long walk, which I was pretty reluctant for, but we had the cutest time, and saw some beautiful snowy sights. We also took so many pictures, and somehow, my eyes are shut in most of them. Such a professional blogger. That aside, it was a nice day. It's actually still snowing here in Brighton and I'm kind of over it now, but still, it was a cute memory!

So that's my 5 Things for the month of February! March is a pretty busy month for me, so everyone pray that I survive it.

Let me know what your fave Feb moment is!

Lots of Love,

Lauren xx