7:00pm - Friday 24th October 2008
Everyone involved in Eyebrow’s Showtime Challenge 3, Me and My Girl, turned up at King’s College London on the Strand ready and raring to go for 48 hours of insane activity – cast, musicians, directors, musical directors, producers, company managers, choreographers, stage management, costume, set and lighting filled every available space and settled in to what would become their home for the next day and a half before everyone would once again have to move, this time into the London Palladium itself. Slightly uneasy start to proceedings as the majority of the ground floor rooms decided to automatically lock themselves at 7pm, meaning that dance warm ups began in corridors alongside hair and makeup consultations and awkward costume fittings.
But by 11pm, it truly felt like progress was starting to be made and many people would have continued working into the night if we had not been very aware of precious sleep hours available. The Lambeth Walk could be heard echoing around the university and spirits were still high – but then we were only 4 hours down…
8:00am - Saturday 25th October 2008
The troops returned, slightly bleary eyed, for obscene amounts of blocking, tapping, singing, prompting, conducting, stitching, fretting, list-making, emailing, whilst making new friends along the way and rushing from one place to the next so as not to put the schedule out by even ten minutes. “Structured mayhem” was one wise producer’s accurate description of the weekend’s events – so much to do in such a short space of time, it’s a wonder anyone knew where they should be or remembered what they had just learned from one session to the next.
8:00pm - Saturday 25th October 2008
The Dress Rehearsal. The only opportunity anyone would have to run the show before the curtain goes up to a packed London Palladium. Scary. But it really is astonishing what can be accomplished with a lot of hard work and weeks of creative planning. Far from polished (worryingly so in places… Oh God!) but already looking like it could wow the crowds.
8:00am – Sunday 26th October 2008
The theatre is buzzing with excitement, enthusiasm and energy. The set is being built and looking fabulous. Hair and makeup have started to go into overdrive. John Sheerman, the director, is walking around the stage looking very serious. There are maids skipping around conversing with cockneys. There are gents in dinner jackets practising songs with people dressed as policemen and chefs. Front of house, The Sound of Music is gradually disappearing and Me and My Girl is beginning to take over. Tickets are still being sold, posters put up everywhere possible and boxes of programmes are opened with force. And as the hours disappear, realisation sets in. Forty-eight hours ago most of us hardly knew each other and now we are taking on the West End with one heck of a challenging musical. There’s no going back now.
7:30pm – Sunday 26th October 2008
Show time! The evening kicked off with the oh-so-funny Mel Giedroyc and Les Dennis making the audience explode with laughter and really paving the way for the incredible performance to come. And Me and My Girl really did not disappoint. From the colourful opening number, Weekend at Hareford, you knew you were in for something special. Richard Maxted as Bill Snibson was cheeky and charming, with fabulous comic timing, and was a true inspiration for the 125 strong cast, hardly leaving the stage for a moment to catch his breath. He was superbly supported by Amy Castledine as Sally Smith (Once You Lose Your Heart being particularly emotional), and the excellent casting of Natalie Tulloch as Jaquie and the hilarious Paul Lincoln as Gerald.
All throughout the show, the choreography was tight but clever and challenging – The Sun Has Got His Hat On proving to be a favourite with the crowds while the Lamppost Ballet took people’s breath away – and the orchestra nearly had the audience joining the cast to do the Lambeth Walk in the aisles. Song of Hareford amused spectators with its boyband of ancestors and you could always rely on Richard J Hunt as Parchester, the family solicitor, to entertain us. And all the while, Ben Gerlis’ video animation set the scene, enhanced all the more by Michael Nabarro’s atmospheric lighting.
No one can underestimate what an undertaking Eyebrow Productions took on and every single person involved, cast and crew alike, gave the weekend 110% in order to make it a success. Stephen Fry said we were “wildly deranged… even to try” and Mel Giedroyc said she “had to see it to believe it!” Yet, performing the finale to a standing ovation and raising over £20,000 for the Anthony Nolan Trust, you cannot deny that Me and My Girl was something to be very proud of indeed.
© 2004-2008 by Eyebrow Productions All Rights Reserved