It's been a while!!
Greetings from lovely Cleveland (admittedly I'm using the word lovely there quite liberally)
The place itself is NOT a wonderful example of beautiful architecture and planning. There's a reason it was known as "the mistake on the lake"
However...
The people more than make up for it!
I'll happily go on record and say the people of Cleveland are amongst the most lovely and welcoming I've ever come across.
The Big Update
The reason I'm in Cleveland??
THEATRE IS BACK!!!
We're back baby
After such a long and depressing absence theatre is back!! And alive and kicking.
I'm over the moon to be in a show called the Choir Of Man which was created by a wonderful fella called Nic Doodson to whom I'm eternally grateful for the opportunity to be one of the first people back on a stage post pandemic
It's a show about a bunch of Irish and English lads in a pub who happen to have a pub choir. So we spend the entire show drinking beer, serving the audience beer and singing songs. Not a bad way to spend an evening to be fair!!
(of course I'm standing on the furniture in a ridiculous shirt - the perfect role for me)
If you're in Cleveland and fancy coming along you'd be more than welcome!! I've put the link below and I've managed to wangle a promo code as well
https://www.playhousesquare.org/events
Simply enter my name in the promo code box: STEVE
You'll receive 20% off all the ticket prices!!
Social Silence
The past few weeks have been an absolute whirlwind in terms of moving halfway across the world, rehearsing in a pandemic and and getting a show up and running in the space of 2 weeks instead of the usual 6!!
So it's safe to say I've been a bit lax on updating my social media and youtube and writing on here but now that things have settled a bit I'm back on the horse :)
Starting with a YouTube cover I did with some of my lovely cast mates
It honestly feels so good to be back in a creative space singing with talented wonderful people again!! In case you couldn't tell I'm absolutely buzzing
But on the counter side of that I'm also catching up on the 100's of emails that I've just ignored. So if you emailed me or messaged over the past month I'm very sorry!! I'll be responding to EVERYTHING this week :)
I'm into swinging now
No, not like that. Get your mind out of the gutter. I'm a swing on the Choir of Man show which means I cover a bunch of roles and "swing" into place if any of the starting line up are unable to do the show or just need a well earned break. The roles I'm covering are
"The Hardman" - A solid wall of muscle (they clearly haven't seen my lockdown body)
"Cassanova" - A hopeless romantic (they clearly haven't seen me watch Love Actually and laugh throughout)
"The Joker" - The self proclaimed king of banter (they clearly haven't... actually this one is quite accurate - a bit of an idiot who likes laughing at his own jokes)
This is bloody exciting as well as being super challenging as I basically have to learn the entire show in 3 different ways!! It's a nice way to be launched back into the world of theatre and.
Nick Jonas and I live together
No biggie but NJ (I call him NJ now cause we are best mates) live together as he is also currently in Cleveland filming for Disney. So thats kind of cool.
When I say live together we are in the same apartment block.
With hundreds of others
I've never been one to let the truth get in the way of a good story.
But I'll probably be a Disney star by the end of the week. I've asked NJ to have a word. I told him I'm more than happy to do some swinging with him if needed.
Actually on reflection he looked rather worried when I suggested that
Bob Gaudio nodded at me
Even cooler in my eyes than NJ living in the same building is the fact that one of my all time song writing icons and heroes is here as well doing work on the same Disney project!!
The man responsible for some of the greatest songs ever written that will stand the test of time for eternity stood in the same elevator that I did. I'll probably never shower again if I'm honest.
Have an absolutely fantastic week (don't forget to shower)
Much Love
Stephen
p.s. it's a scientific fact that chips (fries now that I'm in 'Murica) stolen from someone else's plate taste immeasurably better than regular chips (fries)