There's no business like show business!

I am finally surfacing from my “euphoria hang-over”…

Last night was opening night for the Music Hall. It was fantastic! We had a super audience, who all seemed to being really enjoying themselves. Their positive energy really inspired us to do our best. Lovely when that happens!

There’s an old superstition in the theatre, if you have a stellar opening night, the rest of the run is fated for disaster, I hope this time the legend doesn’t prove true. I actually think we will continue to settle into our parts, really relax into them, and enjoy them.

The entire run of the show (this weekend and next weekend) sold out weeks ago, as the Music Hall has a faithful and dedicated audience. It’s incredible to witness and experience that level of support. And, honestly, you can feel the good will in the air. You can feel the audience willing you, wanting you to succeed.

Of course, I’m not naïve enough to think that every audience, or even every person in it feels that way. There’s always at least one “Incredibly Unimpressed Sour-puss” in every bunch. Thankfully, for us, the sour puss didn’t materialise last night!

I have said before that Barford seems an incredibly talented village, and maybe every village feels that way. Nevertheless, I am staggered by the level of skill and ability. Especially the gift of comedy. English humour, even the so called ‘low variety’, is an art form.

A few weeks ago, some very dear friends of mine from my old parish in New York came to London to celebrate their honeymoon. The DEB and I went down to London and took them for lunch in Covent Garden.

That was an incredible day, actually. Perfect weather and London being London in the background. Our favourite café in Covent Garden is the one where the performers busk while you’re eating. We’ve seen some very good acts there, mostly classical instrumentalists and singers. On the other side of Covent Garden, there is a courtyard that often plays host to jugglers, dancers and comics. On the day we were there, there was a guy juggling chainsaws … whilst riding a unicycle … wearing only a pair of fuchsia underpants. “The height of British culture,” my friend, John, said with a mighty guffaw. “More than you realise!” I chirped.

After our lunch at Covent Garden, we took a tour of The Banqueting House in Whitehall (designed by Inigo Jones, remarkable ceiling by Rubens) and rounded the day off by attending Evensong at St Paul’s Cathedral – beautiful.

All that seems ages ago now, and I don’t know how we had time for it with rehearsal taking over our lives as they have! It has been worth it though. It was a joy to be on stage last night. And, to feel proud of the hard work I’ve put in. Especially these days when I have been feeling a bit low (after Lucy) and a bit down about my (relatively non-existent) career/work prospects.

The Music Hall has given me a real focus over the past few weeks. It’s been nice to have something to “get on with”. And get on, we have. Rehearsals have been quite full on, and hopefully that shows in our performances. We’re all really exhausted, but during the show it’s an amazing feeling, an incredible high, like nothing else in the world!

The DEB has really come into his own, and it has been so wonderful to watch him flourish as a comic actor and music leader. And, although I have a bit of a reputation for being fearless, I must confess I am very, very proud of myself for having the guts to face down “Don’t Tell Mama”. Greater performers than lowly me have flinched and wilted at the prospect!

Taking a leaf out of Beyonce Knowles’ book, I have to have a quiet word with myself in the loo before each performance. Though I haven’t gone as far as creating a ‘stage persona’ to assume to accomplish the brassy task.

Backstage at Wembley, Beyonce channels her alter ego, Sasha Fierce to steel her courage for her amazingly provocative performances. By contrast, I stand, freezing, in the dimly lit dressing room loo of the Barford Village Hall, sipping a cup of hot lemon water. I look myself in the eye, and call myself up short: “Look. Just go do it.”

Beyonce was also a source of inspiration for my costume. A more modest (?) version of this:

A certain slant of light

There is something about Autumn.

Writing about her native and beloved New England, Emily Dickinson mused upon the “certain slant of light” that exists in Autumn. Like her, that is what I love most about this time of year.

The morning air, as crisp and chilled as biting into a Granny Smith apple. The leaves turning shades of copper, amber and gold. This season is as blissful in olde England as it is in the New one.

I love this time year! The calm before the delightful Christmas holiday storm.

Barford is a hive of activity in Autumn, as the very serious preparations for Advent slowly get under way. My November Thanksgiving Dinners have now given way to October Harvest Suppers these days, and the main thrust of this November for me will be the annual Barford Music Hall.

The annual “Music Hall” truly launches our festive season into high spirits every year. Tickets for the “Music Hall” are hard to come by. Our first year here, we were unable to obtain tickets for neither love nor money!

‘Music Hall Ticket Day’ is no joke. Would-be punters form a lengthy, but orderly, queue outside Jane and Rod Scott’s home, with lawn chairs and coffee, at 7 a.m.! A normal enough sight for such acts as the Rolling Stones, or The Who, but perhaps a bit of a surprise for the likes of “Terry the Viking” and “The Great Baroloni” - Barford’s very own magician. (Surely, every English village has its own magician?)

To insure we have any chance of actually seeing the Music Hall this year, the DEB and I are auditioning to be in it.

The set-up is rather wacky, if I’m honest. We’ve been planning and rehearsing for about two weeks already. Music items on Tuesdays, Sketches/Acts on Thursdays. The pressure is on to get things memorized and costumes gathered. But, and here’s the kicker – auditions happen in early November.

Yes, it’s a sort of retroactive process. Essentially, one could work for weeks and weeks on an item (or items) gather the people-power, rustle up the garb and funny noses, only to find that your services, your acts, don’t make the cut and are, in fact, not needed at all, thank you very much!

Apparently, the Audition Panel is a bit fierce. It’s said they make the Simon Cowell look like the Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother! I’m not looking forward to this part of the proceedings…

The DEB and I have found a funny (well, we think it’s funny) sketch about a Dog and a Cat, that seems to have become a kind of humorous homage to our lives with Lucy and Lily.

We have also both been roped into a few musical numbers, and I have clearly lost my mind completely, and am attempting to lead a song-and-dance number from Cabaret. (Heaven help us!)

If we don’t make the grade, I shall be deeply disappointed, but there’s always next year. But who knows, it could be a case of “first time lucky”! Still, we have put so much time into already. And time always feels at a premium to me. If fact, we’ve got folks coming round this afternoon to work on a “Queen” Medley...All I can say is we’ll need to be done before Antiques Roadshow and Downton Abbey come on!

I shouldn’t complain, really, although this is a new holiday challenge for us, to be sure, it is also an incredible learning experience for me in the art of British comedy and the skills of the variety show (singing, dancing, comic sketches, &etc.). It is also a rare and intimate insight into a bygone, English art form.

In his play, The Entertainer, John Osbourne lamented to demise of the English music hall:

The music hall is dying, and with it, a significant part of England. Some of the heart of England has gone; something that once belonged to everyone, for this was truly a folk art.

- The Entertainer (1957)

Osbourne’s words were certainly prophetic, however, in my small corner of this green and pleasant land, the music hall tradition is still very much alive and well. And, it has become an integral part of what now makes this festive season so enjoyable and special to me.