Tour 4 tasters

Roger has now completed his round of tasters for tour 4 performances, and that means the taster held at Truro two weeks ago was his last ever taster. Time is flying by with Rock.

The taster for the Truro performance held at Threemilestone was a pretty special occasion. Over 90 came, of which a number had already held their own performances of Rock so they knew it already. Roger had to be careful in his presentation, as there were those who had never heard it, as well as some experts!

There were even some dancers there, who were carefully reigned in until right at the end of the evening when Roger allowed them to let rip with Rock of Ages - down the aisle of the church!

Rock Tour 3 - Macclesfield

Quite a number of the team had travelled back to their homes overnight, so only a small group gathered bright and early the following morning in Gloucester. We made a quick getaway as the room we were in was needed for Sunday school, but still managed to fit in a good time of sharing with some of the overnight hosts.

On our way up to Macclesfield a few of the team stopped off at Tescos and bought a variety of food including hot roast chickens and salad for a big picnic. We intended to eat it outside, but the weather had other ideas and we ended up in a side room at the Macclesfield venue - St. Michael's in the Marketplace.

It was an absolutely stunning venue - an old Anglican church that had been completely transformed in parts with a very imaginative building plan. The problem as always with old churches is pillars, but I think the audience coped fine! The choir sat on or in front of the chancel steps, and the cast performed on a kind of octagonal platform just in front of them. This was perhaps one of the most challenging stages we've had to deal with. It was quite small, and not very tall, so we had to make sure all the action was as high as possible. We also had audience on three sides, so we had to keep turning outwards to make sure everyone was included. Ann Steer perhaps did the best bit of adaptation to the stage by leaving it completely during the song 'The Look of Love' and walking up the aisle through the audience!

After not being able to be present at Barry or Gloucester, we were delighted to have Annie back and the musicians complete once again. It does make a huge difference when they are all present, although Carole, Amy and Marilyn did cope admirably in Annie's absence.

After a gentle afternoon spent mostly in the church or exploring Macclesfield, the rest of the team arrived and we had a good team meeting. Several of the team had physical injury niggles that we had a good pray for, and made sure that we were Spiritually ready for the evening ahead.

We were served a wonderful meal of jacket potatoes and fillings (including spare roast chicken) and then the choir started arriving. The Macclesfield choir was fairly large, trained by Dot, and it was supported by a group from Bramhall trained by Louise and also some from the Manchester choir who had performed it so many times already they knew it backwards! Quite a number of the choir are regulars on our music week, including Wendy the Macclesfield venue organiser - so it was great to see them all. Wendy's daughter Jenny played the part of Helena in Jail Break and her sister Sheena has often played flute for CMM.

After a challenging rehearsal getting used to the stage and hunting for the makeup brushes, we prepared for the performance. As the cast was cut off from the choir by the audience, not many of us made it out for choir prayers, which were outside the main entrance of the church - perhaps the most public of our prayer times!

It was a hot, challenging performance technically, but God really seemed to use it, with a number of people prayed with afterwards. The audience was crammed in and very responsive, including some children sat right at the front - almost part of the fireside scenes!

Thanks so much to Wendy, Dot, Louise and all their helpers who made it such a wonderful occasion.

Rock Tour 3 - Gloucester

After a good night's sleep the team met in Barry for a short meeting before moving off to Gloucester. As it was a Saturday it was wonderful to have quite a number of the Barry hosts with us for the meeting, and we were able to share a lot about the previous evening and pray together. It was also birthday time and Helen's turn to be embarrassed with a pink princesses cake and a bunch of flowers that unfortunately didn't quite make it through the next two days' performances.

We were to have two performances at Gloucester and the first of these was at 3pm, so the team quickly headed down the motorway. The venue was the Crypt School, which had a really good sized hall with a stage big enough to hold the large combined Gloucester and Pontypool choirs as well as the cast and dancers. It was an incredibly hot day, so hats off to the choir for coping in all that heat for two performances!

As we began the first performance we discovered that the men's dressing room had been locked shut, with some of the costume bits inside - part of Cornelius' armour and the outer jacket for Peter. Without it Devon looked like he was just wearing a big nightie! By the end of song 3 the problem was solved. Phew!

The afternoon performance went well. The audience were responsive, and the choir sounded brilliant. The tiering was quite high, so every person in the choir could be seen clearly, which was a huge bonus.

With the afternoon performance being so early, there was plenty of time for a lovely break in the afternoon. Some people had more of a break than others, with the choir, cast and St. John's ambulance people enjoying the sunshine together. Several of the team played some games including leapfrog and building human pyramids, while the rest watched...

We also had a lovely bring and share tea with the choir (including princesses birthday cake), and it was great to chat together and get to know each other. The Gloucester choir have been supporters of CMM events for a long time, and the choir trainer Pamela Dewick is quite a visionary force behind them - spearheading their own performances, events with the Christian Caravanners, and even a choir trip to India for Jailbreak where they performed for thousands. An amazing team.

The evening performance was special - both the Mayor and the Sheriff of Gloucester were present with their wives sat right in the front row! It was also great to see the bus driver for the Pontypool choir getting drawn in to watching at the back - he even clapped at the end! Please pray for the mayor as he seemed to be quite taken with the message, and when Simon walked in for the first time as Jesus, he said his heart skipped a beat as he was just how he imagined Jesus to be.

The St. John's ambulance people had a bit of a workout in the evening as it was so hot, but they were fantastically discrete, and did a wonderful job.

Thanks so much to Pamela along with her fantastic helpers, particularly Jane Broome and Frank Heggs. It was wonderful to be part of the event at Gloucester.

Rock Tour 3 - Barry

The following morning we were all up bright and early for the long journey down to South Wales - to the Barry Memorial Theatre. The rain was torrential for the journey, with a real danger of aquaplaning on the motorway on occasion.

But we all made it safely and were thrilled with the theatre. It was a good size, with plenty of space on the stage. The rooms backstage were quite interesting. The dressing rooms (including toilets) were separated from the stage itself by only a curtain - so no flushing during the Look of Love then...

One of the challenges we faced on arrival was to find a way to get enough chairs for the choir onto the stage. This was a nice problem to have - it's always good to have a big choir. Sharon from the Barry choir met us there and we worked on sorting out the stage with her. We finally got the help and permission of the local theatre workers so that the choir could fit on.

After a short team meeting and then the food that had been prepared by the choir (thanks so much for that - we knew we were in Wales as we were fed Welshcakes!) we then all gathered on stage for the choir rehearsal. Unfortunately by this time only the Barry half of the choir had arrived - the coach containing a further 30 singers from Pontypool had been delayed. The Barry choir had been trained by Dot Connel, and she had also done a considerable amount of the organisation, ably assisted by Sharon and a few others. While we were waiting for the Pontypool choir some of the cast joined the choir and we got down to rehearsing. Eventually Simon Oram and his Pontypool choir joined us, and we had a full complement for the rest of the rehearsal.

A problem we sometimes encounter with theatres is their need to sell interval drinks and ice creams to help keep them financially afloat. This is a little difficult as Rock doesn't have an interval. So at Barry the theatre staff decided not to open the doors into the main auditorium until the very last minute, keeping the audience in the bar for as long as possible. Keith and Laura on our bookstall were delighted, as they had a captive group to sell programmes to...

So with a well-lubricated audience, the performance began. We got through it all with no mishaps, and the choir sang fabulously - as Welsh people should! The audience were tremendous, very responsive and excited. For the reprise of Rock of Ages at the end of the night, normally the cast get the audience and choir clapping at first, but then the clapping stops for most of the middle of the song before it is restarted at the end. This audience however managed to keep going right through the song - all 7 minutes of it! Unbelievable.

Some of the comments we received:

"Amazing, powerful, outstanding, unbelievably touching, uplifting, humbling"

"Turning point was the crucifixion - I'd never seen it done so powerfully and sensitively"

So thanks go to Dot, Sharon and Simon and all their helpers - it was great to be able to come to Wales. Thanks so much for letting God use you in this way.

Rock Tour 3 - Leicester

Not 48 hours after our rehearsal, the touring party all met at the DeMontfort Hall in Leicester for the first performance of Tour 3. Leicester has a great history with CMM. Along with Hull and Norwich, Leicester has hosted every single one of Roger's touring musicals, many of which have been performed at the DeMontfort Hall with a huge choir in support.

Marlene Kant, the former organiser of the Leicester production, had a well earned rest this time round, and after a lot of searching, Lomas Smith finally agreed to take over, assisted by Alan Baum, who trained the choir. Lomas did an outstanding job, and the performance involved a number of choirs joining together - Barrow upon Soar trained by Amy Carter, Newthorpe trained by Carolynn Charlton, Nottingham trained by Anne Hicks, Burton Latimer trained by Catherine Muggleton. Those with a good memory will have noticed that Amy Cater and Catherine Muggleton are both part of the Rock touring party. It was great to see them as part of the choir trainers taking a bow at the end.

This was a particularly exciting performance, as several of the team would consider it their home town - Amy, Felicity, Ann S and Helen, as well as Marilyn, Richard, Laura, Ann W and Catherine living very nearby. A coach of 50 Ann W supporters came from Lincoln to watch her, and Richard's whole family came... again...

After a rehearsal as far as song 11 in the afternoon, the cast felt ready, and were used to the incredibly wide stage. The choir started to arrive at about 5pm, including relatives, school friends and past baby-sitters. A lot of catching up needed to happen...

Lomas had worked incredibly hard selling tickets, and as a result over 1300 were sold - it was a fantastic audience, and great way to kick off tour 3. The performance went very well - the dancers managed to incorporate some of their new moves, and Dave made full use of the lighting rig. We also had a full complement of instrumentalists for the first time since November - so that was great.

Thanks so much to all involved - it was a wonderful event.

Cast Rehearsal

So with just two days to go before possibly the biggest performance of the tour, the cast gathered together in Birmingham once again to rehearse. All of the cast were able to be present except Paul, all of the dancers made it (in the end - Anna's Megabus had an incident) and all the instrumentalists except Carole were present.

It was an excellent rehearsal - the team had obviously made a huge effort to relearn their parts, and things went very smoothly. Darren, the producer, seemed very happy, and he only had to polish a few small bits.

At the end of the rehearsal Roger, Alan, Viv and Margaret anointed the whole touring party ready for the ministry ahead. It was an excellent commissioning time.

Rock Previsits

Before the third tour of Rock, Roger was very busy with his series of previsits - this is where he visits every choir ahead of the performance, checking the choir is doing ok, setting attainable goals, generally getting everyone excited...

The Leicester previsit was quite an exciting occasion as there were several choirs meeting together, including two trained by touring party members - Amy Carter had trained the Barrow upon Soar choir, and Catherine Muggleton a small group from Burton Latimer. It is also one of very few previsits for which we have photos - Felicity, one of the dancers, was present and she danced her way around the room all evening taking photos.

Manchester Choir Rock

One of the joys of working with CMM is that we occasionally hear from across the country how performances of Roger's musicals have gone.

We recently heard from the United Christian Singers, Manchester - a choir that originally formed for the 1990 tour of Mary Magdalene. They have supported us ever since. After their performance of Rock with us back in the autumn, they have put together their own soloists and actors for several future performances. This is what John Pye said in his email.

We (the UCS choir) had a wonderful time singing ROCK at all seven venues. It was wonderfully received by all who came to see it. None more so than the visibly emotional impact it had on the 25 women in Styal prison. Our 'finale', at All Saints & Martyrs church in our Deanery, was sold out with over 300 people and was a fitting climax to our 'Spring Tour'.

We are hoping to sing Mary Magdalene to celebrate the choir's 20th Anniversary near Easter next year, as it was the first musical they presented after the formation of the choir.