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.