Fantastic 7 days for WEK!

Wow! What a fantastic 7 days it has been for West End Kids.

We kicked off with our review performance on Sunday 19th April at the Mitre Theatre, and what a cracker it was. I am notoriously critical of the WEK reviews and never bring myself to watch them back. That's not to say they are bad (!) I just can't usually bring myself to watch them with anything other than a super-critical eye.

However, having watched the April 09 review back, it was without a shadow of a doubt, the best set of WEK performances we have ever had - a testament to the sheer ability and talent that currently exists within the WEK Company. We were delighted with all of it and there will be plenty of audio and video from the show doing the rounds on the WEK website, YouTube and Facebook over the next few weeks.

Everyone who took part in the production was a credit to me and to the Company and there is little denying that the cast of Jan - April 09 have set a new benchmark for all future West End Kids to aspire to. A very talented group of WEKs and a group that are sure to wow audiences at Dreamflight, West End Live and M.A.D.D over the next few months.

Of course, Holly-Anne Hull has done us all proud by winning the Disney "My Camp Rock" Competition, and to be fair - she ran away with it. I was sat in the audience with Debbie & Steve (Hollys parents) and it was a very tense evening! I had been working with Holly over the past few weeks on trying to focus herself only on "story telling" and "connecting" with the viewers, not to worry about vocal technique and other matters, but just the good honest business of telling a great story. I've been teaching Holly since she was 10 and she certainly gave the best performance I have ever seen her give.

The build up for My Camp Rock started a few months ago with some additional vocal coaching to get her through the boot camp phase. I then decided to put a heap of pressure on her by giving Holly a particularly nerve jangling song (Listen) at the April review. Some may thing this was a strange decision, considering she would already be under considerable pressure at Disney. However - the logic was that, if she experiences more intense performance pressure in the relative comfort of the WEK environment, then this would make the My Camp Rock performance a little easier. According to Debbie, she was infact more nervous for the WEK review and certainly showed little sign of nerves during the live final so I feel a little vindicated for piling so much pressure on her in the run up to the Disney performance.

The great 7 days for WEK continued towards the tail end of the week as audition registrations keep flooding in for places in the main WEK Company, WEK: Training and the new WEK: UK project. Auditions take place this Sunday and we are certainly hoping for a good turnout.
So all in all it has been a fantastic week for West End Kids with 3 pieces really uplifting news or events. Audio and Video from the April 09 Review will be available online shortly as soon as Mike (our Video Wizard) has finished grinding through it.

However - for all of those great things, I don't think any of them can compete with my ultimate moment of the week. This being sat in the television studio on Friday evening for a camera man to gently approach Steve Hull, turn to him and with much sincerity ask "excuse me, the camera will be on you this evening. What is your best side?". Classic!