Written by Alfie Fannon.
Alfie works as a Production Coordinator for Novel Entertainment when he’s not trying to produce his own one man musical in the car.
Musicals have always been a staple part of my life, alongside food and water. Ever since I was cast as ‘The Artful Dodger’ in my primary school’s production of ‘Oliver!’, I knew that I belonged in the industry somehow. Fast forward through many painstaking school productions, drama exam performances and endless theatre trips, I found myself (at the age of 18) wanting to be a producer, and surprisingly not the next Leonardo DiCaprio!
Now, ‘producer’ is a very loose term in terms of what the role is all about and what field a producer works in and I was very open to any aspect of our wonderful industry! When I graduated in May 2021, I found myself in the world of TV and Film, and theatre went back to being one of my favourite hobbies. From the day of my birth, until the published date of this blog, I have seen over 60 productions of theatre…should I bore you with the list?….Maybe I will in my next blog!
So, when I heard that Legally Blonde was taking up a summer residency at Regent’s Park open air theatre this year, I simply had to go whilst shouting out ‘Oh My God, You Guys’. Legally Blonde also has a very special place in my heart, when I was producing it as my 2nd year musical at University, opening night was upon us and then…COVID struck!
Jump forward to Saturday 18th June 2022 and I finally got my Legally Blonde fix. Meelie Traill (as pictured above, who is also one of my very good friends) was the bassist in my Legally Blonde band AS WELL as bassist for Regent’s Park’s production! A very bitter-sweet and full circle moment. (Can you imagine if Henry and Ralph got to work together professionally?! That would be carnage!)
Added to the spectacle that was Legally Blonde, I got to see the classic musical ‘Wicked’ which I’m sure Perfect Peter and Mum would have loved. I’m sure Mum would have tried to give Henry a lecture from it by telling him to be best friends with Moody Margaret, like Elphaba and Glinda do in the musical, although I don’t think Henry would pay much attention.
Yet, the cherry on top of my wonderfully musical weekend was finally getting to see ‘Queen and Adam Lambert Live!’ (which I had waited 2 ½ years to do). I can only imagine that my excitement was the same as Henry’s when he finally saw The Killer Boy Rats Live!!
A very famous quote that I read during the COVID19 pandemic, which has stuck with me is: ‘The Earth Without Art is just ‘Eh’… which I think sums up my love for our industry magically. Musicals were my gateway but you never know, Horrid Henry could be yours!
In the wise words of Horrid Henry and Awesome Alfie…. ROCK ON 🤘🏻🎸