Preparing For Curtain Up With The Cast And Crew Of LIFT!

Emma Pritchard, production assistant

Hello from the team at Lift Musical!

It is the beginning of week two of rehearsals for us and we are well and truly on our way (to Covent Garden)! The songs have all been learnt thanks to our wonderful writer and musical director Craig Adams, we have mesmerising staging courtesy of Steven Paling and assistant director Tom Greaves, the props are arriving umbrella by umbrella, coffee cup by coffee cup and even the snow has come to say hello!

Nikki Davis-Jones, playing the sweet secretary longing for a romance in the rain, is here to fill you in on how we got started:

"It's the beginning of week two and already this incredible one-act show is coming together and taking shape. These lads are great at bringing the best out of each and every one of us in our own ways. We'd had our meet and greet the night before in a bar which was a great ice breaker. Day one we cracked straight on with the music; just some simple eight-part harmonies to kick off a Monday morning! Soon enough those harmonies were on fire and I knew then that this was going to be a great project. The sound that this bunch of talented people make is magic #magicians!

"We staged the opening on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings and we were buzzing from the ideas flying round the room. By this point everyone was developing their character in detail and the satisfying links that were starting to take shape were like a jigsaw and we could see the story and individual stories coming together. So far I have learnt a lot, laughed a lot, sang a lot. Err, I like a lot! See you there - it's going to be EPIC!"

Lift is about strangers, stories, journeys (on TfL and in life) and it's already starting to change the way we live and work in London. There's an eclectic mix of characters in this musical and it'll get you feeling nosy next time you're on the tube! George Maguire plays The Busker, who does most of the imagining, observing and story-telling in Lift, and here's what he's got to say about the journey so far:

"We're a week in now and things are really starting to take shape. Our first day of rehearsals took place last week in South London and once the 'first day at school' type nerves subsided we were all laughing and joking like old chums... until I managed to break my guitar before even playing it. Then I cried. Not cool! N.B. no actual tears were shed, I was just building the drama.

"I don't want to give too much away about the show because I think you should just come and experience it in all its wondrous glory once we've opened at the Soho Theatre. However, I will say that already there are some incredibly moving, funny and visually stunning moments. Craig Adams' music is beautiful, emotive and intoxicating. I wake up singing it which is odd I'll admit, but I reckon you will be too before long."

One last thing for now: Lift is not only heart-warming, entertaining and so catchy you'll be singing it all through your commute, but a little bit educational too! Did you know saunas DON'T actually have carpets (for more information ask our Bright Young Thing Luke Kempner when you see him)? Do you know which underground stations have lifts or do you prefer an escalator scramble in the morning? And for those multi-cultural types, maybe soon we'll be lucky enough to get a bit of beginners' French from our dear French Teacher Julie Atherton! Watch this space...

Here at Lift we wish you all a wonderful week and many a safe journey and we'll be back to fill you in on more rehearsals very soon! Visit http://liftmusical.com to buy your tickets or download our soundtrack so (if you're a Londoner) when you get stuck in a lift, or squished on a tube, or squeezed on a bus in rush-hour traffic you have something to smile at, or (if you're not a Londoner) you get a little taste of the big smoke and the stories we have to tell! Remember. Mind the gap.

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