under another sun

A good day's work, plus a visit to the gym. Off in the evening to Eastbourne to see Beth in her rehearsal of Vagabond Skies . This is a musical based on Vincent Van Gough's life. The writer has been working on it for 20 years. The music was pretty good and the performances were jolly good. Beth leaping about in the chorus, being everything from a nun to a prostitute, and an art critic. Beth's pal and agent Sarah Dormandy is directing. And Dylan was in the chorus too. Good to get a bear hug from him. They are taking this show up have a London theatre showcase, to see if they can find backers and so on. I'm not a huge fan of musicals, but one about Vincent's life seems a pretty good idea, as he is such an archetype of the tortured artist. I sincerely hope it does well. Then off to the Crown and Anchor for a cheeky pint with Betty, and chatting to Susie, and I spoke to Natalia Farran, who was more usually a jazz singer, but had been drafted in. She was full of compli...

Nose to the grindstone today, apart from an hour's walk to oxygenate and exercise. This blinking manuscript is hard work. But I want it actually to be good, so sticking with it. Off this evening to Eastbourne in the car with Lorraine and John to see Beth in the dress rehearsal of Madagascar where Beth plays an all-singing and dancing hippo, in fact she puts the hippo in the  Eastbourne Royal Hippodrome Theatre. Dress rehearsal seemed to go well, and it was actually a high-energy show that I enjoyed and I am sure the droves of children going to see it this half term will lap up too. Beth excellent as usual, and singing really well. Afterwards we went for a bite to eat in the Crown and Anchor and a couple of beers. A man sitting with a parrot on his shoulder at the bar. Perfectly acceptable provender there at a decent price too. Drove home, avoiding blocked motorways and dropped Betty and John off in Hove before going gratefully to bed. Below Betty being Gloria the hip hip hippo....