As we enter the final week of rehearsals and the start of our Edinburgh preview performances at South Hill Park I reflect on my AnimAlphabet journey so far. For me one word sums up the journey better than any other and that is creativity. Through necessity, people working in theatre are some of the most creative people I have ever worked with. There’s the obvious creativity in the performance, which is obviously a challenge in itself, but beyond that there’s the creativity t

Today we launched our first crowdfunding call. https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/animalphabetthemusical Can you help Colin the Cockatoo and my AnimAlphabet friends to realise their musical dream to perform to children and families at the Edinburgh Festival? AnimAlphabet The Musical is a brand new childrens musical with music by Al and Sam of The Hoosiers and story by Mark Hooper and Dean Penn. We aren't a big organisation. We're just 4 blokes who are excited at the pros

We are only a few days into the planning of our 2017 AnimAlphabet tour and already venues are confirming dates and expressing an interest in programming AnimAlphabet The Musical. There are many more dates and venues to add but so far you can meet Colin the Cockatoo and your other favourite AnimAlphabet characters at; The EdinburghFringe, The Haymarket in Basingstoke, The Lights in Andover, The Rhoda McGaw in Woking, The Wilde Theatre in Bracknell, The Cornerstone in Didcot an

Mark and Dean meet with costume designers Charlotte Penn, Pam Bucket and Gill Albone to discuss their ideas and mood boards for costumes. Some great ideas are brought to the meeting; character styles are clarified and a clearer idea is formed in relation to the colours and types materials to be used in the show to bring the AnimAlphabet world to life. #AnimAlphabet #Costumes #Mood #Board #Hoosiers #HitTheMark #Calando #Design #Meeting #Production #Pre

It is early November. Emails and Facebook messages have been flying back and forth between Mark, Dean, Alan and Sam. Changes, ideas and tweaks are made and added. Finally, the team agree this is it... the final draft version of the script. The musical now includes an extra song to tie the show together at the end and it's called - 'The Sorry Song'. Some additional underscoring is added to drop behind scenes and some sung lines for the evil Calando are included. Sam once again

It's now late August, Mark is about to head off to Edinburgh to programme work for his venue and check in on a show he has co-directed at the Edinburgh Festival - 'Every Wild Beast'. Dean is about to go on holiday with his family, but there is just enough time to squeeze in a quick writing session. Calando - the evil Dastardly Duck is born. September 04 2016 Once again we call on our dear friends and creatives to help us bring the text to life for the second time and everyone

It's early August and Mark and Dean have taken the ideas from the session and carved them into a script that focuses on our emergent hero 'Cockatoo'. The story starts to flesh out and we are confident enough to take it to a first informal read through - just so they can hear it out loud. Like Alan and Sam, Mark and Dean have a strong work ethic - they don't like to do things one at a time and don't do things by half. It's mid-August. Mark is directing and Dean is producing a

A group of invited children, parents, musicians, school teachers and creatives meet for a 'think tank' session about a new Children's musical theatre production. A couple of great ideas are formed including one involving a talent show and another involving a disagreement and a musical journey to reunite the AnimAlphabet characters. Mark and Dean gather all of the ideas and take them away and start to carve out the beginning of a script. #AnimAlphabet #Production #Meeting #Hit

The journey of AnimAlphabet begins.