Our Best West End Live Pictures Yet!

First a big thanks to David who despite being on the other side of the planet on holiday at them moment he is still finding the time to help out a busy bookkeeper; that's me incase you hadn't guessed lol. I'm delighted he managed to track down those great full length videos of the WWRY performances at West End Live because they give us a real feel for just how amazing this special event was and how lucky Rosie and Georgia were to be there. Talking of Rosie, big thanks to her as well because she is often the only blogger able to get to these events so her input is maybe the most important of all.

Another lucky Team Tucker member was Kirsty who was present at both Hampton Court and West End Live; best of all, so was her excellent camera. Unfortunately photos were not permitted at Hampton Court but check out these superb shots she took of Rachel and the gang at West End Live (One at the top and 2 down below). Thanks so much for sharing these with us Kirsty, they really are fantastic.

West End Live!!!

Georgia's done a pretty amazing summary of the fantastic West End Live in Leicester Square this weekend, so there's not much to add, other than it was an absolutely amazing 2 days of musical theatre.

Rachel didn't have a solo and in fact was shoved to the far side of the stage, however the energy and commitment in her performance was matched only by Amanda Coutts (Rachel's understudy) and both girls stole the show in my opinion!

Anyway - I managed to get a few pictures, not of the best quality but they're quite good!

West End Live 2009

Thanks a million to Georgia for her footage and review and also to Andy for posting them earlier today.

We were aware that West End Live was happening and the WWRY cast would be there but we weren't sure if Rachel would be attending. Very glad to say that she did and our roving reporter Rosie was once again in attendance.

I've decided to post these videos of all four WWRY performances as they're very good quality and Rachel does feature a fair bit.
The line-up for this event was little short of incredible, including cast members from Hairspray, Been So Long, Wicked, Dirty Dancing, The King & I, Oliver (including Jodie), Sister Act, Priscilla, Chicago, Jersey Boys, Little Big Club, So Jest End & Avenue Q and just goes to show how lucky all you Londoners are.

We Are The Champions West End Live 2009

Another One Bites The Dust West End Live 2009

Bohemian Rhapsody West End Live 2009

We Will Rock You West End Live 2009

West End Live

This morning I received an email from Team Tucker member Georgia telling me about the fantastic time she had at the West End Live festival yesterday afternoon. Our very own Rachel was there with the cast from WWRY along with a whole host of other amazing acts. The good news is that it's a 2 day event so you still have a chance to see it for yourself if you can get to Leicester Sqaure between 12:00pm and 6:oopm today; the bad news is the cast of WWRY were only down to appear on Saturday. It is however free admission which is refreshing and the line up for Sunday is still very impressive despite Rachel's absence.

Somehow this incredible event had gone unnoticed so we owe Georgia a big thank you for bringing it to out attention. Below is a link to the official West End Live website, Georgia's account of her great day out and at the bottom a couple of her of her brilliant videos.

WEST END LIVE


Me and my friend Ellie set out from our town’s station at nine, thinking we had plenty of time to get into West End Live for Hairspray - the opening act - at 11:05. However we arrived in Leicester Square at about 10:30 and we met by the biggest queue I've ever seen, snaking around most of Leicester Square.

We finally got in and to the front for Wicked and Dirty Dancing. All the acts were incredible and we were really impressed by Jodie Prenger doing 'As Long As He Needs Me' she was awesome!

However we both screamed the loudest for WWRY who came on and did 'We Are the Champions', Another One Bites the Dust', 'WWRY' and 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. All the cast were incredible and it was great as, how often can you film/photograph them all in costume! Rachel was brilliant even though she didn't sing solo and even sat on Biggin's lap, sadly I didn't catch that on camera!

We even met Brian Dowling on the tube home but WWRY and Rachel were the stars of our day which ended at a school BBQ with the cast of our own WWRY doing blues classics!


If anyone else was lucky enough to go and wants to share their review, pictures or videos with us here at the blog we'd be delighted to hear from you as always.

Below are Georgia's videos. The quality is great but because of that they are not that long. You will probably find some inferior quality full length videos on You Tube:

Best of Broadway!

So I was lucky enough to get tickets to the Hampton Court Festival Best of Broadway night for my birthday, starring none other than Rachel!

It was such a ridiculously perfect night (as I'm sure Holz will agree!). Everything about it was stunning. Hampton Court is such an amazingly beautiful building and walking around it beforehand was so much fun.. ok, I am admittedly one of the biggest History Geeks in the world and I found it all fascinating (much more so than i had done on a year 8 school trip,).

After trotting around like the little geek I am, we were shown out to one of the courtyards where the concert was being held. It was amazing! We were surrounded by the beauty of the palace, the stage was MASSIVE, and best of all our seats were third row back and slap bang in the middle (thank you parents!).

It wasn't long before the orchestra opened with the overture from The Producers. The Royal Phillarmonic orchestra were absolutely sensational throughout the entire night, everything they played was perfection.

Then the four presenters (and singers) came on stage and introduced themselves: Mary Carewe, Ria Jones, Michael Dore and Graham Bickley. Slightly concerned by Rachel's non-appearance, we waited whilst they sang a couple of songs to kick off the show. Graham Bickley then announced that tonight they were honoured to have a very special guest with them, using the words "Oliver's loss is We Will Rock You's gain!" at which point me and my friend (also called Rachel) screamed pretty loudly! "Kicking off our Cabaret this evening, please welcome Rachel Tucker singing 'Cabaret'!"

Rachel then appeared on stage wearing a gorgeous black mini-dress and looking absolutely amazing. We've all seen her performance of 'Cabaret' on IDA, but this one was in a different league - she managed to outshine herself!! To be really honest, you couldn't fairly compare the two as (as she told me later) she had to interpret the same song completely differently on both occasions. There was no "I'm going like Rachel!" this time round, but the performance was flawless.. it was witty, easy to watch, entertaining and generally breathtaking! And you could tell she was loving every second of it!

I would go into details about the other performances but if I'm brutally honest, most of them just merged into one evening of musical-amazingness... I was well and truly in heaven!

Rachel's second solo was from 'Mack and Mabel' and she sang the hilariously feisty 'Wherever He Ain't'. I think this may have been my favourite performance of the night - this girl sure can belt! I advise you all to go and download this song now and listen to it... none of the recordings match Rachel's live version the other night, but the song is absolutely brilliant anyway!

After this the four singers came back on and did a bit of a medley from Les Miserables..starting with 'Bring Him Home' and launching into 'One Day More'. This is my favourite song ever and I remember feeling slightly disappointed that Rachel wasn't getting in on it - however, she suddenly stepped out on to the stage again singing Eponine's part absolutely beautifully. After this they all started singing 'You Can't Stop The Beat' from Hairspray before starting the second part of the show with a Grease medley.

Rachel didn't appear then until the last ten minutes or so where she closed the show with a stunning version of Stephen Sondheim's 'Being Alive' from Company. She looked amazingly elegant and classy and delivered another stunning performance.. The crowd went wild after she finished - there was no question as to who the star of the show was that evening!

The whole show finished with all five singers doing a Mamma Mia medley, inviting the audience to get up, dance and sing along. Unfortunately we were sat next to the most boring man in the history of boring men, and he kept telling us to "shhh"... which we didn't and in fact started singing even louder, thank you very much!

The last song performed was 'Thank You For The Music' and at the risk of sounding sickeningly cheesey, I would say those words had never meant so much before! The orchestra were sensational, as were all five of the singers... it sounded even better surrounded by the gorgeously lit up STUNNING Hampton Court Palace. It was an evening I'll never ever forget.

And to top the whole evening off, I managed to bump into Rachel and Guy whilst waiting for our lift home to arrive!

Sorry, I know I've rambled on too much already, so I'll just finish with two things:

1) I'm afraid camera's weren't allowed in the auditorium and being right at the front, I'm pretty sure we would have been caught pretty easily. However, there was a professional camera man there so hopefully some pictures will surface soon. But for now a massive THANK YOU to Julia Hogg who made my day by sending me the picture above (taken during 'Being Alive').

2) Once again, thank you Rachel for putting on such an amazing show and making my 20th even more special!

P.S - probably should mention that I've been totally spoilt this birthday and was taken by my lovely friend Emma to catch Rachel's Scaramouche on Friday 5th.. something tells me I don't need to mention that Rachel was fantastic!

P.P.S - over and out, enough from me and SORRY for cluttering up the blog!

More Jest End Pics

A Brief Encounter With 'WhatsOnStage'

Whats On Stage were also lucky enough to get a short interview with Rachel ahead of the Hampton Court Festival this Thursday. Here is what she had to say:


Tell us about the Hampton Court Festival
Hampton court festival happens every year in the grounds of Hampton court and for the month of June there is a collection of vastly different musical evenings of entertainment from classical to musical theatre, pop to jazz.

How did you get involved?
I was asked to headline the Best of Broadway evening with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by David Firman and I almost choked with excitement! Since moving to London six years ago that was one of the first festivals i longed to see and had always wanted to go, but then to be asked to DO IT was such a fantastic and delightful shock! Everyone who has been involved to organise it so far have just been truly brilliant!

The evening is titled 'Best of Broadway' - what's your favourite Broadway musical?
Favourite Broadway musical? Oh that's a hard one! Well my first visit to NY was actually a bit of a trick on my part! I suggested to my mum and sister-who love to shop 'why don't we take advantage of the Christmas holiday deals and do our Christmas shopping in New York City?' Well they fell for it and off we went for five days but when we got there all I wanted to do was to see this brand new musical that everyone was talking about - Wicked. Well I've never cried so much at a show in my life! Just amazing! but that same week I did also see Cabaret so that would be a close second.

Are you enjoying your time in We Will Rock You?
I'm loving WWRY - it's been such a fantastic year there. What a great show to put as your first West End musical!

Are you still in touch with any of the girls from I'd Do Anything?
I'm in touch with most of the girls, yes. It's been great actually because we've all managed to stay in touch even though some are away on tour. In fact I'm meeting Fran today for lunch – it's my birthday! But I see Jessie quite a lot (or Buckers as i like to call her!) as we're both working in town and I'm seeing Jodie in between shows on Saturday.

What advice do you have for aspiring musical theatre actresses?
I think you need to know that this is the only career that you could possibly want to pursue - nothing else will do and that you don't mind the day jobs in-between the jobs you really want! It's a wonderful profession to be in and I'm privileged to be involved in it but if you believe 100% you're right for it and truly know in your heart and believe that you're good enough? Then never give up!

What are your plans beyond We Will Rock You?
There are a few things in the pipeline - my wedding for one! It's in Belfast in September and I just can't wait! Then a honeymoon of course - thinking Thailand for a few weeks - but work wise nothing signed and sealed. As we know too well a job's never definite until you're at your first day of rehearsals. But I hope to do new, fun and exciting things next year. Would love to do some Shakespeare or a play and some telly! But what actress wouldn't?! But it's been great being at home in London with my fiance planning our wedding - where has the year gone?!

Best of Broadway

As previously mentioned our very own Rosie is lucky enough to be going to watch Rachel perform at the Hampton Court Festival on 11th June. Here is an interview she did with the Elmbridge Guardian in the build up to that event:


Rachel Tucker may have missed out on the coveted role of Nancy in the final of the BBC’s I’d Do Anything but this hasn’t stopped her forging a successful career on the stage.

Since the show, she has starred in We Will Rock You and is performing in the Best of broadway show with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Hampton Court Festival on Thursday. She spoke to Will Gore.

What can we expect from the Best of Broadway?
There will be everything, from an Abba tribute through to Stephen Sondheim – a wide variety of musical theatre and Broadway songs. It is right up my street and I am singing some of my favourites including Sondheim’s Being Alive and Cabaret, which I did on I’d Do Anything.

Is performing with the Royal Philharmonic a daunting prospect?
It will be my third time singing with a big orchestra, so it is still quite new to me, but I am really getting the hang of it – I love it! There will be a massive audience and I will have my fingers crossed that the rain stays away!

Have you always been a fan of musical theatre?
Musical theatre is in my blood. I used to get up every Saturday at 6am with my brothers and sisters and we would watch all the shows. Oliver was a favourite and we would also watch the Sound of Music, The Wizard of Oz and Annie. We’d act them out and were really encouraged by our parents – they couldn’t shut me up!

How do you look back on I’d Do Anything?
Myself and all the girls said after doing the finals we could have climbed Everest because we were so used to that standard of pressure. I have no regrets and am so glad they let me take part in it. It has been such an amazing stepping stone and I am very proud of what I did.

You been performing in We Will rock you since September – are you sick of the Queen songs?
No, I absolutely love it! In the show we sing the songs our way but you can’t beat listening to Freddy Mercury. It has been the best first job to have.

As a graduate of a TV talent show, did you take an interest in Britain’s Got Talent?
I was never really a fan of TV talent shows but they are taking over -– you can’t not watch them. Everywhere you look it’s been Britain’s Got Talent and everyone’s been talking about it.

Do you feel sorry for Susan Boyle?
I didn’t until she went into the clinic. I actually see how that could happen very easily. We were really put through our paces on I’d Do Anything but we didn’t have nearly as much coverage or pressure as Susan did.

You recently got to work with Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber on workshops for his sequel to The Phantom of the Opera – how did that go?
It was fantastic to work with him on his own stuff. I saw a completely different side to him – he is such a hard worker. I loved his shows when I was growing up – Starlight Express was one of the first musicals I ever saw. I am not involved any more but the music is ticking along and I’m sure it is going to be a big hit.

The Best of Broadway featuring Rachel Tucker, Hampton Court Palace, June 11, 9pm, £45/£47.50, hamptoncourtfestival.com

Happy Birthday To Us!!!!!!

Hard to believe but it's a full year since Andy and I decided to set up a blog for a contestant on a BBC show called 'I'd Do Anything.'

At the time we really didn't expect anyone except us to read it -- a year on we've done over 360 posts, had over 72k hits and featured numerous updates from the lady herself.

We've jointly or seperately been to the Proms, Hyde Park, Gay Pride, picnic in the park and WWRY (twice) all as a result of this blog.

We've met some great people (not least each other lol) with particular mention for Karen, Rosie, Katie & Jackie. And of course Rachel herself who has had a deservedly incredible year.

I want to thank everyone who has visited the blog, left comments, joined Team Tucker and the Facebook Group and generally made our little site the amazing success that it has become.

Rachel's career has really taken off since IDA and we'll continue to document her achievements far into the future.

Happy Birthday To Us!!!