Throwback Thursday - Rely On Me The Lead

So I was meant to do my Throwback Thursday last week, but if i'm honest I just couldn't make my mind up on exactly what I wanted to write about... but tonight whilst doing a bit of a Youtube crawl to find inspiration.. this jumped out at me, as the perfect #ThrowbackThursday.

Rely On Me The Lead - written by Garry Lake for 'So Jest End.'
So Jest End, is basically the Westend's version of Forbidden Broadway, for those newbies/non UK fans, who may not know. So they take the biggest songs from the biggest shows & turn them on their heads & parody them all in 'Jest.' So this is Jest End's take on Defying Gravity from Wicked.

This is the section where I waffle on about why I chose this video, so you've been warned:
This is one of my all time favourite videos of Rachel, it may have something to do with the other half of 'in my personal opinion' the greatest team there's ever been, being in it, but also because it was the video that actually got me hooked on Rachel, Louise & Wicked & i've not looked back since.

I remember the night I discovered this video.. i'd been to see Wicked for the first time a week or so prior & I remember i'd put the CD in & been disappointed it wasn't 'those amazing woman from the show I saw' and kind of put it all aside. Then when I was in Belgium visiting a friend, she started playing the album... which suddenly reminded me just how much i'd loved the show.. so that night, after a night at what is seriously the best ribs place in the world (must get back to Belgium). I finally got on Google & Youtube to do some homework on Wicked & the actresses i'd been fortunate enough to see perform live. I'm pretty sure it was around midnight when I came across the video.. and several watches & many other videos later.. I finally went to sleep at around 4am with a brand new 'passion.' (I was going to say obsession, but it's such a strong & often negative word.) Along with a desperate need to see them together again.. and to think at the time I thought one more time would be impossible... let's just say it wasn't impossible after all & the rest, as they say his history.

I don't know what it is about this video, but seeing Rachel & Louise being Elphaba & Galinda, the roles they then both went on to play, there's just something so special about it. It's like Garry Lake was looking into his crystal ball & predicting the future, not just once but twice with Louise then going on to takeover in the role of Elphaba, after Rachel. It's just perfection, I mean really how is that not incredible? When they performed this song... they really had no idea just how much of an impact 'Wicked' would have on their lives.. though we know Rachel was determined to get in to it. It's like watching the birth of Tuckman (Rachel Tucker & Louise Dearman, as an on stage duo, for those newer to the world of Rachel Tucker.)

I could probably go on about this song & the rest of So Jest End, for a long while... but i'll just leave it here with stating that because of 'Rely On Me The Lead' I don't think i'll ever be able to sing the whole way through Defying Gravity without somewhere magically changing into this song. It's just so much fun & it's wonderful to look back and see just how far both Rachel & Louise have come...

Also.. the line "Why couldn't you have stayed on Broadway a little longer," makes me so proud now, because she really is there now, on Broadway & we know she'll be staying as long as possible. They better appreciate what they've got.

While we're here, I may as well share the full trailer from Garry Lake's 'So Jest End!'

Also i'd like to give a shout out to Garry Lake, you should check out his Youtube channel & find out more about the new show he's working on "Like Me." There's a few songs from it on his channel.