Stagecoach

I asked Charlotte Churchman of Further Stages to tell us about the place she has won from September at The Academy of Contemporary Music in London. Here is what she had to say:-

It focuses mainly on the music industry (unfortunately no more musical theatre for me) and runs courses from Diploma level up to Degree level. Not only do they focus on performance (vocals, drums, guitar and keyboard) they also run courses to do with Music Production, Music Business, Song-writing and even Tour Managing. I’m going onto the Music Performance vocal course where they will stretch me to sing solo and with a band, write my own music and even teach me how the music industry works.
 
The ACM has been running for about 15 years now and has gradually became one of the first stop music colleges in Europe for producers. It has produced talent from bands like Mumford and Sons and The Ting Tings but also produced musicians that are used in touring bands for people like The Noisettes, Plan B and Kate Nash. Newton Faulkner also attended the college as a Guitar student before he made his big break. The ACM also runs vocal masterclasses/workshops where they invite people in who have made it in the industry to work with the students, some of which include Jamiroquai, Paloma Faith, David and Carrie Grant and Daniel Bedingfield.
 
I went to visit the college a couple of months ago and it truly is breathtaking. The facilities there can’t be beaten and the tutors really do know what they are doing. In my opinion, for anyone that is interested in attempting to make it in the music industry, they should definitely be considering ACM,

Well done Charlotte. We all know what a terrific voice you have got and we all wish you well. We will miss you. We look forward to seeing you looking more like this from now on:-

Theo Close leaves for London very shortly, not only to start on his 2 year course at The Brit School but also because he was chosen to perform in `Mack and Mabel` when he was down at a workshop with The Brit School after he was given his place. The musical will be performed to the public across several nights.

As you can see from the newspaper article, Theo also won the `Further Stages Student of the Year` this year for all his efforts with Early Stages, his Distinction won in his LAMDA exams and for the fact that he gained the highest marks of any of the Further Stages groups in the recent PAA exams.

Theo was chosen by The Northern Echo for its scholarship for the All Boys Dance Class, when we opened in 2006.

If the piece is hard to read below then follow the link to the Northern Echo website:- http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/9182676.Performer_wins_spot_at_top_school/?ref=rss

We will all miss Theo but look forward to hearing about his future successes. WATCH THIS SPACE!

I was delighted to learn from Alex Robinson`s mum that Alex had won not only a place at Mountview Drama School in London but had also won a scholarship. When my mum died in 2004, I set p a scholarship in her name and Alex was the first student to receive that scholarship. How lovely that it should have come to such a happy conclusion.

I look forward to coming to see you in the West End now Alex!!

Hi Trudy and staff,
We just wanted to let you know that Alex has been offered a scholarship to study for a degree in musical theatre at Mountview Academy  in London from September.

We are absolutely delighted and would like to thank you all for the training, help and advice she has had from you over the ten happy years she was at Stagecoach. Without this preparation she would never have got through the first audition, as the standard was so high and competition for places is fierce.

Not only did she benefit from the excellent training that she received from you, but she was also able to improve her CV due to the various related exams that she took during her time at Stagecoach.

All in all, Stagecoach has played a vital role in helping Alex achieve her dream of training at a top London drama school, in the hope of one day realising her dream of performing in the West End.

Thank you all,
Regards,
Karen Robinson.

 Lucy Lavelle, was a long-time member of Stagecoach - recently of Yarm Further Stages. She was a gifted actress and a member of Dance STARE but most memorably was known for her lovely Singing voice. She sang as lead singer with STARE on many occasions.

Lucy is now in the latter part of her one year course at The London School of Musical Theatre (LSMT). I know that she has enjoyed her course immensely and feels that she has benefited a lot from having done it.

After the course finishes, she is hoping that she will find an agent and find work in Musical Theatre shows. Her mum Janie is going down to see her in one of her final shows in about 10 days time. I can`t make that one but am told that Lucy may be doing a cabaret spot on one of the boats that sail on the Thames as part of her final assessment so I am hoping to make that later in next term.

The link below takes you to the prospectus for LSMT and if you have any questions for Lucy then ask them in the comment box below. That is true also for the pieces I have posted to on Rachael Deverell, Susie Potter and Vicky Bilton.

http://www.lsmt.co.uk/Resources/lsmtonlineprospectus.pdf 

 Vicky Bilton was a former member of Yarm AM school, Yarm Further Stages and STARE. She was also my admin help for a year when I lost Gill and she was a very good one too. Vicky is finishing her three year Musical Theatre course at Italia Conti this summer. Vicky has sent us these photos and this update to help others thinking of applying to drama school.

Hi everyone,

Click on the link below to see what a Spotlight page looks like. 

Spotlight Pin: http://www.spotlight.com/0618-8973-9627 This year has been crazy busy for Me. I had 4 weeks of a summer holiday instead of 7 and had my Shakespeare show in the first week of “official” term time. Then the carol concert at christmas, during all of these we were learning songs and routines for the Centenary Ball in February, AT THE SAME TIME as learning lines, harmonies and routines for our showcase performance of Sondheim’s “Company”. In two weeks time I have to do a 10 minute devised performance in front of the heads of department as part of my diploma and then in July is our show at The New Wimbledon Theatre, which this year is a week long instead of 3 days due to the 100th year. So yeah, things have been pretty crazy.
 
On top of all this, the main stress for everyone in my year at the moment is getting an agent for when we leave. Italia Conti is lucky enough to have it’s own agency within college to put you forward for things in your second and third year and so far has gotten people cruise jobs, Grease on tour and fringe acting shows. The agency in contis also were very helpful in assisting our year getting agents to come and see our showcases as it was a very stressful and busy time for us all to research all the agents in the contacts book, make a list of those your thought would be beneficial for you and then getting the agency’s feedback about your list then sending your cv and headshot to them all in the hope they would come and see your show.
 
Theres 72 people in my year (we are a particularly big year) so far 77% have had at least a meeting with an agent from the showcases/auditions within college and 26(I think) have been offered representation for July.
 
After the showcases I emailed several agents as I hadn’t heard anything back from Company and was offered a meeting with SCA management, an agency which hadn’t actually seen my cast of company and so I was expecting to be put on the spot. I was in the room for an hour and a half and as expected, was made to sing 2 songs a capella and do 2 contrasting modern monologues. As well as be asked a million questions, to be honest it probably sounds worse than it was. You’ve got to work out if the agent is right for you, it’s no good going with someone just for the sake of being represented only to find they see you doing different things to what you want to do. Anyway, so that evening I was offered representation for July by SCA.
 
It was kind of hard not to get disheartened about the whole agents thing, plenty had seen the show and a fair proportion of us had heard NOTHING back. Then our own agency organised some in house auditions which is very unusual for agents to do and we did recieve feedback but even then it’s not always that helpful, comments ranged from “Nice voice” with little else to “Amazing but needs to update look” One girl even got “You look exactly like someone I already represent” so sometimes it’s not anything to do with YOU or your talent it’s just how it is.
 
I’ve been very fortunate within Italia Conti to have been showcased quite a lot, In my first year I had singing solos in each of my performances, In my second year I had singing solos in 2 out of 3 of my performances and in third year I got to play lead in Shakespeare, be featured in Company and I’ve been given a featured trio section for July’s Wimbeldon show. So I guess the thought of becoming a small fish in a big pond AGAIN is a little daunting to say the least. They alwasy say in college, you’ll never learn as much as you do when your out there so I guess as long as I keep grafting and keep my head up I’ll do alright.
 
For those of you who knew me in STARE you’ll know I went to Contis as a “dancer” but I quickly learned I’m far more of an actor/singer than a dancer. I think going to these schools and living away from home makes you grow and develop as a person and you learn so much about yourself and your strengths.
 
If anyone has any questions about anything I am more than happy to help. PLEASE TYPE YOUR QUESTIONS IN THE COMMENT BOXES BELOW AND I`LL TRY TO ANSWER THEM

s I have just heard this moment from Robin Mills, who has just been mentioned in Susie Potter`s piece, written within the last hour. Spooky!!! Robin was one of our `life and soul` members of Stagecoach. He was an original member of Darlington Saturday PM school and also a founder member of Darlington Further Stages. He had many friends amongst the younger Stagecoach members too - Lucy Moss - you know who you are!

Robin won a place at London Studios drama school. I went to see him play Angel in `Rent` for his showcase performance - absolutely wonderful!

He texted me today to tell me that he is off to sea. He has a nine month contract as a singer on board a cruise ship - `Azura`. He also told me that a week after he signed that contract he was offered a contract for the UK tour of  the musical `Top Hat` - a tribute to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers. Isn`t that irritating? Two great opportunities but not possible to do both. 

Well send us a postcard Robin. We`ll be thinking of you. We`re not jealous at all!!??!!

I have googled the ship and it one of the two biggest liners  with P+O Lines

Here is the theatre where Robin will be working - I think!!