Page 109 - The Royal Lancers Chapka 2019

REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL LANCERS (QUEEN ELIZABETHS’ OWN)
LNR ACF Corps of Drums at The Royal Variety Show
At the start of the year if I had been advised I would have the LNR Corps of Drums performing on both BBC and ITV within the year I would have thought the person advising me of this was “bonkers”. However, they would have been very correct in what they were saying.
We were asked as the local military Corps of Drums to support Colin Thackery, the winner of Britain’s Got Talent, for Songs of Praise. We were very happy to do this as it was a local event and everyone we spoke to could not think of a better way of sup- porting the Royal Hospital Chelsea Pensioner. Shortly after this performance, and only 10 days prior to the performance of the Royal Variety Show, Decca Records contacted again asking if we could support Colin again, this time at his performance on the Royal Variety Show.
After a lot of phone calls, collation of paperwork to make it hap- pen the day of the rehearsals arrived. This was the Saturday prior to the show. Due to the performance being a Monday and length of day we could only take cadets that could be over the age of 16 and get Monday off school. This limited numbers but was topped up with LNR adults. We were however still short on numbers so a call went out to our wider CoD family and we man- aged to get some over adults in to support us.
The coach took us down to the theatre, it felt good to be entering through the stage door! We were immediately fed on our arrival and looked after very well. It was then back to the stalls to wait for our turn to perform. Walking around back stage we realised how special this would be seeing names such as Robbie Williams and Emile Sande on the dressing room doors.
Time to rehearse, the song being sung is neither a fast or slow march and changes pace part way through when the team need- ed to walk on, not an easy task, however with some time with choreographer and the music playing we mastered it. Places sorted, with the choreographer loving the way we get on parade and wishing some other stars were as co-operative as we were, it was first full rehearsal.
Sunday evening arrived and it was back on a coach, to a hotel this time to ensure we arrived at the theatre on time Monday morning. Thanks to the Holiday Inn they gave us a room to practice some more prior to pizza before bed.
After a wholesome breakfast it was off to the hotel next door to the theatre, this was to be where our dressing room was for the day. The males shared with Robbie’s band, the guys from Zucaroh and the backing singers of Luke Evans. The females had equal star sharing! Next door to our rooms were the Cast of
LNR CoD
Mary Poppins and Come from Away. It was very surreal walking around, eating and drinking with such famous people.
Time for the dress rehearsal run through, this is filmed and some of the footage is used for the show on the telly. They get a mix of shots and use the best. Whilst waiting in the “donkey run” (corridor back stage from main dressing rooms to stage) we met Aleksei Goloborodko warming up, what he is able to do is abso- lutely amazing and we all watched on trying not to let our jaws hit the floor... you need to Google him if you have never seen his abilities.
We then met Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan, as we were outside their dressing room. They were really chatty as they ran to their room to get changed. They were less chatty on their way back out as they rushed to get to stage in their skin tight lycra suits! A sight to remember or not!
All too soon the dress rehearsal was over, and it was back to the hotel to get changed ready to practice the finale. As we came out the Stage Door there were already a number of fans waiting to see their stars. A number of us were asked to have our photos taken with them as we were the first to stop and say hello.
Back to the stage for the finale line up, finally we are on stage with Robbie, Emile, Jamie Cullum, Lewis Capaldi, Frank Skin- ner... to name drop a few. Everyone was amazing and spoke to us overtime we met then or passed them. We found out we take up the full back row of the finale and stand right inferno of “The Royal Variety Show” backdrop, so you will not miss us!.
Spare time before the show. We had 4 hours to spare so the cadets went viewing sights of London the adults... well they went to
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