Spotlight in Focus

Hi,

Over a month ago I tweeted that I would be happy for Spotlight not to include me in their printed directory in return for a lower membership fee. It is my opinion and judging by the response to my tweet the opinion of many others, that the printed directory has become an outdated and unnecessary part of our industry as we favour the online services. It would, therefore, have little baring on my career should I be excluded from the book. Yet, I am paying more now than I was when the book was common place and relayed upon.

This tweet received a considerable response from both my followers, the followers of those who ReTweeted it and via Facebook. It was also noticed and commented upon by Spotlight themselves, who asked me to write them an email detailing my point further.

Here is the email that I sent on the 13th September 2012:

Dear Spotlight,

Following on from our exchange via twitter this afternoon, I thought I'd write out my ideas in full. As you (whoever was tweeting) mentioned, it's difficult to have a full discussion when restricted to 140 characters.

My idea is simple and I think would be widely welcomed by your customers. I suggested on twitter that I would be happy to be excluded from the hard copy of Spotlight's directory for a smaller membership fee. This would create a two tier fee structure with members choosing to opt in or out of the book.

The reason I believe this to be a good cost saving solution is that having asked many industry professionals over the past few months agents, casting directors and actors alike all seem to exclusively use your online services. Very few of them still used or even purchased the book. They found it quicker, easier and more manageable to conduct their business online. I have therefore reasoned that my exclusion from the book and exclusivity to the site wouldn't be detrimental to my career prospects.

When posting this idea via social networks, the support and agreement I received was quite overwhelming.

It was pointed out to me by the Spotlight Tweeter that the cost of the book is negligible when compared with the cost of technological investment and innovation made by the company. This is great and I'm glad that steps are being taken to bring Spotlight right up to date and in line with other companies advancements.

For example, a well designed App would be an excellent addition. But I'm certain this is already in development.

It does seem, however that the proofing, printing and distribution of the book represents a cost that is becoming increasingly unnecessary given how your user ship is choosing to partake of your service.

Spotlight is a necessary and unavoidable expense and provides an invaluable service to our industry. I would therefore like it to respond to how Spotlight's users actually use it. The costs of running an online business are never as high as when a physical component is included such as a book, CD or shop premises.

I thank you for your time and would urge you to consider this addition to your service as it would help many thousands of actors and industry professionals who tighten their belts when renewal time arrives.

I look forward to hearing from you and thank you again.

Best Wishes,

Jon Robyns.

Here is their response on the 14th September 2012:

Dear Jon,

Thank you for your email, and for taking the time to send us your feedback.

I will ensure it is passed on to the relevant Spotlight manager for review, and you will then receive a more detailed response.

Kind regards,

Jo MacLeod
SPOTLIGHT

I have heard nothing from them since.

I leave it to you to decide if this is the response of a company who are too busy serving our best interests and have little time to become engaged in an argument with one disgruntled customer, or whether it is a dismissal from a company who are unwilling to listen a genuine concern from it own members.

Thanks for reading.

Jon.

I like this-alot...

Hello faithful blog followers. Having spent the appropriate amount of time mourning the end of Road Show, I can now tell y'all about the next project I'll be taking part in. I will be joining the touring cast of Spamalot playing the role of Sir Galahad. We open in Brighton in early December and will be there for Christmas. After that we're off round the UK! Check out the touring schedule at www.spamalotontour.co.uk. Keeping in the spirit of Python silliness, I would like everyone who comes to see me to bring along a can of Spam for my collection. Deal? Great. See you there and always look on the Bright side of Life. X.

A Fun Gig...

I'll be doing a gig in November with a great friend of mine. But don't worry we may have sung together before...

www.facebook.com/jonrobyns

See you there?

Got some very cool stuff planned for the rest of the year and into next year. Keep you r eyes peeled here for more info.

X.

One for the Road...

AAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

So, I've calmed myself down long enough to tell you about the next project I'll be involved in. Regular readers of this blog will know by now that I get quite excited about most of the work I get to do, what can I say - I love my life.

However, the seemingly alarmed opening to this blog entry should clue you in to just how excited I am about what I'm doing over the summer.

I will be joining what is shaping up to be a Stella cast at the Menier Chocolate Factory this June to be part of the European premier of Steven Sondheim's new Musical "Road Show". New musical theatre is the holy grail as far as I'm concerned and to be in a new Sondheim is a bit like finding the holy grail and then discovering that it's full of Champagne.

I may pass out now. See you all in London Bridge.

Open Up...

In 2008, Curtain Records approached me and asked if I'd be interested in recording an album with them. I said "Of course, lets do it." It is now 2011 and we've finally had time to put together my debut Album entitled "Open Book". We've been working on it for a little while and will be tinkering, polishing and buffing it up until the Summer, you can pre order it right now. Here's the link: http://curtainrecords.co.uk/JR/Jon_Robyns_Pre_Order.html

You can either order it Digitally or Physically and every pre-order will receive an exclusive track I have recorded that won't appear on the album.

"Open Book"'s track list includes numbers from Avenue Q, Spring Awakening, Carousel, Into the Woods, The Hired Man and The Light in the Piazza as well as others. Joining me on the album will be star of "Wicked" - Mark Evans and everyone's favourite "Christine" - Gina Beck. There'll be a launch concert in the Summer at which I'll be performing tracks from the album live in the West End. All the info for "Open Book" is on the site above and should you have any questions please feel free to contact me via my site. Thank you in advance to all of you who buy the album now, or in the summer. I couldn't do this without you.

Turning a new Paige...

Feels like a very long time since we were together on this blog readers. If you have joined us from the small bird site, then welcome to the official blog that gets the new project and gig news first.



So, what exciting exclusives do we have for you this time? Well, I think it's exciting anyway. I have been invited to join The First lady of Musical Theatre, Elaine Paige on her forthcoming 2011 tour. I will be singing some classics by myself and supporting EP as she belts out winners as only she can. The tour dates are on the link below:



www.elainepaige.com/on_tour.html



Hope to see some of you there.



Got some great stuff coming up this year. Can't divulge the details fully just yet but, as always, you will know here first. So don't touch that...er....mouse?

Oh yes I am...

Thought I'd post an update on what's coming up after the Les Miserables Tour.

I will be swashing my buckles in Richmond, Surry as Prince Charming in "Sleeping Beauty". So lets all dust off our cynicism and dive crown first into Pantoland! Hoorah.

This will be the 2ND time I've "he's behind you" -ed over the Christmas period and having loved the last festive adventure, I'm really looking forward to this one. Richmond really is one of my favourite places, it's truly gorgeous and I would recommend lazy Sundays there.

I've already had my photo shoot for the publicity (you're gonna love the costume - Blue and gold with my very own cape!)

So book up now. Here's the link and see you there... oh yes I will! Sorry, just getting in some early practice.

www.ffe-uk.com/season/season.aspx?catID=325

A New Promise...

Hi.

So due to the wonder of twitter and my new found love of the app on my phone, my blogging resposibilities have been noticibly wanting over the last few months. I am truly sorry to those of you who only follow this blog and I shall endevour to give more regular up dates on this site in future.

To go someway towards evening the blog vs tweet balance, I came up with a pledge; to only ever announce career updates, gigs or new projects on this site and not on twitter. I shall plug them using the little bird, but never fully disclose the details. A small but important distinction, I feel.

So, Paris baby! Good lord does this city have a vibe. The bustling, the horns, the "je voudrias une grande espresso svp" (please don't correct my French, I am aware how bad it is! C at GCSE speaks for itself).

The theatre is breathtakingly beautiful. More of an opera house look than a playhouse. Lavish gold most places you look and the sound kicks "derair" (again, bad French, leave it). The press has been more important here and ticket sales are starting to amp up. As far as we can tell, the audiences have been very responssive, so we're all good.

Just a quick heads up, thought I should repost my holiday dates. They are:

4th - 6th June.
2nd - 12th July.
5th - 7th August.

We finish the tour at the Barbican in London on 2nd October and (in accordance with the above pledge) our cast has been invited to join the 25th Anniversary concert at the O2 arena on the 3rd October. Very exciting times.

The new me.co.uk

The all new jonrobyns.co.uk will be launched this weekend. The design of this blog should give y'all some indication of how the new site will look.

It'd be great if you could let me know what you think of all aspects of the new site.

Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.

The tour is open in Edinburgh now. More info on that soon.

Check out the misery...

So here is the New Les Miserables video that I've been droning on about for the past few weeks. It's on the Chatelet theatre website, enjoy:

www.chatelet-theatre.com/2009-2010/musicals/les-miserables,423

Mini Me

I have finally got round to joining the mini blogging wonder of Twitter.

The main site is being re-developed and will soon be launched with a whole new look and some new features including a store where you can purchase any albums that I'm on. The new Les Miserables album will be available in the next few months and the Tour EPK in the next few weeks, exciting times.

Birmingham Rocks!

Hi all,

Well, phew! Manchester proved to be quite... no incredibly busy. Here's a small guide to the intricacies of putting up a show the size of the Les Miserables tour:

The first week of any new venue is always frantic what with the get in for the crew and stage management depts, followed by the dress rehearsal which is the first time the new dressers and in house crew have set eyes on the production. Brown trousers for all.

Then there's the opening night preview attended by heads of creative depts - director (in our case 2), music dept and movement dept heads and more often than not, the producer.

The next day sees a note session to sort out any problems the new venue presents followed by another show.

After this is usually a matinee and then the official press night opening of the show. (stop me if you're getting tired). Then the party, at which everyone is very well behaved and tucked up in bed by 11 having in no way drunk dry the stock of whatever bar we defiantly aren't in... got that!

That brings us to Fridays which are spent (with no hangovers) doing more notes and a show in the evening. Saturday is another 2 and then some sort of small aneurysm on Sunday.

Believe it or not, this is a lenient tour schedule.

So my point, long winded as it may be, is that the start of any new city is immediately very tiring. In Manchester we had this plus a weeks recording the Cast Album, which will be out later this year, watch the site for more details, an EPK (electronic press kit) similar to a music video for promoting the show was filmed, and we had to get ready for the subsequent venue - Norwich. All in a month. So, I'm truly cream-crackered!

Now in Norwich, home of in my opinion the best waffle house in the country, the Les Mis tour just keeps on trucking. A small but perfectly formed theatre houses us for the next 4 weeks.

I thought that I should post my holiday dates. They are:

4th, 5th and 6th of March.
4th 5th and 6th of June.
2nd 3rd and 4th of July.
5th 6th and 7th of August.

At these shows the part of Enjolras will be played by the wonderful, welsh and far too attractive for my liking Owain Williams.

Just a quick thank you to the talented students of Pendleton College in Salford who were great fun to teach while I was visiting the city. Good luck to all of you auditioning for Drama Schools.

That's all for now just a last recommendation to take a quick look at the new Les Mis site, very cool.

Coming up north for air...

Our Cardiff stay has been wonderful. Between the technical rehearsals, which are always hellish, and the previews, press night, day rehearsals and evening shows, it's been full and tiring. But now the real tour begins!

So, onto Manchester (the city of my birth) and for me a new place to work. Manchester will also be packed full of Les Mis goodness in every bite. I can't reveal why just yet but all will become clear over the next few weeks.

The audiences have been truly incredible here in Wales and we're hoping they continue to be elsewhere. We've all but sold out in Manchester and I think Birmingham too. But should you wish to hear the show via the wondrous piracy that is you tube, then you can feast your ears on us singing away on that very site. But do come to see the show if you can, otherwise you'll miss the true star of the show... my Wig.

Happy new year.

We have more fun...

I've been reliably informed that blonde's have more fun. I can now confirm that they do. How am I in such a position to answer this question? Well, if you come to see the 25Th Anniversary production of Les Miserables, you will witness me sporting what can only be described as flaxen, flowing locks on my head. That's right, Enjolras is a Blondy!

Now I try to maintain a level of decorum in these blog posts but Holy Crap was last night fun! We opened the show last night at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff to standing ovations and sobbing - just what we were aiming for. After the most gruelling rehearsal and teching process of my career, we finally got it together to show to the public. Tweaking is still required here and there but essentially the show is set and BOY does it work.

We have, new orchestrations that truly bring the score into the 21st century. A set and design that is vivid and at times breathtaking. A cast that work their proverbial bottoms off to get it up and shiny and I get to wear that waistcoat and carry a gun, what more could a boy ask for Christmas?

There are some behind the scenes pics and interviews at www.wmc.org.uk and I'll be posting some more production shots as I get them.

A merry Christmas to all and enjoy the new year.

It's Simply Massive!

So one forgets how huge this show is! I mean it, it's ginormous.

When you watch the original version of Les Mis, and that's all that's been available til now, it's all quite familiar and one scene runs into the next very smoothly and one iconic image is followed by the next and so on. What we forget is - just how many images there are.

We had our full sing through last week and coupled with being an inspiring sound, it brought home the scale of the challenge at hand. To re-imagine with equal vitality, the pictures of the story of Les Miserables. These are the hurdles we're attempting to jump in a daily basis.

Here's a few tip bits of inside info:

1. We begin on the convict ship "Orion".
2. We have real bails of hay in the farm section of the prologue.
3. The design incorporates more than just Hugo's writing.
4. I get to wear the piece of clothing I wanted most.

"Enigmatic teasing" I hear you cry? Well... yes I suppose it is but you'll just have to come and see the show to find out.

Enjoy coming up with new and inventive Christmas goodies.

A very big thank you...

... to all who came to and supported the cabarets at the Leicester Square Theatre. I was so pleased with how the shows went and flattered by the turnout. Gina and Russell were superb and I could not have done the show without the skills and endeavours of Mike Baxter.

Some news in them;

Russell will be performing in "Frank's Closet" at Hoxton Hall. A new musical that sees Russell don several fabulous diva persona's and truly strut his/her stuff. For more info go to www.hoxtonhall.co.uk

Gina continues to play Christine in the original production of Phantom of the Opera (not the new one!). For all things Beck go to www.ginabeck.co.uk you can even listen to her beautifully sopranoed twitter.

Mike will be joining me, among others, on the International Tour of Les Miserables as a swing and if anyone can do such a job, it's our Mikey.

We start rehearsals for the brand spanking, just out of the box, new smelling production in a week. I will post all the news from the barricade as it happens.

Enjoy Autumn.

New Date added...

News-News-News!!!

I'm adding another date at the Leicester Square Theatre for "How did I get Here...?".

Having sold out the first date we're going to do it all again on the 14th October at the different time of 11pm. The line up will be the same; the wonderful, talented and far too sexy Gina Beck and Russell Whitehead will be singing with me and the dexterous wonder Mike Baxter will be re-tickling our ivories.

Tickets will be available from Tuesday (29th) at www.leicestersquaretheatre.com or by calling 0844 847 2475.

For those of you who have booked for the 4th, I'll see you there and if you can make the 14th then I'll see you then too.

Jon.

Out of the Red and into the Black

As a few people have asked me this question, I thought that it was probably time that I announced the next show I will be performing in.

I will be returning to the barricade playing the role of Enjolras on the 25Th Anniversary International Tour of Les Miserables.

I will be joining this new production that already has a Stella cast attached; including John Owen Jones (Valjean), Earl Carpenter (Javert) and Gareth Gates (Marius). This is one of the most exciting projects that could think to be involved in. Not only do I get to rediscover the musical I love, but I have the challenge of a new role, set and costume design, cast and staging to play with. I could not be more excited.

The tour dates can be found on www.lesmis.com/tour.htm and tickets are on sale now. Updates to my site will follow soon. We're working a new design for the site that will launch later in the year with new features, pictures and videos, another thing I'm excited about.

The Leicester Square Theatre cabaret "How did I get here...?" has sold out, so thank you to any of you who bought tickets and I'll see you there.

ps - Check out www.whatsonintheatre.com for a great ad a friend of mine put up!

Small Change...

Hello all,

Sad news - due to a double booking, Nancy Sullivan has had to withdraw from the cabaret in October.

Happy news - taking her place will be Russell Whitehead, formally of "Chicago" and star of the recent Union theatre production of "Pirates of Penzance".

I'm very excited about Russell joining us and have been told by the theatre that tickets are selling really well.

Better get back to rehearsals...

How did I get Here?

So, the project I hinted at in my last blog entry has now been confirmed and I can let y'all know what I've been up to.

I am planning a Cabaret at the Leicester Square Theatre on October 4th at 4.30. It'll be an evening of musical numbers relating (however loosely) to myself. Our guest performers on that night will be:

Nancy Sullivan (Les Miserables' Eponine) http://www.nancysullivan.co.uk/
Gina Beck (Phantom of the Opera's Christine) http://www.ginabeck.co.uk/

and will be Musically directed by Mike Baxter (who's very talented)

It'll be in the basement space at the theatre, which is only 50 seats. The box office is open now and tickets are £12.50. To book go to http://www.leicestersquaretheatre.com/ and look at "Events -Basement" or call 0844 847 2475.



I'm very excited about it. Posters will find their way around very soon so look out for em!