Blog July 2010


Hi Everyone

             Let me start off by offering my unreserved and unequivocal apology for always being embarrassingly late for everything. I am of the strong opinion that this problem, which has been with me since before leaving my cradle, is initially the cause of a defective ‘Jean’. A ‘Jean’ inadvertently passed on to me by one of my beloved parents. My mother, whose name just happens to be... that's right!.. ‘Jean’, was a very beautiful, elegant, charming, and intelligent person. Truly a special lady born to inspire, whose only bad points as far as I am concerned were knitting and time keeping. In fact being completely honest I would go so far as to say her only blemish was really just the time keeping... We can't count her problem with a pair of knitting needles as being an ongoing problem, as that problem fortunately did only surface just the once. 

            It was in the 2nd world war, when all the force’s loved one's were asked to knit something for their sons or spouses to keep them warm throughout the long cold winters. Thereto Mother decided to knit Dad a blue/grey woollen, balaclava helmet. We're not sure what size knitting needles Mother used, but suffice to say, the finished article being slightly larger than was intended, ended up being ceremoniously presented to the regimental horse for Christmas 1943. An act of generosity for which, no doubt, the horse was very grateful. 

            Mum, God love her, was never going to be a seamstress bearing the royal crest on her bag. For instance, when at about 16 years of age and already late for a very important teenage ‘Happening’ party, I found out that the zip in my best tight, beige, happening trousers was broken. But hold everything, Mother was there and calmed me down with a mother’s true reassurance... "Stop worrying, I shall sort it out in a jiffy..." And true enough, but one jiffy later, there was Mother, back, and holding out my trousers for me to put on with a big smile of satisfaction spread across her face. “Just be a bit careful when getting into them...?” She said. I then found out that she had completely stitched up the zip from top to bottom with thick, bright red cotton and to make provision for any of nature's little calls, she had thoughtfully cut a big hole in the corner of my right hand pocket!! Who could fail to love someone with such initiative as that? 

           I can only hope that you are all well and presently enjoying this endless holidaying summer of red sunsets, balmy nights and blue eyed skies. After the last winter of all round discontent it was definitely time for some of that happy stuff to arrive.

           The past year has been a bit of a disaster on most fronts, whilst conversely on other fronts it has been quite positive, with more than a touch of good revelation to be written about. Let's start off with the bad bits and end up on the good bits.

            Being of a positive disposition I am finding it increasingly difficult facing up to the onset of ageism in our world of musical theatre. I understand it. I recognise it (Without enmity). It doesn’t mean I like it! And it certainly doesn’t mean I won’t fight against it, all the way to the ultimate curtain call. I guess its nature’s way of making room for the young. But does nature have to be quite so ruthless with its unwritten laws? For there is now a very clinical attitude within certain production camps that when one has reached a certain age, regardless of whether one can still perform at the standard of excellence required, one has to leave! That’s it as far as they are concerned. It’s off out onto the ice flow you go! There to await the tender mercies of a metaphorical polar bear. I have had it mentioned to me that it might have something to do with insurance policies and how bad it can be for production companies should someone of respectful age suddenly drop dead on stage in the middle of a performance. But surely a good, thorough medical by experts prior to the signing of contracts should sort all that old nonsense out? Besides dying on stage can be a bit of an art form.. I know, I’ve experienced it many times.. As the old comic said.. ‘I’ve died in far better places than this!’ 

             For the past 2 years I have concentrated on performing mainly regional concerts within the boundaries of Wales. One concert was a new production especially designed for senior citizens. It was called ‘The Afternoon Show’ and was, as titled, a show in the afternoon for senior citizens. It featured sing-a-longs and humour. Quiz’s where you could win lottery tickets (Where a winner could end up becoming a multi millionaire! Sadly no one ever did!... At least no one ever came back to say they’d won?) We had people coming up from the audience to perform on stage. We ran a request spot where the audience could ask for any song and if we knew it, even if only slightly, then we would have a go at it, just for the humour of it. We had a programme prize draw, sponsored for the full run of the production by the wonderful ‘Age Concern’ (Wales). Why, we even ran two or three games of bingo in between acts. Our bingo caller being none other than my dear friend Mike Spencer from Abertillery, who along with his gorgeous wife Jan, also handled all of the merchandise sales and generally organised me so I didn’t make as many mistakes as I would have if they hadn’t being there at all!? We had special guest artistes and organisations making special appearances as top of the bills. And after it was all over we would come out from backstage and enjoy a good old, ‘After show party’ with our audience, over a nice cup of tea and a cake. In all the shows we did and there were a lot of them, we never had one complaint, not one! Only compliments were ever aimed at this production. My dear friend and MD, Mr John Quirk, my leading ladies and myself all enjoyed performing this show beyond measure. But alas, alack, the production was stricken with the cancer of all small shows today… Not enough people! The people never came in sufficient numbers for us to keep the shows going. We were determined to keep the ticket prices at a minimum. So it was a one price ticket for all, that of just £8. That was the price of admission no matter where you sat or who you were. We will still perform the show where or when requested or on an occasional basis. But basically we have had to shelve the production for the moment. Oh dear oh Lord, I guess its another sign of the times! Wherever you look right now there are cuts of one kind or another being made by so many people.

          The other show we perform is our evening production, which has been performed very successfully under various titles for quite a few years now. This year it is called ‘An Evening With Peter Karrie & Friends’. This show is our prime concert production and features many of the theatrical roles played throughout my theatrical career, plus guest artistes, organisations and local children and dance groups and we love this show to bits. And thank goodness so does our audience. The next two years we are hoping to take this concert further afield. Into England, Ireland and Scotland, and abroad…
The furthest trip put in the book being a trip across to Canada. Or should I say.. across Canada! We are, on behalf of Bobath Children’s Therapy Center Wales, and the Canadian charities for children with Cerebral Palsy, hoping to perform 12 concerts across Canada by using Canada’s magnificent transcontinental railway as our main form of transportation. There are 12 stops on this railway line between Halifax in the East and Vancouver in the West. At every stop we aim to perform a concert in aid of Children affected with Cerebral Palsy
           We are also hoping to have an independent TV company make four, half hour documentary programmes on the whole trip from start to finish. It will be an amazing experience to say the least. The trip should take around a month to complete and we are hoping to commence the journey when the spectacular snowy sights of a Canadian winter are at their most extreme! The programmes will duly be aired on both sides of the Atlantic at sometime hopefully not too far past the conclusion of the trip itself. The concert and TV documentary presently has a rough working title of ‘Two Men & A Piano’ attached to it. This may or may not change in the near future?

            I have also been invited to make a new album; In fact two new albums. One is an out an out Welsh Album, featuring anything and everything that is Welsh. The album will have some music from my dear friend, writer, performer and presenter, Mr Mal Pope’s great musicals Amazing Grace/The Contender/& Cappuccino Girls. There will be tracks for Myfanwy, Sospan fach, Dafydd ar Gareg Wen and many more... with duets with well known Welsh artistes and choirs. The name of the album is to be ‘My Funny Old Lovely Old Wales’ which is also the name of the charity single we are bringing out for Bobath Children’s Therapy Center (Cerebral Palsy in Children). This album has been signed up to Shabby Road Records. The distribution arm of the company will be placing this album in all of the Tesco’s and Asda stores the length and breadth of Wales plus the occasional HMV store as well. 

           Coupled to the above is a re-ordering of my old TV show album ‘Unmasked’ which has been very popular over the years. This album is also going to be available in all of the above mentioned stores as from the end of July. The stands which house these albums are generally near the front of the stores as you enter. So hopefully they will be easy for people to spot. All albums can be found and downloaded from both Amazon and Itunes Links to both sites are featured on the 'Buy' page of this site

           The second album I am bringing out will hopefully be in the shops for Christmas. This album is an album of original song’s; which I have never done anything with in over 20 years of writing. These songs started off life as pop songs but are now going to be re-arranged and re-written into today’s style of music. So I guess one could say it’s going to be a contemporary album. Its got the working title of 'Sin City' but this album is being written to coincide with the current writing of a new musical which is also a very exciting project which I feel could be hugely successful and is of today’s music. And should it ever get to stage will have just about everyone dancing in the aisles.

As a note of interest.. We now have all four of our albums being sold on both Itunes & Amazon.. Just log on to either site and click in Peter Karrie and you can down load away.. instant music, straight from me to you... For those who would like a physical CD.. We are now dealing direct with everyone and have cut out the middle person as that was not so satisfactory in the long run.. Please bear with us as we update our site.. The 'Buy' section of this site is due to be altered shortly..

           Another writing project that’s fast taking shape is ‘All About Albert’. This is a story fashioned after a poem I wrote a long time ago called ‘The Room’. The poem was picked up by a director of children’s productions who asked me if I could turn the poem into an hour-long theatrical production for kids between the ages of 7 and 11. The end result is ‘All About Albert’ which is a story about a mouse. No ordinary mouse though. Oh no, Albert is a very rare mouse. He is a Kudurate warrior mouse, born to be a hero, in a house that’s been abandoned, at least that’s what ‘Lily May’s Room’ fears... But then 'The book of untold stories' shows them a way out. That is with the help of 'Slippery Ted' the burglar who is being chased by the villain, 'Harry Copperknob' and his two hefty henchmen.. 'Willy' & 'Wonty'.. But I mustn’t tell you too much yet? … Seeing as I shall probably put the whole story on this blog page when its finished anyway!... and we wouldn’t want to spoil it for you, now would we? 

           There is so much going on, writing and recording wise, at the moment that I really must take some time out from performing to finish them off. They must be put to bed properly. There are many projects that I have started over the previous years and some that I have nearly finished that must be completed. I guess this is the time for all that. Maybe then life will change all together. That would be interesting?
            I now have just one evening show concert left (July the 2nd in The Pavilion in Rhyl, North Wales) then I disappear for a couple of months back to my ever faithful caravan, travelling wherever, whenever. Happy as a ‘La La’ in love.. Doing nothing else but eating sleeping and writing strange stories. At the end of which I will either be bankrupt/insane/or pleasantly surprised.

            There are a few dates booked in for autumn, which are requested bookings and will be listed in due course on this sites ‘Date’ page. After I have finished the writing I shall then be concentrating on filling up my 2011/2012 with work. I already know that the first part of the year is taken up with the Canadian adventure. I have also already been contracted to play Tevye again in a new national tour of ‘Fiddler on the roof’ which I believe starts in autumn next year. So that leaves me with some gaps through spring and summer to fill. 

            Earlier this year I signed up to the management agency of Keddie, Scott and Associates in London (Better known as KSA). These are the experts who are hopefully going to sort out my erratic theatrical career and put it back into the West End or maybe even abroad somewhere. Wherever they put me I will be happy, for I have come to realise that I need to be back in musical theatre performing character roles, whilst still doing the occasional concert, instead of it being the other way round. I now wait for the next role with eager anticipation.

            I should like to take this moment to thank certain people who have continued to be such a terrific support for me, and my career. I can’t thank them enough for their unstinting efforts and belief.
John & Lynne Pearl, Mike & Jan Spencer, Mark of Caramel Creative, Catherine Fearnley, Corinne Cooke, Shirley Parker, (Peters Posse) Christine & Dorothy, Kristen Rogers. Lynne Haulbert, Ann & Bill Langham, John and Judy Dolbear, Geoff and Joan Hall, Dilwyn & Jean Gore, John Quirk, Brian Davies (Sound), Angharad Lee, Jeremy Turner, Stephen J Preston, Al Steele, Paul Childs, Carl Simmons. And all at KSA, London…
Once again many thanks to you all, for everything.

And here’s to the next update/blog, may it come along a lot sooner than the last one did?
Love you all
Peter xx

PS.. Over the next few days/weeks/months the rest of this web site is going to be refreshed and
updated.. I hope, to everyone’s approval. xx
 

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