Go Giddy!!

Yesterday was the Big Day for our timid, goaty friend: the afternoon of the Giddy Goat musical extravaganza! In the end, we sold over 800 tickets, which was fantastic.

It all went really well. I was worried there wouldn't be enough children at my pre-show workshop, because the early publicity didn't mention it, but it was no problem. I had 30 - 40 kids which, with parents, was as much as we could manage in the space (I had what was normally the bar: a long, thin, slightly curved area, so tricky to find somewhere I could present from to larger numbers).

I did some big drawings for the children, then showed them tips on how to draw Giddy Goat. For the littlies, I had made colouring sheets and everyone had prints of my Giddy Goat quiz to take home. The children were so sweet and later, as we all filed into the main theatre, several came up to proudly show me their drawings.

The actual performance was amazing. Polly Ives from Music in the Round, introduced each of the instruments in turn, and the children had to spot them coming in from the back of the theatre. Then we had a warm up, listening to the character's signature music, with the audience doing various arm-waving activities together. It was such a buzz watching 800 people shout 'Go Giddy!'

It's a really touching story (big thanks to Jamie Rix!) and Polly read it brilliantly. Paul Rissman has written a truly beautiful score and I provided all the artwork, so there was a constantly changing pictorial projection over the stage, helping to bring the story to life. All the elements knitted together really well and it was so touching hearing the kids behind me go 'aaah...' when the images changed!

Afterwards, I signed books in the foyer and I needn't have worried about the problem with the reprint order (see Giddy Goat Rides Again). There were so many people crammed into the space buying books and pressing in on my signing table from all sides (even a child under the table on my feet at one point!) that I have to say, I felt completely swamped! I've never felt so popular.

By the time I got to sign the last bookplate and I looked up, everyone had cleared everything away and all but Polly and one or two stray musicians had gone!!! Phew.


I filmed the whole thing and will post highlights here, when I've time to work out how.