Andrew Pepper Live at The Crazy Coqs

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“Andrew Pepper, a one off, daring to go further than you ever imagined a performer would”
– Musical Theatre Review

theandrewpepper

… is alive and well and living in Paris.

I first came to Paris circa January 2003. It was a

… RUTH! It’s Mother’s Day in the US, so it

… RUTH!

It’s Mother’s Day in the US, so it seemed like a good time to finally introduce this skinny monster to y’all.

Enchanté, bitches. The pleasure is all yours.
💙🕊️🕊️

📸 by @julienbenhamouphotographe

Introducing Sour and Salty. Performing 7 shows a w

Introducing Sour and Salty. Performing 7 shows a week @lidoparis when they can be arsed to pull their claws out. They left the stage mid show on Saturday night. We’re not talking about it.

We finally opened ‘Titanique’ last week. Phew!

We finally opened ‘Titanique’ last week. Phew! Rehearsing comedy is hard. On opening night, in lieu of flowers, my friends teamed up and bought me a year’s subscription to Headspace. Now, that’s comedy! It’s also extremely lovely and greatly appreciated. Earlier in the week, I was seriously wondering if I’d made a mistake coming back to this magical city. Last time had been so special. Maybe I should’ve left it at that. And then…

The audience arrived!

Ahhhhhh. And just like that… just as everyone had told me… just as I’d known myself, deep down… just like that, everything made sense.
This show is a joy bomb and it is going OFF seven times a week @lidoparis. Thursday’s grand opening was like nothing I’ve ever experienced. Waves of laughter!
A few hours earlier, as I was showering, I got a bit teary. I feel so proud to be doing this show at this time. As governments around the world take it in turns to make life difficult for the most innocent in our society, here is an unashamedly queer show that makes people laugh their tits off for 100 minutes. A show that revels in being stupid and ridiculous and more camp than a ray of polka dot tents in Liberace’s closet; a show with a big blue heart the size of the ocean. It’s such a tonic right now.
On the Saturday matinee, I walked out and spotted a small boy on the front row. Le fuck! Did I mention ‘Titanique’ is also filthy? It’s a riot, but probably not if you’re a child. But he seemed engrossed. Apparently, he’s a huge Celine Dion fan. And then we got to ‘My Heart Will Go On’ and he started weeping. He was so overcome with the beauty of it all. This show (especially in this extraordinary Vegas/Roman amphitheatre of a venue) somehow transcends the silly and all the buffoonery and becomes something else. It moves people. I’m witnessing it first hand every performance, but no more so than with this little angel. We all saw and recognised something in him and started weeping too.
So, yes, I’m blimmin’ proud to be in this glory of a show. Also, did I mention, the talent is NUTS!?!

We’re here, we’re queer and we’re open till June 22nd. Come see us. 💙💙💙

Continued in comments.

We opened ‘Titanique’ this week. This skinny

We opened ‘Titanique’ this week.
This skinny monster is finally out in the open.
Longer post coming soon.

It’s #WorldTheatreDay. “What is theatre?” y

It’s #WorldTheatreDay.
“What is theatre?” you ask. Well, it can be very many things, but fundamentally, at its core, theatre is actors sitting around backstage taking selfies.

Sending love to all who celebrate. And if you don’t, well, you can have my love anyway ‘cos I’m nice like that and how else are we gonna change the world? More theatre would certainly help.

La saison du printemps: le moment idéal pour êtr

La saison du printemps: le moment idéal pour être un monstre riche et maigre. 👀

Frankly giddy with excitement to be returning to my favourite theatre in my favourite city in my new favourite show. Honestly, this show is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. And I really think we need more crazy in this world. There’s just not enough of it at the moment.
In all seriousness, @titaniquemusical is 90 mins of beautifully crafted JOY. Camp, silly, ridiculous, idiotic, magical JOY! And Chita knows, we need more of THAT!

Boarding the ship of dreams on 24th April. Come see us @lidoparis.

🚢 🇫🇷 💎

The final pic is of me and the architect: @stephendguarino. I shall be forever grateful to and in awe of this comedy titan. I wouldn’t be about to play the role if it weren’t for him. He’s currently tearing it up as Ruth in the West End. Go see him! And then come to Paris and see us!

First photo by @nick.cornwall

Ohhhhhh! I’m tickled pink to tell y’all that i

Ohhhhhh! I’m tickled pink to tell y’all that in May I’ll be playing the Norfolk and Norwich Festival @nnfest. What an honour to be taking cabaret to this magnificent arts celebration. AND we get to play in a beautiful spiegeltent. Love me a spiegeltent! Ooof, it’s exciting.
We’re there for ONE night only (Tuesday 20th May) and tickets are on sale NOW!

Who do I know in Norfolk?

“Very flat, Norfolk.”

🎪

Learning to love this bald malarkey. Glorious gi

Learning to love this bald malarkey.

Glorious gig last night at @phoenixartsclub for an extraordinary charity: @underonesky_london (check them out and the exceptional work they do, headed brilliantly by @mikkeljueliversen).

It’s not often I get to perform in mixed-bill shows. My material is so intricate, I rarely go anywhere without my boys. Last night was an exception and a treat. Alas, Alex couldn’t be with me, so @michaelmouse73 stepped into to save the day; and save it he did, magnificently. 🙏👏🙏

Kudos to @thedustylimits for curating and wrangling us; and massive thanks to @lordjipps and @mikkeljueliversen for such beautiful organisation. You treated us like royalty. Flowers! We were given flowers. Thank you!!

A gorgeous night with lovely peeps. A joy to share a stage and a dressing room/corridor/cupboard with you all. And an equally gorgeous crowd who came ready to play. To top it all off, I gather that the night raked in over £9k for @underonesky_london. Not too shabby!

What a night! 💗💗💗

When Gavin Creel died, I thought I must phone Dian

When Gavin Creel died, I thought I must phone Diane. She was my best friend on ‘Mary Poppins’. We were thick as thieves. She’s not on the internet, so she wouldn’t have known about Gav. I kept thinking I must call and tell her. And then panto started. Must call Di. Panto got busy. Must call Di! I didn’t call Di. And then on Wednesday, Diane died.
There’s never enough time.

Diane Langton, West End legend, lover of big hats, strong perfume and appallingly kitsch dressing table lamps, was the second bird lady in ‘Mary Poppins’. When she joined the show I swiftly introduced myself and started grilling her on all the Broadway legends she’d worked with: Harold Prince, Bob Fosse, Michael Bennett, John Kander. From such magnificent soil grew a magnificent friendship. We’d sit in that tiny dressing room, drink tea, chat and laugh. We laughed a lot. If I told her about some unfair treatment, she’d be righteous and offended on my behalf; then in minutes she’d have transmuted it all into even more laughter. Just one of her many gifts. Undoubtedly, she was the single most spiritual and spiritually enlightened person I’ve ever known. Florence Scovel Shinn and countless affirmations were just some of her gifts to me. Every year, she’d go to India for about 5 weeks to study Reiki. One year, she decided to do “remote” Reiki on me as I was struggling financially. I really wasn’t sure if it would work but a couple of days later I got a repeat fee for an advert I’d done: £500. I called her with the news. She was most put out, “It should’ve been far more than that!”

That little room… She did her best to tart it up. In these pictures it had been bedazzled for Halloween by Gavin. He’d done it as a surprise whilst she was on stage. She loved it. The more the merrier seemed to be her mantra for dressing room decor. Never too many women’s corset lamps!

That little room. She hated it. It was more like a broom cupboard. She deserved an entire floor and yet… I loved it. Aside from the stage, it was the MOST magical place in the building for me. I miss it. I miss her.

Dear Diane. A soft and safe place to land. ALWAYS. Rest splendidly, my beautiful, beautiful friend. XXX💗💗💗💗💗

Sunday: I finally saw the mighty Slava Polunin per

Sunday: I finally saw the mighty Slava Polunin performing in person. I’d been utterly bewitched by ‘Slava’s Snow Show’ before, but this was my first time seeing it with the main man himself.

At the end of the show, the whole auditorium is turned into a snowy playground. And then the after show begins: the audience stays and plays. On Sunday, approximately half the audience played; whilst the other half stood and filmed on their phones. All the while, Slava sat quietly at the edge of the stage, surveying the chaos before him. From the dress circle, I couldn’t take my eyes off him. Why is no one paying him any attention?? This is (arguably) the world’s greatest living clown! He’s sitting right there; right in front of you! What’s going on, people?! Occasionally a small child would throw snow at him and he’d smile, but for the most part no one seemed to even see him. After about ten minutes, he stood up and crowd-walked over the audience. I’ve just coined that term. You can have it. Crowd-walking is like crowd-surfing but more suitable for those who prefer being vertical. Slava slipped off the edge of the stage, climbed onto a seat in the middle of the front row, and then walked from one row to the next, supported by the audience’s up-stretched hands. He continued like this all the way to the back of the stalls and then vanished.

I’m not going to try and describe how magical this man is. His is a special kind of magic. It’s gentle and quiet. Unshowy. Economic. Oh dear, I’ve started. I’ll stop. Words are too reductive. I’ll just say this… in the second half he performed that old as time trick where a performer animates a coat that’s hanging from a coat stand. We’ve probably all seen it done umpteen times. Watching Slava do it for probably no more than 2 minutes… was… exquisite. One of the single most beautiful and moving things I’ve ever witnessed. Worth the hefty price of the ticket alone. I felt myself exhale as I watched. A full body exhale. Magic.

Now, three days later, all I can do is picture him sitting at the edge of that stage, nestled into the corner at the top of the steps, quietly sitting, quietly watching. Watching. And then he just got up and left.

Post 2 of 2. 1. Look at her! Beauty! Kudos to ou

Post 2 of 2.

1. Look at her! Beauty! Kudos to our genius lighting designer Sally Ferguson for drenching the place in magic.
2. Tall, camp and weird. Thanks, Time Out.
3 & 4. Just a couple of clowns. I recommend you share a stage with the force of nature that is Eman Akwafo some time. It’s a BLAST!
5. Sonia, our marvellous bard. Fantastic writer. Dream collaborator. Camp connoisseur. Generous to the core. The best audience member you could ever hope to have.
6. £3.
7. How did you spend your Christmas Eve?
8. Icons only. Luminous Summer
9. G# and button. Black out. Pass out.
10. I do.

There’s so much I could say but for now I need to do laundry and sleep for a month. Xmas 2024, over and out!

Post 1 of 2.
3 months. ✔️
1692 performances.✔️
1 broken husk of an actor.✔️

I’m crap at taking pictures because, for the most part, I’m trying (sometimes successfully) to live in the moment. So, here are just a few randoms from a very small selection on my camera roll (plus one I stole) to commemorate these past few glorious months.

1. Squad.
2. Isaiah. My main man. My dressing room buddy. My confidant. The sweetest soul. Teeeeea. He can do it all. Real. He reads ferociously (although he’ll deny it) and he asks the best questions. Truth. I shall miss him the most. Yert.
3. This costume nearly got cut. Not on my watch!
4. Oscar: Oh, what’s that you’re eating, Andrew?
5. Question: What is panto? Answer: Jodie Jacobs! If you wanna learn about panto, watch Jodie Jacobs. If you’re lucky, one day you might work with Jodie Jacobs. J’adore Jodie Jacobs. Jodie Jacobs!
6. Larry.
7. I was actually on the phone to my agent when this photo was taken. Real.
8. Caroline, our DSM. The very best of the best. 10s across the board. No notes.
9. Shania Twain.
10. You like me; you really like me!

Abanazaar has left the building.

Abanazaar has left the building.

An oldie but far too goodie to be languishing in t

An oldie but far too goodie to be languishing in the archives. 🍾
#current #topical #relevant

What a lovely way to end the year! Thank you so mu

What a lovely way to end the year! Thank you so much, @loureviews.blog!
People often ask me to define my shows and I always struggle because truthfully they rarely fit into a nice, neat box. So, to be recognised in a list that celebrates this is wonderful. 💗 I just wish I could have seen all the other shows on the list.
Now seems as good a time as any to remind y’all that I’m back @crazycoqs on 30th January and tickets are selling! 🎟️

#Repost @loureviews.blog with @use.repost
・・・
Some shows can’t be classified as Plays, Musicals, or Solo shows.

Here are my picks of 2024 shows from cabaret, circus, and the unclassifiable!

Perfect Show For Rachel @barbicancentre @fusetheatre

Rewind @newdiorama @ephemeral_ensemble

Afrique En Cirque @southbankcentre @yamoussa

House of Pepper @crazycoqs @theandrewpepper

Lorna Dallas: Snapshots @crazycoqs @lornadallasbrown

Philip Quast: The Road I Took @crazycoqs

Signal to Noise @southbankcentre @forcedents

Bluets @royalcourttheatre

Dagmar’s Vamps of Weimar @crazycoqs @hershdagmarr

Smashed @sadlers_wells @gandinijuggling

Just over a fortnight left in Saltbum. Snooze, ya

Just over a fortnight left in Saltbum.
Snooze, ya lose. 🧞‍♂️

Trailer by DMLK.

RING THEM BELLS! I’m back @crazycoqs on Thursday

RING THEM BELLS! I’m back @crazycoqs on Thursday 30th January!
New year. New show! Ding dong!

I hear those virtual tickets make lurvely stocking fillers. 👀🎄
Ticket link in bio!

Just in the nick of time… HAPPY PANTO DAY! Poo

Just in the nick of time…
HAPPY PANTO DAY!

Poor panto. It sure does get a bum rap; and I get it. There’s a helluva lot of panto that gets cynically thrown together. But the actual art form itself… well, conversely, I love it because it is so devoid of cynicism. What actually is the antonym of cynicism? Panto?

Think about it… if you’re asking an audience to believe that a performer can simulate the back end of a cow, and you’re asking said audience to do that without so much as a double take, well, then you’ve clearly got a helluva lot of faith in humanity, and you should be applauded, that’s what I say.

Life is hard. Cynicism is often the easiest choice. So, an art form that gently coaxes us to be anything but; an art form that actually believes it can get a room full of strangers up on their feet, year in year out, to sing some old nonsense from a giant song sheet, is bloody well worth its weight in gold, I think.

I’ve been thinking long and hard about what picture should accompany such rampant profundity, and then I stumbled across this gem. What better way to honour panto day than a photo of our fearless leader, @nicholailabarrie?! I honestly don’t think he has a cynical bone in his body. Somehow, he’s managed to survive 20 plus years in this industry with his inner child well and truly intact. It’s what makes him so eminently skilled as a pantomime director and so delightful to be in a room with. Be more like Nicholai. Be more like panto.

Happy #PantoDay, to all who celebrate!

Team abnz. Living (and loving) that life @lyrich

Team abnz.

Living (and loving) that life @lyrichammersmith until January 5th.

📸 by See Li.

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Photography by Leo Holden.

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