HITS AND MISSES: VANESSA SCAMMELL
AfewyearsagoIwentonmy first trip to Hawaii. I had heard all the travel warnings over the years . . . the food is awful”, “it is like the Gold Coast on steroids”, etc. I remember arriving after a particularly busy period of conducting and I was absolutely exhausted. My partner was going to be meeting me there later that night, he was flying from the UK and we hadn’t laid eyes on each other for weeks and weeks. Well, after a near flight miss, and a lot of stressful phone calls, he made it and let me tell you this, a combination of the
Pink Palace, the balmy breezes of the Pacific, learning how to surf, happy hour at sunset and pre-booked banana loungers led this to being the best holiday ever.
Some years ago I was on tour with the musical in South Korea. We had done the hard yards, touring the various cities for six months and we were all looking forward to getting to Busan, the country's beachy holiday destination. The weather had been -17C in Seoul and I was severely lacking in Vitamin D. Well, Busan laid it on: warm days, the ocean, designer shopping . . . life was good. But a few weeks in, we were told a super typhoon was going to hit. The management were all very relaxed and basically told us not to worry ourselves. The day of the supposed disaster, it was deathly still, not a breath of movement in the air. We made our way to the big top tent where the show was being performed and I remember
Cats
the wind starting to pick up to such a degree the bus started to rock. By the time we were evacuated the ocean was throwing 3m waves across the shoreline. We made it back to our hotel where the windows started to smash in from the elements. I remember the company of
assembling in the corridor of my floor, where we all huddled together with no power, no idea and no direction. The big top blew into a thousand pieces that night, the king poles twisted from the wind force and the entire set
Cats
and venue was annihilated. However we did all live to tell the tale, plus, for the very first time in my life I was paid holiday pay and sent home for six weeks while they rebuilt the show.
Now that is showbiz.
Vanessa Scammell is conducting the APO concert at the Aotea Centre on August 17.
Magic of the Musicals apo.co.nz/musical/magic