For many of you who have lived in New York City this will be a familiar tale: the subway doors close and you hear a booming (almost always pain-filled) voice reaching throughout the car, "Good morning ladies and gentlemen..." and what follows is a harrowing story of financial need, and a plea for help however large or small. For all it's glories and wonders New York is home to some of the most harrowing images of poverty, suffering, and pain of both the body and the soul.

That said, on Tuesday morning the train arrived at the station, and as the doors opened I was accosted by none other than the sound of a mariachi band: two spanish guitars and an accordion with three young Mexican men looking to earn some money with their fantastic music! I was very disappointed when they got off at the next station, I'll tell you! But such was my luck, that at 42nd St... on got a pair of gospel singers needing some funding for college, and they too were amazing! Yet, disappointed that I could not stay on board for more and find them some much deserved funding in the recesses of my wallet, I had to get off at the next station and go to work. Darn.

Now. I must take you back a day to Monday. On Monday I met Nicky Gillibrand, our costume designer. Oh, ho, ho, I had the most magnificent costume fitting! This is what sets Billy Elliot apart from the usual Broadway musical (this and rehearsing a replacement for eight weeks!). Haydn Gwynne, who is currently playing Mrs. Wilks. is tall and long limbed and thin, and she looks magnificent in her hideous nineteen-eighties spandex, with shiny bits, and dance skirts, and leg warmers. And I just thought... well, I will look different than Haydn does in those costumes.

OH NO!

On Monday Nicky lays before me an entirely different set of costume designs, not actually designed for me specifically (they were used in the Australian production), but absolutely suited to my body. AND, most importantly... HI-LARIOUS! Breathtakingly awful, in a way only retrospect can truly allow. And as Nicky is draping me in a combination of purple 3-way stretch fabric, with a pink, silver, and black geometric, pink and black stars and moons, tied together with a charming electric teal trim... and saying "Perfect!", I'm (believe it!) agreeing with her! Gah! Too much fun. Oh you guys... you will be howling each time I set foot on that stage wearing another Nicky gem. That is if you recognise me with my groovy Farrah Fawcett hairdo!

So I can't tell you how that put a little fire under me. And my niece Ainsleigh will be delighted to know... I am getting excited about getting onstage! It's true. It feels like we're heading into the home-stretch (fabric) now: two more weeks to go. This week we tech Act One on Thursday, then Act Two on Friday. And members of the creative team begin to trickle in: William Connacher comes to do final touches on dialect; and Peter Darling, the choreographer arrives on Thursday and will watch the tech. Then the following week in come Julian Webber and Stephen Daldrey, which will bring huge amounts of information to be absorbed as they each respond to the work that I have been doing in secret for the last 6 weeks. And I must take in all that information and turn it around in my brain and body, because I will be strutting whatever the result in front of the folks pretty pronto. It's really a bit daunting, but on the other hand, I'm heading up the ramp. I can feel it. And I really am getting excited! And a good part of that has to do with Nicky and her wonderful imagination, and her unapologetic sense of the world of this play. Bring on the batwing denim dress with shoulder pads! I can handle it!