Audition Evaluation- Wednesday 16th-17th September
Preparing for the audition was quite stressful. It had me constantly thinking of ways to present my vocal ability whilst incorporating elements of acting for the performance. I went from practicing "The Prince Of Egypt" to "The Greatest Showman"; I just couldn't find a song which was from the musical theatre category, that could present my capability to the max. I did consider "Your gonna Love Me" from the show "Dream Girls", however, I couldn't reach the extent of the ranges. I sat down, thought to myself, and asked, "What truly inspires me?...". I wanted to really connect with my performance and sing a song which inspires me- has a meaningful value to me. I finally decided. "Listen" by Beyonce, from the show "Dream Girls". I chose this piece as it relates and reflects my childhood story. Growing up alongside my loving mother, however having a remnant shadow of my father.
When practicing the song, it was difficult to sing loud. I would arrive home late or there would reasons as to why I couldn't sing loudly. After practicing the song and learning all the lyrics, I told myself "I was ready". It was so soon to when the auditions arrived, just waiting in the next room for my name to be called out, having me on the edge of my shoes. By the time I finished warming up, it was already time. When performing I could feel my throat begin to dry up and my heart begin to pound redundantly. My voice cracked mid performance and I thought that was it. After retrying two more times I still couldn't get back onto my feet. The concept of singing seemed so simple but felt terrifying. I decided I had enough and apologised for not being able to make it through to the end of the performance. Despite having flopped my audition, I was disappointed at myself not being able to pull through. I asked for a second chance at the audition, the teacher was so lovely enough to allow it.
The next day I listened to the song endlessly, making my way to lesson. I didn't feel as nervous as the day before as I knew what to look out for and that it was only the nerves in the moment which caused the scene. By the grace of God I was able to pull through in one take, whilst being able to give it my all. Although I performed a difficult song, what truly mattered was the quality of the performance. I immediately noticed throughout the performance all the imperfections of the piece. Next time I need to put my complete self in the shoes of the performer, therefore being able to not be nervous and exaggerate my movement which accompanies the singing. Furthermore I need to make sure I know the next line to sing: I noticed i got some lines muddled up midway but still went on. Lastly, I must ensure my voice is warmed and ready to perform... All that is left to do, is incorporate this into my next performance!
Musical Theatre Review
Chicago: By Bob Fosse and Fred Ebb (American Musical)
This performance is set in the jazz age, the musical is based on a 1926 play of the same name by reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins, about actual criminals and the crimes on which she reported. The music of the piece was composed by John Kander and the lyrics- Fred Ebb. It premiered on the 3rd of June 1975 and was immediatly loved since realese. One of the most popular scenes, "Cell Block Tango" is a choreographed dance, entailing several women presenting their stories, as to why they murdered their husbands. The costuming of these women are very revealing and seductive, this to represent empowered females allowing others to relate, furthermore to enforce the idea of body confidence- acting as an issue in todays society. Personally from seeing that scene and several others, I must say the performance looks enternaining. Not only do they incorparate dance and singing; but convey a story in which I find unique compared to other typical musicals. The motivation behind the story acts as a beacon of empowerment to women.
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie: By Tom MacRae (Book Musical)
Everybody's Talking About Jamie is a musical with music by Dan Sells and lyrics by Tom MacRae. Premiered on 13th of February 2017. The musical is inspired by the 2011 television documentary Jamie: Drag Queen at 16, directed by Jenny Popplewell. It entails all the events a gay teenager udnergoes, to reach his point of having the freedom of being whatever he desired to be. Throughout the performance we see how different characters interact, which refelcts how modern society is today. Still to this day, in the year 2020, we experience racial,sexual and many other types of discrimation. All in which MacRae displays, allowing us as the audience, to be able to see how a young person such as Jamie is victimised, and evenually finds his freedom in the world. In the essence of this, being able to relate, growing up in this generation. Personally Im not so keen of the whole performance as a whole, but the moral of the piece is empowering to audiences of the LGBTQ+ community. Similarly to Chicago, it also creates the feeling of empowerment to the audience. Additionally, the musical elements in the piece didn't captivate me through watching it in the screen; however I really liked the setting and costuming, representing a typical British secondary school.
The Phantom of the Opera: By Andrew Lloyd Webber and Richard Stilgoe (Opera Musical)
The Phantom of the Opera is a British musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Charles Hart, and a book by Lloyd Webber and Richard St. The piece premiered on the 9th of October 1986, entailing the love professed in opera between a man and woman. The Phantom is described as disfigured and strange, having a mask which covers the scars to which the public found terrifying. This long musical is very opera based and requires powerful opera singers to play the lead roles. The musical was turned into a filmed piece, in which was streamed internationally as it grew its way to fame. I must say this performance was very interesting, not only does it convey the feelings of sadness; but also the love pronounced through the sadness of their voices. Im not a big fan because of the story, however, the accompaniment of the live orchestra really creates this absurd, surreal perspective of love, in which the Phantom experiences.
Unit 27: Musical Theatre Form
Musical Theatre skills
These are some physical and essential skills which our group considered important as a performer.
Group spider diagram
Three Musical Theatre forms:
Defying Gravity by Stephen Schwartz
This song is performed during the conclusion of act one. It's about how the outcasted witch, Elphaba, ascends in the world and decides to live her life freely without any boundaries. Not only does the song reinforce the idea of empowerment, but conveys the idea to the audience that they should overcome boundaries in their own life to "bloom". In Elphabas life she underwent bullying from other students and always being below them in terms of status. So Elphaba acts as a role model to a particular audience, maybe being able to influence change in someones life.
Deliver Us by Stephen Schwartz
This song is used to open the musical, giving a short summary of the time, play and setting, to what is happening at the time. The song is all about imprisoned slaves begging god for someone to speak for their freedom. The musical tells the story of Moses and how God lent his power to split the ocean in two, allowing his people to cross the path. The musical is a great way in learning one of the Bible stories in a colourful fun way, and enforces the idea of a higher being.
A Little More Homework- Jason Robert Brown
Sound of Music performance review
In the creation of our performance it was quite difficult to create a unique turn on the traditional SOM musical. We performed the scene from the dinner party, when the children perform a song before heading off to bed. We wanted to incorporate a variety of performance devices; however it was quite difficult with the timeframe we had to stick to. Additionally we had to work with five performers, meaning that some of us had to perform twice to display all the characters. We primarily focused on creating a complete performance to interest the audience.
WWW-
Our performance had several parts where the unison and canon looked great visually. We all managed to stay in character and use a wide range of facial expressions to seem more "child" like. Furthermore we managed to perform the whole routine without many noticeable errors.
EBI-
There were several moments when some of us performed using the wrong arms, when in fact, it was actually meant to be in unison. The dynamic of our movements could've been much more exagerrated to show similar energy to a child. Furthermore, we could've taken a step further and incorparted levels to make it conspicuous, how old we each were.
Grease Workshop 1
During this scene in the musical, both the "T Birds" and the "Pink Ladies" are singing separately ,but in the structure of call and response. This scene not only grabs the audiences attention; but introduces both main characters who both profess the events that underwent during their meet, alongside their love for one and other. I was grouped with the Pink Ladies therefore meaning I had sing as part of the ensemble for Sandy(main character). During the role assigning it was quite difficult to find suitable characters for both myself and Dogan so we explored with different characters to see which one was best for the choreography. To make the performance more understandable I played Marty in the portrayal of a male instead of the traditional female, this is to give the musical a unique twist and allow myself and Dogan to be more natural and expressive when on set.
My character is seventeen and is a male friend of Sandy. We haven't established how close they are at the moment, but there will be a part choreographed when Sandy decides to spread the gossip about her new relationship to only her male friends. We both act as a shoulder for when Sandy is annoyed by the girls and need space of her own. So in the essence of the role, I'm just a good long known friend of Sandy, who wants to make sure she's ok, and learn of all the "juicy gossip". To help build the character I've been researching into Marty, incorporating important qualities of hers which should be incorporated into the male version of her. Additionally Im planning to watch the musical, and see how I interpret Marty through an audiences perspective.
Furthermore, in terms of the choreography we've mainly focused on the first thirty seconds of the scene as it's important to show how all the ensemble characters get involved in an interesting/aesthetic way. We've primarily used finger clicks and transitioning to the beat as it would look energetic through the audiences perspective (pedestrian movements). We've also made use of a staircase block set piece, to act as a focus point for the lighting and audience view point. A minority of the choreography will be performed in that area, having Sandy in the middle, whilst everyone else surround to say "tell me more, tell me more...".
Overall Im satisfied by the way my character walks and smokes during this scene. Im beginning to develop my facial expressions and movement, embodying the character more clearly everyday. In particular Im confident with positioning myself for the first "tell me more" line, it looks nice from the audiences view. Despite developing my character, I need to focus on miming the words properly when on set. The only way of improving this is learning the lines of the song, and once again, watching the musical. Additionally as a group we should incorporate levels muckiest more clearly. This is important as it shows the significance of the character, and enforces the role importance for each of them.
Grease Workshop 2
Productivity- During our last days of rehearsal, we worked on making the choreography more aesthetic and more longer, with the addition of more movemement. A problem which arose was that one member of our group was not able to join us for the performance, so we had to think of alternative methods to continue the piece, with the loss of a important member. Michelle switched to Rizzo, and the rest of us remained the same. Slowly from the beginning, we re-choreographed seens which involved Hannah, and still managed to make it a great performance!
Creative Choices- As a group we decided to play on some of the words of the song. For an example when the one of the Pink Ladies says "does he have a car?"- we all went in the formation of a car emobiying the phrase. Additionally, we took advantage of all the space and added a scene where Sandy is dragged off, which resembles the next part of the performance. We used body language and facial expressions to involve 'abstract' props. These were parts such as smoking cigarettes and putting on lipstick.
Grease Performance- 21/10/2020
On the day of performance we were still a member short, so we continued creating the performance with their absence. After the final recording we recognized what required improving and what we did well. As a group, we all sustained our characters throughout the whole piece, maintaining facial expressions. There was one moment in the piece where I accidentally stood on the block too early, however, I made it look like it was meant to happen. All our movements were in sync during the movement phrases and there weren't any visible imperfections. As an improvement we could consider costuming- this will make the performance seem even more realistic, engaging the audience further. More over, I enjoyed being filmed and putting one hundred percent energy when on set. If we were to perform this again I would suggest adding more aesthetic movmement, to make the scene look more lively and fun!
Fame the Musical Research
Fame is a 1980 staged musical, based on the filmed musical under the same name. The production opens up about the true reality of the show business industry, conveying how pressure from competition and other factors, make it difficult for some people to cope and succeed. It is set in a performing arts school in New York city, where students go to study one of the three disciplines- dance, drama or music. The genre of the piece is a staged musical, premiering in Miami, Florida- 1988. Both the musical and staged versions of the show are very different, having different character names, lead roles and character outcomes. After exploring several characters, I would like to audition for Nick Piazza or Schlomo Metzenbaum. Choosing lead roles allow me to be more connected with the characters, additionally pressurise me to learn the script ahead of time. Nick and Schlomo are opposingly contrasting, where Nick plays a supportive romantic, and Scholomo a future rockstar.
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