Project 15/1/19
In this project class Shelley sat us down and told us that we would be performing the first 20 mins of the musical Little Shop of Horrors. We talked about how Little Shop of Horrors was a B movie made in 1960. We spoke a bit about what this actually meant as we'd never heard of B movies before. We were given scripts and we watched the first 20 mins of the film, snippets of stage versions of the songs we would be doing and the B movie trailer. Shelley then asked us what parts we thought we would like. Tilia, Leah and Nehemie will be playing the Doo-Wop girls, Ella will be Audrey and I will be Seymour. Shelley told us that would all be choreographing a number each. The full cast is as follows:
Me - Seymour
Ella - Audrey
Tilia - Chiffon
Leah - Ronnette
Nehemie - Crystal
Rina - Mr Mushnik
Bethany - Wino and The god like voice
Ghazall - Wino and customer
We then split into 2 groups doing costume and makeup or set, props and lighting. I chose to do costume and makeup as I've done costume before and felt like this would be interesting as the costumes in Little Shop are hugely varied from character to character.
The main aspect of this project is taking on the roll of choreographer along with a partner for one of the songs. We had to choose which song we'd like to do. Originally I wanted to do Little Shop of Horrors or Skid Row as I've done Little Shop of Horrors before and thought I could use similar moves. However, upon reflection I decided I would work with Ella on the song "Grow For Me" as this song I sing as a solo and therefore it seems the most appropriate.
At the end of the lesson we watched clips from the 60s B movies and the section of Little Shop we're doing from the 1986 film. We did this so that we could see the narrative and how our characters behave and how our song fits into the musical.
Project 21&22/1/19
In these classes we began to plan the numbers we would be doing. Ella and I started by listening to the song and annotating the lyrics so that we understood what the song was about,ensuring we could choreograph accordingly. We then made a floor plan of the stage and used arrows and symbols to show how we wanted the chorus and Seymour to move around the space. We briefly outlined how we wanted Seymour the move around the stage so that he used the whole space and told the story in the song effectively. Our feedback taught us that we need to include the chorus more in the song. At the end of the lesson we updated our plans so we could remember what we had done in the lesson.
Project 28/1/19
We started this class by warming up so we were ready to continue choreographying our chosen songs for Little Shop. Ella and I re planned sections of "Grow For Me" involving the chorus, making sure they had more of a focus during the song, e.g. ensuring they had very dramatic reactions and fitted more naturally into the song. We also realised we had to take into account that Seymour couldn't leave the plant on the stage at the end of the song as it's a puppet and won't grow at the end of the song without Seymour holding it. We made these alterations making sure we could make the plant "grow".We stood up and practiced the piece a few times so that we knew exactly how it would work in the space we had. We then updated our plans and scripts so that they were easy to follow We then began to learn Nehemie and Bethany's choreography to the song "Skid Row". This isn't difficult but a lot of fun. We learned from the beginning of the song up to about half way through my solo section as Seymour.
Project 29/1/19
In this class we continued work on Skid Row we looked at and created a stage plan as a class. Got through the blocking of the whole number and ran it a couple times, first just the movements then . I understand all my blocking and can do it easily however I do need to remember to sing the line "Home to Skid Row" to the front as I keep forgetting to do this and I stand out as everyone else does it. We brainstormed ideas for the end of the song.
Project 4/2/19
In this class we finished learning "Skid Row" and we went through the opening Prologue song. I feel like we're learning quickly and the pieces that we've worked on so far are looking good and everyone seems a lot more confident with everything they're doing.
Project 5/2/19
In this class Ella and I taught the class our Grow For Me choreography. We managed to do this quite quickly as it's pretty simple movement but it looks very effectively when everyone does it together. As I don't do any of the choral movement in this song I need to make sure that I get myself to the right places to ensure that I don't get in anyone's way for mess up the look of the choreography. I also need to work on my singing as the song is quite high and I want to feelmore confident singing it. We then practiced the whole number a few times and after that we moved onto the song 'Da Doo'. I need to learn my lines for Da-Doo and ensure I'm confident on timing or it'll cause problems for the other 3 who sing during the number. After this we went through all of the Little Shop numbers we'd learnt so far.
Project 11/2/19
In this lesson we went to the prop and costume department to find items we can use in our Little Shop performance. I'm working with Rina, Ella and Ghazal on costumes and with some help from Shelley we found a lot of pieces that would really suit different Little Shop characters. When then went back to the studio and created a rough version of the set with all the props that Tili and Leah had got from the prop store. We were then given different items to try on and see which ones we thought would represent the characters the best.
Here are the final outfits we decided on:
Here are the final outfits we decided on:
Project 12/01/19
In this class we worked on specific sections of the piece that needed to be cleaned.Project 26/2/19
In this lesson we looked at which backing tracks would be best for our performance. We set up all the props and set pieces that we had to make it as true to the real thing as possible. We then ran the piece a few times trying to find which backing tracks were the best for the piece. The one we struggled most with was the end number, Seymour's solo "Grow For Me", as the gaps in some of the backing tracks were far too long and as there isn't a huge amount of speech we had to restart that number a few times until we found the best one for us. Once we'd found the best tracks for all 4 songs we ran the full piece as full out as we could to make sure we were totally confident with the new tracks.Project 4/3/19
In this class we ran through the whole of the piece twice, filming it the second time. I think overall the performance is very strong but I need to remember to come further forward during Skid Row.
We watched back the video of the second run and we were each given someone to critique and see what they did well and what they can improve for the performance. Nehemie critiqued me and said that I could vary my movement in Skid Row and Da-Doo and just add a bit more so it's more entertaining to watch.
Project 5/3/19
In this lesson we set up set in the theatre, built q-build which we're using as Mushnik's flower shop and ran through the piece using the set in the theatre. In terms of performance I just need to remember to come further forward during Da-Doo and Grow For Me. In terms of actual staging our q-build was originally 12 blocks however we need 14 to lengthen the stage left section of the shop. We need more steps on the stage left to face the centre for the stood as there wasn't enough space for the 3 girls.
Project 11/3/19
In this lesson we ran through Little Shop, Addams Family and the solo songs we'll be performing. Leah and I will be opening the show with a duet from "Wicked" called "For Good". We performed it to the class and Shelley and received feedback. The feedback I received was to 1. face the audience more, 2. use my hands as they looked quite awkward and could add more to my characterisation and 3. look like I was enjoying myself more.
The Addams Family is looking very strong and Shelley said she really enjoyed it and didn't feel like we needed to make any changes.
I'm feeling very happy with Little Shop as everyone is very clear and confident with what they should be doing throughout.
The Addams Family is looking very strong and Shelley said she really enjoyed it and didn't feel like we needed to make any changes.
I'm feeling very happy with Little Shop as everyone is very clear and confident with what they should be doing throughout.
Grow For Me Lights
Little Shop of Horrors: Costume, Hair and Makeup Design
I'm working on costume, hair and makeup with Ella and Rina. I will be designing these for my character, Seymour, and Rina's character, Mr Mushnik.
I drew out all my ideas on a plan and annotated the reasons for the decisions I made.
Seymour costume:
Seymour Hair and Makeup:
Mr Mushnik costume:
Mr Mushnik Hair & Makeup:
Little Shop of Horrors Performance and Evaluation: 13/3/19
Unit
5&6- Final Evaluation Questions
1. Describe
the project you have worked on over the term. What was the brief, its starting
point and objective? What challenges did you foresee?
Over this term we have worked on creating our own version of the
first 20 minutes of the 1982 musical “Little Shop of Horrors”. We started off
with a script spanning from the beginning of the opening song “Prologue” to the
end of the 4th song in the show “Grow For Me”. The objective of this
was to work on our repertoire, gain new skills for backstage work and to
entertain an audience. We split the piece up into 4 (Prologue, Skid Row,
Da-Doo, Grow For Me) and in pairs we each chose a song that we could
choreograph. We also chose whether or not we wanted to do costume, hair and
makeup or set, props or lighting, this was to improve our skills on working
behind the scenes and realise how much work goes into putting on a show. I did
anticipate challenges with this project, for example, some pairs may have
conflicting ideas for choreography or find that as this is a new challenge, it
was more difficult than they first thought or people might be given a role they
weren’t comfortable with. We overcame this challenge very quickly by giving
parts out on a first come first serve basis. I asked to be the character of
Seymour as I really love this character and thought that it would be a
challenge as I’d be playing a role of the opposite gender which I’ve never
really done before.
2. How did you begin
working on your ideas and who did you work with? What research did you look at
and how did you use it to create your choreography and plot your scene?
I worked with Ella on the final song of the piece
“Grow For Me”. We began working on our ideas by firstly sitting down and
listening to the song a few times as well as following along on our scripts. We
talked about the fact that the focus of the song would be Seymour as he is
singing solo and we began annotating Grow For Me lyric sheets with potential
actions that Seymour could do.
3. What kind of
planning and additional research did you need to support development of this
piece of work?
The first piece of research we did was to watch the
section of the 1986 musical film as well as various different stage versions of
the 4 songs we were choreographing and performing. We then as individuals
searched up the narrative and overall story told in Little Shop, following on
from this we did extensive individual research on the background, context and
creation of Little Shop. We answered questions about the writers of all 3
versions (1960 B-movie, 1982 musical and 1986 film), we compared the versions
and looked into the different cultural aspects which influenced Little Shop.
This included Doo-Wop, America in the 1950s and B-Movies. As a class we also
watched the trailer of the original 1960 B-Movie and looked into the short
story which inspired it. We then looked further into B-movies, watching many
trailers, looking at posters and identifying the key features and how this
related to not just the B-movie of Little Shop but also how this influenced the
over-the-top style of the 1986 movie. We moved on from this and looked into the
social and cultural context of Little Shop. We researched the state of America
in the 1950s and how different characters in the show reflected the society at
the time, this included looking at the role of women in 1950s America and we
watched a series of commercials from the 50s and 60s and saw how this related
to Little Shop of Horrors, specifically the character of Audrey. We then looked
into Doo-Wop. Doo-Wop is hugely relevant in Little Shop of Horrors, the show is
narrated, in a way by 3 Doo-Wop girls and the classic features of Doo-Wop are
very prevalent throughout the Little Shop soundtrack. As previously mentioned,
Ella and I used typical Doo-Wop style moves when choreographing the chorus
section of “Grow For Me” to make it more appropriate for the style and sound of
the show. In terms of character research, I watched the 1986 film in full and
listened to various versions of the 4 songs we were performing as well as the
OBC soundtrack in full. Watching the whole film really helped me to understand
the mind-set of different characters in Little Shop of Horrors, especially my
character “Seymour” as seeing how they act throughout the story helps to create
a more accurate portrayal of each character at the beginning of the show.
4. What were your
individual responsibilities over the course of rehearsal and development and
how did you fulfil them?
My responsibility as a performer over the course of
rehearsal was to know and be confident in what I was doing. To fulfil this I
made sure to pick up staging, directions and choreography as quickly as
possible and remember it as well as I could. I also made sure to learn my
lines, this ensured that I was able to get through scenes more efficiently and
with more characterisation as I wasn’t relying on or getting distracted by a
script. The final way I fulfilled this was by making sure I attended every
rehearsal as it would be an inconvenience to the rest of the cast if I wasn’t
there as someone who have to fill in.
My responsibilities as a designer or backstage
worker were to design the hair, makeup and costumes for Mr Mushnik and Seymour.
In order to fulfil this I used the templates given to me to draw up hair,
makeup and costume designs for them as well as researched the characters and
past productions to give me an idea of what I wanted them to look like.
My responsibilities as a choreographer was to know
and be confident in the movements that Ella and I had created and be able to
teach my classmates effectively. To fulfil this Ella and I made stage plans and
movement charts so we were both very clear on what was happening at all times
throughout “Grow For Me”.
5. How did you work
with your group and in solving problems as they arose during the process?
During the rehearsal process there
were a couple of problems that arose. Firstly, Ella and I had to come up with a
creative solution of how to make the plant (Audrey II) grow at the end of the
song “Grow For Me”. Initially we wanted to have someone under a table and have
them make the plant grow to make it seem like it was growing on its own.
However, we soon realised that this wouldn’t be an option so we had to look at
what else we could do. We then decided to have the plant be a hand puppet so
that Seymour could have it on his arm as he sang Grow For Me and then make it
grow at the end of the song. We passed this on to the prop team and Tilia made
an incredible looking Audrey II that we could use very easily and effectively
to give the illusion that the plant was growing. A second problem that we had
to face was that 2 members of cast weren’t in class for a few weeks. This
created problems at first as we had to get teachers to fill in the lines and it
meant that we couldn’t rehearse as realistically as we could as the spacing
wasn’t as accurate as we had 2 people missing. While this was a problem we
resolved it by teaching them everything they missed and practicing it enough so
by the time the performance came it looked like they had never been gone. I think
our solutions were very effective as none of the problems we faced ended up affecting
the performance.
6. How
effectively did you apply your practical and performance skills in rehearsal,
development and refinement of the project?
In rehearsal I felt like I applied my
practical and performance skills pretty effectively. I made sure I was prepared
and from there tried to act like I was performing on stage to minimise any
mistakes or prevent me from not having enough energy or lack of focus. I also made
sure to act on any notes given to me such as needing to be further forward
during the number “Skid Row” or working on the high notes in “Grow For Me”.
Finally, I made sure to research the character of Seymour so that I’d be able
to enhance my acting and performance skills to create a more accurate
portrayal.
7. What did you take into account when planning production elements of
your piece?
When planning the production elements of
Little Shop I watched different stage productions as well as the 1986 film of
Little Shop for an example of what lighting to use during “Grow For Me”. During the 1986 film Seymour sits in a dimly
lit room but when the plant begins to grow the lighting suddenly focusses on
that. Ella and I used this, as well as Ella’s research on lighting that matched
the mood of the songs to create a lighting plan in notation to give to the
production students. We also gave the productions students the tracks we knew
were correct in terms of pitch and timing and made sure to say if any edits
needed to be made so when we did tech no problems arose and everyone felt
confident with each track. Additionally we gave the production students the
script so that they’d be able to annotate it with any cues for sounds or
lighting.
8. How successfully do you think production elements met the demands of
the scenes/song and dance sections you performed in terms of communicating
theme, context, mood and atmosphere?
I think the production elements met the
demands of the scenes and songs very successfully. A specific example of when
this was particularly successful was during mine and Ella’s song “Grow For Me”.
We designed our lights so that on the word “blood” the lights turn completely
red, this completely changed the mood of the song as it seemed much more
sinister and foreshadowed the fact that from this point on the show gets very
dark. A second effective production was the sound effects of the 2 crashes
Seymour makes off stage. These added another comedic moment as they were very
cartoony which really matched the B-movie, over-the-top element of Little Shop
of Horrors. Overall I think the production elements were extremely successful
in meeting the demands of the piece.
9. How successfully do you think your performance met the demands of the
scenes/sections you performed?
I think that our performance was very
successful in meeting the demands of the scenes and songs we performed. As a
collective, we communicated well to the audience, everyone was confident in
what they were saying or singing at all times and overall the movement and
choreography was accurate and together. I think that I managed to play my role
as Seymour as successfully as I could and I tried to keep in the small details
of Seymour’s mannerisms in my head while performing to help and meet the demand
to a higher level. I felt confident on stage and I think I was able to project
well and communicate Seymour’s personality to the audience.
10. What do you think you have learned about developing work for stage
performance? What might you do differently next time?
Through this process I think I have improved
my devising and choreographing skills. These are skills I’d done small things
with before but this has really helped me to feel more confident with them.
I’ve also learnt a lot about the backstage developmental process for shows. I
know much more about planning costumes, hair, makeup and lighting and now
appreciate how many different elements have to come together for a performance
to be a success. Next time I think I would try harder to keep on top of the
written logs to make sure I remember in more detail what we did day-by-day and
put all of that into a more in-depth account of what happened each rehearsal to
create the performance. Overall however, I really enjoyed learning new skills
and pushing myself to try and do things I hadn’t really done before or had
little experience in.
Dress Run:
Matinee Performance:
Addams Family Evaluation and other repertoire
1. What other repertory pieces have you
worked on this term and what practical knowledge and skills did you use and
develop as part of these projects?
Leah and I also sang a duet at our Little Shop performance, we performed "For Good" from Wicked with Leah singing the part of Elphaba and me singing the part of Glinda. For this number we needed primarily just singing skills but also acting skills as the song is an emotional goodbye between two best friends and we wanted to keep this emotional aspect of the song in our performance. I think doing this number really helped to develop my skills in singing harmony alone. I've found this to be a struggle in the past as I find it much easier if there's someone I can rely on to hold the harmony with but as it was a duet I had to be able to find and hold my harmonies alone which ended up actually being much easier than I initially anticipated and I feel that both Leah and I were able to hold the harmonies effectively during the performances.
For Good Wicked Duet Dress Run:
For Good Wicked Duet Performance:
In Musical Theatre this term we've worked on the song "When You're An Addams" from the Addams Family musical. I really enjoyed this piece as it was great for working on characterisation within musical theatre. We needed acting, singing and dance skills for this piece as we sang all the way through, had some dance sections in the song and had very specific characters to play throughout the number. I felt this really helped me to develop my ability to multi-task and be able to act, sing and dance at the same time as this is, of course, a vital skill to any musical theatre performer. I felt the piece went well in the actual performance and I was able to perform successfully with no errors.
Addams Dress Run:
Addams Performance:
Grow For Me Lights
Seymour costume:
Seymour Hair and Makeup:
Mr Mushnik costume:
Mr Mushnik Hair & Makeup:
Little Shop of Horrors Performance and Evaluation: 13/3/19
Unit
5&6- Final Evaluation Questions
Little Shop
of Horrors
1. Describe
the project you have worked on over the term. What was the brief, its starting
point and objective? What challenges did you foresee?
Over this term we have worked on creating our own version of the
first 20 minutes of the 1982 musical “Little Shop of Horrors”. We started off
with a script spanning from the beginning of the opening song “Prologue” to the
end of the 4th song in the show “Grow For Me”. The objective of this
was to work on our repertoire, gain new skills for backstage work and to
entertain an audience. We split the piece up into 4 (Prologue, Skid Row,
Da-Doo, Grow For Me) and in pairs we each chose a song that we could
choreograph. We also chose whether or not we wanted to do costume, hair and
makeup or set, props or lighting, this was to improve our skills on working
behind the scenes and realise how much work goes into putting on a show. I did
anticipate challenges with this project, for example, some pairs may have
conflicting ideas for choreography or find that as this is a new challenge, it
was more difficult than they first thought or people might be given a role they
weren’t comfortable with. We overcame this challenge very quickly by giving
parts out on a first come first serve basis. I asked to be the character of
Seymour as I really love this character and thought that it would be a
challenge as I’d be playing a role of the opposite gender which I’ve never
really done before.
2. How did you begin
working on your ideas and who did you work with? What research did you look at
and how did you use it to create your choreography and plot your scene?
I worked with Ella on the final song of the piece
“Grow For Me”. We began working on our ideas by firstly sitting down and
listening to the song a few times as well as following along on our scripts. We
talked about the fact that the focus of the song would be Seymour as he is
singing solo and we began annotating Grow For Me lyric sheets with potential
actions that Seymour could do.
Our research, apart from listening to the song a
number of times, was watching the Grow For Me scene from 1986 film version of
Little Shop of Horrors as well as various stage productions to see what kind of
actions they had Seymour do. We found the stage productions to be particularly
helpful as they were live and didn’t use any special effects to make the plant
move. We took some of the staging from different productions to see how we could
get Seymour to move from place to place. We also started to form a stage plan
to ensure we knew what part of the stage Seymour would be on at what time.
Surprisingly, Doo-Wop research was helpful in this song. We’d watched a lot of
videos of Doo-Wop performances and this inspired the choreography for our
chorus. We couldn’t use the stage productions or the film version of Grow For
Me to help with this as in these the chorus doesn’t actually appear during this
number. We watched how the backup Doo-Wop singers would move. Small actions
such as stepping from side to side and clicking in time would fit in with
certain sections of the song and would look effective while still keeping the
audience’s focus on Seymour. This small but together movement became a key
feature of the Grow For Me choreography as it also fitted with the Doo-Wop
undertones of the show.
3. What kind of
planning and additional research did you need to support development of this
piece of work?
The first piece of research we did was to watch the
section of the 1986 musical film as well as various different stage versions of
the 4 songs we were choreographing and performing. We then as individuals
searched up the narrative and overall story told in Little Shop, following on
from this we did extensive individual research on the background, context and
creation of Little Shop. We answered questions about the writers of all 3
versions (1960 B-movie, 1982 musical and 1986 film), we compared the versions
and looked into the different cultural aspects which influenced Little Shop.
This included Doo-Wop, America in the 1950s and B-Movies. As a class we also
watched the trailer of the original 1960 B-Movie and looked into the short
story which inspired it. We then looked further into B-movies, watching many
trailers, looking at posters and identifying the key features and how this
related to not just the B-movie of Little Shop but also how this influenced the
over-the-top style of the 1986 movie. We moved on from this and looked into the
social and cultural context of Little Shop. We researched the state of America
in the 1950s and how different characters in the show reflected the society at
the time, this included looking at the role of women in 1950s America and we
watched a series of commercials from the 50s and 60s and saw how this related
to Little Shop of Horrors, specifically the character of Audrey. We then looked
into Doo-Wop. Doo-Wop is hugely relevant in Little Shop of Horrors, the show is
narrated, in a way by 3 Doo-Wop girls and the classic features of Doo-Wop are
very prevalent throughout the Little Shop soundtrack. As previously mentioned,
Ella and I used typical Doo-Wop style moves when choreographing the chorus
section of “Grow For Me” to make it more appropriate for the style and sound of
the show. In terms of character research, I watched the 1986 film in full and
listened to various versions of the 4 songs we were performing as well as the
OBC soundtrack in full. Watching the whole film really helped me to understand
the mind-set of different characters in Little Shop of Horrors, especially my
character “Seymour” as seeing how they act throughout the story helps to create
a more accurate portrayal of each character at the beginning of the show.
4. What were your
individual responsibilities over the course of rehearsal and development and
how did you fulfil them?
My responsibility as a performer over the course of
rehearsal was to know and be confident in what I was doing. To fulfil this I
made sure to pick up staging, directions and choreography as quickly as
possible and remember it as well as I could. I also made sure to learn my
lines, this ensured that I was able to get through scenes more efficiently and
with more characterisation as I wasn’t relying on or getting distracted by a
script. The final way I fulfilled this was by making sure I attended every
rehearsal as it would be an inconvenience to the rest of the cast if I wasn’t
there as someone who have to fill in.
My responsibilities as a designer or backstage
worker were to design the hair, makeup and costumes for Mr Mushnik and Seymour.
In order to fulfil this I used the templates given to me to draw up hair,
makeup and costume designs for them as well as researched the characters and
past productions to give me an idea of what I wanted them to look like.
My responsibilities as a choreographer was to know
and be confident in the movements that Ella and I had created and be able to
teach my classmates effectively. To fulfil this Ella and I made stage plans and
movement charts so we were both very clear on what was happening at all times
throughout “Grow For Me”.
5. How did you work
with your group and in solving problems as they arose during the process?
During the rehearsal process there
were a couple of problems that arose. Firstly, Ella and I had to come up with a
creative solution of how to make the plant (Audrey II) grow at the end of the
song “Grow For Me”. Initially we wanted to have someone under a table and have
them make the plant grow to make it seem like it was growing on its own.
However, we soon realised that this wouldn’t be an option so we had to look at
what else we could do. We then decided to have the plant be a hand puppet so
that Seymour could have it on his arm as he sang Grow For Me and then make it
grow at the end of the song. We passed this on to the prop team and Tilia made
an incredible looking Audrey II that we could use very easily and effectively
to give the illusion that the plant was growing. A second problem that we had
to face was that 2 members of cast weren’t in class for a few weeks. This
created problems at first as we had to get teachers to fill in the lines and it
meant that we couldn’t rehearse as realistically as we could as the spacing
wasn’t as accurate as we had 2 people missing. While this was a problem we
resolved it by teaching them everything they missed and practicing it enough so
by the time the performance came it looked like they had never been gone. I think
our solutions were very effective as none of the problems we faced ended up affecting
the performance.
6. How
effectively did you apply your practical and performance skills in rehearsal,
development and refinement of the project?
In rehearsal I felt like I applied my
practical and performance skills pretty effectively. I made sure I was prepared
and from there tried to act like I was performing on stage to minimise any
mistakes or prevent me from not having enough energy or lack of focus. I also made
sure to act on any notes given to me such as needing to be further forward
during the number “Skid Row” or working on the high notes in “Grow For Me”.
Finally, I made sure to research the character of Seymour so that I’d be able
to enhance my acting and performance skills to create a more accurate
portrayal.
7. What did you take into account when planning production elements of
your piece?
When planning the production elements of
Little Shop I watched different stage productions as well as the 1986 film of
Little Shop for an example of what lighting to use during “Grow For Me”. During the 1986 film Seymour sits in a dimly
lit room but when the plant begins to grow the lighting suddenly focusses on
that. Ella and I used this, as well as Ella’s research on lighting that matched
the mood of the songs to create a lighting plan in notation to give to the
production students. We also gave the productions students the tracks we knew
were correct in terms of pitch and timing and made sure to say if any edits
needed to be made so when we did tech no problems arose and everyone felt
confident with each track. Additionally we gave the production students the
script so that they’d be able to annotate it with any cues for sounds or
lighting.
8. How successfully do you think production elements met the demands of
the scenes/song and dance sections you performed in terms of communicating
theme, context, mood and atmosphere?
I think the production elements met the
demands of the scenes and songs very successfully. A specific example of when
this was particularly successful was during mine and Ella’s song “Grow For Me”.
We designed our lights so that on the word “blood” the lights turn completely
red, this completely changed the mood of the song as it seemed much more
sinister and foreshadowed the fact that from this point on the show gets very
dark. A second effective production was the sound effects of the 2 crashes
Seymour makes off stage. These added another comedic moment as they were very
cartoony which really matched the B-movie, over-the-top element of Little Shop
of Horrors. Overall I think the production elements were extremely successful
in meeting the demands of the piece.
9. How successfully do you think your performance met the demands of the
scenes/sections you performed?
I think that our performance was very
successful in meeting the demands of the scenes and songs we performed. As a
collective, we communicated well to the audience, everyone was confident in
what they were saying or singing at all times and overall the movement and
choreography was accurate and together. I think that I managed to play my role
as Seymour as successfully as I could and I tried to keep in the small details
of Seymour’s mannerisms in my head while performing to help and meet the demand
to a higher level. I felt confident on stage and I think I was able to project
well and communicate Seymour’s personality to the audience.
10. What do you think you have learned about developing work for stage
performance? What might you do differently next time?
Through this process I think I have improved
my devising and choreographing skills. These are skills I’d done small things
with before but this has really helped me to feel more confident with them.
I’ve also learnt a lot about the backstage developmental process for shows. I
know much more about planning costumes, hair, makeup and lighting and now
appreciate how many different elements have to come together for a performance
to be a success. Next time I think I would try harder to keep on top of the
written logs to make sure I remember in more detail what we did day-by-day and
put all of that into a more in-depth account of what happened each rehearsal to
create the performance. Overall however, I really enjoyed learning new skills
and pushing myself to try and do things I hadn’t really done before or had
little experience in.
Dress Run:
Matinee Performance:
Addams Family Evaluation and other repertoire
1. What other repertory pieces have you
worked on this term and what practical knowledge and skills did you use and
develop as part of these projects?
This term we’ve worked on a variety of different repertory pieces. In
singing we began to expand our repertory with songs from older musicals based
on an assignment Charlie gave us over Christmas. I researched 2 old movie
musicals: The Wizard of Oz and My Fair Lady. Charlie then brought in Somewhere
Over The Rainbow and Wouldn’t It Be Luverly for us to begin working on. We’ve also worked on songs from
other older musicals like I Get A Kick Out Of You and Anything Goes from the
musical Anything Goes. More individually however, we’ve expanded our repertory
as a result of our BTEC singing exam where we had to perform a 20 minute set. I
worked on 5 different songs for this and sang So Big/ So Small from Dear Evan
Hansen, Popular from Wicked, Make You Feel My Love by Adele, Good Morning
Baltimore from Hairspray and She Used To Be Mine from Waitress. This definitely
motivated to expand my repertory further and at home I’ve been working on the
songs I’m Not That Girl from Wicked, Promise Me This from The Theory of
Relativity and Somewhere That’s Green from Little Shop of Horrors.
Leah and I also sang a duet at our Little Shop performance, we performed "For Good" from Wicked with Leah singing the part of Elphaba and me singing the part of Glinda. For this number we needed primarily just singing skills but also acting skills as the song is an emotional goodbye between two best friends and we wanted to keep this emotional aspect of the song in our performance. I think doing this number really helped to develop my skills in singing harmony alone. I've found this to be a struggle in the past as I find it much easier if there's someone I can rely on to hold the harmony with but as it was a duet I had to be able to find and hold my harmonies alone which ended up actually being much easier than I initially anticipated and I feel that both Leah and I were able to hold the harmonies effectively during the performances.
For Good Wicked Duet Dress Run:
For Good Wicked Duet Performance:
In Musical Theatre this term we've worked on the song "When You're An Addams" from the Addams Family musical. I really enjoyed this piece as it was great for working on characterisation within musical theatre. We needed acting, singing and dance skills for this piece as we sang all the way through, had some dance sections in the song and had very specific characters to play throughout the number. I felt this really helped me to develop my ability to multi-task and be able to act, sing and dance at the same time as this is, of course, a vital skill to any musical theatre performer. I felt the piece went well in the actual performance and I was able to perform successfully with no errors.
Addams Dress Run:
Addams Performance:
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