evaluation

Evaluation:

Overall, I feel like the performance in general was a success. I feel like everything when quite smoothly despite me making a few errors. I believe I managed to successfully create a strong character that I portrayed very effectively. I also believe that I have managed to address the targets that I set myself at the beginning of this unit, as I believe that I’ve managed to develop many aspects of the musical techniques required in order to create a successful character.

Initially in the dress rehearsals and tech runs we did run into a few problems, but this was just because this was the first time, we’d put the show together as a whole. I felt that the show didn’t run as smoothly as I’d hoped. We also didn’t anticipate the volume of the piano as we’d mainly been rehearsing with the backing tracks, this meant that projection was quite a problem for a lot of us however; the positive side to this is that Ralph would be able to adjust the timing for us so that there was little room for error.

My main strength in the performance was my dancing. I felt comfortable with all of the choreography in every piece, and I think that the ending of “Nowadays” enabled me to show of my strength as a choreographer as well as my performance strengths. A strength of mine was that I was able to think in depth about the characterisation of each of my characters that I played. Especially with the character of Roxie I considered a lot of character development throughout the musical and different ways in which I could portray her development.

My weakness I believe was the harmonising. I really struggled with the harmony in “All that Jazz” mainly because I’m not a confident singer so I tend to try and sing along with others to try and make my voice not be heard. I was focused on what others were singing a lot of the time as I felt that I wasn’t confident enough to do this myself. However, saying that, I feel like this unit has really made me believe in my abilities as a performer and helped me develop my confidence as a whole.

Characterisation:

In terms of characterisation I feel like I was particularly successful in portraying the variety of characters in which I had to play. Playing the main character was a really nice surprise for me because I’ve never actually played a main part in any performance, I’ve been part of. I honestly didn’t expect to get a main part but when I got given it, I know that I needed to give it 100% in order to play this part successfully. It was definitely one of the biggest challenges I’ve had to face, especially then when I knew I had to balance it out with playing other roles and being a part of the company. Being part of the company is my comfort zone and when playing the main part, it definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone, but I feel like it helped me develop my confidence.

I had three roles in the performance I had the main character Roxie, I was a member of the company and I was one of Roxie’s reporters. I had to really switch up the way in which I played each character in order to make it really obvious in which character I was at which time. For example, Roxie is very self-loving and ambitious character, whereas when being a member of the company I had to be quite neutral yet add a little traditional sexy Fosse vibe. There was a definite juxtaposition between all of my characters. I feel like playing these characters helped me to demonstrate my diversity as an actor and helped me to challenge my abilities.

Throughout the performance I feel like I managed to successfully portray each one of these characters in their own ways, for example the facial expressions for each character were incredibly different. Take the reporter, for example, they had to have a really fun and bubbly and vibrant face as they were so besotted by Roxie and they were all about wanting to know about her life and wo she was. Roxie on the other hand had to have a subdued smug face due to the fact that she loved herself and didn’t care for anyone else at all. The company needed to have a sultry yet reserved look as they weren’t really part of the main role, but they helped the audience to gain a general sense of the sexy and sultry vibe of the entire show. Another thing with the company is that the focus isn’t really on you, so you don’t want to have a vibrant smiley ace because you don’t want to steal the limelight from the main role. By doing this effectively I felt it really helped the audience to understand the role and intentions of each character.

With playing Roxie there was a need to demonstrate the character development throughout the performance. In the very beginning she was played by another performer who mainly portrayed her sweet and innocent side, where she’s just becoming fame crazy. Therefore, I felt it was my duty to ensure that the audience could see the switch between the nice, innocent, a little fame driven Roxie, to the really passionate and self-loving character that Roxie is pictured to be in that second half.

The accent was an element that I struggled with. I have never been any good with accents in the first place so once again it was a challenge for me. However, saying that I felt like I took the challenge head on and just gave it my best shot. It wasn’t perfect at all, but it was a starting point for me. I understand that it’s a weakness and something that I may need to consider in the future.

In term of my characters interactions with other characters, I feel like they’re very much the same. Because Roxie is only concerned for herself, she’s quite ignorant to others and the way that they respond to her. If we look at the way that I decided to act when I was around Velma, it was quite similar to the way I acted around really Billy. I feel like I effectively managed to portray to the audience the nature of Roxie’s relationships with others and how they were very much the same. 

However, in the scene where me and Alex argued I almost let my guard down a bit and allowed my character to open up her emotionally unstable side, just to reinforce that the whole performance isn’t just about performing your life it is about living it as well, and there is that little part of people that is a bit weak.

However, a weakness that occurred was when I started to forget my lines in the scene with Velma and Roxie, because I was so worried about forgetting my lines, I feel like my characterisation dropped a little, but it wasn’t too noticeable. I feel like I dealt with it very effectively and sensibly and managed to jump straight back into character.

Energy and stage presence:

As an individual I really felt that I was able to vary the energy in each scene in order to make it effective for certain numbers and scene in the musical. For example with my fight with Alex and the very end number with Zoe and I,I had a rally high level of energy however with the scene I’m in with Alex singing “Razzle Dazzle” I have quite a low level of energy. In scene and numbers where I wasn’t the main part or what should be focused on at the time I had very low energy so that I wouldn’t draw attention to myself and allow the focus to be drawn elsewhere.

I didn’t show my tiredness throughout the show at any point, the only part that I felt was physically demanding was the end number, and even after that I felt like I kept up my stage presence until the very end.

Choreography:

Overall, I still feel like this is my strongest division out of the three. “All that Jazz” I wasn’t there to learn, and I managed to pick that up in one lesson, I feel like this is a clear demonstration in my dancing ability. There wasn’t one part of the dance in any of the numbers where I didn’t feel confident. I felt like I knew all of the choreography really well, which in turn made my performance successful.

At the end of mine and Zoe’s song when we had our own piece to choreograph, it was only a small chunk, but I think that Zoe and I worked effectively together to really ensure that we played to our strength in that section. I also think our ending really matched the crazy upbeat nature of the music; there were lots of acrobatic and flexible tricks that would really be a great way to end a show.

However, I feel like I could’ve considered how each of my characters may have danced, and the dynamics of the movements between characters. For example, with Roxie, she’s quite a delicate little lady so I feel like she would move quite subtly and in the traditional sexy Fosse style. Whereas with the Roxie reporter I feel like their movements would’ve been quite big as they’re attempting to really show up Roxie at that point. And for the company I feel like it would be very small and subtle like Roxie but not so sexy. I feel like if I’d have really considered the dynamics, I think that I would’ve added another layer to characters and really enabled me to characterise even further.

Musicality:

This was definitely one of my weaker elements. However, I feel like I’ve come a long way with this unit. During this unit I’ve gained an understanding further into what is behind singing, in term of finding out what helps you sound better and what you can do to prepare yourself. I feel like I understand what I would need to do in order to find out a harmony through the use of sol-far singing.

Throughout the performance I feel like I was particularly successful with my projection and diction. A lot of the feedback that I was given was centred around projection and diction and I feel like I did put a lot of work into listening to this feedback and really working on it, and this, I think, paid off in the performance. I found that I wasn’t struggling to hear my voice over the piano which indicated to me that I had improved my level of projection and in turn had done this through the help of improving my diction.

Initially I struggled with the harmony in “All that Jazz” but as the rehearsals went on, I found that I was more confident when attempting to learn the harmony with other people, rather than just trying to figure it out by myself. I know I need to learn to be confident singing by myself and not with others, but I feel like this is a step in the right direction in order for me to gain that confidence.

The dynamics I feel like could’ve been a lot better. In “All that Jazz” there was a differentiation between the choruses we sang, and there was a section that was whispered, and then a quieter section during the call and response section with Velma. However, I feel like a lot of the other numbers remained at a static dynamic, there wasn’t any changes in the volume in many of the numbers. I think with using the dynamics in “All that Jazz” it really helped to draw the audience in and really engage them in that number and I feel like by not having done that in all the numbers it disinterested the audience in the musical a little bit.

Costume/prop:

As there were two of us playing Roxie, we decided it would be a good idea to have something in which the audience could identify who was which character. The Velma’s had a garter and the Roxie’s had a head dress. During a lot of the dress rehearsals I had struggled to keep the prop on my head as it kept falling off during the dance. However, I thought this wouldn’t be a problem as I was going to curl my hair and give it some volume on the night. However, my hair didn’t help to keep the head dress on, in fact it made it worse as it kept slipping off because of the hairspray on my hair. But I thought that to overcome this in my scene I would play and fiddle with my hair subtly like I was making it look like I was just being a girly girl and fiddling with my hair. I also decided that after “Razzle Dazzle” when everyone adjusts themselves in the lighting to the next scene, I would adjust my hair and my dress, this was because it’s another indication to the audience that there was a sequence in the show that was performed and now, we are headed back into real life almost.

In terms of my costume I feel like it was appropriate for the traditional fosse style, both the black sequin dress that I wore for Roxie and the leotard and tights that I wore for the rest of the dances. However, on the night there was a bit of a problem with getting the dress on. It was really dark when I was attempting to get the dress on and the guys helping me couldn’t manage to get the dress zipped up, and considering I only had a matter of minutes to get myself sorted to go on, I decided to just go on with my leotard and tights with my little head dress.

In terms of props there wasn’t an issue on the night. However, I did have to put in a lot of effort in order to make sure that this happened. The cane was my biggest worry; the cane looked super effective when everything went smoothly, and it helped to demonstrate my talent and skill. As I mentioned previously the cane sequence was a struggle, but I think it showed my resilience as an individual at the fact that I stuck with it and managed to successfully pull the sequence off.

Alex was originally removing the suitcase for his number “Razzle Dazzle” but I suggested that it may be more effective for him to use that to interact with me. He did forget a few little interactions that we’d discussed which I felt like depleted my characterisation a little bit, mainly because I was waiting for the gesture and when it didn’t happen I didn’t really know what to do with myself in that moment.

Actor/audience relationship:

I think I managed to successfully develop a relationship with the audience through my use of directly addressing them in some of my lines. Particularly when I’m talking about myself and my fame grabbing I felt that by addressing them they would genuinely feel like they would feel like they were a part of this story almost.

I feel like the part where the audience and actor relationship was poignant was the very end during mine and Zoe’s dance. When Zoë and I were singing about messing around with boys, we slyly look at one another and then I winked at the audience, I feel like this involved the audience in the moment and the storyline demonstrating that everyone likes to be a little flirtatious in their lives.

A lot of the staging that we used in the performance helped to create the actor/audience relationship, particularly when I would angle myself further towards the audience when directing the newspaper which had my headline on it. By doing this I was able to spark a reaction from the audience in the sense that many of would probably see what a vain character I was, but in the same way love me for it.

Peer feedback:

I received peer feedback from Keira and she said the following:  

·         She said that my dancing was strong throughout the performance and she felt that I dealt well to learn “all that jazz” in the time that I did.

·         She said that my characterisation with Roxie was really good, she said that my scene with Rachel was really good, the way that I responded to Rachel attempting to really impress me was really comedic.

·         She mentioned about me forgetting my lines in the scene with Rachel, but she said that ire covered really well from it and I managed to carry on which showed my resilience. But she said that I do need to work on making sure that I know my lines so that I don’t drop my characterisation.

·         She said that Zoe and I had really good timing together in our dance at the end. She also said that I had really good facial expressions throughout and you couldn’t tell that I was concentrating.

All of this feedback I’m really happy with because a lot of the things she commented on I’d really worked hard to ensure that they were perfect. However the constructive feedback they gave me was about learning my lines, and I understand that this is something to work on. In future I think I need to make learning my lines a priority in order to develop my characterisation and then during the performance I wouldn’t drop the characterisation that I’d been working hard on.

Future targets:

When reflecting on the targets I set myself at the beginning of this unit and I feel like I have worked well on all of them. Especially with developing my knowledge in and around the world of singing. I feel a lot more confident that I ever was with singing; I now understand what group I’m in for singing so now there’s no need to play a guessing game when singing. I’ve learned about numerous techniques such as sol-far singing and I now know how to apply this. In terms of my characterisation I feel like I have definitely met this target, this is because I have spent a lot of time researching my character and thinking about the way they would react in real life and what their intentions and morals are.

 I feel like after this performance I need to set some more targets that will help me develop my musical theatre techniques, therefore I’m going to set myself the following targets:

1.       To keep developing my knowledge around signing techniques and understand the ways and which I can develop my singing voice.

2.       To make learning my lines a priority so that it doesn’t hinder my performance later on.

3.       To apply the knowledge that I have gathered throughout this unit top my future performances.

Monday 10th December 2018

On Tuesday we began a tech and dress rehearsal. This is where the show really starts to come together. We get to see what staging works with the lights and costumes and props. As a cast we did discover that there wasn’t really an offstage in the space that we were working in. which initially we felt would be a problem because we wouldn’t have anywhere for costume changes or to have props or to wait for our next scene. We did think about how we could overcome this, and we thought about when we weren’t acting, we could be sat at the side f the stage almost watching the show, as it’s all about performing your life. But as a group we decided against it for a few reasons, one because it may be difficult for the audience to understand what our purpose of being there was especially if they don’t really know the show that well and understand the plot. Secondly, it would be really difficult for us as performers to keep switching in and out of characterisation and it would be hard for us to keep it up that whole time. It would take a large amount of professionalism in order to keep up the act for the whole show. Therefore, we decided to strategically ensure that every person who went off on which side knew which scene they were in and that they were on the correct side for their entrance into that scene. There was a small space on the right-hand side behind the black curtain for a few people and the rest of the cast members would have to be in the small space beside the audience, but they would be in the dark and hardly seen.

So, we managed to get halfway through the tech run which helped us to get a good idea of what the show would begin to look like as a whole.

On Thursday we completed the other half of the tech run which meant we got to the end of the show. Sam mentioned to me and Alex that he felt that our scene got too tense to quickly, he said that the real crescendo of the argument is when I say, “it’s me they want to see not you”. He said that it felt like we were trying to force the argument to happen. I completely agree with what he was saying because we were forcing an unnecessary argument, but the purpose of this was to really create a show like feel, as they are performing this to an audience within the show, we wanted it to really feel like it was put on for the show rather than it being realistic. we decided to take on board this feedback and just tone the first part of the argument down a little. By doing this then the argument would end up sparking from when Alex grabs my neck, which is cause for an argument I believe.

We were having a final rehearsal later on in the day which would give us time throughout the day to really think about our lines and consider what needed prioritising after the rehearsal later on.

So, we completed the final rehearsal and I found that I was still struggling with my monologue in the scene. I rally feel like this is going to be a problem during the show because no matter what I do I get so worried about forgetting it because there hasn’t been a time when I’ve remembered it. Every time I get to the monologue, I start to worry about forgetting and then just worry about it. I did mention this to Rachel and said that if I forget it, I will just say “nothing personal” which will then cue her next line just so that there’s no awkward pause.

After the final run, I went and sat down and highlighted my monologue in several different colours and read over it several times to try and really drill it into my head. I then went and stretched n order to relax myself and ensure that I was fully warmed up and prepared for the show. 

Monday 3rd December 2018

On Tuesday we mainly worked on reviewing choreography simply because Nadine’s feedback mentioned a lot of worried faces and not feeling so confident during the dances. I felt particularly confident with the choreography itself, but just when I have to worry about adding in harmonies. However, saying this I feel like its definitely improved since the beginning of rehearsals. At the beginning I really struggled to add the two together which meant that the dancing was often messy, and the singing wasn’t particularly great. But now I feel confident with singing and dancing together but it’s just the harmonies that I’m struggling with.

We tried out the harmony with Rachel just singing the harmony and I feel like it was a very good decision to make because I’m not confident wit that harmony and now that we have some of the louder singers doing that bit as well it makes me feel like I’m able to really go for it rather than not. We also ran Roxie which was a little bit out of tune to begin with, but I think this was because people weren’t sure of which part they were supposed to be singing and then also getting confused with the choreography. So, Nadine broke it down for us again just to clarify the dance, so we’d be comfortable when we got time with Ralph to go over the singing part as well.

Me and Alex took ourselves off to a practice room to rehearse the scene with the frilly dress which Nadine said about Alex’s back facing the audience. We blocked through the movements that we did and made sure that Alex and I knew who moved when and what line that corresponded to and we also made sure that either one of us had our backs facing towards the audience. Whilst Alex and I had the practice room I thought it might be a good idea to work on our interaction in the song “Razzle Dazzle” just because the feedback we were given mentioned that I looked out of place. I thought that if Alex and I interacted more then my presence on the stage would make more sense. By making my character feel particularly angry about what is happening in the song, that being Alex/Billy getting all the attention, I decided that I should be quite reluctant to interact or even talk to him in the song, therefore he would need to be quite persistent. It would be almost as if he was showing off to me and I hated that. The movement consisted a lot of me turning away from him in an attempt to ignore him and then him turning me back around and getting in my face quite a lot. It just helps to reinforce the relationship between the two, how Roxie isn’t really interested in anything but fame and that when it’s stolen from her, she’s not too happy about it.

Zoe and I decided to show Nadine how we were getting on with “Nowadays/Hot Honey Rag”. Personally, I felt that we’d made a really big improvement over the few weeks we’d spent on it. I definitely felt a lot more comfortable with the singing and the choreography and feel like in costume It will look particularly effective. Nadine said that she was really happy with how far it had come and there were only a few little things with timing that needed clearing up that she would go over with us afterwards. But she did say that mine and Zoe’s interaction whilst singing still wasn’t quite up to scratch. I still think this is because we are really focusing on getting that singing right, we’re still concentrating on using diction and ensuring that we are in the right key. However, saying that, this is the final performance of the show, this is the scene where both Velma and Roxie have got everything that they wanted, they’re famous and I think that we need to show that through our interaction with one another. One of the ways that I thought we could do this is make more eye contact with one another, make it as though we are trying to outperform one another but still keep it to the level where we know we couldn’t do it without one another.

On Thursday we worked on the judge scene again. As a group we felt that Keira’s entrance was sort of unprovoked and we needed something that would cause her to come on. In “All that Jazz” when Fred Casely gets shot, we used balloons to make the sound of a gunshot, we thought this would be good to use in this scene as well because it would give us cast members onstage something to react to, and for the lines to be cut off and then Keira to burst in. this also helps the audience what’s happening in the scene and makes Keira’s line make sense. The shooting that takes place creates a juxtaposition between the court scene that is occurring, because my killing and committing of crimes is over and a new character has come in and started that all over again. After Keira’s lines have been said all of the cast except Alex and I need to exit the stage, we decided that it would be a good idea for them to rush off of the rostra at the back and for me to climb that rostra in a hurry to try and get attention from the reporters. It’s at this point where I’ve realised, I’ve lost my claim to fame and when I deliver these lines, I’m just grasping hold of hats left of that fame by almost performing my lines to Billy.

 Rachel and I finally got to work our scene just after “I can’t do it alone”. Throughout the song she thought it would be a good idea for me to basically ignore her for the whole song, however I thought that there could be little gestures or raises of her voice in order to grab my attention to really show the opposite natures of our characters at this particular moment, with Velma being very pleading and demanding and Roxie being very uptight and refusing. I felt that with a few of her gestures and voice raises it would add a comedic nature to the story and help to entertain the audience more. First of all, we decided that the use of a small newspaper that had the headline “Roxie rocks Chicago” on it, this helps to portray Roxie’s vain nature, and helps to add a comedic element to the scene. One of the first gestures we implicated was with Rachel smacking the paper into my face, we felt like this really showed how uninterested they both are in one another, which adds that comedic element as they’re both so unaware of how much they actually need each other. 

At the very end of the scene after I’ve finished my little monologue I decided that it would be a good idea to use the newspaper again, because my line is “Nothing personal”, and I thought that I would hold that newspaper up and point towards it and sort of show myself off to the audience to really depict my self-loving nature to them. The whole monologue before that is all about how the world and everyone in it loves Roxie now and not Velma. So, for a lot of the monologue I decided it would be a good idea for me to remain just in front of Velma as it would demonstrate how I now have that power that Velma used to have. I decided to put in a lot of mannerisms that Roxie may have in this monologue and throughout the song, for example, touching my hair, looking at and buffing up my nails, all things that scream I love myself, just so that it is abundantly clear to the audience.

On Friday the group showed Richard what we’d been working on. He gave us the following feedback:

1.       The movement that we had included was great it really reflects the plot of the scene and represents what the story is about, with the idea of the grabbing hold of the last moments of fame etc.

2.       The use of the gunshots before Keira’s lines was brilliant it really helps the audience understand what’s going on and helps Roxie to develop her jealous character even further.

3.       Roxie (me) needs to make sure that there’s a really obvious and distraught acknowledgement of what’s happening. Just make the reaction really big as its almost the end of your career and your life.

4.       When the cast members left, and Roxie moves up the rostra acknowledge them as well almost push them out of the way as they’re getting in the way of your last moments of fame.

5.       Work on the final few lines delivered in the scene, make sure that there is somewhere for the two characters left to finish onstage.

After we’d received this feedback, we spent the rest of the lesson applying this to the scene. The feedback given really helped me to understand how in depth my character must be. Richard spoke to me about thinking about myself in the situation, he mentioned that any person would react to something that was said or a noise that was heard and that I need to think about that as my character. I need to consider what’s important to my character and what would spark the most emotion from my character. So, when thinking about this, I decided that this is probably the poignant scene for my character as it decides her fate, and in this case it’s not the outcome she wanted, now I have to really react to that.

For the final lines that me and Alex deliver, we decided to have me remain upstage because I’ve lost my limelight now. Initially I had been running down to join Alex at the front, but by keeping me behind Alex it reinforces the idea that he is the one who has won and not Roxie. We decided to end the scene with Alex sauntering off to his exit music and leave Roxie onstage, as this represents that Billy Flynn has a place to be and somewhere to go in life and Roxie doesn’t anymore.

Monday 26th November 2018

On Tuesday the rest of the group began with working on “Razzle Dazzle”. I am in this scene, but I’m just sort of sitting around watching this all unfold. So, I decided it would be more beneficial for me and Zoe to go off and work on our piece to ensure that we were 100% confident with the song. So, we ran over the piece as a whole and identified that the cane piece still wasn’t as strong as we’d like it. It was much better after the breaking down and working on our faces that we did the other week, so we decided to try it again but this time work together to identify where we went wrong and that we were both in time together. Sam mentioned to us at the end of last week that we really need to use diction in order to get our volume up on the song as it’s quite low, so both Zoe and I went through the script and identified the parts where we felt that the volume dropped and we ran over this and tried to use Sam’s idea about diction in order to get the volume up.

I decided it would be a good idea for me to familiarise myself with the Razzle Dazzle choreography so that I would know how to react and what to react to. So, I spent the last 10 minutes of the lesson watching their choreography. Nadine told us that on Thursday we would be having a mock exam. This shocked us all because everyone felt that the show was nowhere near ready. For me this acted almost as a warning light as I knew that I wasn’t comfortable with any of my scenes in terms of my lines.

So, Thursday came around and I’d been working tirelessly to attempt to learn my lines and I felt fairly comfortable with most of the scenes apart from mine and Rachels scene. This was manly because it hadn’t really been pieced together much like everything else had. Rachel wasn’t here on Thursday as she had an audition for university and I was well aware that the real date for the exam was getting closer and we still hadn’t pieced it together yet, so it was worrying me, but this meant that I still had time to familiarise myself with the lines.

So, the mock I felt didn’t go half as bad as what I was expecting. It wasn’t perfect, in fact it was far from it, but I was relatively happy. We did have to skip over I can’t do it alone as Rachel wasn’t her but the work Zoe and I had put into Nowadays and Hot Honey Rag really did pay off and we both couldn’t stop smiling throughout because everything was going right. Nadine then gave us some feedback:

1.       She said that the singing and choreography for all that jazz needed a bit of clarification, she said that the beginning was strong, but it was when we got to the call and response bit was when it kind of fell apart and became messy. A lot of us knew that it’d fallen apart when we were doing it as we were all looking at one another in desperation praying that one of us was confident with what we were doing.

2.       Roxie boys it was clear that we weren’t confident with the dance and it really showed in our faces and that we should be more confident with the dance.

3.       In mine and Alex’s first scene together, it was mentioned that Alex kept facing his back to the audience and that he needed to make sure that he was facing the front, this was partially my fault because I keep turning away from him in an attempt to almost conceal myself away from him and he often would try and get me to look at him.

4.       During Razzle Dazzle it was mentioned that I look a bit out of place, and I completely agreed, I really felt like I didn’t know how to react to what was going on, I didn’t know whether to be shocked because he’d stolen the limelight or angry about it. I figured this would be something that I needed to talk to Richard about.

5.       Another thing that was said was that during Razzle Dazzle when Alex run up the stairs was that he needs to be careful on the rostra staging because if he’s wearing socks he could easily slip over and really hurt himself, I need to think about this as well because I don’t own any jazz shoes and had just planned on wearing black socks, so I need to be careful if I do get up on the rostra.

6.       Nadine said that Nowadays was okay, but we need to interact with one another more when we are singing. I think because both of us aren’t confident singers we’re focusing a lot when we’re singing to make sure it sounds alright and we often forget about our faces. So, I think this is something that we need to work on during our spare time rather than wasting lesson time on it.

7.       After Zoe and I had finished our dance no one really knew what was going on afterwards so, Nadine mentioned that this was something that we needed to clarify nearer the show.

On the Friday everyone was mainly working on what they felt needed the most work. We began by clarifying the harmony in All that Jazz, we decided that it would be better for more people to do the higher harmony and for Rachel to do the lower harmony as she’s comfortable with it and she has quite a naturally loud voice. We then ran over Roxie for all of the boys in the scene and really worked on knowing the choreography and ensuring our faces didn’t look like we didn’t know what we were doing. And then I spent a lot of the lesson just writing down my lines and reading them over and over again as I feel like this is the most beneficial way for me to get to know my lines. Rachel wasn’t here again so if she was, we would’ve gone over our scene together, but I figured I would learn the lines so that when she was in, we could instantly get to rehearsing without scripts which would benefit our characterisation and rehearsal process.  I did mention briefly to Richard about how I should react in Razzle Dazzle and he said that he would opt for the angrier kind of reaction just because the whole show is about Roxie gaining the limelight and then all of a sudden he has it. He said that we would work on it during the tech runs when we would have some time to work with props and lighting as well. 

Monday 19th November 2018

Tuesday began with Zoe and I doing the choreography for our number “Nowadays/ Hot Honey Rag”. When I did the audition, I did mention to Nadine that I would preferably like to do this number as it’s my favourite. I like this number because you have the calming nature of the song which then compares to the jazzy upbeat nature of the dance break. However, I’ve only ever watched the film version of Chicago I’d never actually seen the production onstage, so when Nadine mentioned that we were taking the choreography right from the stage I was a bit worried that I wasn’t going to enjoy it as much.  But I was completely wrong, it was very different to the film version, it was a traditional Fosse style, which is out of my comfort zone. But I still really liked it. I felt that once I was comfortable with the choreography I could really add in my fun-loving, a little mischievous, character.

As I’ve mentioned several times, I’m not a comfortable singer. Although I feel like I’ve come a long way in this unit with developing my understanding of sol-far singing and how your body and breathing techniques assist your voice, I definitely have a long way to go. With the song “Nowadays” you use a chest voice, which is great because that’s my comfort zone, however, the song does remain pretty low which makes it harder for me to project my voice. Alongside this I had other things to worry about such as staying in tune, ensuring that my characterisation was perfect and then also worrying about the movement.  As a dancer this came as a challenge to me because I’m used to just worrying about the movements and my facial expressions, this is a whole new ball park. Considering that I’m not 100% confident in one of the areas in which I need to focus on I feel like the dancing and characterisation may suffer a little bit for it.

We completed “Nowadays” which was mainly singing which enabled me to concentrate on my singing especially in the first verse/chorus and we just stand, but with this needs to be some good characterisation in order to keep the audience interested because if not I’m just going to be stood there singing and it’s going to be fairly boring for them. Where the dance element really starts is when we complete a cane sequence. By adding the use of the cane to the performance makes it more challenging for us as performers but enables us to show off to the audience a little bit. Initially I struggled with the cane sequence, but I didn’t want to give up because I felt that it would look really effective if me and Zoe could get it perfectly synchronised. After we’d had a few attempts at this we began to understand the timing of each part of the sequence, however we decided that it would be more beneficial to carry on and learn the rest of the choreography rather than worry about making everything perfect as this could be done at another time.

We then proceeded to learn the choreography for the dance to “Hot Honey Rag”. I was particularly excited for this part as this was the whole reason, I auditioned to be Roxie in the first place. As this is the showstopping piece both Zoe and I knew that it had to be spectacular, therefore both of us were very willing to work hard on this piece to ensure that it was perfect. As we were both strong dancers, we were able to pick up the choreography fairly easily, so we learnt it quite fast. This allowed us some time at the end to polish a few things. Since we’d learnt this so efficiently it meant that we would later have time to focus on the signing and characterisation of the piece, Nadine also left about 16 counts at the end of the piece for our own choreography. Zoe and I briefly spoke about what we could put here, and we both decided that we need to play to our strengths here and incorporate our flexibility into it somehow in order to wow the audience.

On Thursday we began with our regular warm up and then we found out that we were going to be working on our song today (Nowadays). We felt that it would be beneficial if we consolidated what we learnt on Monday so that we were confident with that first and then we could incorporate the singing as we went. First of all, Zoe and I sat down and had a conversation about parts that we were unsure of within the piece and then we talked about the ending. We’d already established that we needed to put something at the end that was particularly impressive, therefore I said that my strengths included leaping and turning, and Zoe’s strengths happened to be the same. Therefore, we decided that we had a base idea for the ending. So, we began with our weaknesses in the choreography and we went over those first, this included the cane sequence, and then we began to construct the ending.

I was still struggling with the cane sequence. Personally, I think because I’m not used to dancing with a prop it became difficult for me to incorporate this in the piece. However, I had a good idea that may help out the both of us. I suggested that if we both performed the sequence to one another and then the other one could point out where it was going wrong and where it could possible be improved. I went first, and Zoe mentioned that I knew exactly what I was doing but she could tell that I was worried about dropping the cane because she could see it in my face. This definitely needed to be sorted out because it’s great if I know what I’m doing, and it goes well but if I drop my characterisation then the audience are going to lose interest. I then watched Zoe and noticed the same thing, so we decided that it would be beneficial to us to break it down section by section and then work on our characterisation alongside it. That was we would not only begin to feel comfortable with knowing what we were doing we could then remember to include our facial expressions alongside it.

For the ending we included a sequence of leaps and turns and decided to end it with the splits, thus making it a grand finale for the audience. We felt that this would be a good use of levels within the performance as a lot of the performance had been completed pretty upright, in the traditional Fosse angular style.

Then Ralph came in and we began to go through the song. The first starting point was that Ralph pointed out to us that we’d been singing the first two nowadays wrong. The first nowadays was lower than we thought and the second one was higher than we thought. He pointed out that if we looked at his score you could see the difference between the two notes. We weren’t given scores, so we didn’t know this, but this helped me out in understanding why a score was so important. I’d heard several members of the group question why they didn’t have a score, but I was confused as to why they were worried because they had the lyrics, but now I understand. Because if you look at the score, the way you’re supposed to sing the song matches the way that ralph plays, which would’ve helped us in understanding how high/low we would’ve needed to sing the nowadays. We then sang through the rest of the song and Ralph was happy with the way it sounded, but he did mention that we need to be louder, which I knew would be a problem for me anyway, he suggested that we stand tall and think about the sound coming from the front of our mouths and ensure that we use diction.

Sam began the lesson by talking to us about the importance of diction. He said that using diction is like using a microphone. If you place your hand in front of that microphone and sing you won’t be heard but if you remove that hand, then you shall be heard. By using diction, it assists with your projection. Therefore, I feel like I need to consider this when singing “Nowadays” to help me project more.

After this we ten attempted to sing, dance and act the whole thing together. Honestly, I thought it was going to be a car crash, but it wasn’t. the singing we focused on in the beginning I thought a lot about the use of diction. The cane sequence went particularly well even though I could see my face dropping at several points when catching myself in the mirror. The ending we added was a little messy and needed fixing, but Ralph and Sam said that for a first time run through it was particularly successful, but they both mentioned that characterisation was key. So, I think the next step forward would be to ensure that our characterisation remains constant.

Friday Nadine came in and took Rachel off to do “I can’t do it alone”. I knew that I’m sat there during her performance, but she suggested that she should learn it and get more comfortable with it first before I come in which I felt was a valid point on her behalf. So, I went off with everyone else to go over the Roxie/ reporter scene and dance with Richard.  First, we performed the scene and the dance in its entirety so that Richard could gather and idea of what we’d got so far. I think it’s safe to say the dance fell apart a little. Nobody thought to video the dance when we did it, so we all forgot what was happening and that was Richard’s first comment, that the dance needed working on. His second comment was discussing how we were going to make an obvious transition from the reporters to Roxie’s boys. He suggested the potential use of a prop or additional piece of costume that would distinguish us from the characters. I began to think outside the box a little bit and instead of having a costume or prop I decided that I would use my characterisation instead of obviously changing/ getting rid of a prop. I felt that this would enable me to show off my dramatic skills. So, for the reporters I’m very much like a show off, wanting my headline to be the most heard and the most startling, and then for my boy I’ve constantly got a performance face, quite sultry but I don’t try to steal Roxie’s limelight, I’m quite neutral and quiet.

Richard then spent some time working with Roxie and going over her monologue, whilst this was happening, I decided to grab hold of my script and clarify what parts of Roxie I was actually singing as I still wasn’t quite sure. I felt that this would be a more useful display of my time rather than just sitting there. After this was finished, we then collectively went over the dance and song. Richard mentioned that we all looked unsure and that we should break it down and go over everything and then slowly piece it back together, much like me and Zoe did. I find this type of practice useful because it helps me to remember the choreography and then add in the other elements (singing and dancing) into the mix, with maximum efficiency and minimal confusion.

During this Rachel had started on her choreography for “I can’t do it alone” with Nadine. So after we'd finished going over Roxie, I took this opportunity to ensure that I was running over my lines as I have quite a chunky paragraph after she finishes her performance. I’m never very good with remembering lines and I feel like this is a definite weakness of mine and something that throughout these processes I have gotten better at. I also began to think about my potential responses to her actions and some of the things she says, I thought about how I would sit at that table almost angling myself away from her to really show my dislike towards her. Rachel has a few little jokes that are imbedded into the song and I thought that when she says those lines, I would acknowledge how stupid those jokes were and accent them with an eye roll or a really sarcastic laugh just to reiterate to the audience my pure dislike for Velma.

 After I finish the Roxie dance, I have to rush of quickly and get changed into my Roxie costume in that time I realised I only have one very short scene to do this, which I think is going to be a bit of a problem for me. So, we began working on the scene before mine and Zoe's dance and found out that this scene relied on timing the action with the lines. For example, Lex says will the defendant please rise, and at that point I have to rise onto the staging that I’m stood in front of, Keira bursts in and says her lines and cuts someone off and that then result in everyone rushing out. So as a group we need to make sure that everyone knows their cues and that the scene flows rather than keep starting and stopping. The song before this is “Razzle Dazzle” and everyone who is in the judge scene is in “Razzle Dazzle” including me, so we decided that we needed to consult Richard on how one scene would flow into the other next lesson as we'd run out of time.

Monday 12th November 2018

We began with the same warm up in dance as per usual, but I’ve often been doing the warm up in socks and today when we were moving around I kept finding that I was sliding around a lot. So I thought it would be a good idea to remove them in case I fell whilst dancing. We did the warm up with the star-jumps and the counting again, and once again I was able to project more and I found that I wasn’t so out of breath afterwards. Today I would be dancing as we were doing the choreography to “Roxie” in which I’m a part of the company. However before the dance occurs there is a group of reporters that all say a headline of a different news paper. As we read our these lines I discovered that I was using the same voice that I used for when I’m being Roxie, now considering that someone else is playing her at the moment I figured that it would be best if I changed my pitch/ tone of my voice so that it’s different.

We continued on to the dance which is mainly all about Roxie, therefore I decided that my character should be quite subdued and not too elaborate as the focus really needs to be on her at the time. A lot of our movements are the same as hers but not quite as big, by filling down our movements it makes her stand out more and us seem like the back ups like we are. The company have to sing in this song as well which I’d completely forgotten about because I was so focused on the dancing. When Nadine played the backing track we all haven’t it our best shot but none of us really knew what we were singing so we decided as a group that this needed to be worked on with Ralph, so for the duration of the dance we mainly sang. Although we need to concentrate on both elements (dancing and singing) it allowed us to get the motor programme of the dance in our heads and that way we would be able to focus on the singing as we’d be confident with the dance.

We then did a run through of “All That Jazz”. Personally I feel that I coped very well considering I learnt the dance in one lesson and very quickly. I remembered the base choreography however because we’ve lost someone from the class it really confused me as to where I need to be in the spacing for certain parts and everyone got a bit muddled. So for most of the run through I stayed at the back of the space to ensure that I could still go over the main choreography and not get in anyone’s way doing it. After the dance was over everyone agreed that there were certain bits that we needed to go over, so we refined these and then did a run through again. We added in the singing as well and I noticed that I was able to reach the note of the harmony and everyone else did as well so it sounded really good!

On Thursday’s lesson we began with Sam talking to us about the difference between a tone and a semitone. A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone and it is the smallest musical interval. It is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically. It is defined as the interval between two adjacent notes in a 12-tone scale. A tone is an interval equalling two semitones. For example, the distance between C and D is a tone, because between C and D there is a distance of two flats (from C to C# and from C# to D). In terms of instruments a classic guitar, electric guitar, bass, ukulele, and many more, each fret corresponds to a semitone. We completed a very similar warm up compared to last week, beginning with our breathing exercises, which meant breathing in for 8 counts and exhaling for 10 counts. Before we started rehearsals for Chicago I was never able to understand or know how to control my breathing and ever since these rehearsals I’ve been able to develop my understanding and control of my breathing, which in turn assists me with my singing.

We then began with singing over “Roxie”, this was particularly beneficial for me because although I know the song, I know it from the perspective of singing it as Roxie, not the company. Once it had been clarified which parts the company sing and what they don’t, I was able to understand how the chorography links with the song. The song almost works as a conversation between Roxie and her “Boys”. For this song I had to also consider my portrayal of the “boy” that I’m playing, simply because I don’t want to be acting feminine because one, I’m not and two, I don’t want to act in the same way that I do when I’m Roxie because I’m not her at this point. After we’d finished doing this the others went over “Cell Block Tango” as they were still unsure of it, so I decided to go into another practice space and try and match up the singing with the choreography so that I was sure of which piece came where.

Singing and dancing at the same time has never been my strong point as I don’t have a naturally strong voice in the first place, so this particular musical is quite challenging. In terms of the choreography it’s not necessarily complex it’s just concentrating on two of the elements at one time can be difficult, and in order to make the performance successful both of these need to be of good quality. If you can sing really well but can’t remember the dance then it’s just going to look atrocious. So I felt like this is a very important thing for me to focus on in order to make my performance successful. Initially I struggled because I couldn’t remember the choreography because I was focusing on ensuring that my singing was in the right pitch etc. so I decided in order to make this practice beneficial I should break it down by verse and chorus and make sure that I was happy with both the singing and the choreography before moving on. I found this to be particularly helpful in assisting me with working on both singing and dancing at the same time.

Then on Friday’s lesson we started off with a gentle run through of “All That Jazz”. We simply marked through the choreography so that we could gently warm up and not sprain any muscles but also to ensure that the spacing and arrangements were correct and so they could be corrected if needed. It also allowed us to keep refreshing our minds with the song and choreography so that we wouldn’t forget about it.

After this we started going through the scene with “Roxie”. We began with the reporter scene before the song ensuring that everyone one understood how the scene would finish and how we would then enter as the boys. We had a brief discussion about showing the difference between us being reporters and then into Roxie’s showcase boys. We decided that as the reporters we should have a prop or some kind of coat that would identify us as reporters and then remove this to then be in all black for the dance. Roxie went over her monologue which allowed us to hear the first part of the song which she sings and performs be herself and then allow us to know our cue when to come in. then we clarified our spacing and formations which then allowed all of us to try the whole scene again. This rehearsal process I find to be very helpful because we as the performers get to hear our cues and understand how the show will work on the night. I don’t find it helpful when we learn the choreography and the song but then don’t know the scene beforehand or afterwards to know what happens before and after the dance, an as to where we enter and exit the stage.

Following this Richard came in to assist me and Alex with our scene that we performed to Nadine last week. We talked together through what we’d already worked on in terms of our placement and our costumes and then we performed our piece to Richard. He then helped us with the corrections that Nadine mentioned last week in terms of building and dropping the tension. He then added a few additional changes. The first one was to do with Alex telling me about what I should wear, he suggested that Alex should get closer to me, so much so that I would need to bend my back in order to get away from him. However the way he should do this, is that it should almost be choreographed so that it reminds the audience that we’re still performing our lives in a show. I really felt that this suggestion would help the audience as well as my performance as when Alex gets closer me it’s almost like he’s telling me that he’s the boss and that I should listen to him, which helps decrease the tension and that point.  The other suggestion that he made was that instead of Billy almost grabbing Roxie’s neck he should actually grab it, this also helped to show Billy’s rage but and then drop the tension for Roxie, and then allow her to explode after this. The final suggestion that was made was about our staging. Originally we had Roxie enter upstage but it was suggested that we move it so that she comes into parallel with Billy as it shows there is equal power at that point and then when Billy moves closer to me the audience can see the movement of the feet.  

Monday 5th November 2018

On Tuesday we began with the same rehearsal as last week including the physical and vocal warm up. To my surprise I was able to get in more air and project my singing a bit more than last week. Already I can see a difference in my vocal ability and that’s just from one exercise! The rest of the group were working on “Cell Block Tango” which I’m not in. Therefore me and Alex decided tht we would try and work on a scene together.

We decided to work on the scene right before Roxie and Billy go into the courtroom. In this particular scene there’s a lot of tension between them two. We first thought it would be helpful to actually listen to the accent that they use in the versions in order to help us pick up the accents ourselves
Considering that we’re both not so confident with the accents. In many versions that I’ve watched Roxie is portrayed in a variety of different ways, in the film version she’s quite uptight and snaps at anything Billy says, however in the Broadway versions on YouTube she’s made out to be quite scared and snaps at Billy only at the very end which helps to build the tension in the scene. We began by watching the previous versions of this scene so that we could gather the ideas for staging and costumes etc. We discovered that there was a lot of changes in the staging in the sense of the shifting of power, Roxie would often move downstage or upstage to parallel Billy, and they’d often end up facing one another at the peak of the argument.

We really liked tthe idea in the shifting of staging so we started of with Roxie upstage and she’s complaining about the dress, as in essence she’s the protagonist. Then we had her move downstage when Billy begins to shout about telling her what to do, she remains downstage until she starts complaining again about her not getting enough “showtime” this is when they become parallel with one another. We felt like this is a poignant point to show the audience that this whole thing is a show by adding in some over dramatic shouting and excess drama such as Billy almost grabbing hold of Roxie’s neck.

I thought that in order to portray my character successfully I should aim to include a range of emotions in this scene to not only develop my character but to portray to the audience the “show-like” nature of this production. I decided to begin with my character just being meant as she’s just in disgust about the dress, I feel like by doing this it shall help to begin the scene as quite calm and then allow it to escalate as it develops. When we decided to add in Billy grabbing my neck it was quite a heated moment so I felt like I should tone down my aggressive nature when this occurs so that it comes as more of a shock to the audience, I decided that this should cause my character to act a bit shocked in order to fuel her aggressiveness when they begin to swear at one another.

We briefly discussed the use of our costumes. Alex felt that due to the formal nature of the event to come we should dress accordingly including my horrible lace dress. By having the horrible lace around my neck it’s a clear contrast to what I would usually wear which shows that Billy is controlling her. Usually Roxie would be dressed in quite sultry black tight clothing so by wearing a loose incredibly horrid dress it allows the audience distinguish Billy controlling nature. When running through the scene we found that at the start the scene was a bit empty, Billy was just waiting for me to enter, so Alex decidedly that he would bring a briefcase and a load of papers aligned on a table and when he starts talking about who says what he would then rifle through those papers. This helps to add to the “show-like” nature of the performance, where the papers could be inferred as scripts.

Thursday’s began with us warming up with similar warm ups to last week, apart from instead of the counting we did a different exercise. The group would walk around the space and partner up and then we would label ourselves one or two. One’s would then act out their morning routine and two’s would have to copy. It’s not particularly musically important but in terms of a drama perspective it allowed us to get into the mind of our characters and their traits and the way they may act. It was then suggested to us that our character may sing in a different was to what we do as an individual. For example the use of an accent and how that may differ our singing voices.

Next we were told about the importance of sol-far. This is basically the idea that you can look at a score of music and sight-sing the notes in that score, basically knowing how it sounds like before you sing it. Unique syllables are linked to each note of the musical scale, for example, do,re,mi,fa,sol,la,ti etc. Sam added a hand gesture to represent every syllable for every note. It helps to provide and visual back up for identifying intervals (which are intervals between notes). The use of sol-far can help you figure out harmonies as well, by matching the end note of which you want to harmonise and then using do, re, mi, find the third note up from the end note! I never understood how to figure out a harmony and I think by being shown this I’ll be able to figure out my own harmonies when singing things like a duet.

After we’d been told about sol-far singing we then applied it to our harmonies in “All That Jazz”. After last week I really struggled to find the lower note and I think this was because it wasn’t the tune and that’s what I’m used to singing so I decided to go into the sopranos. Even though I’m not naturally a soprano I felt like this was easier for me to sing. The way sol-far was applied was that because the tune is higher we used do,re,mi downwards to find the third. In my opinion I felt more confident singing the higher and felt tht I could sing louder than what I was in the lower group because I felt more confident.

The group then began singing over “Cell Block Tango”. I’m not in this number so Alex and I went into another space and went over our scene together. We felt relatively happy with our staging ideas so far, so we did several run throughs but without our scripts this time. I think over the course in musical theatre I’ve got a lot better at learning my lines and realising the importance of having to know the lines because I know how much it can hinder rehearsals and your character development. 

On Friday the group went over “Cell Block Tango” both singing and dancing, so me and Alex were left to our own devices again. We were very confident with our scene and decided we would work on our songs together. Alex did his solo first and I noticed that he was often looking down and not giving it as much personality as he would if he was acting. I gave him this point as feedback and then acknowledged that I need to do this myself, as it enables me to develop my character and make it believable to the audience. My song is “Nowadays” which is a duet with Zoe but she was doing “Cell Block Tango” so I decided it would be a good idea to familiarise myself with the lyrics so when it came to going through the song with Ralph I would be prepared. I also figured that by watching the previous versions on YouTube I could gather a few ideas about props and staging etc so that me and Zoe could have a discussion later on about these elements.

At the end of the lesson Nadine called us in to show her what me and Alex had me working on with our scene.  After we’d performed she mentioned that the tension in this scene is supposed to rise and fall, but in our scene the tension remains quite high as we just end up shouting towards one another a lot. After thinking about the performance I felt like we could change the volume of our voices at various parts in order to deplete the tension and then allow it to rise again.