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.
