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.