Little Shop of Horrors - rehearsals week 5 (1st - 5th June)

This week, we have been working on the number 'Ya Never Know', which is a number performed in Act 1 when life for Mushnik, Audrey and especially Seymour, and the Mushnik's Skid Row Fourist Shop start to travel uphill with the Audrey II plant suddenly attracting customers, business and fame for the shop, and fame and fortune for Seymour. The song starts with Mushnik (Harry) singing and the rest is predominantly sung by my character, but there are times when I am joined by the ensemble.

The most challenging difficulty I found with working on this number was the fact that obviously my character is traditionally female but due the number of girls we have in our class, the part was changed to a male, and the challenge I found was being able to sing the melody of my parts in the octave of the women on the Broadway recording to keep that soulful and wide-ranged vocal essence to the character. At the beginning of the lesson, our teacher went through some vocal exercises with us so this defiantly warmed up my vocals for it came to me singing my parts in the song. 

I again found the choreography fairly easy to pick up but it, overall, added to the performance and delivery of the number making it comical and attractive. 

Little Shop of Horrors - rehearsals week 4 (18th - 22nd May)

This week of rehearsals we worked a number called 'meek shall inherit' which, in context, presents all this fame and fortune for Seymour taken to an extreme to the point where Seymour cannot take it any more and is reassessing his deal with Audrey II. Within the song Seymour is visited by three agents desperate for Seymour to sign contracts for them to take him in with Audrey II. The song is driven forward by the trio (Ronn, Crystal and Chiffon) as they are paid by the three contract agents to bring deliver Seymour to them.
The one difficulty i found with this song is timing. In between the different verses of the song, there are rather small bits of dialogue between the the trio, Seymour and the three agents, therefore this dialogue has to fit right in the time we have before the next verse comes. What makes it alot more difficult, is the fact that within the music, it does not make it clear when the next agent comes in with his verse - there is no clear bump or change in music. So in future when we run this number, the people who have dialogue need to really look and listen to the time we have before the next verse comes in.
Something that i very much like about what we have done with this number is how, on the chorus, the whole rest of the cast join in with the vocals and choreography to further enhance this stress and depression for Seymour creating the implication of a larger amount of audience he has to please - and a larger amount of voices in his head - strongley portraying this fame and fortune taking over his life.

Little Shop of Horrors - rehearsals week 3 (11th - 15th May)

The main focus on the show for rehearsals this week were making sure the setting and blocking of scenes and dialogue was complete, allowing us to then go away, annotate our scripts for direction and character analysis purposes, and start learning lines - having the direction of scenes set.
Going through dialogue for both our director and us to direct has really been a very beneficial factor for all of us for many various reasons like; enhancing our understanding of our characters and the story as whole; therefore allowing us to really get more into role of our characters; being able to explore the subtext and objectives of dialogue within scenes all towards our characterisation and creating these individual characters; being able to notice and create that contrast and similarities between different characters; and generally seeing the show and story as a whole coming together. For me, personally, these various different reasons are certainly why I've found the setting and blocking of dialogue and scenes, and working with my fellow cast members as well as our directors, has been a strongly beneficial factor of the rehearsal process.

Also this week, we worked on producing the finale number to the show, which is held and carried strongly by vocals and vocal harmonies - providing an overall powerful finish to the show. What's good about the way we have done this number is that having hardly any sort of movement throughout the number, puts emphasis on the vocal arrangement and also the lyrics and story we, as the cast, are telling, and allows to really perform the number through facial expressions, body language and charisma.  Before the number, Seymour sacrifices himself to the plant in order to try and kill it from the inside. We also are left with the information of a plan to form Audrey IIs all over the world for business and attraction purposes, only then are we relieved that this was in fact Audrey II's plan all along - world conquer. Because of this, throughout the finale number, we inform and warn the audience "don't feed the plants!" as if this was reality, which, in my opinion, is a very effective way of relating to and directly addressing the audience, leaving them feeling engaged and a part of the story.

When singing through the song and creating a sort of vocal arrangement for the number, I was able to pick out harmony lines in certain bits of the song to add that extra flare and wow-factor - especially on the end note, where I sing a note of a higher harmony line that goes well with the melody of the final note, adding slightly more of an enhancement to this big, powerful finale note of the whole show.
A target that I am giving myself for when we next visit this number is to make sure that my joint contribution to the vocal arrangement throughout this song is produced confidentially and to make sure the levels of performance and energy is still kept high, and not letting the fact of there being hardly any sort of movement or choreography bring them levels down.

Singin' in the Rain - rehearsals (31st May)

 Before today's rehearsal, our choreographer arranged an early start for  myself, Harry and Chloe so that we could really go throuhg and perfect 'Good Morning' working on strongley portraying this essance of this newly formed trio of characters who, when come together, spark a new and exciting idea for the new Lockwood-Lamont film. We ran through the song properly first so we could all see the state it was in - having not done it as a three in a while - and there were a couple of issues with some of the sections that brought a bit of confusion for me. When the dancebreak kicks, there was a bit of dance that i had obviously practised differently to the rest of them causing my muscle memory to have set with what i had practised outside of rehearsals. It turns out that i was wrong and so i had to adapt to the right way of that specific section dance which was challenging to overcome at first due to my muscle memory having adapted to what i had practised - but eventually i was on the right tracks as everyon else. I have no idea how i learnt this section differently to everyone else.

We then went through the song without music to polish and clean every little bit so that went it came to putting it altogether and run through it properly, it is performed with exquisite precision to every little detail of dance technique and flow of the routine, ensuring enhanced performance and improvement to perfection.
At the end of the rehearsal, i felt a lot more confident with the dance to the point where when performing, it comes as muscle memory and the choreography come naturally. Jamie (choreographer) was also very pleased with our characterisation throughout the number, really bringing these individual characters as a newly formed trio. Facial expressions, body language and performance of character is vital and a very important factor even when dancing choreography, as otherwise you fall into the trap of it looking like a dance show or a performance of dance technique - which in my opinion, is boring to watch. This is the same for when singing also, performance of character and chractrisation interpretation through song (acting through song) is absolutely vital in musical theatre.
After running through the number properly for the last time, our chreography had said it was the best time he has seen us do 'Good morning'.

When the normal rehearsal started with the whole cast, our director told us that we were to run act 1 and then after the break, stage more scenes in act 2. We took the challenge of runing act 1 scripts down seeing that show week is soon arriving. In my opinion, the run went very well as it did last time at the fact the most of the principles were very good with lines and the flow of the first act seemed to now come natural for the rest of the cast, providing a smooth run of the first act. In terms of musical numbers, Harry and I struggled to remember sections of 'Fit as a Fiddle' and we are still strggling to withhold our harmonies during the number due to demanding of energy and stamina required for the number. Because of this Harry and i are forever singing throuhg our harmony lines for the song in our frees at school to ensure that we are confident and feel strongley about them so that they will not slip when reciting the routine. I am unaware of the reason as to why we fogort some parts of 'Fit as a Fiddle', but i reckon it might be due to the fact of the amount of choreography the two of us have to learn and know for this show just built up and our minds went blank - but we will make sure this will not happen again. On the subject of struggling, within the number of 'Moses Supposes', performed Don, Cosmo and the vocal coach, three of us find great difficulty in a particular section of simple tap where it relies hugely on timing with the music and with eachother. When done correctly, it should look very effective, but at the moment we have not quite mastered - which is fustrating as it seems like a its such an easy part compared to all the other dances and sections of dance i perform in the show. in regards to seens and dialogue though, everything went very smoothly with confidence.
Due to the girl playing Kathy Selden (Chloe Hare) not being at rehearsals next week (7th june), we stopped our act 1 run just before 'Good Morning' so that we could get on to start staging more scenes in act 2 and make use of Chloe.
When staging scenes in act 2, the one thing that i found myself most difficult during staging scenes, was spacing. Where most of the scenes in act 2 include the presence of lots of characters or big, space consuming pieces of set, i was unable to be confident with my spacing during the scenes and there were times when i was in an inappropriate place for certain bits of dialogue that didnt very much work, and also times where i got myself confused on where i should be. Due to this, at the end of today's rehearsal, i alone went through some of the scenes in act 2 in my scripts and analysed the dialogue within the scenes to work out my own individual spacing at the demands of my character. I tend to analyse and annotate into scenes, songs, dances, lyrics and dialogue a lot in all my scripts for shows i am in, for interpretation and analysis on elements like characterisation, purpose, subtext, spacing, status, objectives, focus, creativity, production, attitude and emotion.      

Singin' in the Rain - rehearsals (17th May)

The content of today's rehearsal consisted of singing and dancing 'Broadway Ballet', which is about half way through Act 2. In context - in the scene before it - Cosmo Brown, R.F. Simpson and Roscoe Dexter are brainstorming an idea of a "big production number". The song is presented as a vision of Cosmo's genius and wacky idea of throwing a modern section - allowing a big, attractive and spontaneous dance number - into the picture that Cosmo is pitching to both Simpson and Dexter - providing an essence of imagination to the performance of the number. He tells Dexter to "imagine this.." and goes straight into opening the number by setting the idea with song.
I had trouble with my solo at the start of the song in terms on timing, as i couldnt seem to keep in time with the music. I had listened to the track on the West End recording at home, but i think what threw me off is the music on the rehearsal score we've been using for rehearsal purposes, as the timing was very different causing the music to sound different to me. But after going through it more with Owen (musical director) when we were all singing through the number, eventually i was confident with. After my solo at the start, and after i have joined by ensemble, Don enters the stage and i exit to undergo a quick change into a modern broadway looking costume.
A big part of this number is the choreography - it being the big production number of 'The Dancing Cavelier' - our choreography was working very closely with different groups of the cast. This meant a lot of waiting around for some people, so for me and harry, when we werent being used, we went off and decided to polish our harmonies for 'Fit as a Fiddle' to make sure that we super confident with them.
One thing i do like about what our choreography has done with ' Broadway Ballet', is how different groups of ensemble run on stage for a particualr of the song and recit choreography, as i love it keeps a flow within the number and also it means there is more room for the choreography as there are now less people on stage for the different sections.
The sections that im in, i didnt really have a problem with choreography as i picked it up very easily and was able to recite, along with portraying character strongley.
Overall, i think the number looks very good and will certainly give off that broadway showbiz that the number requires and be shown as very effective and attractive.

A target for me for when we next visit this number i to really focus extending my numbers within sections of choreography, just to make sure that every little detail is there.

Singin' in the Rain - rehearsals (10th May)

Yesterday's rehearsals was a very full-on rehearsal at the fact that there was lots to be done and complete. At the start of rehearsals, for the first hour and a half or so, we went the through and polished some  musical numbers of act 1, including Make em' Laugh, All I Do, You Stepped Out of a Dream, and the Finale. While they were polishing that  was not in or needed for, Chloe Hare (Kathy) and I (Cosmo) went with our choreographer for this show to finish staging 'Good Morning' while the rest of the cast, including our lead Harry Francis, were staging and going through one of his numbers, 'You Stepped Out of a Dream'. Now this iconic trio number 'Good Morning' has been finished, the three of us can successfully perform it confidently showing large amounts of our each individual character - now that the choreographer has been set.
After the break, we did a full run through of Act 1 having everything staged in Act 1. It was exciting as it was the first time we saw the show really start to come together with all the different musical numbers that present that enjoyable and MGM musical feel to the production. For a first ever run of act 1, its safe to say that it is so far looking in great shape, with a few improvements to be made and aspects to be tweaked.
Playing Cosmo Brown is still, without a doubt, one of the most challenging roles iv ever played, at the basis that it is so different to not only me, but also to any other character iv ever embarked upon. But along with a lot of outside-of-rehearsals character preperation, and character research and analysis; doing an act 1 run-through really helped and was beneficial in contribution to allowing me to really get into the role and character.
In terms of act 1, my targets for our next run are to try and have my lines, harmonies and routines learnt without any hesitation or doubt. We are also, as a cast, to be given notes on yesterday's run before the next time do a run-through.

Little Shop of Horrors - rehearsals weeks 2 (4th - 8th May)

On week 2 of rehearsals for Little Shop of Horrors, we focused on staging the opening number of the show 'Little shop of horrors' which is an enjoyable and exciting number that opens and creates the show to follow. Although the song has nothing to do with the story or plot in any way, it's role is to set this overall fun and entertaining atmosphere and to create this animated and colourful feel to the show. The number starts with some of the cast, including myself and the other two girls that complete our trio, starting at the back of the hall to come through the audience and onto the stage when the song starts. As a part of this iconic trio, our vocals and characters lead the song, driving forward the show from the very start, so we went off and learnt our 3 part harmony that we undergo throughout the song. I found this very difficult to pick up at first, but now I am confident with my particular harmony line and am able to maintain it throughout. I am normally very good at picking out harmonies in songs and maintains them but the problem was, is that harmonies encountered upon by this trio are so incredible close to one another - making it very hard to pick the lines out and stick on them, without going into someone else's. When we join the rest of the cast on stage, we start the choreography which was beautifully taught by our choreographer. Again, like with 'Skid Row', I found the dance easy to pick up and perform, keeping character at all times.

Having now set the opening number of the show, we started to go through scenes and dialogue within the show and start staging them. When going through, we liked the idea of the cast never really going off stage and tried desperately to make this happen. We did this by always keeping everyone on through the majority of scenes, portraying their individual characters they play in 'Skid Row (Downtown)' locating in the streets outside the flourist shop - with the exception of some numbers involving cast being inside the shop as other characters. I feel that this is a good way of setting the scene of this downbeat Skid Row and maintain it throughout the show on the account that everyone does not fall out of character and are forever acting.
A target for myself and also a general target for the whole cast , after this week's rehearsals, is to not lose focus when on-stage but not necessarily involved within the scene going on - and to not lose character as it would ruin the illusion of setting the scene and look of this small, broken and impoverished town.

Little Shop of Horrors - rehearsals week 1 (27th Apr - 1st May)

On our first rehearsal for Little Shop, we started work on one of the early numbers in the show 'Skid Row' which in my opinion, is a number that really sets the scene and location of the whole show in its way of explaining that this place is honestly one of the worst places to be in America. It's a song that really explains and describes some of the main characters in the show and gives the absolute purpose to the plot of the show. From my research, I have learnt that Skid Row is an impoverished and down beat area, inhabited by the poor, the homeless, and others considered and forgotten by society; this being the source of Seymour's and Audrey's desire to "get out of Skid Row" and why Seymour later on gives in to the Plant's temptation to keep him fed in exchange for fame and fortune. 

Before staging and dancing it, we sung through it, learning the tune and harmonies. Our teacher (who picked out all the notes on the piano for us) worked very closely with the three vocal narrators (Ronnette, Crystal and Chiffon) of the show - who of which I am one of ('Ron') -  who comment on the play and drive the show forward throughout, with their narration through song and consistent dialogue throughout. Vocal harmonies for this iconic trio are extremely important as it adds to this 1960's type trio, that, when a part of the story, are portrayed as a trio of street urchins that drive the story forward. 
When presented as commentators of the story through their vocals, they are scene as incongruous to the setting within the story, portraying them as abstract with no involvement to the plot. This therefore means that within the numbers they are in and complete, they stick out like saw thumbs and look out of place to the scenery. The three of us, therefore, the majority of the time throughout the number are performing a separate choreography to the rest of the cast. Where i have been with a dance school for over two years now, i found the choreography that our choreographer taught rather easy to pick up and perform, at the basis that where a few people in our class are not dancers at all, the choreography needs to be challenging - it then looking effective and exciting on stage - but able to do for all the cast. 
My target after our first week of rehearsals is to not forget and maintain my particular harmonies in order to portray this iconic vocal trio to its effective essence. 

Singin' in the rain - rehearsals (26th April)

Our rehearsal on the 26th April, Harry (Don Lockwood), Chloe (Kathy Seldon) and i (Cosmo Brown) worked with our choreographer on the son that really brings the trio between these three charactes to life - 'Good Morning'. I was very excited to start working on this number as its a really enjoyable and energetic song that, in context, portrays the start of something new - 'a new dawn, a new day'. In context and purpose, the song follows after the three of them make a decision, thaught up by Cosmo, to turn the 'Dueling Cavelier' into a musical to bring Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont back on top, after their unsuccessful 'talkie'.
Even though i have been attending  dance school for about 2 and half years now, i found the choreography for this song difficult to pick up at first but was able to pick it up and perform it confidently as we learnt more and more. The dance is in the style of Soft-Shoe-Shuffle with that general MGM Musical Theatre style dance that carries out throughout the show. In the film and the West End, this dance is normally presented as a tap between the trio, but our choreographer has changed it to adapt to our abilities of dance.
An element that is vital to this number, and mostly all the numbers in the show, is character, because all is good if dance technique is met successfully, but if character and performance is not portrayed, the number becomes flat and loses that enjoyment and flare - hence why the three of us has been working a lot on making sure our distinctive characters stand out when reciting this routine. 

Singin' in the Rain - overview of past five weeks of rehearsals

Stage Theatre Society proudly presents Singin' in the Rain, based on the MGM film - 24th to the 27th June.

At the moment, we are about five weeks into the rehearsal process for the show and its definitely safe to say that we are ahead of schedule, with act 1 done already, apart from the film sequences.

I play Cosmo Brown, Monumental pictures' fun, wacky and energetic musical director - who later gets promoted to the head of the company's new music department when their films transfer from silent movies to talkies.

One of Cosmo's most iconic scenes in both the film and musical, and possibly one of his most challenging sections for me is his song 'Make em Laugh'. The purpose of the song is Cosmo trying to cheer up Don and giving him advice as to how to appeal to audiences. - a very Vaudeville type sketch. When we set it in rehearsals, i found it very challenging to portray this wackiness and fun charisma about the character who, during the song, is incredibly slapstick, carrying out very comedic routines and actions such as getting his foot stuck in a bucket, playing hit and miss with planks and mops carried by ensemble on stage, racing around the place, and just plain annoying people. I found it difficult to convey all these slapstick actions which demand a lot of energy and stamina, as well as sing, and focus on portraying my characterisation, as an actor, for the part; all in demand of the character.
Cosmo Brown is bestfriend to famous film actor Don Lockwood (played by Harry Francis), and throughout the show, the two are quite the pair. Harry and I have been working with eahother a lot, working on dances and songs that we share as duets or trios. We have also worked very in-depth on scenes and the relationship between the two characters, to strongley deliver this untouchable, comedic friendship and close brotherhood between the two.