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.