Singing- Lena- 24th January (GREASE)

 Today, we went through group songs from GREASE with Lena. 

 The first song we went through was 'We Go Together'. Going through Group Songs is important because it ensures that we know and understand what parts of the song we sing where, which parts are solo lines ect. In We go Together there are a lot of 'jargon' words so it was important that we all knew how to pronounce them. 

 We also went through Summer Nights- it sounded awesome! With the exception of Danny (matt) and Sandy (polly), we all have group lines to sing and in today's lesson we learnt which lines we have to sing and where to sing them.

 We also went over 'Those Magic Changes'- my solo. Hearing the group sing parts of the song helped me realise what the final piece is going to sound like!

22nd January- Grease- Rachel

 Today we blocked the entire first scene with Rachel.

 During the 'blocking' session, we even sang 2 songs- Alma Mater and Summer Nights. 

 For Alma Mater, we all stand on stage singing the song seriously then walk off in diaganols one by one. Patty makes her speech and then the T-Birds come back on to sing the parody version. We need to be energetic and I found it hard to get into the role today....I think once we get our costumes it will be a lot easier to get into character and be energised. I think the thing about Grease that will be most challenging is the fact that it's very over the top and we need to keep up the energy throughout the performance.

 Today was focused around movement more than anything to ensure we know where to exit, enter and stand. For example, we annotated our scripts with stage directions and general notes- this will ensure we don't get confused about where to exit the stage during rehearsals!

Grease- Acting Lesson with Russell Floyd- 16/01/13

Today's lesson was focused around the first scene and characterisation. Our lesson was taken by Russell Floyd, a successful actor who has been in theatre and television.

 The main focus of the day was on characterisation. We were working on the middle part of Scene 2 where Roger and Doody are sitting on a bench and Kenickie comes over. Russell told us that Doody and Roger are completely in superior to Kenickie and we should act as if we are immature and trying to gain the attention of Kenickie, who is actually 'eyeing' up girls (Rizzo) whilst they are talking to him. Doody is a bit of a geek and him and Roger are both very similar- after all, they are best friends. We decided that Doody and Roger should be shuffling around a lot, talking very loud and being very jokey. 

'Grease' Song Development (Solos)

In Grease, I have two solos, a duet and other group songs. I wil

Solos:
- Those Magic Changes
- Beauty School Dropout

Duet:
- Rock and Roll Party Queen.

Group Songs:
- Alma Mater
- Summer Lovin'
- Greased Lightening
- We Go Together
- We Go Together (Reprise)

Those Magic Changes:

I've learnt all the lyrics to this song and I'm excited to have the first solo of the show. On 10/01/13 I did a run through of this song with Lena and we found that hitting certain notes were a real struggle. However, we also found that if I really 'go for it' I can hit the notes but I need to be careful not to damage my voice as I really do need to sing very loud. I just need to keep practising and it will come to me a lot easier. In order to improve my characterisation, I need to keep watching videos of the stage version of Grease and keep going through my Character Development blog entry to give me an idea of how I should sing the song. Across January I continued to practice this song whenever I had the moment to. I put Lena's Grease Soundtrack onto my iPhone and listen to my songs whenever I'm walking to and from college which really helped me get familiar with my songs- particularly Those Magic Changes. On  11/02/13 I'm still struggling to hit the big notes in the song but I keep using rising arpeggios on my iPhone app to try and expand my range and I'm sure I will be able to sing this song with ease come the performance.


Beauty School Dropout:
I already knew most of the lyrics to this song when I found out I was going to be singing it. I love this song! I went through the song with Lena on the 10/01/13 and it sounded pretty good. I need to keep working on characterisation and it will be fine. On 11/02/13 it became clear that this is my favourite solo. I know all the words, can sing it very well and it's clear that vocally it's not going to be a problem. In order to improve my characterisation, I keep watching Youtube videos of film and stage versions of the song to give me ideas on how I want to portray the Teen Angel.

Grease- Acting- 8th January 2013

8th January 2013

Today we started work on Grease and the lesson was focused around character development.

First of all, we started in the computer room and started blogging about our characters and Grease a play in general. After this, we went to the drama studio and took part in several Character Development activities which I have written up about in my Character Development blog entry. First of all, Rachel would ask us a question and we had to get into groups of other characters who had the same answer. For example, one question was 'What area of town do they live in- run down, middle or upper class areas?' I decided that Doody was from the run down area. These activity not only gave us an insight into our characters themselves, but it gave us an idea of which other characters come from a similar background and have lifestyle similarities. Character Development is important as it enables you to understand your character more and this will help you play the character better. The activities that we did included the 'You Said/They Said/Dialogue' research which involved us writing down what our character said about others, what other characters said about our character, what our character says about themselves and also which stage directions. The other activity we did was work out the given circumstances for our characters which shows us why a character behaves in a certain way. I have written about these character development activities in my Character Development blog entry.

 After doing the Character Development, we ran the first couple of scenes.

Character Development for Grease (Doody)

DOODY

 Doody is a teenage boy. He's a teddy boy rocker from Rydell High School. He's a member of the T-Birds- a 'cool' group of guys which is 'led' by Danny and Kenickie. Doody idolises them. 

Key Characteristics:

- Friendly.

- Not very intelligent.

- Dopey. 

- Often in a 'daze'.

- 

You Said/They Said/Dialogue Research:

What Doody says about others:

His Mum: 'Sure. She does it every year on the first day of school'.

   - This line emphasises how he isn't really 'looked after'. His mum may 'drag her carcass outta bed' on the first day of term; one day a year, but on the whole, she doesn't really care for him particularly well or frequently. He's left to his own and encouraged to go out and do things for himself.

Danny: 'Hey, ain't that Danny over there?'

       'She really sounds cool, Danny.'

       'Where do you know her from, Danny?'

       'Hey, Danny, there's that chick you know.'

       

   - The way in which Doody talks to Danny shows that he respects Danny the most out of the group. Whenever he speaks to Danny he calls him by his name and this shows that he almost 'sucks up' to Danny and tries to gain Danny's attention and admiration. After all, Danny is who he idolises. 

Kenickie: 'Yeah. Maybe you oughtta get a hamster instead.'

   - Doody feels like he can mock Kenickie because he doesn't idololise Kenickie as much as he does Danny. The sarcasm used shows that he doesn't respect Kenickie as much as he does Danny. However, in a group of teenage boys 'banter' is thrown around and doesn't really mean much- they're still great friends.

Kenickie & Rizzo: 'Jeez, nice couple.'

   - Once again, Doody feels like he can be sarcastic towards Kenickie; and involving his girlfriend Rizzo doesn't faze him either. Even though Doody looks up to Kenickie in some senses, it's clear that Doody's main role model is Danny and that's why he feels like he can 'mock' Kenickie.

Frenchie: 'Can you still go to the dance now that you quit  

           school?'

          '..Oh....ahh nothin'...I'll see you there.'

          'Maybe I'll come down to your beauty school and we can

           have a coke or something?'

   - The way Doody talks to and about Frenchie is very interesting. At first, he's not particularly fussed about going to the dance with her and let's her down very steeply. However, by the end of the play they're a couple, having gone to the dance together.

Roger: Doody doesn't actually say anything ABOUT Roger in the play and that's because they're best friends. If Doody wants to tell Roger something he'll say it to Roger and won't go round talking to other people about him. 

Sonny: The same goes for Sonny, even though Doody isn't quite as close with Sonny as he is Roger, whatever Doody thinks of Sonny, he will say it to Sonny's face.

What Doody says about himself:

'I just started taking lessons this summer.'

'I know A minor, and an F, and I've been working on a G.'

'Don't talk I'm trying to count.'

   - Doody doesn't really have much of an opinion of himself- he prefers to talk about things he is doing rather than how he does something. For example, he tells the group he's playing guitar and that he can play certain chords. This once again shows how he is trying to impress the rest of the T-Birds; and after talking about his guitar, he even sings a song.

What others say about Doody:

Roger: 'That's good Dood. Play it real cool!'

   - This emphasises Doody's 'un-coolness' and how he doesn't tend to think before doing things. The T-Birds are all cool and hip but it's safe to say that Doody is probably the least cool of the group and tends to do a lot of silly things.

What the Stage Directions say about Doody:

Doody and Roger laugh.

   - This stage directions shows the friendship that Doody has with Roger; Roger is his closest friend and also the friend he's known the longest. The fact that they're laughing shows Doody's jokey character.

Doody's Circumstances and Background Story:

Doody clearly comes from an Italian background. He comes from a very large family and has 7 brothers. I believe this is why he feels the need to 'prove' himself. I also think that it's the reason that he is represented as 'weaker' than the other guys as he's not had as much attention as he should because he's got so many brothers. He lives in a run down part of town as there is a lot of people living together and his parents couldn't afford a house big enough for all of them in a nicer part of town. His family doesn't have much money and this shows as he brings food like sardines to school and asks his friends whether they want to swap. Doody had to grow up quickly and has to be very grown up at home so when he goes out with the 'guys' or spends time at school, he acts immature and lets out his 'inner child' as he never really had a childhood.

Doody has obviously been in a relationship before- I think he's had a past with Frenchie. In his song 'Those Magic Changes' it's clear that he is singing about a girl- Frenchie. Doody has been friends with Roger and Sonny since they were in kindergarten and they didn't meet Kenickie/Danny until they were in high school. Doody was attracted to them as they were the 'cool kids' and he wanted to be part of the 'cool crew'. That's how the T-Birds were formed.

Doody has a pet Pug called 'Pugsley' who he's had since the 7th grade. He loves Pugsley with all his heart and they even sleep together every night. Doody feels like Pugsley is the only being who truly understands and loves him. 

3rd January 2013- Production with Kim

Today we were told that we were in charge of designing the set, costume and make up that will be used in the year 13's performance of 'Don't feed the Animals'. We read through the first few pages of the Script and we gained an idea of where the story is set and who the characters were. The story is about a struggling Circus and the people/clowns that work there. In the first few pages, a clown dies and it also informs us of the 3 different types of clown- Hobo, Auguste and Whiteface. All of which have their own styles. Here are our ideas for set, costume and make up:

Storytelling Assessment 18/12/12

 Today we had our storytelling assessment where we had to retell a story that we had been told by an 'older' person.

 I chose to tell the story of how my Nan, was followed to school by a little puppy and ended up keeping it! The puppy stayed in her family for the next 17 years! This story was based during the war so I decided to talk about how it felt to walk past bombed houses on your walk to school despite the fact this wasn't in my nan's original story. Even though I added this bit in myself, there was a house bombed not far from where my Nan lived- she told me this story on a different occasion so I decided to merge the two together to make the story more interesting and action-filled.

 I decided to have an image projected behind me whilst I was telling the story. I did this to make it obvious what the main part of the story was- the dog. I think this worked well as it made the point of the story very clear. However, if I were to tell the story again, I would try to go into more detail and description to make the story more realistic and interesting. I felt like I almost froze when it came to the assessment as I hadn't learnt the story word by word and got 'tongue tied'. Next time I would learn the story a bit better and divide it into different sections. Then I could concentrate on each section and describe the story section by section. I could also have used language associated with elderly people to make it clearer that it was my Nan's story.