In this piece I find a lot of strength within my physicality. As Elder Cunningham I portray him as a very stereotypical nerd with glasses and a hunch! Physicality and acting is a huge part of any performance hence why I have added in glasses despite it being questioned by other members of the collective. The physicality of Cunningham is meek and a little camp which has been commented on by fellow class mate Greg (Elder Mckinley) who spoke to me about how funny and accurate my portrayal is.
A strength I have within the piece is that Ethan who I sing with during all the ensemble parts within the piece, our voices go great together. Even though my tones are much more feminine. We are able to match pitch with our different tones and create a great strong sound in order to harmonise with the rest of the vocal groups.
I have a lot of energy and excitement which carries through into the appropriate moments within the song such as my solo line ‘all right it worked’ or in the section that has us all singing ‘turn it off’ over and over. Enthusiasm is key!
I honestly have so much confidence for Turn it Off and I see the confidence as a strength!
I honestly love this piece, the choreography is fun and all the singing fits my range. I am partnered with great people. My only weakness with this piece is purely just confidence when I am performing a section where i’m not directly next to Ethan as he is able to help me pitch correctly, this can be overcome with more practice.
My first strength is that once I am involved with a production and I know who i’m going to be portraying (or the type of character I will be portraying) I can delve into characterisation and really bring personality and life to this character.
I have a broad high range when I sing which generally can range from a C3 to a F5. This is great for portraying types of characters such as Elder Cunnigham in Book Of Mormon or Lafou from Beauty and The Beast. This high range can open up many parts for me including female parts which can be altered for a male.
In a performance, I am able to act while singing or dancing, as to me that is a huge part of a none speaking performance. For instance, during the performance of Rocka Ma Soul by Alvin Ailey the aim of our facial features and expressions was positive, excited and confident due to how we were slaves who had been set free. While with singing, during Alexander Hamilton from the musical Hamilton, I made sure my physicality was always very strong and reflective of the nautical and empowering music featured in the song.
I am able to lightly read sheet music and explain a beginners amount of how to with reading musical scores. Such as explaining what the note is and how many beats this bar is worth and how long you will be able to hold the word/note for.
Weaknesses in Musical Theatre.
My first and most apparent weakness within Musical Theatre itself is starring in a full professional Musical. My only experience in Theatre besides College is a Secondary School Production of The Wizard Of Oz where I was the Cowardly Lion and a performance of Acorn Antiques the Musical at an Amateur Dramatics society. I do have experience within the aspects of musicals such as: dancing, singing and acting, in singing and acting I feel very confident within, dancing not as much but I am much more confident then I was at the start of the year. This is due to performances of: BlackBird; Limon and Higher Ground by Mia Michales. I thoroughly believe I can put whatever experience I do have within this field and turn it into a field of expertise.
Despite my confidence in singing, I do find it rather difficult at moments to generate a note within myself and sing it, on the contrary however. As part of an ensemble I can match pitch, harmonise and generally sing to a great standard (in my opinion). My weakness here is solo singing which is another aspect of my performance which will be improved through the FMP but most importantly, has been improved upon this year.
What Opportunities has this unit allowed you?
This year I have been able to perform in multiple immersive theatre styles such as: scare; contextual education and of course ensemble showcases. I have been able to learn about myself as a performer and that having a costume or a prop may be the difference between a rehearsal and a show. I have also learned that as a performer I am very passionate and I love to be interactive when performing such as scaring people or telling children stories.
I have been given the opportunity this year to dance in a number of styles that I did not consider I would enjoy such as Jazz and contemporary. However due to experiences such as being able to create choreography and being professionally filmed (also opportunities brought on from this year) I have found a love for trying new dance styles. This will be very apparent within the FMP as I will be involved with multiple dances and styles.
What threats may prevent you from achieving your best?
Despite my confidence and range mentioned previously I do struggle with voice control and keeping in time when on my own. However as part of a ensemble I should be able to be secure with singing.
In dancing, I usually can lack the control and often can become messy through mistiming myself and or tripping on certain moves.
I do have stagefright once I am on stage, this can shoot my nerves and really impact diction and the tempo of what I say due to these nerves. This could really impact what I am singing or how I’m dancing due to the panic.
Traces of Musical Theatre go as far back as Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece, however this was more a play was done with songs and dances added in rather than revolving around.
“The ancient Greeks had plays with songs, and Roman comedies included song and dance routines. But the music of these eras disappeared long ago, so they had no real influence on the development of modern musical theatre and film.” – John Kendrick
However this had little impact upon musical theatre but despite this, it is well to know this due to how it is part of the origins of musical theatre. (1)
However come the 18th Century forms of Musical Theatre were on the rise, especially in Britain with the introduction of Operetta which was a light form of the Italian art, Opera. They were performed a lot and they often had original scores or borrowed melodies that would fit the story-line, most story-lines were taken from popular works of fiction. It is believed that The Beggars Opera (1778) by John Gay was the first musical. Musical Operas were also incredibly popular at the same time, they would often be comedic storytelling with plenty of singing and dancing to go along with the humor, this would help with the appeal of middle class and above meaning a big market for the musical comedies! (2)
Fast forwarding a hundred years (give or take) musical theatre welcomed in The Golden Age. This was a time period where classic musicals came out and cemented musical theatre as a modern art form which everyone went to go see. The time period took place between 1943 – 1959, some musicals included: Oklahoma (1943); Carousel (1945) and West Side Story (1957). The musicals are still performed today and are incredibly popular, they really shaped the world of musical theatre from the strong male in Oklahoma to the intense dance routines from West Side Story. The impact from these musicals are still felt today. (3)
Modern Musicals often take influence from past musicals or sometimes use music from artists, meaning they become jukebox musicals.
Juke box musicals are often very interesting as they can be huge successes or absolute flops. This is apparent with examples such as Mamma Mia (1999) or American Idiot (2009) being absolute success in contrast to Viva Forever (2012) and Desperately Seeking Susan (2007) being failures and even ceasing to exist due to their critical failure.
Juke Box musicals include:
American Idiot – Green Day.
Jersey Boys – Jersey Boys.
Mamma Mia – ABBA
Viva Forever – The Spice Girls
Lennon – John Lennon
(4)
Jersey Boys – 2005. (5)
Viva Forever – 2012. (6)
In Contrast to this some musicals are so popular that they become films, most notably. Chicago, Dreamgirls and Hairspray.
Musical influence is apparent today as the love for it keeps growing and quite literally anything can be made into a musical, such as a spelling bee (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) or a dystopian world where you pay to pee (Urinetown) or in the most weirdest case a musical about Pokemon starring Andrew Rannells (Pokemon Live).
Musical Theatre itself.
In Musical theatre, it is essential for a very clear story that can be presented in the three main aspects: singing, dancing and acting. The performance needs so much emotion and power that when acting doesn’t explain the message the dancing and singing need to take over as to me that is what musical theatre is about. Portraying your feelings in more than one way, by using all your talents and abilities to do so. For instance, in The Wizard Of Oz when the Cowardly Lion wants to express his sadness over being such a coward he sings about it or when the principles set off down the yellow brick road, they show their excitement by singing and skipping down the yellow brick road. In Rvelations by Alvin Ailey when the slaves are freed and they dance Rocka ma’ Soul it is just beautiful and incredible as they are dancing their souls out and you can see the beauty and excitement and love they are portraying through the dance!
I believe musical theatre needs emotion portrayed through every aspect and a whole lot of singing and dancing.
Jersey Boys – 2005. (5)
Viva Forever – 2012. (6)
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