27/05 Final Lesson!

incomplete.....

26/05 Extra Lesson

incomplete....

25/05 Final Rehearsal

On Wednesday the 25th, we had our final rehearsal ready for the opening night in just over 28 hours. We decided that for this final rehearsal, we will all focus on rehearsing the 'issues' that we had from the dress rehearsal the night before. The dress rehearsal however, went quite well and most things seemed to work. So we decided to work on perfecting some of the nusical numbers and any scenes that we thought we needed some more practice on. We also blocked a basic curtain call.
To begin with, we decided to go through the song 'You Give a Little Love'. It became apparent in the dress rehearsal that this was the least rehearsed number as many of us didn't know our words or when to sing. This song occurs after the reprise of 'Fat Sam's Grand Slam' and after we have all been splurged. We really need to listen out for our cue and to move when the music begins. I have to make my way centre as I am placed on the right side of Bugsy, with Blousey on his left. We all stand quite static for this song as there isn't much that we can do and so we just act out the words with our face expressions, to make it a little more interesting. Then once we get onto the verse which begins with "You Give a Little Love", we all start swaying side to side, in time with the beat. We all begin to sway right on the word 'give' so that we are all in time with each other. When the song ends, we sing the final couple of lines four times, once we have sang it over we all start to move back into our curtain call positions. It is quite difficult having to walk in time with the beat and also as you cannot see where you are walking. The front line need to move slightly left when they are walking backwards too so that they are in the centre and in line with the back line. It is also quite scary as the front line need to take a big step up to the stage behind on them so that they are level with the main step. It is really quite scary in heels so I do find myself holding onto Bugsy with a great strength.
Once we had finished the song and moved back into our curtain call positions, we all had to remain in our positions. INCOMPLETE .......

24/05 Dress Rehearsal

Incomplete.....

20/05 Technical, Dress and Full Run

On Friday the 20th, we had a double rehearsal (period 3 and 4). The aim of this rehearsal was to run through the whole show, including costumes and a technical so that Mr Wakeham could start setting and positioning the stage lights. As one who is experienced in many shows on the stage, I know from the past that technical rehearsals can be very stressful and you have to be very patient.

During break, before our rehearsal started, we all had to get changed into our costumes for the show. I firstly got changed into the main costume that I wear as Tallulah, but then Ms Williams had two dresses on the rails, which were short and had many string like pieces attached to it which dangled and swished about when you moved. Miss gave them both to Jade and I, to wear in our first song Bugsy Malone and Fat Sam's Grand Slam, as I found it difficult to move in my Tallulah dress as it is very long and touches the floor. Once we were all ready, we were gathered on the stage to have a pep talk. This was the first time that the stage was all set up to how it will look on the night, and it looks superb. During our chat, we told about the props that we had been kindly given by a few people, like the very old telephones that you had to hold in one hand to speak through and the other hand to listen, we had to be careful with these. For the first period, we didn't have our main star Bugsy Malone (Adam) as he was busy elsewhere with family business. However, we managed to keep it rolling with the help of Elliott reading in.

This was the first rehearsal that we had Mr Williams playing the music, and when the girls first came on for Bugsy Malone, we had to do it again as firstly, the others didn't know where they had to stand and we all got confused with the notes during the third verse. We didn't spend long on this though as Mr Wakeham just wanted the general idea of where we stand so that he could position the lights. Throughout most of the musical, we only briefly did the songs and during most scenes when sir had positioned the lights, many people had to make sure that they were standing in the light otherwise they won't be seen. Tallulah doesn't come on for her first scene till page 13, so I find myself waiting around quite a lot ready to come on. However, whenever I wasn't on I made sure that I was leaning my lines. I find that my first scene is probably the best that I perform, as I can really big up my character and as it is not too wordy, like some of my other scenes, I can really put a lot of emphasis into my role and make a good first appearance as Tallulah. Although we had to stop and start quite a lot I think that Act 1 went well.

During period 4 we carried on running through the show. When we moved onto Act 2, my solo 'My Name is Tallulah' is what opens the act. We briefly ran it through though so I didn't have to sing it all, but from what I did sing really frustrated me as the music sounded completely different so I wasn't used to the original things that I had rehearsed. I really need to start working out ways in which I am going to have to act all flirty to a few members of the audience but I know I will be fine on the night, I will definitely be out of my shell by then. We didn't manage to finish the whole show within the two hours that we had, so we had to stop just after 'So You Wanna Be a Boxer'. The run through went well though and we will have to carry it on during the dress rehearsal on Tuesday night as we don't really have any other time to do it. We all then got changed out of our costumes and were allowed to go after a little talk from miss.

During period 5, Anna and I were allowed to go over to the music block to help work on the program for the show, as we didn't have to be in our original lesson as we have now finished all of our exams for it. We sorted out the cast list, the song list and added in those who were involved in them, a list of all those who else helped out for the show and also a brief description of one of our class mates Hollie, who is doing a cake sale in the interval to raise money for Melanie's Ward at the John Radcliffe hospital where she has been spending most of her time.

Overall, it was quite a productive day but I have decided that I really need to carry on going over my lines and practising ways in which I can make myself even better for the performance. We only have a few rehearsals left now and things are getting tight.

17/05 Soloist Songs

Tuesday the 17th was an after school rehearsal based for those with solo songs or in small grouped songs. Most of us are all involved in some way though so we all had to make sure that we were there. For those who had songs later in the list, had a lot of waiting around to do but luckily my two songs were first.

We started with the song 'Bugsy Malone', all of us were there bar one person but they only had one line anyways so it made no difference to the rest of us, however, we did add in positions and some movement so that we didn't look static and lifeless. The singing isn't too great yet either, many of us do not know the words and some don't know exactly which bits they are singing. We sang it through a couple of times though and it is improving. Once miss had positioned us, she made us do this basic knee and bend sort of thing, which is quite hard to explain, but we all managed to do it well and we always have to make sure that we start on the right leg so that we are all in unison. For the third verse where we go into "hot headed Bugsy makes his mind up" we all move into a triangle formation. Anna will be stood on the bottom blocks, Jade and I on the second blocks and the other Jade and Abby on the top stage so that we are different heights. This song is really starting to come along and I think that I personally need to work on making sure my vocals sound strong enough as it is quite a hard song to sing.

Next we moved onto 'My Name is Tallulah'. I am still weary of this song but finally I have learnt my words for it which makes it a lot easier. I firstly sang it a couple of times around the piano which went reasonably well but then we moved onto the movement. As I am going to have to walk around the audience for part of this song, miss made Josh, Hollie and Miss Melidis grab a chair and to and go sit in the audience. I sing my first verse standing centre stage on stage 2, with an old fashioned microphone in front of me and with my dancing girls slowly swaying behind me. When I move onto the second verse, I have to slowly make my way into the audience, in which I then carry on singing out to them all walking in between the chairs and tables. Just before I start the first word of the chorus, I make sure that I'm sitting on someone's lap and then I quickly jump off and find someone else to flirt with as soon as I start the first line of the chorus. I need to think of some ways of how to flirt with people, but a few ways is to play with their hair and to get low or to stroke past their shoulders. Just before I finish the chorus, I make my way back to the stage where I stand there and raise my arms and give a little bum wiggle as I turn around and sing "in north Carolina". I then go back to my first position, behind the microphone, for the final verse and when the song is finished, I gracefully walk off. I think that I am starting to improve in this song but miss said I need to take my flirting level from 3 to 5 for Friday and then to 10 for the performance. I will do it!

13/05 Run Through and Costumes

Friday the 13th was the day I guess most people were dreading, it was the day of "no scripts on the stage"! Luckily though, miss did say that if we had any trouble, with our lines, that we could be prompted so in the end it wasn't that terrifying. Like every rehearsal on week A, we had our lessons during period 2 and 3. We were told that we all needed to bring costume for this rehearsal so that miss could see what we all had already and in case we had any pieces missing. We were strictly told that we had to get change during break, so that we were ready to start the rehearsal on the dot at the beginning of period 3.

Firstly came period 2 and for this one hour period we carried on rehearsing from where we last left off on Wednesday, which was just after 'Down and Out'. However, we decided that we needed to practice 'Down and Out' again as it didn't go so well when we last did it. The main problem is, is that most of us don't know when we are supposed to be singing or not, we have many "down down downs" that we need to repeat throughout the whole song and it gets very confusing as they vary at different points in the song. We did spend quite a while on this song but hopefully it has cleared up some of the movements for the others that weren't quite sure on them. We then carried on with the show and it wasn't too bad as we only had a couple of pages left. The scene just after 'Down and Out' is when we all stand in a line across the stage and pass along the message "get Babyface"! This was the first time that we had actually done it on the stage, and it was quite a laugh. I especially enjoy this part of the show as it really shows us all working together and that people are actually trying, there were however a few giggles along the line but I'm sure this won't happen on the night. After Babyface (Millie) has finished saying her last line, we all run into the audience shouting "Geronimo!" What made it particularly funny though was the fact that all of us forgot that we needed to charge into the audience so it was just Millie by herself shouting it as we all watched her, and then she turned round and told us all what we were supposed to be doing. We all found hilarious but then we had to do it again. Let's just hope everything goes according to plan and nobody gets injured. Poor audience! There are a couple of songs left towards the end; 'Fat Sam's Grand Slam' reprise and 'You Give a Little Love'. Miss told us that she only wanted the five main show girls in this last reprise but this mainly due to the fact that we were the only ones who made it onto the stage. This works fine though we just need a little practice on a few of the movements. When we got onto 'You Give a Little Love', Ms Williams decided to place us into our final positions. I wasn't that happy though as it seemed that she put all of the main characters in the front row and the rest on the second, and I was put into the second row although I am one of the main characters. I think that I deserve to at least stand with my boyfriend Fat Sam as Blousey stands with Bugsy. The end to the show is about everyone making friends with the people they have been arguing against so it would also be good to either stand with Blousey or Bugsy. I have mentioned this to miss though so hopefully she will sort something out. We then finished there but we didn't have long and had to go and get changed into our costumes before period 3 started.

Once we were all ready and into our costumes, we were told to go and stand on the stage whilst miss went along the line to each of us and asked if all of our costumes were sorted or if we needed any help with anything, she also checked to see if the costumes that we were wearing were suitable. We had a little bit of standing around to do but it wasn't too bad. I felt quite conscious in my costume at first though as it seemed like I had gone a bit too far with mine where as in fact it was perfect! I wear a long dress with sequins, a cream furred sleeveless coat, a head band and a lot of dangly necklaces. Although some people made some funny remarks, all I knew was that at least I will look like I have made the effort on the night and most importantly at least I look like the character that I am playing and people in the audience will be able to recognise who I am from this. After, miss told us that we were going from the end of the show again but she shortly changed her mind and said we are going from the top of the show. The song 'Bugsy Malone' was alright, a much better improvement to the last time. However, when we got onto 'Fat Sam's Grand Slam' no one was ready so we had to do it again. This has happened a couple of times now and I really think we will have to get some running orders up back stage as most people are not aware of when they need to come on.

Overall, the rehearsal went well but we do still need to work on a lot of things and with only two weeks left until opening night, well all I can say is help!!