27/05 Final Lesson!

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26/05 Extra Lesson

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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!!

11/05 Act 2

As we managed to finish Act 1 in our last rehearsal on Friday, we focused this single period on starting Act 2. Luckily for me, I am in this act a lot more than Act 1 so I was kept on my feet quite a lot. This rehearsal was originally set to have "no scripts on stage" but that didn't really go to plan as most of us still hadn't learnt our lines so miss said we could use our words for this rehearsal but the Friday coming up is a strict "no scripts on the stage!"

Act 2 opens with the song 'My Name is Tallulah' and luckily for me, it was my time to show everybody what I had been practicing after school the day before for my song. I was a little nervous though and it wasn't exactly fun having everyone stare at you, especially whilst you need to flirt around with them. Also, many of them didn't know what I had in store so it was all a bit of a shock and a joke around. I know I need to take it more seriously but hopefully I will find my comfort zone soon enough for this song, hopefully as soon as possible! I need to work more on this song but for the time being we carried on. Just as I am walking off the phone rings and I have to answer it, so instead of fully going off the stage, I have to run into Fat Sam's office and answer it. This is where Bugsy calls for Blousey and I have to call out of the office for her, although it feels a little strange as it says we need to shout out of the office but in fact there is no door, so we just have to pretend we are shouting it a long way. After this scene, I only have one big section left but I am also on stage in quite a lot of the other scenes but I only have the occasional line instead. The section that really needs working on is the dialogue between Tallulah, Bangles, Tillie and Loretta. It doesn't slow very well and we need to add in some more characterisation and react more to each other, this will make it a lot more interesting. I will try and make sure now that I do this and encourage the other girls along too. When I got onto my bigger scene, well I wasn't so much looking forward to it. The first bit is ok but the section with Bugsy is really wordy so I have to make sure that I pronounce my words correctly and with a lot of volume so that the audience can understand what I am talking about. We never really do Act 2 a lot, as we mainly focus on Act 1, so I am not really used to rehearsing this scene on stage but once again we did just rush it through and moved onto the next scene so I will make sure that I look over this and practice in my own time so that I know what I want to do exactly when on the stage. We then flew through the dialogue and we managed to get through quite a lot before the bell rang.

I have realised from this rehearsal though, that I need to practice quite a few of my scenes from Act 2 in my spare time as they are quite challenging and I really want to make a good impression as my character. I will definitely need to make sure that I look over all of my lines for Friday's rehearsal as it makes it a lot easier to rehearse on stage and I really want to make the most out of the last few rehearsals that we have left and use the time wisely before the opening night!

10/05 My Name is Tallulah

On Tuesday the 10th, some of the cast had to attend an after school rehearsal to have a little more practice time on their show number as we do not have the time during our school time rehearsals. Tallulah (me) for My Name is Tallulah, Fizzy (Josh) for Tomorrow and Fat Sam's gang (Jodie, Millie and Hollie) for Bad Guys. We did not get full attendance however, but we manage to get through it.

We started off the after school rehearsal with My Name is Tallulah, which of course I wasn't looking forward to as I am still not so confident with it. I had to stand in front of the piano and sing it through without my words, but in fact I hadn't learnt my words to it yet so miss then let me use the book. I am still a bit scared of a few notes but they have improved since I had last sung it through properly with Mr Bowden. Once I sang it through a couple of times, miss then wanted to start adding in some movement. This is the first time that we added in movement, and I was a little excited to finally do it but then a little scared as I have to move into the audience. We kept the first verse static so I will just be standing there on stage singing it, and the second verse was quite similar but I did have to start slowly moving into the audience. When I reached the chorus, miss started showing me ways in which I can flirt with the audience, I didn't find it too bad and of course I felt a lot more confident that a boy was there to help, rather than doing it to two other girls, which was quite uncomfortable. Miss also mentioned the way in which I walk; I need to basically walk with my hips first and move then side to side quite a lot. It is actually quite hard to do whilst trying to move in time with the music and also whilst concentrating on what you are singing. For the last verse, I have to make my way back over to the stage and do a few little hip movements and really show myself off as being the best. I finish the song by standing back on the stage singing into the microphone and then I walk off. We went over the song quite a few times so that I got the movements into my head and when and where to basically do them. The rehearsal went well and after my song I had to stay behind and help with the other two songs. I didn't do much though and then I got to go home.

06/05 Detailing Act 1

On the 6th, we had a double period (3rd and 4th). For this lesson, we decided to focus on Act 1 again, but as we have already blocked and rehearsed this act many times, we decided to pay attention to the detail. We paid the attention to the acting though and not the songs as we haven't moved or blocked any other songs yet apart from 'Fat Slam's Grand Slam' and 'Down and Out'.

Act 1 opens with Bugsy Malone talking to the audience; during his speech there is a little scene where the 'Hoods' splurge Roxy Robinson. Straight away we had to stop as the members of the class who play the Hoods were standing with their backs to the audience, so miss had to reposition them otherwise the audience wouldn't have been able to of seen what was going on. Finally they got it correct and as Adam, who plays Bugsy, is quite good at judging what to do on stage and making good decisions, we carried onto the song 'Bugsy Malone'. We haven't added in movement into this song yet but unfortunately the singing didn't go very well either. We have only done this song once before, which was just over a month ago, so most of us didn't know what we were singing and we all needed our words anyway. Ms Williams decided not to stress over this though so we carried on with the show and decided that we all needed to get together some time to practice it. Shortly after, we were all needed on stage for 'Fat Sam's Grand Slam'. I didn't realise that it was so soon after 'Bugsy Malone' so I wasn't ready to go on, but I wasn't the only one, we had to start the beginning again anyway as most of the class were not ready themselves. By now, this song should be perfect as we have rehearsed it so many times but it does still need a few little tweaks.

My first scene went fine, as I am basically on and off again so there wasn't much to focus on. I am just going to make sure that I add in a lot of characterisation so that I can really make a first impression of my character 'Tallulah' when I first come onto the stage.

I have quite a while to wait to my next scene, so I sat in the audience and watched the show whilst trying to learn some of my lines for the next scene, but I found it quite hard to concentrate. However, when my next scene did come along it wasn't too bad. Well to start with we did have to go over it a few times because just before I have to tell the girls to "go feed the ducks", they have to all say "Hi Bugsy" in a really flirty way but the girls who play my show girls are really quite shy and do not project or put much effort into it (at the moment that is). When they first came on they didn't know where to stand so they stood anywhere and it looked really naff, especially as we need to look like we are all a close group of friends. We then did it again and Miss Schwartz positioned them all. After, we were told that we need to walk more elegantly and that we should be walking with our hips first, as it looks more sassy. I naturally did it though as I had been thinking about ways in which I could walk, but we did have to do it a few times so the others could get it right. It got quite frustrating though as I just wanted to move on and finish my lines, so miss just left it and told us all to work on it. As the girls go off, I have to make my way over to Bugsy and start flirting with him. It is quite fun to do actually and it didn't go too bad either. Of course we both need to work on the flirting a lot more and when we are off the scripts it will be a lot easier to react to each other.

They are the only two acting scenes I am in, in Act 1, so that was me all finished with for the rehearsal. The rest of Act 1 went quite well I guess to but when everyone is off their scripts, it will all run a lot more smoothly and people's characters will start to show. For me, my target over the next week is to learn all my lines as miss told us, very strictly that she wants to see "no scripts on stage" for our rehearsals next week.

03/05 Finishing Fat Sam's Grand Slam

Before the Easter holidays on Tuesday the 5th of April, we all had an after school rehearsal in which we started learning the dance moves to 'Fat Sam's Grand Slam'. However, we only managed to get up to the instrumental so during the after rehearsal on the 3rd of May, we continued to choreograph it.

Firstly, we ran through what we had already learnt a couple of times, so that Liz (the choreographer) could see how much we could remember. Quite a few of us were fine, especially myself, Anna and Adam. It is quite obvious to see that us three can all dance well anyway as also we are all apart of clubs outside of school in which we have been taught and trained to dance properly. However, others in the class either remembered little parts of it and just put hardly any effort into it or others just didn't remember it all. This is also partly due to the fact that people were messing around in the first class that we did it and that they haven't bothered to review it over half term. I however, remembered the moves fine as I find it easy to pick up and remember dance routines.

Once we ran it through a few times, we decided to move on so that we could start to learn the last half of the song. In some places the moves were repeated so it wasn't that bad as we didn't have to remember even more moves. We picked up from the instrumental, and luckily we were given something different to do, which made it more fun to rehearse rather than repeating the same things. Here we had to do four steps to the right but also whilst turning, and then do four little step digs, we then repeated it to the left. After, we then repeated some of the previous moves in the dance up until we got back to the line "each night astounds you", where this time, instead of Fat Sam doing a kart wheel, we have his sidekick Knuckles (Jodie) doing the splits. This really works well as they both act alongside each other throughout the show and you wouldn't expect two of the main manly characters to be doing a kart wheels or the splits, also whilst wearing suits. We then repeated everything that we did in the first verse of the song to complete the last verse. We were set into our final positions, mainly with a partner. I was paired with Anna and we have to finish downstage centre and blow a kiss to the audience. I found this bit the most fun of all as I really felt like my own character 'Tallulah' as she blows kisses throughout the show and it felt quite cheeky. Finally, we went over the song a few more times so that it started to sink into our minds and to make sure we all know what we are doing.

For me I found the rehearsal quite frustrating and tedious as we had to keep stopping and starting for others to catch up etc so we had to learn it all at a much slower pace whereas, I am used to learning dances at a much faster pace as I attend a dance class outside of school and we learn things at a more advanced level. Still, I will carry on practicing so that I don't forget what we have learnt and to also help to keep others on their feet.

27/04 Rehearsing Act 2

Wednesday the 27th (period 5), was our first lesson back after the two week Easter break. The long gap however, didn't affect the work that we had previously been working on before the holiday as we continued from where we left off. During this rehearsal, we focused on rehearsing Act 2.

I arrived a little later to this lesson as I was let out late from my singing lesson during lunch but when I arrived the girls were on the second page of Act 2, after the song 'My Name is Tallulah'. I had only missed a couple of lines but I soon was focused and straight into my characters role. However, things were not off to a good start with the other girls. I sat where I was supposed to on stage whilst the other girls carried on to perform their lines, but miss got a little annoyed at the fact that there was no effort put into it and it wasn't flowing as it should've been as people hadn't looked at their lines. We carried on though, and I only had one line but I still managed to add in the characterisation of it sounding like Tallulah making yet another spiteful remark. We then exited and whilst the others carried on to rehearse, I sat to the side and tried to read over and familiarize myself with my lines for the next scene. However, I didn't have long and then we were onto the scene where Fat Sam and Tallulah are sat in his office arranging phone calls for help. As we weren't in the drama studio for this rehearsal, we didn't have any props so we had to improvise and pretend that we were sitting at Fat Sam's desk. Still, it worked out fine and we got through our lines smoothly and we carried onto where Tallulah meets Bugsy, to ask him for help "poysonally", with strict orders from Fat Sam. I really need to work on my lines more for this scene, as I realised that, as they are quite wordy, I was getting quite nervous and I tried to rush my lines as I felt like I wasn't sure on how to act them out without it looking a mess. I carried on though but I will make sure that I go away and practise this scene quite a few times. After this scene, I only had a couple of lines left in the play, and once we had passed that point we moved onto the whole cast singing and moving 'Down and Out'. During this lesson, whenever a song came up within the scenes, miss played them and the cast had to sing them, even if it was a solo or singing with the whole class. However, Down and Out was a mess. We all still have no idea of how many 'down and outs' we are supposed to sing at each time, and we really need to start putting the effort in and actually perform everything that we have learnt to the best of our ability, if we want to start moving the show on. I managed to get most of the movements right though. We then moved onto the scene after the song, and we all had to get into a long line which spread across the width of the stage, ready for the moment where we pass the message down the line to each other requesting to get Babyface. It was really fun and we had to do it a second time, but instead as we had to pass something along to Babyface. I personally have always loved this part of the play and I really enjoyed performing it in class. We carried onto the little bit where we have to charge into the audience (I do feel quite sorry for the audience here) and where we go into hiding. This was also really fun to rehearse but then the lesson came to an end. Miss told us that we really need to start cracking on with learning our lines and to start thinking about costumes etc and the separate tasks that we were given e.g for me the tickets and the posters.

I have suddenly realised that we do not have very long left now and I really need to start cracking on with everything that I need to have sorted for the show and for the course. I need to carry on with writing my blogs and I need to write up evaluations of past performances. I am going to start gathering ideas for my costumes and I really need to start learning my lines. I have also decided that I will watch the film of the scenes that I am in, to help me to get an idea of how I should perform and act my lines and to help give me a better understanding of what some of the lines and scenes are about. This will be my target over the next couple of weeks.

08/04 Fat Sam's and Down and Out

Friday the 8th was the last day of term before we broke up for two weeks for the Easter holidays. Usually we have a double lesson this day (period 2 and 3) but due to a whole school assembly planned for period 3, we only had an hour to rehearse rather than the 2. As our rehearsal was cut short we all decided, as a class, that it was too much hassle to set up the stage, as it takes up at least a quarter of the time. So instead, we all decided that it would be good to just review the musical numbers 'Fat Sam's Grand Slam' and 'Down and Out'.

We first started with 'Fat Sam's Grand Slam', as we hadn't rehearsed yet in class or since we all first learnt it with Liz (the choreographer) during our Tuesday after school rehearsal. Also, Ms Williams was absent during the Tuesday session, so this was the first time that miss was going to be able to see what we had learnt. Luckily, I remember and pick up dances very easily so although I didn't practice between the two rehearsals, I knew it all and it all went smoothly. The rest of the class however, is what I could call a disaster. It was quite easy to tell that quite a lot of the class hadn't done any sort of dancing before as they were all over the place or just simply couldn't remember anything, so there was a lot of out of place people and random movements. For those who couldn't attend the first rehearsal, when we learnt the dance, needed to be taught the dance. Anna and I were elected to do this as we knew and performed the dance the best. When the class was recapped we managed to perform up to bit in which we did learn movements for. It still needs a lot of work though and as usual, the volume was lost once we added in the movement. I found though, that I managed to keep my dancing and volume consistent.

We then moved onto 'Down and Out', which we hadn't gone over since we last did it a week before. The choreography for this number wasn't too hard, it was just a lot of marching in time to the beat and when knowing when to stop. We all marched up to the main stage where both groups met at the centre and then split again to opposite sides again. When we marched back down a few steps, we went over turning to the music, stepping off and sitting down in a canon at the bottom of the stage and finishing the rest of the choreography.

We then had a bit of spare time at the end of the lesson, in which soloist were given the chance to go over their songs. I didn't have time to do mine though so I just went over a few lines. As we have a couple of weeks off and a lot of time being missed, I have realised that I need to carry on practicing my song words, my show lines and make sure that I review the dances to the musical numbers. Also, I will need to start gathering costume over the half term and make sure that I keep up to date with my blog.

05/04 Choreographing Fat Sam's Grand Slam

This was the first of our after school rehearsals where the whole class needed to turn up as we had a dance teacher coming in especially to teach us some moves to the song 'Fat Sam's Grand Slam'. However, we did not get everyone to turn up but it was the usual suspects who didn't bother to show. Ms Williams was absent this day so she wasn't there to support us but we had Mr Bowden watching in over us, to make sure we were all keeping in line. We started off with some basic steps with the classic, step, kick and bull change behind, we repeated this until everyone managed to get it smoothly and we also added in a little bend of the knees to make it seems more exciting and enjoyable to watch. We carried on and added in some turns with the bottom half of our right legs kicking out sideways and also ended it with our hands on our knees swapping our hands over, every time we got to the end of line a sang 'Speakeasy'. It's really quite difficult to explain! However this took some time and the chatting of the other students didn't help too much to push it along. We did however manage to get up to the instrumental and in the lead up to it the moves are all quite similar and some repeated. We added in a few more new moves though like little step to the sides and also Alex volunteered to do a kart wheel centre stage which is quite funny to watch but of course we can't laugh as we have to act shocked, as it happens during the line 'each night astounds you' and after all we have a 6'2 boy playing Fat Sam. After this bit we all do these tiny little runs to move place and to give those who were in the back, a chance to be at the front. I start off the song down stage centre, so right in the middle at the front and then move a couple of rows to the back.

This took up all of the rehearsal and I think it went quite well, although it will be a pain to teach it to the other members who weren't there. However, we did manage to choreograph half of the song so it's an improvement. I think that, as a dancer myself, the moves were very simple and they will be easy to remember. Someone else in the class even said are you a dancer as they could see that I picked it up very fast and it just felt natural. Overall, it was a good rehearsal and it seemed like everyone enjoyed it.

01/04 Bad Guys and Rehearsing Act 1

The 1st of April, a new month! Time to really start cracking on with the show!

On Friday the 1st, we had a double period (period 2 and 3), and as the hall was being used period 2, we had to rehearse in the music block. However, after break we were able to use the hall to rehearse.

At the beginning of period 2, when we were all settled, Ms Williams read out a list of everything that had to be done to ensure that the show can work. Everyone had to make sure that they were doing at least one job, but I realised that a few of them needed a lot of responsibility and a lot of hard work and preporation to ensure that everyone was sorted with costumes etc but as I have a lot of other things that I need to focus on with other exams and with my own line learning and costumes etc, I thought it would be best to go with something smaller. The designing and making of the tickets really caught my attention though so I asked to do this and as the poster was also up for grabs, we thought it would be better if two people were to work on them so Anna and I have been chosen to design and create the tickets and posters, aswell as helping with the set building if we would like too.

Once this was sorted, we got onto the rehearsal. During this lesson, we sang through and started to choreograph Bad Guys. Firstly, we sat in a big semi circle and sang through the song a few times to make sure that the notes and tempo were right. We then had to stand next to someone else who was able to sing the correct notes and really sing it out well, but I just stayed where I was because I felt that I knew it well enough anyway and I didn't need anyone elses help. After, Ms Williams decided that she wanted to start choreographing it. We had to get into two lines, tallest at the back and smallest in the front. Half of us had to bob down on the 1st beats and the other half on the 3rd beats. Whilst we repeatedly did this, miss got Jodie and Millie to stand in front of us and to sing out the verses that they both sing togther in the song. However, it was really hard to hear them and they were hardly trying so when miss went over to the piano to play, she got a little annoyed as she couldn't even hear them. As we are now getting closer to the show, I think it's a real shame that people are still hardly trying and its just bringing us all down. Everyone needs to get over the embarrasment and just give it all they have as we only have one shot at this. Hollie will also be added into this song when she returns to school. The song 'Bad Guys' is only meant for Fat Sam's gang but as we only have a small cast we've had to include everyone else in it except for Bugsy, Sam, Smolsky and O'Dreary. Once we had finished rehearsing, we all moved onto 'You Give a Little Love'. It all sounded fine and I think everyone has got the hang of the song now, it just needs a little bit of volume. As this is the last song in the show, it fades out towards the end but as we come to an end in the song we repeatedly sing two lines. Miss got half of the group to sing the line and the other half to sing the da's. I didn't really like this idea as its the last song in the show and its where everyone all comes together, so I feel it would've been nice if we all sang it together. However, we didn't spend long on this as it was time for break.

After break, we all made our way to the hall for our rehearsal. For this lesson, we carried on from where we last finished from the week before, in the middle of Act 1. Tallulah isn't needed on the stage for much in Act 1 and only really has a couple of scenes but during this period I only had time to do the second scene which lasted a lot longer than my first. During my second scene, Tallulah has to flirt with Bugsy. Although we didn't have the correct props like the table and chairs etc, which would've made it a little easier, I still think we managed to make it seem believable. However, the next time that we do do this, I will add a lot more flirting and characterisation into it which will also help Bugsy to react more and Blousey when she enters shortly after. There is also a bit where Tallulah gets frustrated at Fizzy for practising on the piano whilst she is trying to have a deep conversation with Bugsy, and as Tallulah is irritated, she has to basically shout at Fizzy and tell him to "quit the ivories and hit the shoe leather?" I find this line quite hard to get my tongue around when also having to say it quite fast and bluntly, so I will make sure that I look over it and practice it. By time the lesson had ended, we managed to get through the whole of Act 1 and it's really starting to come along. I am starting to improve in my scenes in Act 1 now as we have been over it quite a bit, but I really do need to start learning my lines as it is holding me back, quite a lot.

30/03 Down and Out...

On Wednesday the 30th, we had a single lesson, but it turned out to be a very productive and successful rehearsal. The focus of this lesson was to go over the song 'Down and Out' and to start to add some movement into it.

Before our lesson started, I had a singing lesson at the end of lunch and I asked to specifically practise my song 'My Name is Tallulah', as recently I have been struggling with it. However, it was one of the first times that I actually felt the confidence to project it and to sing it well, as my teacher knows me well enough to pick out what I need to improve on.

After my lesson, I headed over to the main hall where the rest of the class were and we were told by miss to get the stage blocks and to set up the stage. We also had this booth which acted as the speakeasy, and a fake piano which is to be played by Fizzy in the performance, we received these back from the other school which were borrowing them. Once we were all set up and ready for the rehearsal to begin, we all grabbed a chair and sat round in a semi circle facing the stage. From here on, miss explained to us that for the rehearsal we were going to be revisiting the song 'Down and Out' which is sang by Bugsy Malone but with the rest of the chorus acting as slaves. Miss didn't let us have our music sheets but this was alright because all we had to repeatedly sing was 'down down down down, down down down and out'. It was in fact quite difficult not to get tongue tied, especially when having to repeatedly sing the word 'down'. The girls were all on the same note to each other and same with the boys, but the boys had to sing it lower to make it sound more interesting and varied. I sat apart from the girls to begin with, but this was fine as I still managed to hold all of the correct notes.
In my opinion, the hardest part of the lesson was when having to recognise and remember how many 'down down down down, down down down and outs' we had to do each time whilst Bugsy was singing. The first time that we sing it, we are all walking in from the back so we do it numerous times but when Bugsy comes in after other verses, we have to remember to firstly do it 4 times, then the second time only once and the third time 4. It gets very confusing so this is the part of the song that I will really have to focus on and do my own research on it in my own time. After going through the lines a few times, we all had to stand in a line and sing it again, moving our feet this time (a marching rhythm), like we will have to on stage. Also to put us off, miss made Adam, who plays Bugsy Malone, walk along the line singing his lines also, to see if we could keep a straight face and keep the volume. It was very hard to keep a straight face with him making funny faces at us.

After the joy of repeatedly singing the same words, miss told us that it was time to add some movement into the song, which was very exciting :) Miss split us into group A and B, to make sure that people with similar singing abilities were split up making each group fair. Group A were told to come on from Entrance E and group B from the other entrance at the back of the hall. From here on, we had to get one behind each other and slowly march, in time with the song, up to the front of the stage, where we met the opposite group. It worked well and is already looking really effective. We then carried on moving it, and we had to march up from stage 3 to stage 1, where we all stood in a line whilst the soup kitchen women (Ellie and Jade) dished out the horrible muck into our imaginary bowls. When we came in singing the 'downs' again, we marched back down onto stage two where we stood in another line. When we finished singing the 4 'down and outs', group A turned their bodies left and group B right, this was to give the effect that we were still ignoring Bugsy. We turned to the front again when singing the single 'down and out' and then back again to the sides. Finally, when we sang the final 4 'down and outs', we all turned back round again but this time it was more complicated. The first person on the right had to jump down from stage 2 to stage 3 within the first two lines, the second person in the next two lines after and so on. When the person after you to your left jumped down in their two lines, you had to then sit down at the same time. One of my strengths is timing and knowing when to do something at the right time during dances, so I found it very easy and straightforward however, for the others it was quite complicated the first time, but it's really starting to come together.

We unfortunately didn't manage to finish the song but we will be carrying on with it shortly. In the mean time, we need to carry on with learning our lines and taking notes on the movements, especially as now we have started to move the numbers and it will be a lot to remember.

29/03 First After School Rehearsal

We were told the previous lesson, on the 25th that we would have to give up our time to do some extra rehearsals after school. For the first scheduled after school rehearsal, I was called, along with the other 5 girls who are singing with me in the opening song of 'Bugsy Malone'. It was a slow start as we weren't all there at the beginning but once we had all arrived, it started to pick up a little. Surprisingly, we were all shocked to hear that we had solo lines to sing during the song, and even worse, I have the first two!! In my opinion, I always find it hardest to start the first note in any song, so this has made me quite nervous. However, when we went through who had which line, we went over the notes very quickly and sang the whole song altogether, to get a feel of how we are supposed to sing it correctly and to add more confidence and quality into our singing.
I found that as I sing the first two lines, 'He's a sinner, candy coated', they are quite difficult to sing with style, they sound quite monotone so I need to practise in my own time to try out different sounds and styles to see which ones sounds best.
The after school rehearsal didn't last long, so once we sang it through a few times, we got to go home, but we were told to keep practising our lines and to go over the notes and words for the songs.

25/03 First Rehearsal in the Hall

On the 25th, we had a double period (3 and 4). However, this was an exciting rehearsal as it was our first practice in the main hall, on the stage!!

When we all arrived in the hall after break had finished, we were told that we had to clear all of the green chairs off from the stage and stack them at the back of the hall. After, we had to grab a chair for ourselves and sit around facing the stage. Miss then gave us all a sheet of our lesson timetable, which included the dates of rehearsals, where they were and what we were doing in them. There was also a column on the end for homework, which was good as it helps us to prepare for the following rehearsal. After, Miss explained to us what we were going to do for the rehearsal but to begin with we had to set up the stage blocks, which were in fact the smaller ones as we didn't have the proper blocks as they were being used elsewhere at another performance. These however, stood in for stages 2 and 3 just so that we could get a feel of what it will be like having to walk onto an extended part of the stage. We also put on a table and chair to represent Fat Sam's office, and we brought on other tables and chairs when it was necessary to do so whilst running the show. Once we had sorted the stage, miss went through the stage layout again so that it was refreshed in our minds and for those who weren't in the lesson when the designed it in the first place. Finally after a few weeks, I have started to understand the stage layout and I'm slowly starting to remember where the exits and entrances are. During the performance, Tallulah's main exits and entrances are towards downstage right, entrance A, this is because her dressing room is based on this side and it is closer to Fat Sam's office, so for me I don't have it too hard and I'm really starting to use them well.

After we were all prepared with our scripts in hand, we started to run Act 1. The show starts with the song 'Bugsy Malone', which is sang by me, Anna, Abby, Millie, Jade and Jade. So we got into our position on stage as if were singing for him in the Grand Slam, and then had to carry on acting whilst Bugsy and Blousey did their scene. When the Hoods came in, we all had to scream and run off stage. I found this interesting, as it was different and we are finally getting to add in more detail with our characters.

Once I had finished the scene on stage, I left and watched the next few pages sitting in the audience. It mainly consisted of Bugsy and Blousey but then it wasn't long again till I was on so I headed back up onto the stage. This was my first bit of dialogue in the show, so it was exciting. However, I wasn't on long again and after having to perform with Fat Sam and Fizzy, I left the stage at exit C. When I returned to my seat, I realised that I wasn't needed for quite a few pages so I asked miss if I could go and practise my song with Mr Bowden over in the music block. I find the song quite hard and I'm really struggling to find the confidence to perform and to project it well. Mr Bowden made me stand in the middle of the room, away from him, so that it could help me to project so that he could hear me from a further distance and to see if I sounded any different, and it did help me to project more. I am aware of all of the notes but I find that I get scared when it comes to them so I don't perform them as well as I can and I try to skip it, which is really bad. To improve this, I am going to go away and keep listening to the song so that I can really familiarize myself with it. Also, I will try going over the notes many times between rehearsals, so that I can get stronger at them and become more confident within myself when singing them. Once I had finished practising my song several times, it was near the end of the lesson so everyone came back over to the music block where we all sang over Fat Sam's Grand Slam again. Everyone is really getting used to the song now and it is sounding a lot stronger.

18/03 Academic Review Day

On Friday 18th, our double rehearsal was cancelled due to an Academic Review Day which invloved the whole school to have meetings with their form tutors. Although we could've been asked to come into continue with our rehearsals, we sadly had to cancel them as our teacher was a form tutor, and was therefore busy and couldn't run our play, which would be no use to us as she is the one who is incharge of it all. However, those of us who had free periods that day, as some teachers still asked students to come into carry on with work that they were behind in, I came in periods 1 and 2 to work on my evaluations of past performances and to start to memorise and learn my lines for our performance of Bugsy Malone as the part of Tallulah.

16/03 Blocking Act 2

On the 16th, we had a single lesson (period 5) in which we continued to block the rest of the show. In the previous lesson we managed to finish all of Act 1 so the main focus of this lesson was getting Act 2 blocked.

At the beginning of the lesson, we talked about the importance of evaluations, showing our independent study and showing evidence of our work, which brought us onto our blogs. We were told that it is very important to keep up with our blogs as they show the evidence towards our final grade, and if we don't do them frequently then we will forget the important points of the rehearsal. Also, we were all given sheets that reviewed over our previous assignments and coursework's, explaining which Unit it was, our overall mark and what we still need to do and feedback. Many of us have quite a few past coursework's missing, which we have to work on and complete as soon as possible. I am up to date with Unit 1 but I still need to work on my evaluations of 'A Midsummer Nights Dream' and 'Stags and Hens' for Unit 2. We are currently working on Unit 3, but the sheet mentioned what we have to do in it and what we should be aiming for to go towards our overall grade for the BTEC. Once this was all sorted, we moved onto rehearsals.

To begin with, we set up the stage and moved around stage items into the correct places so that it was clearer to where the entrances and exits were etc. For myself, I have it quite easy with the entrances and exits as I am constantly coming on or leaving from A, this is because Tallulah's dressing room is based towards Fat Sam's side and her character is constantly pampering herself, which is why she always spends her free time in it, including when not on the stage. However, Act 2 starts with my song 'My Name is Tallulah', and because of our crafty layout and ideas of me walking around the audience whilst performing my song, I have to enter from entrance E which is the door at the very back of the hall, closest to the audience. As we are not singing or performing our songs whilst blocking the scenes, we moved onto the following scene. The second act is more complex than the first, so we really had to listen in and concentrate on everything that was going on. Tallulah is involved in Act 2 more than the first act, which I really liked as it meant I had more to do and I got to be involved for most of the lesson. In this rehearsal though, I made sure that I put down every exit and entrance, as I forgot to do this in Act 1. Tallulah is still mostly entering from A but there are a couple of moments where I leave elsewhere.

Over the past few weeks, I have been thinking about how I would like to play Tallulah and how much I really want the audience to understand her character and believe the person that I am playing. In order for this to happen, I need to really believe in myself and it will take a lot of practising to get her to how I want her to be. Therefore, during this rehearsal, I decided that it was time to take it up a notch and during my scenes I tried to add in a lot more characterisation. I made sure that I projected a lot more and I've started to add in some facial expressions. During one of my scenes with Fat Sam, when I am sitting on his desk whilst he is busy working, it says Tallulah is painting her nails, so I tried to look like I was productively doing something, it kind of worked, but at least I tried. Another important stage direction that I had to jot down is when I have to go over to the bar on a few occasions to make drinks. Hopefully it will all start coming to me naturally soon enough.

I feel that I have really learnt a lot more about my character as Tallulah whilst we blocked Act 2, as now I am starting to see what she is really like, and her different friendships between most of the cast. She is a feisty young women and I believe that I can play that same character, so long as I work my hardest and aim to be the best. I have really benefitted from this lesson and I really enjoyed it.

Hopefully over the next few rehearsals, we will continue to progress as a class and start to add some fine detail into the scenes and also work on adding in and setting some of the songs.

11/03 Blocking Act 1 and Singing Rehearsals

On Friday the 11th, we had a double lesson (period 3 and 4). This is always a good day for rehearsals as we don't get a break so we can work on it straight for two hours. In the first hour, we looked over a couple of songs and reviewed our previous evaluations of ourselves and in the second hour we continued to block Act 1.

At the beginning of the lesson, miss gave out our previous evaluations of ourselves which explained our previous experience in the performing arts including acting, singing and dance. This was to familiarize ourselves with what we had written so that we could set ourselves targets for the unit which would go towards our final grade. We particularly focused on the acting evaluations and we looked at them against the grading criteria for the unit. This was useful as it gives us a clue and some pointers of what we needed to work on during rehearsals. After we finished going through the evaluations, we did a singing warm up and continued onto sing Fat Sam's Grand Slam and You Give A Little Love. We only sang through these two numbers quickly as it wasn't the main focus of the lesson, but to benefit in the songs, we all had to stand away from each other so that we weren't being carried by anyone else or vice versa. This was a good technique as it showed how you really need to personally know the song and it helped me to remember the different parts that we had to sing than the boys, as I missed the previous lesson. It was a real confidence booster too.

We then moved onto the main focus of the lesson, which was drama. We carried on from where we got to the previous lesson, so from Fizzy's song. As I missed the previous lesson, I also missed a little bit of my dialogue, missing out on my correct exits and entrances, but I wasn't too fussed as I knew we would go over it again soon enough. The blocking takes quite a while in some places so as Fizzy and I had a long time till we were on stage again, so we went over to the music block with Mr Bowden to practise our solos. This was the first time that I had practised it with sir so I found it quite stressful as there was quite a difference in how my singing teacher helped me and how she play it compared to my teacher, but overall I think he played very well. However, I did struggle on the pitching of the final word at the end of each verse; me, faces and Carolina. Although it was winding me up, I kept my cool and kept trying it over and over until it stuck in my head. I also did this with another part of the song. Once Josh and I had finished rehearsing our songs, we headed back over to the drama studio where we carried on with the blocking of Act 1. I only had one scene again though, up until Act 2, so I had no motivation into my characters role but I still included my accent (which I think is really coming along), and as it's the first time of going through it and blocking it, I didn't add too much movement into my role or facial expressions and emotion, but this will all come along swiftly when we rehearse more.

Overall, these two lessons were really useful and I came out feeling a little better about myself and not as stressed, from having learnt a bit more for my characters role as we are slowly counting towards the final performance. Next lesson I hope to work on the pitching of my notes in my song 'My Name is Tallulah' and to add in a little more characterisation whilst blocking.

04/03 Absent!

On the 4th of March, I missed a double rehearsal as I was at a college audition for the performing arts extended diploma course (I got in)! :D However, I was told briefly what happened during the rehearsals and what I did hear surprised me. Another member of my class explained to me that they had gone through the stage layout and it sounded very confusing. I was then told about the idea that they had in mind for the song 'My Name is Tallulah' (the song that I have to sing). I was already feeling the pressure of singing this song alone as it is quite hard to sing perfectly, and especially standing there on the stage with the audience looking at me but no, the new plan is to have the audience sitting around the rounded tables just like they are in the film in the Grand Slam, with me walking in and out of all of the tables and around the audience, not to mention having to interact with them right in their faces. All I can say is that, I am terrified!!

As I found out the lesson after, they had also started blocking Act 1 but only managed to get up to Fizzy's song 'Tomorrow' so I hadn't missed much.

02/03 Fat Sam's Grand Slam

On the 2nd, we only had one lesson which was period 5. During this lesson we focused on Fat Sam's Grand Slam and reviewed our previous assignment.

Firstly when we got into the lesson, we had to grab a chair and sit around the front of the class, miss then gave us all a piece of paper that reviewed our last assignment, which was to put on a variety performance of songs and scenes from different musicals. I was pleased with my overall performance and it has given me that little bit more confidence. However, I was a bit disappointed with the feedback I got back, I can agree that I need to perform more when singing and when not saying a line in the scene, but I was disappointed that I didn't even get one mark for distinction and just managed to get a merit. But on the other hand, this has made me realise that you really do need to work hard to achieve a distinction and you need to put in a lot of hard work and effort and always try your hardest. I have my heart set on this so I will take in to account my stated weaknesses and apply them in my performance of Tallulah in our next production of Bugsy. I will do whatever it takes to show them what I can achieve.

In the second part of the lesson, we had to gather back around Ms Williams and take out or music sheets. This was the first lesson that we were taking a closer look into the song, getting a better knowledge of the correct pitch of the notes and really getting to know it. We started of by focusing on the technical side of singing, including the importance of breathing. Miss got us to put our hands on our waist, just underneath the rib cage, so that we could take a deep breath and expand our diaphragm without raising our shoulders, this helps to produce a stronger and better sound. I already had a great understanding of this exercise as my singing teacher makes me do it a lot during our lessons so I decided to really use it and put it to great use. We then started looking closely into Fat Sam's Grand Slam. Before when we had looked at the song, I found the timing quite difficult in a couple of places; 'at' at the beginning of the second line in the verse and 'the news we're making here' in the last line of the chorus. I've now managed to perfect 'at' but I'm still struggling on the timing of the other line. Also this line changes pitch and it's quite difficult to hit perfectly when the pace changes and the note is a lot higher. Once we sang through the song a couple of times, miss decided to split us up around the room so that we weren't sat next to the usual people we normally do and so that we were next to different abilities. I was however next to someone who sings quite quietly so I could only hear myself from where I was stood but miss said it sounded a lot better standing up and more spread out. We then had to move around once again and I felt confident enough to project more as I was now sure of the notes and the timing. I did discover though, that in some sections it is quite hard to breathe well, I sometimes struggle with breathing whilst singing anyways so I need to work out where it is correct to breathe to ensure I get a good sound. When we finished singing it for the second time standing up, it was the end of the lesson. Miss told us for homework that we needed to keep looking at the songs to familiarize ourselves with them and to get to know them a little better and to also carry on with learning our lines.

18/02 The Revitalization of Tallulah

Friday's rehearsal were the lessons we were all looking forward too, being able to try out our new parts and be able to find out what the next few rehearsals will consist of. On the 18th, we had a two hour session, when we got into the lesson our teacher told us to sit around in a semi circle and we discussed our updates on our Blogs and we congratulated each other on our parts.

In the first hour (period 3), we were given a booklet full of the songs from the musical. As a group, we all sat around the piano and started to sing through some of the songs to familiarize ourselves or in some cases learn the songs for the first time. We managed to get through all of the chorus songs apart from one which was 'So you wanna be a boxer' although this is mainly sang by Cagey Joe, but the chorus numbers we did get through were; 'Bugsy Malone', 'Fat Sam's Grand Slam', 'Bad Guys', 'Down And Out' and 'You Give A Little Love'. First of all, we took each song quite slowly, usually breaking after every couple of lines so that we could listen and understand what notes we were needing to sing. We were split into two groups, many singing the same octaves, the boys singing mainly tenor and the girls singing higher mainly being alto, although within these two groups we also had a couple of people singing different harmonies, with the boys a couple sang even lower (more bass) as they had deeper voices in general and a couple of girls, including me, sang the much higher notes ranging towards soprano, as the rest had a little trouble hitting the higher notes, but it all equalled out and the different harmonies sounded really good. The song 'Fat Sam's Grand Slam' was easier to learn than a few of the other songs because after the instrumental, the tune is repeated. The only bit that did need a closer look at was the "da da da da da" section. 'Bugsy Malone' had a few difficult lines as the notes and the pace would change quite unexpectedly, especially the line "He's a man, a mountain, He's a rolling stone", this is one line that I definitely need to have a look at. The third song that we looked at 'Bad Guys' was the easiest of them all as late last year, as a group, we learnt the song and had to make up a dance to go with it so we were all familiar with the tune. The eerie song 'Down And Out' was really enjoyable. The verses are mainly sung by Bugsy so all we had to learn was the simple words of "down, down, down, down, down, down, down and out". This line is constantly repeated whilst Bugsy is singing so it sounds really good underneath, especially with the higher and lower notes in also. Finally, the song 'You Give A Little Love' wasn't too hard to learn either; most of the song is the same tune as 'Bad Guys' just with a few different notes. It's only at the end where we change tune but this wasn't hard to work out and we all just enjoyed it and had a laugh. I think once we all start to get the hang of the notes, we can start to relax more and the volume will increase.

In the second hour (period 4), we managed to read through the whole script in just over 40 minutes. It was a chance to put our new characters into practice and it was really exciting. However, there are around 30 named characters in the musical Bugsy Malone, and we only have 18 students in our class. As a result of this many other people in the class were given two or three smaller roles to play instead. Luckily, being the part of Tallulah enables me to focus on just one character as she is quite an important role who has many lines. The read through helped us to see if any of the people with more than one part, clashed with any of their other characters. It became quite hard though as we had a few people absent this day so Miss had to stand in for them instead. Although the read through is to also help us understand what importance our characters are and to get an idea of how they appear to others and ourselves, this was just a brief analysis, so I didn't have to focus on characterisation too much. However, it helped me to understand the importance of Tallulah a bit better and the role she is known for. Tallulah is Fat Sam's girlfriend and the headliner in the club, which is why she can get away with just about anything, she even has her own song, 'My Name Is Tallulah', which she sings to everyone else in the club, with the help of her dancers. She is also Blousey's rival. When Miss mentioned that we were going to read through the script, immediately I thought to myself that I can't do the accent and I'm just going to embarrass myself, but as were reading it through it just came naturally to me. Yes I need to work on the accent a lot more and add more characterisation in the long run but overall I was pleased with the first read through.

At the end of the lesson, Miss told us that it is important to start learning our lines over half term, as we only have a certain amount of rehearsals to work on it and it is also easier to set and to play around with your character when you are not holding the libretto in your hand. So this was our homework over half term, as well as writing up our blogs.

17/02 Results Day

After the tense week of having to wait to find out our parts, we got given slips Thursday morning to inform us that if we wanted to find out which part we had got, to go see our teacher during lunch. This made it even tenser and I could not wait to go find out. Once lunch had come, I went straight to the music block with some other people from our class. When miss put the piece of paper into my hand, I couldn't bring myself to look so I took it away and finally I brought myself to peak.

I got the part of Tallulah :)

Although Tallulah was my second choice, I was very pleased with the part I was given and that I now get the chance to show people that I can do it. Once I had got home, I went through the script and highlighted all of my lines. What I didn't realise and which gave me a shock, was that my song 'My Name is Tallulah' opens Act 2, this is quite nerve racking but I'm sure it'll be ok. All I have to do now is to start learning my lines!!

11/02 - First Rehearsal

Over the next few months, we have been set the challenge, as a class, to perform the 1976 hit musical of Bugsy Malone. During the double period on Friday 11th, we were given the scripts to look through and for those who haven't seen or heard of the musical, to get an idea of what the Musical is about. In the first period, we had to get into groups of about 3 and go through the script, using our skim reading skills, to pick out and to understand which characters are needed in each scene. In the second period, we had to pair off, some going into larger groups, and pick a section to perform from the script according to the number of people in our group. I worked with Anna, and we decided to rein act the part where Bugsy is waiting for Blousey to turn up to go on their holiday to Hollywood, but Tallulah appears instead to give Bugsy some important information. This is found on page 44-45. Anna played the part of Tallulah whilst I played the part of Bugsy. I surprisingly managed to do the accent quite well, considering I was playing the part of a boy and I am not very good at accents overall. Also we had to improvise, like when I had to trip over the suitcase, centre stage in front of Anna; instead I had to use my jumper. I then had to pretend I was stuffing all of my belongings back into my suitcase as they had fallen out from it hitting the stage, which was quite hard as I had nothing to fold or use but it was fine. Overall, our performance went well and we received some positive feedback. The rehearsal was a lot of fun and a great way to start off the assignment and to prove ourselves ready for the casting of our parts. This brings me onto our applications of which part we would like to be chosen for, and to make it easier for Miss to see who we are interested in playing. At the end of the lesson we had to give in our application forms and I wrote down the parts of Blousey and Tallulah, I choose these two as they are the two main female leads and I felt like I needed to prove myself. We were told that we would find out sometime during the following week. It became quite tense.