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.