Project workshop -01/04/19 Today discussed set and layout ideas with our technical director Adam Billing. Which I found interesting as I'v never worked with a technical director and was interested to know what he had planned other than working with lights. He had suggested we use some rolled in object that can be brought off and on the stage. He also suggested that we use things such as a cabinet to use as a fridge and castle. I even suggested bring the stage more forward or just playing around with the stage builds. We talked about couches, cardboard cut outs and handmade cars but because our lesson was so short we left it to continue in future lessons.
Project workshop - 02/04/19 Today we discussed our backstage roles. I volunteered for Costume, Poster and set team and Choreographing. I wanted to work more on choreography mainly because I enjoyed it so much in our last production. I also already had some Ideas for the poster and what costumes I wanted people to wear. I didn't make much of a contribution in our last production and seeing what roles people had influenced me on choosing.
Besides that we also started blocking Act 1 with our Director.
Project workshop - 23/04/19 This was the first lesson back after our half term, so in this lesson we just discussed what we had research and prepared for the upcoming lessons. We also discussed time tables and arranged sessions with those people needed to work with.
Musical theatre- 25/04/19 In today's lesson me and Tilia started working on "Touch me ". We began by brainstorming ideas of what we wanted it to look like and if we thought it was appropriate enough. Tilia over sighted the choreography more because she knew the song better. This was beneficial for me as it helped allowed me to have more confidence in the outlook of the performance.
Project workshop - 29/04/19 During our lesson we finished blocking Act 1 and started blocking Act. However we mainly focused on Frank, Brad and Janet's bedroom scene.
Later I then started to teach the intro to "Rose tint/ Floor show ". From resources found on the internet I realised that each solo needed a choreographed entrance of it own. Most times this is improvised but knowing that my class isn't really good at improvised dance I decided to choreograph it.
I drew down little figures next to the line of lyrics then try picture the movements it in my head. Yet when it came to the first lesson I came to realise this was more difficult than I had thought.
The first thing that I found difficult was keeping everyone's attention. Although I knew the choreography really well my peers didn't so I kept having to go over it and show people what they had to do for their solos and whilst others would wander off the lastly try grab everyone’s attention for the begging of the choreographed section. This was very time consuming and tiring for others, as well as boring for those who were not in the scene. This was an 8 minute long song and I had only shown them 3 minutes of the routine in an hour lesson.
Project workshop - 30/04/19 In this lesson I got everyone to go over rose tint, then taught them the movements for the fanfare.
Project workshop - 02/05/19 Today Leah taught us the choreography to "Hot potootie".
Project workshop - 07/05/19 In today's lesson not only did we go through all of "time warp " including Rina's tap break and Tilia and Bethany's stage directions but we also had gone through "Hot potootie ".
Project workshop - 13/05/19 In today's lesson we were taught the choreography to "Sword of Damocles " by Ghazal. This lesson was very necessary for me as it was for my character and one of the few choreographs that wasn't yet taught, which was a problem as we had gotten most done and covered.
Today me and Rina also headed up to the art room to started the poster design. We had quickly drawn out what we wanted on it on plain paper than drew it out on cardboard. My inspiration for the design was the little shop of horrors poster. I loved how each word on the poster represented the theme.
To do this we cut each word in cardboard then stuck it on a bigger plaque of cardboard.
I made the decision to paint the cardboard black with brick like shapes in the background to represent a wall.
Project workshop - 14/05/19 In Today's lesson we finally had gone through "Eddies Teddy ", which was very important it was the finally choreography to be taught. We picked it up really quickly as it was very simple and crucial that we know given the time left.
We polished "Touch me " and the reprise of "Make you a man ".
Tech Rehearsal - 17/05/19 The reason for this session was to plot our lighting and sound effects in each scene. The session was planned for 4 hours but we ended up doing 6 hours. This was because we had to include breaks and time for the computer program to start.
In this session we also discussed things that needed to be removed or adjusted to the space and especially stage exists and entrances.
This rehearsal made me realise that the Q- build is bigger than how we rehearsed it,but didn't seem like an issue.
Theatre Rehearsals - 20/05/19 We started off where we left off in our last rehearsal but worked on our bows at the end a worked out our final "Time warp ". We also went over scene transitions and adjustments to mic pitching. There wasn't enough mics for the whole cast. So me and Ghazal just hand held mics during currents songs such as "Rose tint " and "Hot potootie".
Theatre Rehearsals - 21/05/19 In today's lesson we found out we couldn't use any of the mics and that we just had to rely on our own voices to project. This seemed a bit of an issue mainly because we relied on mics bring the show more to live.
This session was our first dress rehearsal. Personally I found it was very useful as it allowed to calculated how long it would take me to change, add details, make sure everything was ready and enter the stage in time. The change I found the most hardest was the changeover after "Eddie's teddy " and "Rose tint.." this was because I had to take of my shoes, socks, shorts, and top, to then put on my fishnet tights, leotard, crop-top, socks and shoes back on. Then quickly remember any smaller details. This process was very hard and depended much on long it took for the characters on stage took to do their scene.
Photo graphed performance 22/05/19 This performance felt more like rehearsal mainly because there was no one else there but the photographer and Shelley had kept on making adjustments during our run- through.
Link to Photographer's pictures https://flic.kr/s/
Rehearsal before first performance 23/05/19 In this rehearsal we managed to get through the majority of the musical but mainly focused on warming up our bodies, receiving and polishing any criticism given to us. As it got closer to the time we got our-self together.
First show - 23/05/19 - 2 pm Our first audience was people around our age meaning that the reaction were louder and more juvenile. From rumours we heard that some people had said negative things during or leaving the show and some had even distracted. This I felt had impacted me a lot because I was already nervous and could feel that energy of judgement from the audience.
Second show - 7 pm The later show had mainly adults in the audience resulting in the reactions being subtle and reserved. This made energy seem even worse because although we all feel we did better it felt like we wasn’t doing well or they were a tough crowd. The outcome of this showed me that audience impact a performance a lot.
FINAL EVALUATION
Besides that we also started blocking Act 1 with our Director.
Project workshop - 23/04/19 This was the first lesson back after our half term, so in this lesson we just discussed what we had research and prepared for the upcoming lessons. We also discussed time tables and arranged sessions with those people needed to work with.
Musical theatre- 25/04/19 In today's lesson me and Tilia started working on "Touch me ". We began by brainstorming ideas of what we wanted it to look like and if we thought it was appropriate enough. Tilia over sighted the choreography more because she knew the song better. This was beneficial for me as it helped allowed me to have more confidence in the outlook of the performance.
Project workshop - 29/04/19 During our lesson we finished blocking Act 1 and started blocking Act. However we mainly focused on Frank, Brad and Janet's bedroom scene.
Later I then started to teach the intro to "Rose tint/ Floor show ". From resources found on the internet I realised that each solo needed a choreographed entrance of it own. Most times this is improvised but knowing that my class isn't really good at improvised dance I decided to choreograph it.
I drew down little figures next to the line of lyrics then try picture the movements it in my head. Yet when it came to the first lesson I came to realise this was more difficult than I had thought.
The first thing that I found difficult was keeping everyone's attention. Although I knew the choreography really well my peers didn't so I kept having to go over it and show people what they had to do for their solos and whilst others would wander off the lastly try grab everyone’s attention for the begging of the choreographed section. This was very time consuming and tiring for others, as well as boring for those who were not in the scene. This was an 8 minute long song and I had only shown them 3 minutes of the routine in an hour lesson.
Project workshop - 30/04/19 In this lesson I got everyone to go over rose tint, then taught them the movements for the fanfare.
Project workshop - 02/05/19 Today Leah taught us the choreography to "Hot potootie".
Project workshop - 07/05/19 In today's lesson not only did we go through all of "time warp " including Rina's tap break and Tilia and Bethany's stage directions but we also had gone through "Hot potootie ".
Project workshop - 13/05/19 In today's lesson we were taught the choreography to "Sword of Damocles " by Ghazal. This lesson was very necessary for me as it was for my character and one of the few choreographs that wasn't yet taught, which was a problem as we had gotten most done and covered.
Today me and Rina also headed up to the art room to started the poster design. We had quickly drawn out what we wanted on it on plain paper than drew it out on cardboard. My inspiration for the design was the little shop of horrors poster. I loved how each word on the poster represented the theme.
To do this we cut each word in cardboard then stuck it on a bigger plaque of cardboard.
I made the decision to paint the cardboard black with brick like shapes in the background to represent a wall.
Project workshop - 14/05/19 In Today's lesson we finally had gone through "Eddies Teddy ", which was very important it was the finally choreography to be taught. We picked it up really quickly as it was very simple and crucial that we know given the time left.
We polished "Touch me " and the reprise of "Make you a man ".
"Make you a man" notes.
Tech Rehearsal - 17/05/19 The reason for this session was to plot our lighting and sound effects in each scene. The session was planned for 4 hours but we ended up doing 6 hours. This was because we had to include breaks and time for the computer program to start.
In this session we also discussed things that needed to be removed or adjusted to the space and especially stage exists and entrances.
This rehearsal made me realise that the Q- build is bigger than how we rehearsed it,but didn't seem like an issue.
Theatre Rehearsals - 20/05/19 We started off where we left off in our last rehearsal but worked on our bows at the end a worked out our final "Time warp ". We also went over scene transitions and adjustments to mic pitching. There wasn't enough mics for the whole cast. So me and Ghazal just hand held mics during currents songs such as "Rose tint " and "Hot potootie".
Theatre Rehearsals - 21/05/19 In today's lesson we found out we couldn't use any of the mics and that we just had to rely on our own voices to project. This seemed a bit of an issue mainly because we relied on mics bring the show more to live.
This session was our first dress rehearsal. Personally I found it was very useful as it allowed to calculated how long it would take me to change, add details, make sure everything was ready and enter the stage in time. The change I found the most hardest was the changeover after "Eddie's teddy " and "Rose tint.." this was because I had to take of my shoes, socks, shorts, and top, to then put on my fishnet tights, leotard, crop-top, socks and shoes back on. Then quickly remember any smaller details. This process was very hard and depended much on long it took for the characters on stage took to do their scene.
Photo graphed performance 22/05/19 This performance felt more like rehearsal mainly because there was no one else there but the photographer and Shelley had kept on making adjustments during our run- through.
Link to Photographer's pictures https://flic.kr/s/
Rehearsal before first performance 23/05/19 In this rehearsal we managed to get through the majority of the musical but mainly focused on warming up our bodies, receiving and polishing any criticism given to us. As it got closer to the time we got our-self together.
First show - 23/05/19 - 2 pm Our first audience was people around our age meaning that the reaction were louder and more juvenile. From rumours we heard that some people had said negative things during or leaving the show and some had even distracted. This I felt had impacted me a lot because I was already nervous and could feel that energy of judgement from the audience.
Second show - 7 pm The later show had mainly adults in the audience resulting in the reactions being subtle and reserved. This made energy seem even worse because although we all feel we did better it felt like we wasn’t doing well or they were a tough crowd. The outcome of this showed me that audience impact a performance a lot.
FINAL EVALUATION
PREPARING FOR THE SHOW
In the development of Rocky Horror we were all assigned roles to do to help us development it, for example we had; A costume design committee, Set and prop design and Poster and Program team. These are just examples to show how many different departments we needed.
First thing we did was get taught half the routine of ‘Time Warp’ from our tutor. Being that our tutor hadn’t taught us before I saw this as a new experience. The style movement of the choreography demonstrated jazz and musical theatre which was right for our first assemble piece.
- We then read through the script in our characters, experimenting with different voices and characterisations.
- I was then the first to teach a routine being the beginning of “Rose tint.../Floorshow”. This is because I had taken priority in choreographing my dance first. Choreographing was the role I wanted the most, I really enjoyed it and even wanted to do more so I continuously helped those who needed help and offered when needed. Overall I think it made a big impact in the rehearsals because it helped waste less time.
- Our later acting lessons included placing people and assumed objects around the rehearsal room. Doing this was hard because our perception of the floor stage and Q-build was smaller than it actually was. This meant that we had to adjust to the new space. What we especially found hard was moving around this new space and adapting new directions.
- Down the line we got taught more routines from my peers. I am not a stranger to this as we had taught each other before. It seemed that we were all going through the same thing when it came to do this because the class always seemed all over the place when it came to it, especially if people were missing. However we would finally get it done and polished for the next rehearsal.
- And lastly we worked on fixing little details and polished acting.
When working on the poster and program design I mainly focused on the cover, the outline and placing of things. I made sure in the design I captured every element of Rocky Horror. My inspiration was the poster of “Little of shop of horrors”. The reason is because each word is written in its theme and the poster as a whole gives away the story by just looking at it.
Planning of the program.
Final Program.
Times, T. (2019). Lakewood Playhouse announces 79th Season line-up. [online] The Suburban Times. Available at: https://thesubtimes.com/2017/03/22/press-release-lakewood-playhouse-announces-its-line-up-for-next-season-season-79/ [Accessed 17 Jun. 2019].
We were aware that technical director, Adam Billing was in charge of ordering the costumes but we also was aware that there was a budget so some of us decided to take responsibility of our own costumes. My costume ideas varied for feminine too masculine but eventually me and my tutor agreed on boxer shorts and a crop top. To this I added long rainbow coloured socks and white trainers. I thought this was suitable because it also gave masculine gym look. I knew that if I had ordered it myself then I had control on when it would come and what I would wear if it didn’t.
The type of research I did on playing my role as rocky was based on lines I knew that I had to deliver it in a dim-witted way considering that was just born but it was easy because I also had to be vain throughout the show due to the reason that Rocky is a narcissistic creator created by Frank only for Frank. He only knows to be vain, attractive, sex. To do this I thought about caring weights around the stage sometimes and looking cheery at random points. Character wise I knew that I had to research body-building positions and poses to do to the audience to emphasise that I was strong and muscled.
In the performance I felt that most of my research was put into action but I think I could’ve personally put more into my performance alone because,when watching it back I could see that my characterisation wasn’t as effective as I had imagined.
Pinterest. (2019). Christine Envall IFBB Pro female bodybuilder | Christine Envall | Bodybuilding, Pro bodybuilders, Female. [online] Available at: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/515099276108714175/?lp=true [Accessed 17 Jun. 2019].
Techniques I used in my in my acting during rehearsals was actually try to believe that I was really rocky living his life, but on stage I would admit that the nerves got the better of me resulting in my actual performance less strong than I hoped. From this I’ve learned that maybe perform a couple of times to new audiences before any showings so that I’m used to the nerves.
Other techniques I used was discussing actions with people I danced or had scenes with by maintaining a good relationship with them so that we were comfortable together on stage. I think both strategies worked really because not only did this method help us bond as a company but it meant that even though I was nervous of the audience, I was comfortable with the cast.
OVERALL OUTCOME OF THE SHOW
Overall I think my performance as Rocky was effective. The reason why I think this is because although I had a small part when I watched the live stage performance with my class Rocky seemed liked a big character and was very memorable especially because even the audience liked him. But I don’t feel my role was fully performed and I lacked projection. So it didn't seem memorable as it could've been.
The audiences reactions contrasted, our first audience was people around our age meaning that the reaction were louder and more juvenile. From rumours we heard that some people had said negative things during or leaving the show and some had even distracted. This I felt had impacted me a lot because I was already nervous and could feel that energy of judgement from the audience.
The later show had mainly adults in the audience resulting in the reactions being subtle and reserved. This made energy seem even worse because although we all feel we did better it felt like we wasn’t doing well or they were a tough crowd. The outcome of this showed me that audience impact a performance a lot. Which left me asking myself does that mean my performance would change all the time? What does that say about me? And Am I mentally prepared?
In the future I will consider talking more dance or singing roles, but I believe I certainly need to work on my acting.
When choreographing “Floorshow/Rose Tint My World” I had to do all types of research. The first thing I did was watch the popular stage productions then the not so popular ones such as university productions and smaller or foreign productions From those videos on youtube I realised that they all had things in common. First of all the solo’s from each character and the walks to the position during the fanfare at the begging. Knowing our class I knew that it would be necessary to choreograph each solo a character had since we're not really good at dance improvisation. The videos helped me to understand what was required and inspire good ideas.
YouTube. (2019). 2014 Rocky Horror Tribute "Rose Tint My World" Halloween Horror Nights HHN24 Universal Studios. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rg7CgfTIJg&t=165s [Accessed 17 Jun. 2019].
YouTube. (2019). Rocky Cast Rose Tint My World 1.6.18. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P8xHw-Z2Ms [Accessed 17 Jun. 2019].
YouTube. (2019). Lauren, Donnesh, Caroline, and Jennifer: Floor Show/Rose Tint My World | Rocky Horror Aerial Show. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRhWdhpIfwQ [Accessed 17 Jun. 2019].
YouTube. (2019). Rocky Horror Show 2015 - Rose Tint My World,Don't Dream It,Wild & Untamed Thing,I'm Going Home. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7nkqJUv7WE [Accessed 17 Jun. 2019].
YouTube. (2019). Rose tint my world / Wild & untamed thing. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yZlRqk5_6U [Accessed 17 Jun. 2019].
YouTube. (2019). Rocky Horror Live Broadway - 'Floor Show'. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxeNU3pSClg [Accessed 17 Jun. 2019].
YouTube. (2019). 2014 Rocky Horror Tribute "Rose Tint My World" Halloween Horror Nights HHN24 Universal Studios. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rg7CgfTIJg&t=165s [Accessed 17 Jun. 2019].
YouTube. (2019). Rocky Cast Rose Tint My World 1.6.18. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P8xHw-Z2Ms [Accessed 17 Jun. 2019].
YouTube. (2019). Lauren, Donnesh, Caroline, and Jennifer: Floor Show/Rose Tint My World | Rocky Horror Aerial Show. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRhWdhpIfwQ [Accessed 17 Jun. 2019].
I drew down little figures next to the line of lyrics then try picture the movements it in my head. Yet when it came to the first lesson I came to realise this was more difficult than I had thought.
The first thing that I found difficult was keeping everyone's attention. Although I knew the choreography really well my peers didn’t so I kept having to go over it and show people what they had to do for their solos and whilst others would wander off the lastly try grab everyone’s attention for the begging of the choreographed section. This was very time consuming and tiring for others, as well as boring for those who were not in the scene. This was an 8 minute long song and I had only shown them 3 minutes of the routine in an hour lesson.
MY CONTRIBUTION IN THE SHOW
Choreographing the reprise of “Rose Tint My World” was easy because it was short and I knew where everyone was and needed to be for the next scene, so I created based on this information. The only part I had to think hard and quick about was Franks mini solo in that song. To help me choreograph this I watched videos of old rock/soul concerts and artists like Tina Turner, Mike Jagger and popular ones like Red Hot Chilli Peppers.
The resource I found most useful was you-tube and my own knowledge. This is because from you-tube I was able to see visually what similar actions looked like and as I was wasn't able to count the rhythmic beats in certain sections so I would watch videos and count how many moves
they instead.
Personally I think my judgement on choreographing and planning has changed definitely. I've come to realise that perhaps I should do further dance outside my college to advance my dance abilities to help me choreograph in the future.
RESPONSIBILITIES AND LESSONS THE SHOW HAS TAUGHT US
Being that everyone had roles in the performance and behind the performance it was very crucial that people turned up on time and during the day so that we could our rehearsals accurately. Missing people meant we had to postpone things planned for the lesson for find some to fill in the role. People also needed to be prepared for the lesson, example there were days where only a couple of routines needed to be taught but the people responsible hadn't prepared anything. There were even days where everything we needed to do was done but there was still things missing because the director wasn't available.
This experience showed me that in preparing a show a lot of things are needed to be done and everything is just as important as the other. From casting to program and this experience showed me how I myself was able to manage being this project.
I found myself coming in more frequently and earlier (not exactly on time) than I did before, doing more to contribute in my project and course work wise. I also found myself feeling more prepared for future projects. With this project I’ve realised more my priorities and thought harder about my weaknesses and future.
In the future I plan to do more dance and singing related education and work. This and past performances has showed me that patience, teamwork and organisation is key when choreographing. If I plan to do this in the future with people I don’t know I would especially have to acquire these skills, but to do so I especially need to improve my focus skills in lessons.
OVERALL OPINION
Overall I personally this the show could’ve been better it felt like the two shows itself was just a rehearsal and that we should have a chance to do it again. In conclusion I don’t think my performance fulfilled my potential could’ve had and hadn’t fully shown all my hard work.
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