Musical Theatre (25) - Act One Run

Today we ran the whole of Act One from start to finish (however, we skipped "We're Okay" and "Tango: Maureen" as I have a really bad throat at the moment and am not supposed to be singing). The main thing we need to work on from this lesson is knowing our lines! Sadly, there are still some songs which we have already done where people are still using scripts.

• "Rent":   Needs more vocal energy, but movement was a lot better.
• "Light My Candle":   This was the best it has ever been today. Henri and Taylor acted throughout, their character interaction was very believable, and their vocals were strong.
• Voice mails:   These need to be really over the top in terms of characterisation.
• "Today 4 U":   Owen sings thing really well but will need to project more so he is definitely heard when we put the show on stage. 
• "You'll See":   Is getting stronger every time they perform it. Will's voice has really improved since the beginning of this unit. He puts a lot of energy into his performance (in terms of vocals and character work), however, the rest of the people in this number have to match Will.
• "Life Support":   We had to spend quite a lot of time today on getting the timing right for this number. The names were all spoken at the wrong times, meaning that the actual song itself came in late. Another thing that needed work for this number was our American accents. Throughout the entire show progress so far, our accents have been fine, but when it came to saying the names at the beginning of this song, we became quite British and common! 
• Transition:   Originally, we all stayed where we were at the end of "Life Support" in a freeze frame until "Will I?". However, we have now changed this as not everyone will be singing "Will I?" now. Therefore, everyone acts as if they are saying goodbye then walks off in different directions. However, I remain where I was and Owen stands facing the back where he was. Owen and I remain in these positions in a freeze frame during "Another Day".
• "Will I?":   This song has changed the most since we started doing it. Originally, everyone was in this number and it was performed in a round - unfortunately, we couldn't get this number to work in terms of coming off at the right time, and it was all a little bit too repetitive. Therefore, Mr Webb cut people out of this number, so only people who the song was relevant to, sang it. Mimi and Roger sing this song, as they both have AIDS and they just broke up in the previous song, so is very relevant to them. We also wanted either Angel or Collins in this number too, as both of them have AIDS. Originally, Lewis was going to do it, but he was struggling with the tuning of this number, so Owen is doing it instead. As I was singing the first solo in this song anyway, I am still in this number. Although it is not clear whether my character has AIDS or not, it is still relevant to my character as I could be singing about Maureen, or the lyrics still would make sense if I sang about my sexuality and how my parents aren't supportive of this ("for mummy's sake kitten no, Doc Martin's this time"). The staging for this one is really simple. Roger stays centre, Mimi stands stage right, I remain in my position from "Life Support" and Owen stands between Henri and I. So that the piece isn't too repetitive, I shall sing the first round (as before), then everyone else will join in with me. As we were having trouble with the timing, we shall sing in unison. The fifth time, I sing as a solo - Owen and Henri exit on this one. The final round is sung as a solo by Taylor (I walk off on this time). The fact that Taylor is left on the stage on our own emphasises her feeling of isolation and emptiness, thus foreshadowing "Without You".
• Angel discussion:   Mr Webb and I had a long debate about when Angel dies, when she should wear her wig and the staging for "Without You". Mr Webb spoke about having Angel take her wig off when she joins in with the song "Will I?" but I thought that this could either be a little bit tacky, or it would be too much too soon - this could be saved until "Without You" when he is dying. Mr Webb and I finally agreed that he wouldn't take his wig off here and would save it until "Without You" as it would be lovely (and very abstract) for him to put the wig back on during "I'll Cover You (reprise)", as it would show Angel changing from how he was when he died to how he will be remembered by everyone at the funeral. Our staging conversation was about split screening. Mr Webb was speaking about having a split screen for "Without You", but I feel like this would detach the audience from the emotional side of the piece. I agreed that it would look good to have a split screen and would work well in a play, but as it is Musical Theatre, I feel like the audience would suspend their disbelief and the location doesn't really matter. I would prefer to create the right atmosphere and a moving looking piece, rather than keeping it completely realistic and obvious. We will hopefully be staging this number next lesson.