Musical Theatre (30) - Act One Run

In this lesson we ran the whole of Act One on the stage. Below is how I think it all went:

• Sections of dialogue:   On the whole, these went really well, but a couple of lines need to be looked over to ensure fluency of dialogue.
• Transitions:   These desperately need work! I think that our next step should be to do a top-and-tail run of the entire show to work out who is going to move what set, how and when. Not only does the set transitions need sorting, but the literal transitions of actors from scene to scene - we need to work on how we leave the scene, as this needs to be in character and with purpose.
• Everything up until "Light My Candle":   This is the section we have done the most, so has now become consistent. These numbers all sound really good, are believable in terms of characterisation and look good in the stage space.
• Mr & Mrs Jefferson Voice Mail:   This was the first time they had done this number in front of the class. It sounded okay on the whole, but some lines were forgotten in places. 
• "Today 4 U" & "You'll See":   These two numbers are looking and sounding a lot better. The boys all really interact with each other and their character relationships are starting to become more solid and obvious.
• "Life Support", "Another Day", "Will I?" & "Santa Fe":   These numbers are now becoming consistent and look and sound how we want them to. The blocking works well in the space.
• "I'll Cover You":   This number wasn't so good in terms of vocals (due to clashing harmonies and mistuning in places), but their movement looked good and was effective at presenting their relationship. 
• "We're Okay":   This was the first time I performed this number to the class. Vocally, I think this piece went quite well (apart from the "penthouse A" line being a little bit sharp as I strained a bit, as I didn't do warm up my belt voice). I got my movement right for the majority of the time, but in a couple of places, I sang into the wrong phones - therefore, I need to really pay attention who I am supposed to be singing to, and practice more with my movements.
• "Over the Moon":     What Alice sang sounded good but she ended up giggling a lot because she felt awkward. This is understandable as it is a strange number, but needs to be avoided - perhaps by performing it more to the class and more practice in general (so she knows what movement she is going to do). Alice and I also need to practice this number together more, as I am singing the backing parts for this number. In the film version of Rent, the backing vocals are all pre-recorded by Maureen and played on various TV screens. However, when I saw it at St James's Theatre in London a couple of weeks ago, the backing vocals were supposed to be on a cassette player, which doesn't work, causing Joanne to have to sing them live. I thought this was really funny and worked really well. I was going to sing them live anyway, but I think that we should make a thing of this. I shall suggest this next time we perform the number.