Evaluation

Tuesday Night

Performing  Malice at the Brewhouse really helped me focus and concentrate on wanting to perform to the best of my ability because the scenery and lighting made it all seem real.  I was nervous on the first night because I had family that was coming to watch, and because it was the first night. I enjoyed being back stage watching the production as well and I felt that every person made the characters come to life.  I was really proud to be a part of the production. When delivering my lines, on the first night I think I was a little delayed with one line, because the pace of the scene was a little slow.  At one point we had a long pause at the end of scene 11 because someone had forgotten their line, so it totally changed the atmosphere and the running of that scene.  Because of this I slightly lost my focus and laughed when one character said an unexpected line. It was really hard to keep focused at that point, but I tried my best to get back into the zone.

The following day we practised this scene to ensure that everyone knew what lines they were speaking and when they were to say them. This helped because everyone was co-operating well and we didn’t want the same thing happening on the Wednesday. Despite this, I did feel that I performed my role of Absolem confidently and I projected myself, aiming to obtain authority.

Wednesday Afternoon-The Matinee

We had a great turn out in terms of our audience on Wednesday afternoon. This audience was the best out of all three nights. Every time we performed the production it just got better and better. We never expected it to be as good as it was but it was truly magical. Everyone was even more focused from the night before, and after Tuesday’s performance I went home and reflected on the positive and critical things of the production and ensured that I was performing my role to the best of my ability by looking back at my research and the video. Even though I didn’t have a hookah to use as part of my prop, I still made sure that I accentuated on the utterances that Absolem did, to create a real character. Even when I wasn’t talking but just standing on stage, I ensured that I was still in character. For example, in the final Scene of act 2 when I was standing amongst other characters I interacted with the cats when they were moving around me, by looking at them with curiosity etc. I think it was important that I was creating animation rather than a picture.

As well as the production getting better, my makeup got better. I was really lucky to have a good makeup artist who knew exactly what she was doing and what kind of look I was going for. As you can see from the picture she made a lighter blue that blended into the darker blue, which really brought out the aged look that I was aiming to portray.

Wednesday Night

This was our final night of performing. The best night of all. After having our make-up touched up we were ready to get going again. I looked at my research and video for the final time and ensured that I was delivering my lines correctly and with performance. I think despite the fact that I didn’t have many lines, it was important that I delivered them well because of how highly and frequently I was spoken of in the musical by other characters. I think that I played a very good character of Absolem because I was confident and I obtained an important persona, which is what Absolem is all about. I feel that I delivered my lines clearly and with volume. However in the final scene because there was so many people on stage and we were all standing amongst each other, it was harder to step forward and deliver my line as clearly as I had done previously. Maybe if we had set positins for this scene we could have planned people's cue's out so that we could have projected our lines better.  Looking back at all the characters, I think we reflect a little of ourselves in them. I think the tutors picked the right people for the right roles and it has been a great success. I also think that choosing Alice in Wonderland to do as a musical is very creative and inspirational because I would have never have thought twice to do a musical of this story. The song choices and the script have been planned very carefully and this showed throughout all three nights.  It has been great working with the performing arts, because we have made friends and learnt from each other, I just think it’s a shame that this was the first and last time we got the opportunity to work together. The production of Malice from start to finish has had its ups and downs but as a team-tutors and students we have worked well to produce a wonderful and magical musical.-Malice.

Rehearsing the Whole Production

Today we rehearsed the whole production. There are still a few things that need patching up, but it is looking like a professinal production now. I'm starting to get excited about the musical now we are so close to it being over. The process has been long and drawn out at times but we have got there, and I have confidence that it will look really good.

Costume adjustments

Costume and Makeup

Livin it Up

Livin it  Up is our final song for the musical, and I think it is the best. I have found it the easiest song to learn and the movement to the song is exciting and really compliments the lyrics. I think we look good all dancing and singing together as a whole class. It also makes me a little sad that this is the last time we will all get to perform together.

Practising my role

Today I got the opportunity to go through Scene 11 with the other characters in that scene. I really enjoyed playing Absolem because he is very serious and he has a lot of authority. Throughought the play Absolem is talked about a lot. I think Amy and I worked well together because she knew how to act confused and intimidated by Absolem, and I turned my back to Alice to suggest how unimportant she was. This scene is coming together now and I think it will get better and better as we continue to practice it.

Absolem: The Mask

Today, I got given my mask for Absolem. It is sculpted as a face with a very broad forehead, with copper strings coming off the top the mask. The mask is coloured with yellows, greens and shades of blue. The mask on looks very effective, however when trying it on it doesn't quite sit on my head without me holding it. So i'm going to have to have a piece of elastic round the back of it to hold it against my face.

Practising Lines

Over the weeks I have been practising my lines. I haven't got a lot of lines, and I am only in Scene 11 of Act 1. However, this makes it easier for me to deliver my lines with  clarity and confidence.

The only thing I am worried about is not getting the chance to perform my role in class, because we never get the chance to go through Scene 11. Hopefully we will have more time, because  I want to get the chance to play with my role and work with Alice to create the right atmosphere.

Alice in Wonderland -Absolem.

Absolem

The Caterpillar (also known as the Hookah-Smoking Caterpillar) is a fictional character appearing in Lewis Carroll's book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Appearance in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Introduced in Chapter IV ("Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill") and the main center of interest of Chapter V ("Advice from a Caterpillar"), the Caterpillar is a hookah-smoking caterpillar exactly three inches high which, according to him, "is a very good height indeed" (though Alice believes it to be a wretched height).
Alice does not like the Caterpillar when they first meet, because he does not immediately talk to her and when he does, it is usually in short, rather rude sentences, or difficult questions.

The original illustration by John Tenniel at right, is something of a visual paradox; the caterpillar's human face appears to be formed from the head and legs of a more realistic caterpillar.^[1] In another illusion, the flowers on the right of the illustration appear to be a form of tobacco, while the caterpillar is smoking heavily.

















 

The Caterpillar using a hookah; an illustration by John Tenniel. The illustration is noted for its ambiguous central figure, whose head can be viewed as being a human male's face with pointed nose and protruding chin or being the head end of an actual caterpillar, with two "true" legs visible.[1]
First appearance	Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Created by	Lewis Carroll
Information
Nickname(s)	The Blue Caterpillar
Aliases	Hookah-Smoking Caterpillar
Species	Caterpillar
Gender	Male
Nationality	Wonderland

Disney film

Blue Caterpillar
First appearance	Alice in Wonderland
Created by	Lewis Caroll
Voiced by	Richard Haydn (original film) Corey Burton (House of Mouse)

Main article: Alice in Wonderland (1951 film)

His memorable phrase is a breathy "Whooo ... are ... you?". In the Disney animated movie, this line is visualised as exhalations of smoke in the shapes "O", "R" and "U". Alice remarks in the original story that the Caterpillar will one day turn into a butterfly, and in both the 1999 television film and Disney's 1951 version he does just that (albeit while angry from Alice's comment about being only three inches high). He is voiced by Richard Haydn.



Tim Burton film

Main article: Alice in Wonderland (2010 film)

Alan Rickman voices the Caterpillar, who in this adaptation is named "Absolem".^[2] Rickman was filmed while recording his voice in a studio, but his face was not composited onto the character's face as originally planned.^[3] He appears five times in the movie. The first time is outside Wonderland, when a young man is about to propose to Alice and she notices a blue caterpillar on his shoulder. The second time is when the white rabbit, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, dormouse and the dodo try to decide whether Alice is really the one from the Oraculum. They take her to Absolem, who concludes that she is "not hardly Alice." He appears after Alice arrives at the White Queen's Castle, on this particular meeting, she becomes rather annoyed with him blowing his smoke in her face. He appears again before the war and reminds Alice of her previous trip to Wonderland, and proclaims that she is Alice at last. At the end of the movie, the caterpillar, in his transformed form as a butterfly, appears on Alice's shoulder as she sets off for China.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caterpillar_(Alice's_Adventures_in_Wonderland)]

Character Profile

Name: Absolem

Age: Old/could be ageless

Costume: Blue/Mask

Main Character Trait: Wise, under the influence

Secondary Character Trait: Laid-back

Height:Varies

Weight: Light

Colour of Hair: Green

Colour of Eyes: Red

"Posture, Walk:" Glides

Appearance: Has a powerful presence about him.- It effects everyone

Dress Distinctions: Patterns/ bright colours

Unusual and/or habitual gestures: Hand gestures/ slow, mysterious

Characteristic manner of speaking: Slow with speech, posh/proper

Voice: Deep

First impression on others: Surprising, fascinated

Relationship to Alice: Guider-Helps her with her problems

Somewhere We Belong

The first song we learnt for this production was, 'Somewhere we belong'. The lyrics were adapted to suit the plot of the story at that specific part of the scene. We don't know which scene this song fits in because we haven't been given our scripts yet, but it will become more clearer when we do have them.

I think all the vocal warm ups that we do at the beginning of each session is vitally important because, if you're somene like me who isn't constantly using your voice to sing, it can feel very strained  and harder to sing. Singing in a high pitch and with volume is very hard, because you have to keep the clarity of your voice very strong. This is something that I need to work on by constantly practsing to sing this song.

We also put some choreography to the song.-I found this very hard at first because we have to know the lyrics and the movement and where they contrast together. I think it is good that we have the opportunity to sing and dance, because it is a little taster of what performers do. When I have watched artists perform and sing, they make it look very easy but it isn't. Hopefully as we continue to learn other songs and dances, I will find it easier as we go on.

Inception Soundtrack, Trailer music - Mind Heist

Character Roles

The Character that I have been given to play in the musical is the Blue Caterpiller called Absolem. I don't know a  lot about this character yet, but through the research that I do, I will have a better understanding of my character's  persona and how they contribute towards the plot of the musical.

The History: Alice in Wonderland The Musical

Key
Research

Alice in Wonderland was first performed as a muscial between 1841-1893 by Henry Saville Clark. The music was produced by Walter Slaughter and Aubrey Hopwwod. The musical was based upon Lewis Carroll's books; 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' and 'Through the Looking Glass.' With the permission of Carroll, Saville created "A musical dream play in two acts"  and it achieved a lot of popularity. Caroll's only request was to retain the old tunes in the parodies, such as "Bonny Dundee"

"The pantomime opened on 23 December 1886 at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London. Phoebe Carlo played Alice. The Theatre wrote in its review, "Alice in Wonderland will not appeal to the children alone. ... Mr. Savile Clark has done wonders. ... The play is beautifully mounted, and splendidly acted, Miss Phœbe Carlo being very successful as the little heroine... she played in a delightful and thoroughly artistic fashion, and in this respect she was closely followed by a tiny mite, Miss Dorothy D'Alcort, who plays first the Dormouse. ... Mr. Edgar Bruce, Mr. Walter Slaughter (who has written some charming music for the piece), and Mr. Savile Clark, all deserve unstinted praise." The piece was frequently revived over the next four decades."

Act I, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", is in two scenes: "A Forest in Autumn" and "A Glade in Wonderland".^[7] Act II, "Through the Looking Glass", consists of four scenes: "Through the Looking Glass"; "The Garden of Live Flowers"; "A Sea-Shore"; and "The Banqueting Hall – The Forest Again."^[7] A review in The Theatre summarised the story as follows:
The story runs glibly, opening with a chorus of fairies surrounding Alice asleep in a chair beneath a tree, from there we progress splendidly, making a new acquaintance with all our old friends, the White Rabbit, the Caterpillar, the duchess with her Baby, the Cook with her reckless use of pepper, the Cheshire Cat with his remarkable smile, the Hatter, the Hare, and the Dormouse, who have their perpetual tea party, and treat Alice to conundrums and unconventional rudeness. Then comes a long and brilliant procession, which should fill Alice's heart with awe, if not with admiration, but our heroine is nothing daunted by this large crowd. "Why, they're only a pack of cards," she says, "I needn't be afraid of them?" and so she answers the sanguinary-minded queen of Hearts, in a reckless manner, and refuses to see heads knocked off in such profusion. She then dances with the Cards in a graceful gavotte, and afterwards protects her old friend, the Cheshire Cat, from an undeserved execution. The Gryphon and Mock Turtle then appear, and Alice receives some hints as to a sea education, and the first act of the dream play for children ends with the trial of the Knave of Hearts for eating the tarts, in which Alice's verdict of acquittal is unanimously passed.

 

In the second act, Mr. Savile Clarke takes us to another book, Through the Looking-glass, and Alice is introduced to the chessmen and Chorus, who dance stiffly for her delectation, then the Red Queen gives her some advice after she has spoken to the live flowers, and Tweedledum and Tweedledee appear. She soon makes friends with these massive twins, and pleads hard when they determine to have a mortal combat, but all to no purpose, and so after she has witnessed the greedy Carpenter and Walrus devour their daily portion of oysters, she assists in arming Tweedledum and Tweedledee for the fray. The arrival of a Crow sends the warriors to speedy flight, and Humpty Dumpty appears on his wall, and so the play goes on until we see Alice once more asleep in her chair, and hear her wake to say, "Oh! I've had such a curious dream!"^[6] 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_in_Wonderland_(musical)]

Alice in Wonderland
Original Poster

Music:  Walter Slaughter

Lyrics:  Lewis Carroll, H. Saville Clark,

              and Aubrey Hopwood

Book:    H.Saville Clark

              Lewis Caroll's novels

Basis:    Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

               and Through the Looking Glass

               1886 West End

              West End revivals in 1888,

Productions: 1898, 1900, 1910, 1914,

                     1915, 1916, 1921, and 1927

              

        

1898 revival: "

Miss Rose Hersee in Alice in

Wonderland talking to the

White Rabbit"

Performing our audition

When performing our audition, Paris and I considered the following:

• Costumes
• Scenery
• Choreography
• Character and attitude

COSTUMES
We studied the video carefully at the costumes that Sharpay and Ryan wore. I was a representation of Sharpay and Paris of Ryan. We saw how flambouyant and over the top Sharpay's dress was, so we picked a colour scheme-green and decided to accesorise ourselves to look as crazy as our characters.

SCENERY
Although we knew we wouldn't have scenery for our audition, we thought about what kind of props we could use to enhance our performance: We liked the idea of using a ladder like Sharpay and ryan to signify reaching for the top. We also liked the idea of using hats as props, since Ryan loves them so much, we could have choreographed a routine with the hats, or have Ryan doing a solo.

CHOREOGRPAHY
We decided that we want the choreogrpahy to be very cheesy and relate to most of the words in the song, such as, 'slip and slide' etc. We used the choreography in the video as our inspiration and recylced it to interpret it in the way we felt about the song.

CHARACTER AND ATTITUDE
As I was going to be representing Sharpay, I had to study her role and how she comes across to all the other characters in the film. She is a very confident and big headed person who thinks a lot of herself, and this is how I had to act whilst performing the song. She likes to take centre stage all the time, and be the centre of attention. Her character is dominant throughout the film.

Sharpay and Ryan

SHARPAY

• Bossy
• Demanding
• Patronising
• Has to have total control
• Loves drama and performing
• Wealthy
• Spoilt
• Popular

RYAN

• Dim-witted
• Famous for his hats
• Submissive towards Sharpay
• Likeable
• Loves drama and baseball
• Wealthy

Preparing for an audition

Now that we have learnt to sing and dance at the same time, I need to apply all the skills that I have learnt to my audition.
I have decided to do a duet with Paris. We've decided that we are going to sing 'Bop to the top' by Sharpay and Ryan from 'High School Musical'.
We specifically chose this song because it's fun and cheesy and energectic, and it kind of reflects our personalities.


The purpose of this performance in the film is to act as an audition. Sharpay and Ryan are furious when they realise how good the new girl is at singing, and find out that she is entering the school musical with Wildcats popular Captain troy Bolton. Sharpay and Ryan are determined to perform at the school musical, and be the stars of the show. However they don't like the idea of other people wanting to perform at the show as they feel threatened by them. The song 'Bop to the Top' is their way of expressing how they feel, and their determination to reach the top and be the best.

Performing a Song

Now that we have learnt the words and have sang to 'All that Jazz', we have a feel to the song in terms of what the message is, and what genre it and how it makes us feel.
The message that I obtain from this song is seduction.-Sexy and classy. I think it makes you feel important because you are a female, and the woman's voice in the song can be coarse at times and very bold and imperative throughout the song.

Our task for the next few weeks is to get into small groups and choreograph sections of the song that our groups will sing. My group has been selected to choreograph the first verse of the song and in doing so combine the singing with the dancing.

All That Jazz

Throughout the weeks, our class has been rehearsing the song, 'All that Jazz' from the musical 'Chicago.'
It has been a challenge for me because, it has helped me understand how to read music sheets: In this song there is a main singer and then back up vocals whose lyrics are also on the music sheet, so it is important that when we are reharsing we are concentrating to sing the song correctly and get the full effect.
The last part of the song is the most confusing because all the vocals are fused together singing different lyrics at the same time, and it's hard to sing and know what lines you are singing without being distracted from all the other vocals.

Vocal Warm Up Exercises

At the beginning of every class, we take part in various singing exercises to warm up the throat and to use our breath as a way of controlling how long we can hold a note. It is essential that we do these techniques to ensure that our vocal chords are well stretched and prepared to take on the challenging singing exercises that lay ahead.


These are a few examples of some of the exercises that we engage in:
-Breathing in for 4, holding for 4 and releasing for 8 through a ee or aaaa sound
-The balloon exercise; sucking in air like a balloon and releasing as long as you can. (This exercise is all about learning to control your breath)
-Be Banana exercise (singing different notes)
-Tongue twister exercises
-Scale singing
-Lip Trill
-Humming


These exercises are fun and educational, and have helped me learn the importance of these warm ups. They have helped me how to use my voice to its best potential.

Musical Theatre

THE LION KING

"Musical theatre is a form of theatre that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The story and emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_theatre]

My favourite all time favourite musical is THE LION KING. The movie itself is meaningful, spiritual and humorous at the same time, and the musical reflects all of this. I went to see The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre in London, and it was a wonderful experience. The production is fun, vibrant and keeps you captivated right until the very end. The cast and designers have been inspired by the culture, landscape and richness of the African landscape, and portray exactly this.  The cast consists of 40 people all including, dancers, actors and singers.

"It tells the story of a young lion cub called Simba and his journey to adulthood. Along the way he learns about personal responsibility, pride, trust and growing up in general. Using puppets, masks, lavish sets and a strong cast of human actors, The Lion King musical has adapted the film into a simply thrilling stage version." [http://www.boxoffice.co.uk/Arts-and-Theatre-Tickets/Musicals/The-Lion-King-Tickets.aspx?gclid=CLPHs4fG368CFUxlfAodYWcGEA]