Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgements vii viii Part 1 Ways of Working 1 Introduction: Using This Book 3 Chapter 1 The World of Musical Theatre 5 Chapter 2 Creating a Reflective Journal 11 Part 2 Understanding Musical Theatre 21 Using Part Two 23 Chapter 3 The Making of a Musical 25 The initial idea 26 Real-life stories 28 Decisions to be made in the creation of a musical 31 The idea of a chorus 32 An approach to the analysis of a musical: talking with writers 34 Chapter 4 Making the Musical Your Own 39 The work 39 Part 3 Preparing for Performance 45 Using Part Three 47 Chapter 5 Deciding the Condition of our Tools 49 Performance a state of mind 49 v
vi Contents Chapter 6 Sharpening our Physical and Vocal Tools 55 Exercises for relaxation and warm-up for actors, singers and dancers 55 Breath 65 Some words of advice 67 Ten exercises to develop onset spoken and sung 74 Chapter 7 Sharpening our Mental Tools 85 Three essential qualities 85 Researching musical theatre 87 Research activities 92 Chapter 8 Exploring the Context of a Song and the Creation of a Dramatic Role 93 Researching a role and a song 93 Further research activities 96 Chapter 9 Talking with Choreographers 97 Personal dance skills audit 99 Conversations with choreographers 100 Self-reflection 105 Part 4 Critical Thinking in Musical Theatre 111 Using Part Four 113 Chapter 10 Critical Reflection and the Rehearsal Process 115 General rehearsal process 116 Chapter 11 Writing a Theatre Review 129 Discussion 130 Writing your review 133 Our comment 134 Bibliography 135 Further Reading 136 Index of Topics 137
C R1 H P A TE The World of Musical Theatre You have probably realised that by deciding to become involved with musical theatre you have chosen to enter the world of the most popular form of live or recorded entertainment in recent history. But it is a rapidly and, sometimes, bewilderingly changing world. In this digital age you are able to access aspects of musical theatre in a way that would have been impossible and unthinkable only ten years ago. You can summon up performances from the distant past or from a few hours ago, and you can comment on what you see and hear with all the confidence of an arts critic. You can communicate your thoughts to a huge network of friends and the public, and even describe or reflect on what you are doing in a rehearsal or as a performance progresses. Let us now think of some more examples of the changing face of performance in musical theatre. A recent development has been the relaying of live performances from large theatres into cinemas: this may well indicate a trend for the future. It is possible, for instance, that most of the more lavish productions will be confined to a few very large theatres and that these will then be transmitted to cinema screens around the country. We may well move into an era of digital theatre, and in such situations the live and new work might be confined to what we think of as fringe or off Broadway small-scale theatres. If you look at the theatre listings for any major city, you will see that this trend had already begun. But this is a different situation from seeing a musical on film, so what, precisely, is live performance? At some transmitted performances, members of the audience are invited to tweet their comments, and these are displayed on the big screen during the interval. Comment on some of the facts we have mentioned, and list other trends you have noticed in which the boundaries between live and recorded performance have become blurred. 5
6 Ways of Working In the opening sections of this book, we use a very well-known and popular piece of musical theatre, The Sound of Music, as an example. There are very good reasons for this choice. Perhaps the most significant is the fact that this work has established a unique position for itself in the history of the musical. Although The Sound of Music started life as a very successful stage show on Broadway in 1959, it is the movie version made in 1965 that has become best known. In his autobiography, The Blue Touchpaper (2015:3), the British playwright David Hare tells of a lady who watched the Sound of Music 365 times in a year, and you may have met someone with similar experiences. That film has spawned events like costumed singalongs in cinemas, and if you are an enthusiast for musical theatre, it is highly likely that you have your own favourite songs that you could sing at will. The Sound of Music is probably the only musical to have prompted tour companies to organise holidays to the locations of the story. The popularity of the show was reinforced when the composer, Andrew Lloyd Webber, decided to mount a new production of it in London s West End and to select the performer who would play the lead role of Maria through a reality TV show.
The World of Musical Theatre 7 List in the box here the factors that would enhance the popularity of the show using this mode of casting. A select number of the young performers who auditioned in this very public way were taken to a residential course where they were coached in singing, dancing and acting, and this demonstrated the emergence of what has become known as the triple-threat performer: someone with high levels of skill in all three art forms.
8 Ways of Working Where do you think you stand in relation to this idea? More recently, another new version of The Sound of Music was televised and broadcast in the United Kingdom at Christmas time, the traditional time for screenings of the old movie. This had very significant differences from the previous versions. Somewhat unusually, it was filmed in a theatre rather than on location, so the action and effects were limited by what could be achieved on a stage. The cast was almost entirely drawn from celebrity culture: performers known from TV. The lead role of Maria was played by Kara Tointon, who had become well known as a character in a favourite British soap opera, EastEnders, and then had enhanced her reputation by winning the reality show Strictly Come Dancing (or Dancing with the Stars as it is known elsewhere). Other roles were played by actors from popular TV costume dramas; the host of a frequently watched TV quiz game; and a familiar face from a reality cooking series. The influence of television, it seems, had become all pervasive. If you have the opportunity, download and watch this version, and compare it with the original movie version. What do you notice about the performance style in the more recent version?
The World of Musical Theatre 9 Many who watched the new TV version tweeted their opinions, and there was considerable anger that some of the songs had been placed at a different point in the action. On reflection it appears that the director, who included all the songs from both the original stage production and the subsequent movie, based the positioning of some of the songs not on their familiar place in the movie, but on the order in which they appeared in the stage show. Discuss this issue and argue for the position of the songs in your ideal production. Which two extra songs were written for the film version in 1965? The lead performer in the TV version of The Sound of Music would probably describe herself as an actress who had discovered a real talent for dancing and who could sing adequately. She has certainly never claimed to be equally gifted in all three areas of performance. By contrast, the lead from the original movie version, Julie Andrews, would probably call herself a singer who could act a little and dance adequately. By comparing the two performers, we can trace the gradual emergence of the triple threat, but we might be forced to acknowledge that the creation of this ideal being is neither possible nor even totally necessary: perhaps it is something to aim for in the knowledge that it is simply an ideal? We discuss this issue frequently in the following pages. What do you think and where do you see yourself in relation to the ideal of the triple threat?
10 Ways of Working Technology has allowed us to create many performances that might force us into thinking that we could never achieve such a level; but if we look more carefully and critically at some filmed versions, we can see how they sometimes disguise inadequacies. We need not feel intimidated! For example, in the 1950s the famous Italian tenor Mario Lanza was considered too overweight to appear in the film of Sigmund Romberg s The Student Prince, and so his glorious voice was mimed by the actor Edmund Purdom. Similarly, it was fairly obvious that some of the dancers in the first film of Rogers and Hammerstein s Oklahoma! were not singing and, like many pop stars who appeared in the early days of television, had not quite mastered the art of lip sync. Even though sound and video technology have developed enormously since those days, we do now, in fact, rely even more on the versatility of the performer to convey a sense of truth. A far greater problem for you now, as a potential performer in musical theatre, is the temptation to model your work on what you can download or access via a recording, and this inevitably leads to mere imitation, lacking all originality. We reminded readers of our first Workbook of this problem, so from this point onwards, whatever you have done previously, remember that you are an individual with a unique set of life experiences, tools and gifts just waiting to be explored and developed. What are the areas in your own performance that you feel you need to work on most? Whatever your answers to the question we have just posed, you will discover that effective performance in musical theatre requires more than good singing, dancing and acting or any combination of these. The ultimate key to performance lies in understanding the art form you are engaged with, and that theme runs through this book. As a key aid to the process of understanding, we need to introduce and discuss the importance of maintaining a reflective journal as part of what, in essence, is a voyage of discovery.
Index of Topics Accompaniment, 25, 31, 40, 43 Acting, 32, 43, 44, 52, 103, 106 Action, 34, 36, 66, 91, 102, 103, 122 After-life, 39, 127 Analysis, 23, 34, 130 Anxiety, 51 Art form, 10, 43, 131, 132 Assessment, 19 Ballet, 97 Breathing, 57, 68, 82, 83 Celebrity, 8 Character, 32, 42, 44, 103, 106, 113, 122 Choreography, 32, 34, 99, 101, 102 Chorus, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37, 40, 41, 43, 92, 94, 96 Climax, 34, 42, 91, 125 Combat, 98, 100 Communication, 5, 18, 37, 42, 44, 66, 71, 74, 83, 115, 117, 132 Composition, 90 Concentration, 51, 64, 65, 82, 97 Conflict, 35 37, 89 Context, 36, 43, 44, 89, 92 96, 103 Control, 25, 35, 39, 52, 53, 62, 70, 82, 89, 103 Creativity, 13, 16, 82, 122 Critical thinking, 15, 128, 131 Criticism, 16, 129, 130 Curiosity, 85 87 Dance, 9, 13, 32, 34, 39, 43, 44, 51, 52, 55, 62, 82 84, 87, 90, 91, 97 102, 106, 107, 115, 132 Dialogue, 16, 26, 34, 37, 44, 94, 101, 107, 120 Direction, 36, 94, 95, 106, 108 Discovery, 9, 10, 23, 30, 34, 35, 42, 54, 60, 65, 74, 86 88, 91, 94, 95, 101, 127 Dramatic role, 93 96 Emotion, 13, 32, 35, 36, 41, 53, 65 67, 71, 83, 90, 92, 95, 97 99, 101, 103, 106, 107 Energy, 14, 42, 53, 55, 57, 60, 62, 83, 85, 86, 95, 96, 102, 103, 106, 125, 134 Entertainment, 5, 29, 89, 91, 93, 96 Entrance, 71, 123 Evaluation, 127 Event, 25, 26, 50, 51, 53, 116, 117, 126, 127, 132, 133 Exercises, 12, 15, 16, 37, 38, 55 60, 62, 63, 65 71, 75, 82, 83, 96, 98, 115, 119 Exploring, 93 96, 103 Feedback, 15, 124 Film, 5, 6, 9, 10, 25, 83, 100, 104 Focus, 13, 15, 18, 32, 53, 63, 64, 65, 82, 85, 99, 103, 124 Form, 32 Goals, 11, 65, 118 Imagination, 18, 35, 85 87, 122 Journey, 26, 36, 37, 64, 65, 70, 74, 104 Learning, 11, 16, 18, 39, 42, 43, 55, 63, 65, 70, 82, 83, 87, 88, 118 Libretto, 34, 35, 101, 102, 120 Lyrics, 26, 36, 38, 88, 92 96 Mordent, 89 Onset, 66, 70, 74, 75, 78 Performance, 5, 12, 13 16, 18, 39, 43, 44, 49, 51 53, 55, 63 65, 67, 82, 83, 85, 87, 90, 91, 96, 99, 100, 103, 115, 116, 118, 125, 131 Plot, 35 37, 101, 103 Preparation, 15, 18, 42, 43, 54, 64, 71, 132 137
138 Index of Topics Reflective Journal, 10, 11 20 Rehearsal, 5, 15, 43, 53, 55, 62 64, 71, 87, 98, 102, 106, 113, 115 128 Relaxation, 55, 56, 57 Research, 23, 38, 64, 67, 87, 88, 90, 92 94, 96, 102, 108, 120, 128 Reviews, 40, 123, 127, 129 134 Sharpening, 55 92 Singing, 7, 10, 25, 32, 34, 43, 44, 66, 70, 74, 89, 90, 94, 100, 104, 106, 107 Skills, 13 15, 32, 52, 55, 65, 82, 90, 97 100, 115, 116, 122 Song, 35, 36, 40, 44, 52, 65, 87, 88, 90 96 Tap Dancing, 97, 99 Television (TV), 8, 9, 10, 40, 88, 100, 104, 107 Text, 35, 37, 40, 53, 65, 67, 83, 103, 124, 131, 132 Theatre, 5 10, 25, 26, 32, 40, 44, 52, 55, 82, 83, 85, 87 92, 97, 102, 104, 119, 120, 125, 127, 129 134 Tone, 58, 74, 91 Tools, 10, 11, 18, 34, 49 92, 106, 122 Tragedy, 35 37 Triple threat, 7, 9, 82, 99, 100 102, 104, 106, 109 Truth, 10, 25, 29, 35, 36, 71, 83, 127 Vocal folds, 66, 67, 69, 71, 74 Vocal technique, 52, 65, 78, 89 91 Voice, 10, 35, 55, 65, 67, 69 71, 74, 82, 83, 90 92, 101, 106, 115 Warm- up, 55, 56, 63 68, 82, 119 Work (the), 39 40