Unit 14 Logbook: 11-15th March 2019

Group

Our group decided this week that to fill the required 10 minutes of content for our group performance, alongside "I'd Do Anything", we would also perform the songs "You've Got To Pick A Pocket or Two" and "As Long As He Needs Me", a solo song sung by Nancy played by Rejoice.  We chose these two additional songs due to how "You've Got To Pick A Pocket" is sung by two of the characters we are playing (Fagin and Dodger) and so it would allow Yolanda and I to further explore our singing and have more chance to perform, and Rejoice's "As Long As He Needs Me" to also allow her to have more stage time and a better chunk of stage time. Not only this but "You've Got To Pick A Pocket or Two" we agreed would be a great song to embed some choreography in for movement marks and a great song to challenge me in my preparation for the 3rd April. 

However, the majority of the week revolved around "I'd Do Anything", as we attempted to finalise preparation for this song. When performing the songs, we would focus on primary characterisation, seeing how characters interact and how it flowed. As I interpret Fagin to have a moody, greedy personality I acted in an uncaring manner for the majority of the song, achieved by sighs, looks of boredom and crossing of arms. At the end of the song I smile and say my lines with a happy look of seriousness. I felt that this choice of attitude assisted in Fagin's characterisation as it established Fagin as an untrustworthy who had a sweet, caring side to him, which I think described Fagin's character perfectly. The song was sounding good, and after we establish a form of choreography to it, it will be ready to present to the public. 

Hence, my targets for next week's rehearsals are to brainstorm potential choreography ideas for "I'd Do Anything" and learn the lyrics to "You've Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two" to begin staging and choreography next week.

Solo

My rehearsals this week revolved around both "Epiphany" and "Pretty Women", with today's focus on the characterisation and movement in both songs. Regarding "Epiphany", when singing it today I tried performing it with choreographical aspects, and I experimented with demonic curtseys and broadening of arms frequently when singing the song. The sideways curtsey I believe was extremely effective, as that combined with the previously worked on creepy facial expressions conveyed strong insanity and characterisation points for Sweeney Todd and created a psychotic aesthetic. The arms were good also I Thought, and I think they will  be extremely effective during the part of "Epiphany" where Sweeney invited members of the audience onto the stage to have their throats slashed as it creates a truly horrible welcome, which only adds to the themes of murder, loss and mental instability conveyed through Sweeney's character.

"Pretty Women" however was slower in progression, as the challenge arose of not only teaching Matt (who will play Judge Turpin) the song, but we realised singing "Pretty Women" together was going to be difficult as the duet between Judge Turpin and Sweeney Todd was extremely difficult and required many attempts. This week we were unsuccessful in creating a harmony to the song, so before we consider staging and choreography aspects in "Pretty Women", we must first work on achieving perfect harmony in the song.

And so, my targets for next week's rehearsals are focused primarily on "Pretty Women", finalising the song and ensuring the voice is superb and then later focus on the staging and movement.