Running Act 1

Today in class we ran the whole of act 1 with backing tracks and only stop to polish if it was nessacary. Starting the show with "Little shop" follwed by "Skid row" in my opinoin, went well for us as we all knew the steps and sung the vocals very well. I beleive we then started to lose our energy as a chorus when "Da doo" started as not many of us sung along with the chorus and this cheesey number fell a bit flat in my opinon. We then went into "Ya never know" which lack energy from a large amount of the cast and bearly anyone knew the words to song. We then went over this number a few time to help the cast learn the words before we then tried the dance again which sadly still lacked energy. Energy still hadn't rises amongst us as we started closedfot renovation as few people sung the song and not many people knew what the were doing on the last line of the song. We then went into dentist which went well as confidence went back up as people seemed more confident in what they were doing in this number, so we managed to fly through this number quickly before we moved on to little shop of horrors reprise which was nice but we needed to sort out positioning in this number.
We decided for next lesson we would start a warm up at the start of the rehearsal so that more of us would show energy in what numbers we did.

Props part 1

These are pictures of all the props i have currantly collected for our show "Little shop of horrors", this all includes iteams such as x10 cloths, plant feed, photo frame, bowl (with spoon), magazine, a small fake flower, a medium sized fake flower, cash regiester, 2 radios, a tray, 2 old rusty clamps, paint scrapper, a big clock, a choice of 2 "machetes", camera, flash light, mop, metal bucket, 2 brooms.

Running Musical Numbers

Today we started by running all the musical numbers we had set starting from the beginning of show. We started on the opening number "Little shop of horrors" and ran through the number twice, first time we had to sort out a couple members of the cast who weren't in when we changed the positioning of the number, after we had sorted them into their new positions we ran through the number and then we did a second time but this time without the choreographer so that he could watch us perform. We then started "Skid Row" which we only ran once as we all knew this number very well but during this number the song cut out during the last chorus but we kept going which is reassuring as it show we know the number very well and that if there is a technical difficulty during the show, we can cover it by keep performing. We also ran "Da Doo" which we only ran once as were all confident in our performance so we didn't need to work on this number. We then ran through "Closed for Renovation" twice as when we first ran the number not many of us sung the chorus o we had to perform it again but making sure we were all singing the chorus. Next we ran through "Dentist" which didn't go well at first as we all failed to clap in time with the beat, started our poses to early and couldn't keep in time with our step clicks so we ran through the number again. On the second time we managed to correct these faults but the number still lacked the energy needed from some of us. We then ran through "Meek Shall Inherit" twice, the first run of the number went well but half of the cast kept doing the wrong action for the start of the chorus, half were doing a step click while the rest were doing a finer bounce towards Seymour. The choreographer (Dan M) had to clarify that the first step was a finger bounce and not a step click before we ran through the number again. We finally ran through the finale which was "Don't Feed the Plants", we ran this number once as we were full of energy in this number and none of us made any mistakes so we didn't need to run it again.

Today's lesson was a success as we managed to get a lot of practice in rehearsals and didn't need to improve that many number. In my opinion For next lesson in my opinion is we need to practice through "Dentist" as well as number we didn't get to run like "Ya never know" so that when we do run the musical numbers we don't need to spend much time correcting them. To improve I believe that I need to practice all numbers to make sure that I don't need to spend time polishing my dance steps in rehearsals.

Little Shop Research

This is a picture of Mushnik's flower shop which appears to be a brighter version of of the little shop, almost cartoon like. In the shop i can see i am going to need a selection of flowers to place on shelf's in the background of the scene, this will help create the flower shop by showing a variety of flowers it offers. I will need to look into making a selection of flowers for decorations as well as specific flowers like Roses which are sold to a customer in a scene. In these photos I can also see a till which is another prop I will need to find as I will need an old stylised till from the 50s/60s to help set the time zone.

 

This is a picture from the same production of little shop of horrors as the picture above but a close us on the counter in the shop. With the close up it helps me see what kinds of flowers I will need like at the start I'm going to need to make dead or nearly dead flowers so that the shop appears to be on the verge of closing but later when it succeeds I will need nicer looking flowers set up around the shop.
 

This is another picture of Mushnik’s shop which in this version of the production the shop looks more run down and more depressing than the others pictures as it uses a lot of darker colours. Props are still the same with the need of flowers but also in this one I can see the use of a coat hanger, watering cans (old and rusted), brooms and other cleaning appliances which would help create the scene for the run-down shop.

 

This is once again another picture of the production of Little shop but in this picture they have made there show appear to be a darker performance instead of a more cartoon like performance. In this I learn that I am going to need to find a open and closed sign for the door. This picture doesn’t show me what else I need to collect for the show that is new compared to the past couple of pictures I have analyzed.

This is another production of “Little shop”. The picture is a long shop Mushnik’s flower shop. In the picture I can see that for props I will need the previously stated flowers, till, boom… etc. In this photo I can see that this company have made their performances more cartoon like as demonstrated by the angles along the top of the bored. In this picture I can see that I will also need to find a clock and a calendar that are hung up on the wall.

 

 

In this picture we can see Seymour and Orin in the dentist office in a production of Little shop of horrors. In the picture I can see that the dentists office looks like a nicer and more stable running work place as it appears to be well organized with a nice chair and a collection of dentist equipment on a trolley. Props for the dentists office would be to find a dentist chair for the scene as well as the dentist equipment and a trolley for them.

This picture shows another dentist in another production of little shop but  its different to the last picture as it appears to be more cartoon like as it show that Orin is a bad dentist by giving him a bad work environment and a broken chair that you have to sit on the wrong way round. The picture of the dentist office also looks a mess as rubbish is all over the floor.

This is the dentist office in another production of “little shop”. In this I can see that I will need to collect dentist equipment for “Orin” to use and have placed around the scene to once again set the feel of the dentist office. I will also need to find a picture of an old lady to be hanged up Orin’s office as it would be his mum who he talks about in the script. Will also collect some hardware tools to display to make the dentist office a more unsettling environment for customers which will help add more of a comedic value to the dentist.

Act II run

Today we planned to run Act II as we have now stage all numbers and scenes in Act II except one scene which Kyle and Meg went away to stage while the rest of us worked on singing in all of Act I. We all sang through “Little shop”, “Skid Row”, “Da Doo”, “Ya Never Know”, “Closed for Renovation” and “Dentist”. We managed to sing and sort out our harmony for each of these numbers before we started to run Act II, a problem accrued while singing through these songs was that we found that the backing tracks are a lot faster than the tracks we were listening to, so we had to sort out our timings for each number. We started to run Act II going through all scenes and numbers in the act. The run was going well until we got to mine, Ali and Liam song “Meek Shall Inherit”, the problem with the song was that like the other backing tracks was that it played really fast compared to the actual track. This was a problem because there is dialogue between choruses so we kept losing the starting point for each of our solos, so we had to keep going back to start of the song. After this we kept running the act without any more difficulty as the rest of the act was solos for the leads which they already knew so we were able to go through very quickly to the finale of “Don’t feed the plants”. We performed this number with no difficulties except realizing none of us did the finale bow in the song, this was our note to remember for next time as that was the end of the lesson.

I think todays lesson went well as today I feel that more of us put in the energy during run of Act II so I was able to see what our show could be like. In my opinion I believe that we are making good process towards the show week in making sure were performance ready. my own personal goal is to make sure I am comfortable with my lines and solo in "Meek Shall Inherit" for when we next run this number again. To improve ourselves as a ensemble I think we all just need to familiarizes ourselves with the running order of the show as most of us never know what scene follows after a song with using there scripts.  

Practice 2

Today in lesson we continued practicing and perfecting more musical numbers in “Little shop of Horrors”. In the lesson we started to work on the opening of the show which was the number “Little shop of Horrors”, we all went through the number and each time we needed to polish a move the choreographer stopped us to help us with the moves. Our choreographer then swapped some of our positions around, in my new position I have been moved from the back of the number to the front. We then went over the dance break to make sure we were all comfortable with the fast pace choreography. After we had finished practicing “Little shop” we started to work on “Ya never know” and polishing the dance, like with little shop we sorted our positions to make sure we all had room for the too perform the choreography. After we had sorted spacing we ran the number twice to make sure we remembered the steps and then our choreographer sat out of the number so he could watch us performing the steps and if he could see anyone struggling or doing a move wrong so that he could then help them.

In my opinion todays rehearsal went very well as we managed to polish and rearrange the two biggest dance numbers in the show while some of the main parts were taken away to do solos. This lesson however could have gone better as I once again believe there are still some of us  who aren't putting as much effort in as they should be. My own target for next lesson is to work on the dance break in "Little shop of Horrors" as I keep missing a couple of steps, another target for me is to work on the standing leap frog in "Ya never know" as I am struggling to gain the height necessary to make it over my partner.

Practice 1

Today (4^th June) we started to go over past number we have done and worked on perfecting the dance moves as well as going over the lyrics for the songs. We started by looking at Da Doo and changed it so that everyone would sing the song instead of just the Urchins for the song. We all went over lyrics and the tune for Da Doo so that we could all learn the words before we went over the market place scene that happens during the song. After we were all comfortable with the lyrics we ran through the song once with movement and then we did it a second time but we used more energy in the market place during the song to make it appear more cartoon like with our animation in the song so that we were over the top in all of our actions. After we were happy with the energy level put into “Da Doo” we moved on to our next musical number which was “Meek Shall Inherit”. We started with the dance for the song to make sure we all remembered the steps to the number, we then spent some time polishing the steps for some of cast who weren’t sure on the moves or weren’t here to learn when we stage the number. After this we ran the whole number with the track and tried it without the track so that we could focus on the beat instead of relying on the voices in the tracks.

I believe that todays lesson was successful as we have now set all of our chorus numbers so we are now polishing all the numbers starting with "Da Doo" and "Meek Shall Inherit". I think this is good because there are a few numbers that need sorting in either the Dancing or Singing for the song. in my opinion the main problem for most of us is the energy we put in as it seems like some of us are lacking in the energy. Next lesson I think we need to get our energy going in the warm up so that we can create a better performance

"Ya Never Know" part 2

We continued working on “Ya never know” today from where we left off which starts with 2 Hula girls to the right then left followed by a step forward, back, forward and turn. We then drop down and bounce while Seymour sings which ends on “Zam Kazap” we stretch up then down, then 2 shoulder rolls forward on each shoulder. On “One day he” we do a head bang 3 times (Right, left, right), then a step jump right, step over, step jump left and step over. Then an arm swish with each arm, drop down and then come back up on “Ressurected” and then jump in the air. We then fully extend our arms to side step to the left then right followed by a step jump. We then each have partners for a standing up leap frog over them while keeping our spacing. We then in 2 groups slide forward with our arms in the air then we travel into lines with over the top reactions to lines of the song. On “Wowie, Powie, Holy cow he” we touch our head, chest, Left shoulder then right shoulder, we move into our lines for an arm sweep forward to end.

This is a link to a video of the dance number

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDmC5W3rfYI

"Ya Never Know" part 1

When Ron starts to sing “one day he” we get ready for the first step which is on the beat following this line. The first step is that we turn to the left with our left leg forward and our back lend back, on the next beat we turn our head out to the right then lift our shoulders up then down on the next beat. We then straighten our self-up and lean in to Kyle but move back on the line “Give him room” and then turn around raising our arms on the word “Blow”. Then on the line “Ex-plo-tion” we each drop down in groups on each part of the ord. Ex= group 1, plo= group 2, tion= group 3 then we jump back up to bounce of our right leg to our left then side step to front with a shoulder roll on each shoulder and step ball change forward. We then do 2 Hula to the right then left followed by a step forward, back, forward and turn with two steps back then a step ball change jump forward. We then do a full turn followed by 2 thumb wave to the left the 3 to right. We the all move into clump in the middle swaying side to side. On the word “interview” we all start to crowd Seymour as interviewers until the line “All the world use to hate him” which is where Seymour pretends to tell a joke and we don’t laugh but on the word “appreciate” we all laugh. Finally we point at the plant in a random order and time to each other when Ron sings “Over there”.