Workshop Evaluation

We had just finished our workshop performances of "Rent" which went very well for our first production of the workshop. If we were to take this production further into a bigger venue we would need to listen and respond to the feedback given about the performances from our audiences and cast. Our biggest complaint with our workshop production was that our audiences members struggled to hear what was being said as well as sung during the show. I thought about this issue and how we would resolve this issue if we were to continue, my first thought was to use radio mics instead of having our mics at the front of stage which we did have but I was then made aware that in a lot of professional productions the cast didn't have mics at all and would project their lines across the theatre with no problem. Thinking about this point I then thought that with the type of rock music "Rent" is projection wouldn't work well so that help me realise that if we were to take our production of "Rent" to a bigger venue we would use radio mics on our cast so that our audience wouldn't have trouble hearing our vocals.

If we were also to take it to a bigger venue I would like to of had a production team to focus on our use of Props, Costumes and Stage crew. Props we would need to work on as we lacked a lot of props needed for our first production and some of the props we did have wasn't decade appropriate. Costumes we had for our version were nice but we had a member of our cast sort them so it would help further our production if we could have a separate team to create our costumes for the show. If we were to take it to a bigger venue, having a stage crew would help with our scene changes we have to do as before we were moving everything so we had to add over score so we could set up. Having a stage crew would really help but if were to have the, I think it would look good if they were dressed in costumes and appeared to be apart of the show but having them as just stage crew would be nice as they could just focus on set. Overall I would probably have them dressed in costumes because then we could change set with lights up and have it not look strange.

Taking Rent to a bigger venue I would have like to change some of the numbers we had cut, I think the production would further itself if we had re-added numbers such as "La Vie Boheme B", "Halloween" and "Happy new year A". I feel these number would help improve the production as one of our complaints about our production was that our audience struggled to follow the plot of the show, so I think by putting these numbers back in to the show would help improve the narrative but I would also take some number to shorten the run time, I would remove "We're okay", "You'll see" and "Vociemail #1" because these numbers serve no massive relavences to the narrative of the show as well as being song that take alot of time while still serving no character development relvences. Another objective I'd like to achieve before we would moved venue would be to add more dances to our show, in our whole show we only really had 3 dances and I believe we could better the show if we improved the dances we have in our show. As an example I would like to make our version of "Tango Maureen" more dances orientated, as the whole number is ment to be a tango but we only started to dance a little at the end of the dance. I would like it if we looked into making it a much bigger ensemble number from the start with a visually appealing dance. One last improvement I would make to our production before we took it to another venue would be changing how we performed some of our songs, I feel our narrative of the show would better itself if we didn't sing the whole show. I would take a song like Tune up #1 and change it into a scene, by doing this I feel it would help our audience to understand the whole story of our show as one of our audiences complaints was that they struggled to follow the story.

Maureen

Today we had Lorna for the whole lesson so we focused on all the numbers she is in for this rehearsal so that she could know what she is doing in our show we started bu working on "Rent" and adding Lorna into our dance as well as our frantic beginning were we move objects around our stage. After this we then went through Tango: Maureen so she could practice with her partner, lucky we had already showed Lorna the dance before so we only practiced the number a couple of times so she could get use to her partner (Carl) and the timing of the dance. After this we showed Will I+ which we ran quick as all she had to do was sing in group 1 with me and Tom. We then moved forward to "La Vie Boheme" which we put Lorna in, showing here our first Choreograph part of the number at the table and then showing her the level of energy needed for the rest of the number. We then ran "Seasons of love" which was simple but we then had Lorna sing the very high solo at the end which he previously removed because none of us can do it. She sounded great doing it so we added it to our version before moving on to "without you" which had to show Lorna the movement to as I was the one who created her movement when we created this piece. After showing her this we ran through Goodbye love onwards until the end integrating Lorna into each part she needed to be involved in vocally and physically.

Finishing our run through

Today we continued with our whole show we had started a week ago starting from where we left off which would be Voicemail #4.
Voicemail #4: Voicemail #4 went well as Dom performed Alexi with very big actions like he was ment to and portayed the wacky agent.
I'll cover you reprise: The number sounded nice but we were told to remember that we are at a funeral as we didn't look upset enough like we needed to at the furneral.
Goodbye love: Goodbye love started off well but we ran into a few timing difficulties with the backing track as after everyone leaves excluding Tom and I we struggled to find our correct place in the song  we should be at for our lyrics but it didn't work each time we tried. We also learned that the backing track didn't include a part of mine and Tom's dialogue but instead jumps straight into Meg's verse we had to work with timing to pause the track at the right time so me and Tom can talk as well as then have meg come in at the right time with dialogue.
What you own: This number sonded alright but I had to spend sometime of finding my notes for the frist half of the song as struggled to pitch myself at the start as I would sing lower than i should.
Finale A: We spent alot of time on this song because at frist we worked on christmans bells at the start because we were told there wasn't enough attitude with the singing, we then worked on mine and Rogers part which we were suggested to speake not sing so that we could stay in time as well the problem being that there is no tne to sing to at that part of the song. We then spent while working on the part where Mimi comes in dying as non of us knew the timing of the words within the tune of the song.
Your eyes: This number ran well.
Finale B: Other than a little bit of timing truble at the start of the song the rest ran smooth sounding very nice for our ending number.

Workshop: Light my candle and I'll cover you

Today we worked on our notes from last lesson staring by working on "La vie Boheme". We ran through this number 4 times until we were happy with our end result, while running through this number we worked on getting up and moving more throughout the song when were all singing at points, we also worked on the dialogue at the end where we all tell stories about each other and how we could make it more appealing. when anyone starts to speak we now all cheer them on as well as having the person who is having told a story about them act it out e.g. Mimi start to do a dance when her story is being told. We then quickly worked on "Happy new year B" to see if we had worked on our timings of our lines in the song which we had so quickly moved on from to work on "Light my candle". We worked on the song by having Tom and Meg repeatedly perfrom the number while the rest of us watch them while suggestng ideas to make it more appealing. One of the main attrabutes of the number we wroked on was how to make meg more flirty with Tom. After we'd finish working on "Light my candle" we strated to do the same with "I'll cover you" having Toby and Dan M slowly working through the number as we all suggeted ideas on how to make them appear as a gay couple to an audience, this was the last number we worked on this lesson but we had managed to work our way through the mojority of notes given to us the lesson before.

Full Run On Stage

Today is our last rehearsal before our workshop performance of "Rent". So we spent our lesson doing a full run through on stage and in costume. While running through Miss made several notes on each number to work for the performance.

Tune up #1: Ashley slow down the opening  paragraph, audience needs to here the dialogue I say. Both Tom and Ash watch the timing of this number.
Voicemail #1: Sounds good, could be louder.
Tune up #2: sounded good no major notes.
Rent: Ashley hold the note at the end of the first note, don't slide off it. Everyone sings last line not just Ash and Tom.
One song glory: Careful with voice, Tom goes very red, remember to breathe.
Light my candle: Meg and Tom you could both be louder
Voicemail #2: Sounds good but Dan S need more energy with the lines.
Today 4 U: looks great, Ashley don't look so scared of Dan M. Tom careful where you put your guitar so it's not in the way.
You'll see: All 3 of you need to watch your timing in this number
Tango Maureen: Sounds and looks great.
Life Support: Dom try speaking your lines, Carl louder and watch the timing on your line.
Another Day: Sounded good but everyone needs to watch our harmony when we first come in to the song as we're off tune.
Will I?: Sounded really nice.
Santa Fe: Everyone needs to go over the backing vocals we all sing as everyone clearly doesn't know what to sing, also some people need to go over the dance steps as not everyone is confident enough.
I'll cover you: Looked really nice performance
We're Okay: Sounded nice, remember to grab the phone.
La Vie Boheme: Good energy, Ashley watch the timing for when you first start to sing
Seasons of Love: Most of us need to sing a lot louder as we're not clear in what we are singing.
Voicemail #3: Looks great try to be a little bigger with your actions Dom
Happy New year B: This number works really well and sounds good.
Seasons of Love B: We all need to project our voice more.
Without you: Needs to be a lot louder and everyone needs to remember to sing the last line.
Voicemail #4: Looks really nice and funny.
I'll cover you reprise: Looks really lovely but would like to move Toby on to the lower decking for this song.
Goodbye love: Sounded nice to start but Ash and Tom need to looking into the timing of your argument as you keep ending up with a long pause in the music. Some people also need to sing louder.
What you own: Sounded really nice but everyone needs to make you know when you come on to sing.
Finale: Need to look at our dialogue after Meg comes in as we are struggling to fill the time we've got with the dialogue we have.
You're eyes: Sounded Nice, no major notes for this number.
Finale B: Sort out the timing for the start of the song when we say our lines but everything else is good.

Whole show run

Today we attempted a whole show run through our show from start to finish. With our run through we only made it to act II "without you before we ran out of time.

Tune up #1: Nothing wrong with that his number other than I need to go over the lyrics and not confuse them with the lyrics from Finale A.

Voicemail #1: Sounded good no problem

Tune up #2: Need to go over timing of this number again for Bennie's entrance as we kept going faster then the backing track.

Rent: sounded good. I need to not fall on the last note of the first verse and everyone needs to remember to sing the last line.

One song glory: Sounded good, Tom watch your breathing.

Light my candle: Needs to be louder as the number is hard to hear.
Voicemail #2: This number went well with no problem other then Dan S was requested to be more other the top with his dialogue.
Today 4 u: This number ran through smoothly with no problems in our performance.
You'll see: We need to spend time on the correct timing of this song as we keep falling out of tune with the backing track, we were recommended to try and speak the lines instead of singing them.
Tango Maureen: Vocally this number sounded good but to improve the vocals me and Freya stand in the middle of the stage while the others now dance around us so we could focus on our vocals more.
Life support: We all need to speak our lines in this song so that we can be heard as right now we our all struggling to project our solos in this number.
Another Day: Once again we need to project our lines as this number is really quiet also we all need to watch our pitching for when we start to sing our backing vocals in this song as our first notes didn't sound right.
Will I?: This number sounded good with no problem.
Santa Fe: We all need to go over the choreography in the show as not all of us know the steps to the number, we all need to go over our backing vocal for the number and when we actually sing in the number as not many of us are sing at the moment.
I'll cover you: Need to focus more on the singing instead of movement.
We're okay: No problem with the performance of this number
La Vie Boheme: sounded good but we all need more energy with this number and to make all our movements so much bigger as well as to cheer each other on (Embrace the bohemian).
Seasons of Love: sounded nice but needed to be projected louder.
Voicemail #3: sounds good but Dom was asked to go bigger with his action if he could.
Happy New year B: We need to work on our timing with this number as not everyone is sure on what they are singing and when. We were also recommended to try speaking the lines more then singing.
Seasons of Love B: sound nice but need to be louder while singing as we can not be heard.
Without you: This number needed polishing with the movement we do in our pairs as not everyone is sure on timing or the actual movements they do.