Due to commencing Thursday after the half-term, this was our first season rehearsal this week.
Thursday 25th April
Cabaret Rehearsals
Description: Today we performed all learnt routines to Claire’s accompaniment.
Initial thoughts
- I felt that it was useful to run everything through with Claire, with the Kit Kay Klub’s singing included.
- I felt that adjusting everyone’s emotion in ‘Tomorrow belongs to me’ was helpful for my idea of characters and the audiences in future for our performance.
- It was made clear in this session that many more cleaning sessions are regularly required if we want a much higher standard of work.
- I feel that putting everything together ran smoothly.
Breaking this Down
Good thoughts:
I was very happy with today’s session on the whole. I feel that we developed a lot of our current material and managed to be made aware of what our next steps need to be. It is crucial in this stage that we are consistently making progress, due to our remaining time. Due to this being the first time we had put all three components together with Claire I think we controlled our performance very well. However, in a positive way, this pointed out which bits needed more cleaning and accuracy work. Due to issues uncovered regarding emotions across the board in ‘Tomorrow Belongs To Me’, we discovered who needs to be feeling
Bad thoughts:
I believe that any negative aspects from today’s rehearsal can be converted into positives. It was made evident to us all today that a lot more work needs to be done on cleaning. This work can be associated with both ensemble singing and ensemble dance numbers. However, this told us what we need to do and how we can arrange this well to fit incoordination to the show deadlines and rehearsal requirements. Personally, I know what my next steps need to be from this and how I will achieve this.
Evaluative Analysis
I found this rehearsal very useful to start the half-term. On the whole I feel that this was a rehearsal in which a lot was established. It is becoming very evident what needs to be done and how we can go about getting this accurately completed. I felt that there was a small initial feeling of pressure in this rehearsal, due to being the first since half term.
Ordering the rehearsal how we did gave us the most productive use of time. Starting the session with a sing through (with our MD) gave us the chance to refresh ourselves on our part and how this will correlate with the others, since being unable to rehearse actively all together for 2 weeks. This gave us a boost on the vocals when this was approached in the musical number. Running all musical numbers allowed the Kit Kat Klub dancers to run the majority of their key routines and ensure that these were in a polished position. However, there was seen to be more uncertainty and uncleanliness from an audience’s perspective. I personally think that my weakest area was in the ‘Don’t Tell Mama’, knowing where this issue lies and how to fix it will put me in the best position for a new outcome. This is something which has occurred more than once. Therefore, I think that watching any videos back and focusing on transitions within the number will help me secure the transition towards the end of the number. Hearing feedback from those watching also showed us that ‘Mein Heir’ and ‘Tiller Girls’ were in a good place but may need more vocal rehearsals to bring up the ensemble sound we are making as a group. It is our job as a company to arrange lunchtimes and any available time we may have to fit together some rehearsals on any uncertain areas of staging/vocal parts that occur. Other than this, I think that everything had a smooth run, including no stops in between any numbers and dance break interludes. I feel that this was a very important rehearsal that we can all take a lot from and base our next steps upon.
Action Plan:
- To rehearse my vocal part in ‘Mein Heir’, individually and with all the alto singers.
- To watch back ‘Don’t Tell Mama’ and work on the particular transition between movements.
- Hopefully have arranged lunchtime rehearsals throughout the week.
Friday 25th April
Cabaret Rehearsals
Description: Staging and choreographing ‘Money, Money’, ending with a recap of numbers we had finalised.
Initial thoughts
- I was pleased we finished the number in this session.
- I like the contrasting style of this to other numbers in the show.
- Felt I could adapt some new characteristics.
- I feel that a lot of us were unsure of accuracy within the lyrics in the final half of the song.
Breaking this Down
Good thoughts:
I feel that we did very well to start and complete the number all in the same session, meaning we can hopefully move on to staging a new number in season time Monday. I also feel that this number is very contrasting to others we have covered so far, allowing us all to connect with a new side of our character. We had a high level of concentration in the room today and worked well as a team and company to establish a quick outcome and effective movements.
Bad thoughts:
There was a lot of uncertainty from most of us on the final couple of verses in this song. This shows that a vocal group rehearsal on this is going to be necessary to give finalised clarification and ensure we are all on the same page. It is also key that we are listening to the tracks at home and our harmony lines in particular.
Evaluative Analysis
I feel that starting this number as soon as season time commenced saved us an immense amount of time. We replaced our normal warm-up time by cracking straight on with the choreography for the number. We had great team work and work ethic from everyone throughout as this is a number requiring a lot of interaction and group movements all together.
I fam happy that we were all consistently on top of what we were doing, using our initiatives to indicate the next movements or performing what is required immediately for feedback on how this works. Because of this, the number was finished by 4:30 and in a position for us all to know what we were doing at all points, followed by a recording and feedback from Han and Rob about what our next steps are inside and outside of rehearsal time. We had extra time to run the other numbers, for an additional refresh on what our placements are in these.
I really enjoy that this number is contrasting to others in the show, I feel that in rehearsals I get to experiment with new characteristics, which is developing new sides to my character and possible expressions. I also feel that all Kit Kat Klub dancers are interacting in a new and energic way in this number which is yet to be developed further.
I believe that we may be lacking in rehearsals outside of scheduled season time. However, it is very difficult at times to be able to all come together. A possible solution to confusion with the lyrics and harmonies is to make this as equally important in our lunchtime cleaning sessions in correlation to the dance numbers.
Action Plan:
- To go over the lyrics at the end of ‘Money, Money’ and to clarify where are starting notes lie.
- To practise these routines at home in my own time.
- To update my practical skills page ASAP.
Emily Gordon Year 1 