The Making Of:
Jimmy In Space?
Vocal Repertoire
I've always loved singing, even when I believed I wasn't good at it. Singing is a beautiful art form and musicals is one of the most entertaining and fantastic ways of storytelling. Musicals combine my love and passion for music and acting so it was an obvious choice to take part when I was given the opportunity. Come see my passions for musical theatre come alive.
First Thoughts
The Brief
I have to admit, my first thoughts after hearing the brief were rather disappointing. I obviously knew that i had to sing songs had to be musical songs and they had to be from different musicals, however i didn't realise how particular the brief was going to be. Only being able to sing a song from each different decades Ii found rather upsetting because there are so many songs I would like to perform however so many of them all under the same category that it's going to be difficult for me to be able to pick and choose between them. Although I do understand that this is much more beneficial for me long term as having different songs from different genres and decades widens my range and increases my chances of getting a role. Also, I don't know many musicals as i wasn't a big musicals fan up until recent years so I don't really know what songs I'll be singing from the earlier decades so this means a lot more picking and chosen for me.
Song Choices
Early Musical Theatre: If I Only Had A Brain - Wizard Of Oz 1939
Traditional Musical Theatre: Oh What A Beautiful Morning - Oklahoma 1943
Traditional Musical Theatre Showtune: Guys And Dolls - Guys And Dolls 1950
Sondheim: Giants In The Sky - Into The Woods 1986
Late 21st Century Musical Theatre: Mama Said - Footloose 1984
Family Entertainment: Friends On The Other Side - Princess And The Frog 2009
Modern Musical Theatre: From Now On - The Greatest Showman 2017
If I Only Had A Brain
The Wizard Of Oz 1939
Why I Chose This Song
The first ever musical I ever watched as a kid was a student production of The Wizard Of Oz. And the character that I found to be most hilarious was the scarecrow. The actor gave so much physical comedy to the role as well as his wacky line delivery it made the show so enjoyable for me to watch, even as a kid who hated musicals. So when I was doing research to find a Early Musical Theatre song I the Wizard Of Oz was suggested to me, I knew exactly which song to pick from it. The song which introduces our sad dumb yet hilarious little friend scarecrow, "If I Only Had A Brain". The song is short and get's across the internal thoughts and struggles quickly and effectively to the audience as a perfect way to introduce a character. The way style of song is then repeated throughout the musical but this is where it started.
Historical Context Of The Musical
It was the first feature length motion picture to be in coloured film. 'The Wizard of Oz,' one of the most memorable films of the 20th century, was released in 1939, marking the first time that a majority of American theatres showed a colour film. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' was influenced by the woman's suffrage movement. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a children's book that has long fascinated readers. Its protagonist is a girl called Dorothy and she has to overcome an evil witch with the help of a good witch. Frank Baum's book "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," upon which the movie is based, was a political allegory for American politics at the dawn of the 20th century. Dorothy, the Kansas innocent, represents the nobility of middle (and Midwestern) America; the Tin Man is industry, the Scarecrow is agriculture. During the early 20th Centry, America faced a time is despair as the stock market crashed in late 1929. So may people were left unemployed and many were dying, this became know in history as the great depression. It affected not only America but most of the world. The moods and Spirits of people had dropped significantly and many people needed an outlet in order to escape from their lives so most people turned to theatre and movies. The Wizard of Oz was released during these harsh times in order to Combat the dreaded state of the world and to bring a spark of joy and entertainment for all those suffering during this time.
Context Of The Song In The Musical
Dorothy has just arrived in the land of Oz and she’s being praised for killing the wicked witch of the east although Dorothy tries to explain that it was an accident, as it was the twister that dropped her house on top of the witch crushing her, she is still rewarded with the ruby slippers. They insist that she must go meet with the wizard in the emerald city. She think that the wizard is the only way to bring her home so follows the yellow brick road until she comes across a cross road. There are three different paths to go down and Dorothy doesn’t know which way to go. Its is then when she comes across the scarecrow standing in the field who is trying his best to give her some advice by pointing out they different ways he’s seen others go. Despite trying his best he doesn’t help Dorothy at all but she takes pity on him and helps him down from his stand. It’s then when he explains that he can’t think well because he doesn’t have a brain. He then starts singing about all the wonders he would have if he only had a brain and was just a little bit smarter. It is after this when they decide to join together and go to the emerald city together.
History Of The Song Writer
Harold Arlen was an American composer of popular music, who composed over 500 songs, a number of which have become known worldwide. In addition to composing the songs for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, including "Over the Rainbow", Arlen is a highly regarded contributor to the Great American Songbook. He was born on 15 February 1905 and died on the 23 April 1986. Arlen was born in Buffalo, New York, the child of a Jewish cantor. His twin brother died the next day. He learned to play the piano as a youth, and formed a band as a young man. He achieved some local success as a pianist and singer before moving to New York City in his early twenties, where he worked as an accompanist in vaudeville and changed his name to Harold Arlen. Between 1926 and about 1934, Arlen appeared occasionally as a band vocalist on records by The Buffalodians usually singing his own compositions. In 1929, Arlen composed his first well-known song “Get Happy” with lyrics by Ted Koehler. Throughout the early and mid-1930s, Arlen and Koehler wrote shows for the Cotton Club, a popular Harlem night club, as well as for Broadway Musicals and Hollywood films. Arlen and Koehler's partnership resulted in a number of hit songs, including the familiar standards “Let’s Fall In Love” and “Stormy Weather”. Arlen continued to perform as a pianist and vocalist with some success.
Edgar Yipsel Harburg was an American popular song lyricist and librettist who worked with many well-known composers. Harburg, the youngest of four surviving children out of ten, was born Isidore Hochberg on the lowest east side of New York City on April 8, 1896. He later adopted the name Edgar Harburg, and came to be best known as Edgar "Yip" Harburg.
After World War I, Harburg returned to New York and graduated from City College and later the City University of New York in 1921. After Harburg married and had two children, he started writing light verse for local newspapers. He became a co-owner of Consolidated Electrical Appliance Company, but the company went bankrupt following the crash of 1929, leaving Harburg "anywhere from $50,000 – $70,000 in debt," which he insisted on paying back over the course of the next few decades. At this point, Harburg staredt writing song lyrics.
Harburg then collaborated with Jay Gorney on songs for an Earl Carroll Broadway review and the show was successful. Harburg was engaged as lyricist for a series of successful revues, including Americana in 1932, for which he wrote the lyrics of “Brother Can You Spare Me A Dime?” to the tune of a lullaby Gorney had learned as a child in Russia. This song swept the nation, becoming an anthem of the Great Depression.
In the mid-1930s, Arlen married, and spent increasing time in California, writing for movie musicals. It was at this time that he began working with lyricist Edgar Yipsel Harbug. In 1938, the team was hired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to compose songs for The Wizard Of Oz. Harburg was offered a contract with Paramount in Hollywood to work with composer Harold Arlen to write the lyrics for The Wizard Of Oz, one of the earliest known "integrated musicals,". Yip also wrote all the dialogue in that time and the setup to the songs and he also wrote the part where they give out the heart, the brains and the nerve, because he was the final script editor. Yip pulled the whole thing together, wrote his own lines and gave the thing a coherence and unity which made it a work of art. Harburg and Arlen won the Academy Award for best music and original song for “Over The Rainbow”.
The Writers Style
Harburg was know for working with composers and writing lyrics that blended into the scenes. He was a fan of call-backs and consistency with his works. Harnurg saw Arlen as the perfect composer for this musical because of his ability to synthesize African-American rhythms with Jewish liturgical melodies. The distinctive Arlen touch was the jazz-based, blues-rooted quality of his music.
Oh What A Beautiful Morning
Oklahoma 1943
Why I Chose This Song
I was struggling to pick which song to chose for Traditional Musical Theatre. I was doing some research at home, making a list of possible songs when my Granddad came to my house to walk our dog up the hill. He walk through the door on an unusually sunny Tuesday morning and was singing "Oh What A Beautiful Morning". It's not unsual for him to be randomly singing and I've heard his sing that song a hundred times but I never thought to ask where it was from. So when I was picking songs at College I started humming the tune and then my singing teacher suggested that I sing the song as it was from a musical called Oklahoma! And at that point I couldn't think of a better song to sing. It's something I familiar with and a song well in my vocal range. It's a nice simple and relaxing song to both sing and listen to.
Historical Context Of The Musical
The play was set in the area where Riggs was born and raised, the Indian Territory of Oklahoma at the turn of the century. In July of 1940, there was a revival of the play at Westport, Connecticut. After that revival, Helburn began to promote the idea of the play as a musical. The initial concept for the show “Oklahoma!” came from Theresa Helburn, a co-director and founder of the Theatre Guild, which was suffering financially at the time. She had known and admired Richard Rodgers since 1925, when the Guild produced the first Rodgers and Hart hit show, “The Garrick Gaieties.” The premise for “Oklahoma!” spawned from a 1931 play by Lynn Riggs, “Green Grow the Lilacs,” which had not done very well, running only 62 performances. When the show was trying out in New Haven it was titled “Away We Go.” Hammerstein had originally wanted to call it “Oklahoma,” but the name was rejected because it was felt that the audience might confuse it with “Oakies” in the Grapes of Wrath. When the show arrived on Broadway, the title was changed back to “Oklahoma!” this time with an exclamation point for emphasis.
Oklahoma’s record run of five years and nine months on Broadway was unbroken until My Fair Lady, opening in 1956, finally broke it in 1961. The original production of Oklahoma ran 2,248 performances, including over 40 special matinees for people in the armed forces. It played to nearly 5 million people during the original run, and to over 10 million in its first national road tour, which lasted from 1943 to 1954. The London show set another record. ‘Oklahoma!’ brought great financial reward and fame to the new team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. In its first 10 years, it made a profit of $5 million on an initial investment of $83,000.
Context Of The Song In The Musical
“Oh What A beautiful Morning” is the opening song to the musical of Oklahoma. The leading male character in Oklahoma!, Curly McLain, sings the song at the beginning of the first scene of the musical, Curly's brimming optimism and care free attitude is perfectly captured in this opening song as it establishes everything that’s needed to know about the character straight away. In the musical Curly McLain is a cowboy who is in love with a woman named Laurey, much to dangerous ranch hand Jud Fry's dismay, but he won’t let that stop him, as he says in the song he feel like no matter what happens today “I’ve got a beautiful feeling, Everything’s going my way.”
History Of The Song Writer
Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II was an American lyricist, librettist, theatrical producer, and director in the musical theatre for almost 40 years. He won eight Tony Awards and two Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Many of his songs are standard repertoire for vocalists and jazz musicians. he studied law at Columbia University before beginning his career in the theatre. Between 1920 and 1959 he wrote all or part of about 45 musical dramas for stage, film, or television
Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer who worked primarily in musical theatre. With 43 Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers was one of the most important American composers of the 20th century, and his compositions had a significant influence on popular music.
This was the first song of Rodgers and Hamerstein’s musical collaboration to be heard by theatre audiences. It has become one of their most famous numbers and "quickly became one of the most popular American songs to emerge from the wartime era, gaining currency away from Broadway first on the radio and recordings, and then later on numerous television variety shows.
The Writers Style
Guys And Dolls
Guys And Dolls 1950
Why I Chose This Song
Ever since the musicals unit from 2021 Guys And Dolls was the musical I surprisingly enjoyed the most, with Hairspray being a close second. I loved the costumes and I enjoyed choreographing the male section of the dance and teeming up with Anna Smyth to create the small section where the hats were stollen by the girls in the dance. You can watch the dance and the song "Luck Be A Lady" on the Final Shows Webpage of my website. So Guys And Dolls had a special place in my heart and although never having seen the original I had watched the Ridge Drama Club adaptation for context when making our version I I did enjoy it. The song that really stood out to me was the song "Guys And Dolls" from the musical Guys And Dolls due to it's humours lyrics and catchy tune. So of course I needed to sing it, although originally it is sung as a trio I think it's easy enough to sing it as a solo.
Historical Context Of The Musical
Producer Cy Feuer and Ernest Martin, conceived Guys and Dolls as an adaptation of author, Damon Runyon's, short stories. These stories centred on the underground crime scene of the 1920s and 1930s, utilizing a unique dialect that combines formal language with modern slang In 1976, it enjoyed its first Broadway revival; a reimagining of the show with an all-black cast. It featured new musical arrangements in the style of Motown and was under the supervision of book writer, Abe Burrows. It ran from July 21, 1976, to February 13, 1977. Another extremely successful revival was mounted in 1992, starring Nathan Lane, Peter Gallagher and Faith Prince. The most recent revival ran from March 1, to June 14, 2009, and featured Oliver Platt and Lauren Graham.
The musical has received a significant amount of play in England. The West End premiere of the musical was on May 28, 1953, at the London Coliseum. In 1982, there was a major revival at the National Theatre with brassier orchestrations and larger-scale dance numbers. It opened on March 9, 1982, and became a smash hit, running for nearly four years and breaking box office records. It closed in late 1983 to make way for another show, but returned to the National Theatre for five months in 1984 before going on a national tour. After the tour, it moved to the Prince of Wales Theatre, where it ran from June 1985 to April 1986. Two more successful revivals in London happened in 1996 and 2005; the latter originally starred Ewan McGregor, Jane Krakowski and Douglas Hodge, running for almost two years with a plan to transfer to Broadway.
Although the musical has seen its greatest popularity in New York and London, it has spurned major productions all over the world. Also, in August of 2009, a concert version was produced at the Hollywood Bowl in California that featured Scott Bakula, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Ellen Greene and Jessica Biel. Guys and Dolls remains a timeless tale that owes its longevity not only to its multitude of memorable characters and hummable tunes, but also to its enduring themes of ambition, savvy and self-made luck. A film version was released in 1955, starring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra and Vivian Blaine.
Context Of The Song In The Musical
It tells the overlapping stories of high-roller Sky Masterson, who falls in love with mission worker Sarah Brown, and lovable rapscallion Nathan Detroit, engaged for 14 years to Miss Adelaide, a headliner at the Hot Box Club. Benny, NIcely Nicely Johnson, and a crapshhoter are all counting on Nathan Detroit to find them a spot to play their crapshooting gambling game, however Nathan is trying to make amends with his faience’ and the other’s aren’t pleased with that. They see love as an illness that infects every man and that dolls just distract men from fun, games and work. So the song is about the world wide sickness and all the signs a man is stuck with love and how despicable, yet funny, it is in their eyes.
History Of The Song Writer
Frank Henry Loesser was an American songwriter who wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musicals Guys and Dolls, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and others. He won separate Tony Awards for the music and lyrics in both shows as well as shared the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the latter. many of which have become standards, and was nominated for five Academy Awards for best song, winning one for “Baby It’s Cold Outside”.
Loesser was born to a Jewish family in New York City to Henry Loesser, a pianist and Julia Ehrlich. His father had moved to America to avoid Prussian military service and work in his family's banking business. But although Henry was a full-time piano teacher, he never taught his son. In a 1914 Henry wrote that the four-year-old Frank could play by ear any tune he's heard and can spend an enormous amount of time at the piano. Frank Loesser later collaborated with musical secretaries to ensure that his written scores reflected the music as he conceived it. Loesser disliked his father's refined taste in music and resisted by writing his own music and taking up the harmonica. He was expelled from school and from there went to City College of New York. He was expelled from the CCNY in 1925 after one year for failing every subject except English and gym.
In 1944, Loesser worked as the lyricist on the little-known musical Hi Yank!, performed by and for U.S. soldiers abroad, with music by Alex North. Hi Yank! was produced by the U.S. Army Office of Special Services as a "blueprint special" to boost the morale of soldiers located where USO shows could not visit. The "blueprint" was a book containing a musical script with instructions for staging the show using materials locally available to deployed soldiers. According to a document at the U.S. Army Centre for Military History, a touring company formed in Italy was slated to produce the musical. In 1948, Broadway producers Cy Feuer and Ernest H. Martin asked Loesser to write music and lyrics to George Abbott’s book for an adaptation of the Brandon Thomas play Charley’s Aunt. The musical ran for 792 performances and a film version released in 1952. Also in 1948, Loesser sold the rights to “Baby It’s Cold Outside”, a song he wrote in 1944 and performed informally at parties with his then wife Lynn. The studio included it in the 1949 movie Neptune’s Daughter and the song became a huge hit. While Garland was mad at Loesser for selling what she considered "their song", it won the Acedemy Award for best original song. His next musical, Guys And Dolls in 1950 was based on the stories of Dam was again produced by Feuer and Martin. Guys and Dolls became a hit and earned Loesser a Tony Award. Bob Fosse called Guys and Dolls "the greatest American musical of all time." Which is a bit of an overstatement but I supose at the time it didn’t have much up against it. A film version was released in 1955, starring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra and Vivian Blaine.
The Writers Style
He was also noted for using classical forms, such as imitative counterpoint. Loesser is regarded as one of the more talented writers of his era, noted for writing witty lyrics and clever musical devices. He also introduced a complex artistic style that challenged shaped the compositional approach of Broadway musicals.
Giants In The Sky
Into The Woods 1986
Why I Chose This Song
I liked this song from the musical, and it was on of the few songs that really stood out to me in the play. The story telling and the fear yet freedom Jack experiences while on this journey can really be heard through the expression in the singers voice and the way the song is composed. And I knew it would be a bit of a challenge but I wanted to challenge myself a little with this song.
Historical Context Of The Musical
Into the Woods, published in 1986, is a collaborative work by Stephen Sondheim (music and lyrics) and James Lapine (story). It was the product of a workshop at Playwrights Horizon in New York City, and was first produced in San Diego in 1986. Less than a year later, the play appeared on Broadway, where it ran for well over a year. In fact, Lapine himself directed it.
Combining the traditional fairy tales of Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, Little Red Ridinghood, and a childless baker couple plagued by a witch, Into the Woods offers an intriguing retelling of these tales as if they are really all part of one big storyline. Sondheim and Lapine introduce humor, mystery, emotion, and action to their imaginative drama. Readers and audience members find themselves at once familiar with the characters and also surprised at the new plot twists and interactions that Sondheim and Lapine have written. The play, a musical, visits themes of longing, pursuit, selfishness, and fantasy. The pace is quick, and the characters remain fairly static as the audience watches how their personalities play out rather than how they develop.
Since its first run, Into the Woods has been revived numerous times, with such cast members as Bernadettee Peters and Vanessa Williams. The costumes, sets, and overdrawn characters give the play a heightened sense of theatre. In 1988, the play won three Antoinette Perry (Tony) Awards.
Context Of The Song In The Musical
In the musical jack is forced to sell his best friend the cow to the baker and his wife because his family needs the money. The baker and his wife buy the cow using magic beans because they need it to undo a curse. They told him that he could always buy it back after which sends Jack on a mission to get the money. The mother gets mad and throws the beans away but they grow instead. So Jack climbs the beanstalk and steals gold in order to pay the baker back to get his best friend back. Jack is singing to the baker and his wife about his experience climbing the bean stalk and meeting with the lady giant.
About The Song Writer
Stephen Joshua Sondheim, born march 22 1930, was an American composer, songwriter and lyricist. Sondheim began his career by writing the lyrics for West Side Story in 1957 and Gypsy in 1959 before eventually devoting himself to writing both music and lyrics. His first solo works was A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum in 1962. Some of his most famous works are: Company in 1970, Follies in 1971, A Little Night Music in 1973, Sweeny Todd in 1979, Sunday In The Park With George in 1984, and of course Into The Woods in 1987. Sondheim's numerous accolades include eight Tony Awards including a Lifetime Achievement Tony in 2008, an Academy Award, eight Grammy Awards, a Laurence Oliver Award, a Pulitzer Prize, a Kennedy Center Honor and a Presidential Medal Of Freedom. In an interview with Terry Gross for the Fresh Air program on NPR, Sondheim stated “I'm interested in the theatre because I'm interested in communication with audiences, otherwise I would be in concert music. I'd be in another kind of profession. I love the theatre as much as music, and the whole idea of getting across to an audience and making them laugh, making them cry, just making them feel, is paramount to me." He has a theatre named for him both on Broadway and in the West End of London. Sondheim died of cardiovascular disease at his home in Roxbury, on November 26 2021, at the age of 91.
The Writers Style
Music critic Anthony Tommasini wrote that Sondheim's work, "while hewing to a tonal musical language, activated harmonies and folded elements of jazz and impressionist styles in his own distinctive, exhilarating voice." Sondeim is known for complex polyphony. in his vocals, such as the five minor characters who make up a Greek chorus in 1973's A little Nnight Music. Sondheim used angular harmonies and intricate melodies. His musical influences were varied; although he said that he "loves Bach", his favourite musical period was from Brahms to Stravinsky.
Luca Prono described Sondheim's work as rejecting the traditional image of the Western world typically presented in Broadway productions, and instead depicting it as predatory and alienating. His works have acquired a cult following with audiences, and his songs have often had a primary role in AIDS fundraising events. "Somewhere" from West Side Story was informally adopted as a gay anthem before the start of the gay liberation movement, but Sondheim rejected that reading, saying, "If you think that's a gay song, then all songs about getting away from the realities of life are gay songs."
Matt Zoller Seitz characterized Sondheim's work for its bravery to express the truth, in all its complexity: "compassionately but without sugarcoating anything," devoid of the "easy reassurances and neat resolutions" typically demanded in the marketplace.
Mama Said
Footloose 1984
Why I Chose This Song
I had recently watched Footloose in theatres with my friends and it was really fun and enjoyable. I had never actually watched an actual perfectional performance of Footloose before, I had only watched a school production for it. The songs that really stood out for me was "Can't Stand Still" and of course "Mama Said". they were the songs that were the most fun to watch, even though they weren't the biggest numbers in the musical. I think everyone often forgets about them due to main popularity of the bigger songs like "Footloose" and "Holding Out For A Hero" but these two songs are just as good and fun to listen to. In fact I would go as far to say that "Mama Said" is probably my favourite song in the entire musical. It was just so fun to listen to and the lyrics of the song so entertaining that I just had to sing it. So I replaced the song I was originally going to perform "Friends On The Other Side" from Princess And The Frog and replaced it with "Mama Said" from Footloose.
History Of The Musical
Footloose is based on a true story. In 1979 the small town of Elmore City, Oklahoma faced a community crisis. The seniors of Elmore High School wanted to plan a senior prom, but dances were against the law thanks to a not-forgotten ordinance from the late 1800s that forbade dancing within the city limits. A storm of controversy pitted the high school students against city council members led by the local minister, who declared dancing a tool of the devil! This tempest in a teapot that rocked the rural community rocked and rolled the rest of America too, when just five years later the smash hit movie Footloose, based on their story, set the nation dancing.
Released in 1984, the film Footloose, starring Kevin Bacon, Lori Singer and Sarah Jessica Parker, captured the heart of America and made it beat to the music of a solid-gold soundtrack.
In 1998 the musical Footloose first played the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Later that year it opened on Broadway at the Richard Rogers Theatre and the following year, the musical went on a hugely successful tour of the US. Like the film, the stage version tells the story of a free-spirited boy, who reminds a local minister that it is no sin to be young. With music that speaks to three generations, he takes an uptight town and sets it "Footloose". Dean Pitchford, who wrote the story, screenplay, and lyrics for the film, was also the key creative force behind Footloose the musical. Dean collaborated with a variety of composers, including Kenny Loggins and Eric Carmen, to write the nine songs The score for the musical features hit songs from the movie as well as 9 new songs written with Tom Snow, who was responsible for Let's Hear It For The Boy. The new production of Footloose due to tour the UK promises to have audiences on their feet. A clever new set, stylish costumes and slick dance routines, by the West End choreographer Karen Bruce, transform this classic tale of teenage angst into a captivating stage show.
Context Of The Song In The Musical
So in Footloose Ren moves to this small town in the middle of know where called Bomont where singing and dancing is illegal. Ren plans on changing that by using the word of god against the priest by proving that singing and dancing is not sinful but actually the bible says to sing and dance and prise the lord.
Ren is preparing for his big speech to say to the priest in front of the whole town and is nervous about it. He's going through it with his friend Willard and a couple of his friends but they're not convinced by his speech. Ren is not feeling confident with it and is debating on whether to just give up or not. Willard then encourages his by telling him that now that he's started all this he can't give up on it. He then proceeds to sing him an encouraging song to lift his spirits about all the advice his mama taught him growing up. The chorus of the song is about not giving up, and that he can't back down from doing his speech. Thanks to his friend Willard Ren has the encouragement to go forth and present his speech in front of the whole town.
Context Of The Song In Jimmy In Space
In Jimmy In Space, the crew have encountered one disaster after another after another and they've about had enough. The crew are prepared to just give up and go home but Jimmy is not up for that attitude. He reminds them of all the issues they've encountered throughout the show and how they didn't give up then and kept moving forward so why is now any different. To encourage them even further he decides to take a lesson from Doc and start singing to the crew to give them encouragement. By singing and dancing in front of the crew he finally become apart of the crew. Finally proving that he's good enough to be their captain by taking part in the activities they do; being singing and dancing. Having proven to the crew that he has changed and that they can't give up on their mission, their spirits are lifted as they continue on with their mission.
History Of The Song Writer
Born 29 July 1951, Dean Pitchford is an American songwriter, screenwriter, director, actor, and novelist. His work has earned him an Oscar and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for three additional Oscars, two more Golden Globes, eight Grammy Awards, and two Tony Awards. While studying at Yale University. Pitchford performed with numerous campus drama groups, but his focus gradually turned off-campus, where he worked with the Wooster Square Revival, an experimental theatre company that offered acting opportunities to recovering addicts and alcoholics.
As a result of performing his early songwriting efforts in cabarets around Manhattan, he was invited to write with such composers as Stephen Schwatz, Alan Menken and Rupert Holmes. In 1979, he collaborated with recording artist and cabaret performer Peter Allen to write new songs for Allen’s one-man Broadway revue, Up In One.
With composer Michael Gore, Pitchford collaborated on three songs for Alan Parker’s 1980 motion picture Fame; these were "Red Light," the symphonic/rock finale “I Sing The Body Electric” and the title song “Fame” which became a multi-platinum, international best seller. That song earned Gore and Pitchford an Oscar, a Golden Globe, and a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year 1981. They also received a Grammy nomination for Best Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.
When Pitchford was signed by Warner Brothers Publishing in 1981, he began collaborating with a variety of songwriters. Among the first songs whose lyrics he wrote in collaboration with composer Tom Snow was “Don’t Call It Love” which charted in the U.S. country singles top-ten for in 1985 and was named the BMI Country Song of the Year.
Inspired by a 1980 news story about Elmore City, Oklahoma, a town which had finally lifted an 80-year-old ban on dancing, Pitchford wrote the screenplay for the motion picture called Footloose in 1884. He collaborated on the nine-song score with Kenny Loggins, Eric Carmen, Jim Steinman, Sammy Hagar and others. The film, directed by Herbert Ross, opened at No. 1 and was, at the time, the highest-grossing February release in film history. The film's title track, was co-written with, and performed by, Kenny Loggins; and “Holding Out For A Hero” which reached No. 34, was co-written with Jim Steinman. “Footloose” was nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Song; and "Footloose" and “Let’s Hear It For The Boy”, co-written with Tom Snow, both received Academy Award nominations in 1985. Pitchford received two Grammy nominations for Best Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture.
The Song Writer's Style
Dean Pitchford often draws inspiration from his own personal life to use as inspiration for his song lyrics making them very personal. He said in an interview that he always draws inspiration into his work from his life experience either intendedly or unintendedly. His Lyrics are drawn in from his surroundings which grounds them in some sort of realism of sorts. Dean lost his sister, Patty Malia Colodner, in the 9/11 attacks. He wrote " The Big One-Oh with help from Patty's 9-year-old daughter as a way to connect with his niece after she lost her mom. He used his music to connect with people and bring his family closer during an incident that could’ve distanced them and I believe that’s what he tries to do with his songs. Bring people together through shared emotions and experiences.
Friends On The Other Side
Princess And The Frog 2009
Why I Chose This Song
Is there any question as to why I chose this song? Just listen to it. The enticing beginning that laws you in just like the character in the movie. Then that peaceful slow middle when you're learning about the character as it starts to build up tension followed by that explosive finale. Could you find a better villain song that this? I really wanted to sing a villain song because there are so many happy and cheery songs in musicals sung by the protagonist so i really wanted a song that encapsulates villainy and i think "friends on the other side" perfectly does that. It's manipulative and cunning just like the main villain Dr Facilier.
Historical Context Of The Musical
The Frog Princess novel was originally based on a Brothers Grimm fairy tale called The Frog Prince. In that story, a princess loses a golden ball down a well, and the Frog Prince retrieves it for her under the proviso that she will take him with her to the palace and be his friend.
Set in New Orleans during the 1920s, the film tells the story of a hardworking waitress named Tiana who dreams of opening her own restaurant. After kissing a prince who has been turned into a frog by an evil witch doctor, Tiana becomes a frog herself and must find a way to turn back into a human before it is too late. The film was the first Dark Skinned Disney Princess releasing in 2009, and also being the first Disney movie to have it’s main character be a African American woman. Tiana is recognized for being Disney's first African American princess. As the film's writers and directors, Clements and Musker claim that their decision to depict Tiana as an African American young woman came naturally simply as a result of the location in which the story takes place. It's actually rather disappointing that it took Disney until 2009 to finally have characters of different ethnicities when the company way founded in 1923, yet despite Disney claiming to be more inclusive, Tina from princess and the frog has remained the only African American princess to date.
Context Of The Song In The Musical
The prologue of the song starts when Facilier introduces himself to Prince Naveen and Lawrence. He then takes the two of them to his voodoo house located in a nearby alley. Upon arriving, he magically activates the sign and opens the entrance door to display his power. In the midst of this, he reads Naveen's palm and come to the conclusion that he is a visiting prince. Amazed, Naveen tells Lawrence of Facilier's palm-reading, but Lawrence confides in Naveen that he believes him to be a fraud after seeing a copy of the newspaper in his back pocket. Angered by this, Facilier bursts into a song about his powers. The event ends when Facilier catches a sample of Naveen's blood in a tailsman then transforms Naveen into a frog. Facilier had tricked Prince Naveen into promising him money and Lawrence for a chance to be a prince, for the former he turned into a frog for the latter's dream to be genuine, but used both of them to give himself what he wants. Facilier sought to supersede his rival using voodoo and pawns while offering the souls of New Orleans' denizens to his "friends" as recompense.
History Of The Song Writer
Randall Stuart Newman is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist known for his Southern-accented singing style, early Americana-influenced soul songs, and various film scores. Born in 28 November 1943 in Los Angeles to an extended family of Hollywood film composers, Newman began his songwriting career at the age of 17, penning hits for acts such as The Fleetwoods, Cilla Black, Gene Pitney and The Alan Price set. In 1968, he made his formal debut as a solo artist with the album Randy Newman. Four of Newman's non-soundtrack albums have charted in the US top 40.
Since the 1980s, Newman has worked mostly as a film composer. He has scored nine Disney and Pixar animated films, including all four of the Toy Story, A bug’s Life, both Monster Inc films, and the first and third Cars films, as well as Disney's James And The Giant Peach and of course The Princess And The Frog. Newman has received twenty-two Academy Awards nominations in the Best Original Score and Best Original Song categories and has won twice in the latter category. In 2007, he was recognized by Walt Disney as a Disney Legend. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame in 2002 and to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2013
The Writers Style
Randy Newman has been known for Pop and R&B in his music. He specialises in children's music and film score making some of the most memorable children’s songs to date such as “you’ve got a friend in me” and the Monsters INK theme tune. He’s also known for his rock and roll. His music is pop, but its jazzy, its bluesy, its folky, it’s got a little pinch of everything. He knows how to keep children engaged with the music and how it best suits the characters on screen and the movie overall making the song be remembered by all in years to come.
From Now On
The Greatest Showman 2017
Why I chose This Song
The Greatest Showman is my all time favourite musical of all time. And it's not hard to see why. From the beautiful cinematography, to the story, to the musical, to the wonderful costumes and incredible actors. The musical has it all. It's the musical that put modern musicals back into popularity proving once again that musicals are one of the greatest medias of storytelling and entertainment. Now I've always loved this musical from the moment I first watched it so when I heard that we were going to be doing a musicals unit I was excited and put forth the idea to do the musical, I choreographed myself a dance to the songs "The Other Side" and "Come Alive" and performed the second one to the class, however our ideas were rejected. But I was still determined to sing a song from it. And when i heard about the Vocal Repertoire unit I finally found the opportunity to sing a song from the musical I love so much.
Although my favourite song from the musical is "The Other Side" due to it's expert choreography and beautiful back and forth duet, I realised that I couldn't sing a duet in this unit. So I went for "From Now On" as i believed that it would show the best vocal range; as it starts of slow and deep and then builds up to be loud and boisterous before ending the same way it started. I thought it would be the best way to show off my vocal range would be with the song with the biggest change in its vocals from the musical.
History Of The Musical
The Greatest Showman follows the true story of P.T. Barnum's rise to fame with his circus, though some details are slightly exaggerated. With weakening attendance, many animal rights protests, and high operating costs, the circus performed its final show on May 21, 2017, at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum and closed after 146 years. The film was release to honour the man how created show business and the circus that started it all. Hugh Jackman was very exited about the concept of this project having his acting career been founded by the theatre, he himself helped pitch the proposal to producers however the film took seven years to produce. Due to the decline in sales of musicals in recent years, producers were sceptical that it would sell however once hearing the news that the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum would be closing the film was set into action to pay respects to this circus that founded show business. Hugh Jackman had ten weeks of preparation before filming started. Rehearsals on the film began in October 2016.
Context Of The Song In The Musical
In the musical P.T.Barnum (played by Huge Jackman) has just lost everything. He quite his tour to be with his family, by doing so the woman he was touring, Jenny Lind (played by Rebecca Freguson) kissed him on stage. The photo was put into the papers which his wife then saw. His building was burnt down while he was away and his partner was caught in the wife and hospitalised. The bank took his house as payment for the loan he took on the building for his show. And his wife and kids moved out because of it all. So P.T.Barnum is sat alone in a bar drinking away his sorrows. Until the people he hired for the show come and join his, freaks with no where else to go. They tell him that despite the fact that he brought them all together just to make money, by doing so for the first time they were gifted a family. They were given a place to belong thanks to him. And in doing so P.T.Barnum remembers that the whole reason he created the circus in the first place was for his family, to bring them joy and so they wouldn't have to live in a life of poverty like he grew up in. But as the show went on this goal was corrupted by his desire for fame and prove his wealthy wife's farther wrong. He learns all this during the song and makes a promise to his family that never again let his passion for the show ever overpower his love for his family. And that his family will always come first. A promise that he keeps at the end of the show by taking his shares of the circus money and leaving the show in the capable hands of his partner as he leaves to live a quiet life with his family instead.
Context Of The Song In Jimmy In Space
In our performance, Jimmy hasn't been a very good captain. He hasn't trusted his crew and he kept wanting things to go his way and not the way the crew decided. So at this moment in the play he's all alone, the crew have abandoned him and he's left to think about all the mistakes he's made throughout the show. He feels regret and sadness for being so bossy and remembers that what he really wanted was to just be apart of this adventure but got too rapped up in the role he was playing that he'd forgotten about the wonder of being the captain of a spaceship. So he uses this reflection to remind himself of his mistakes and why he came in the first place. And the uses it as an opportunity to apologise to his crew and the audience he attacked.
History Of The Song Writers
Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, known together as Pasek and Paul, are an American song writing duo and composing team for musical theater, films and television 9 June 1985 An Oscar-winning lyricist and Tony-winning composer/lyricist, Benj Pasek is known almost exclusively for the output of his song writing partnership with Justin Paul. Academy Award for best original song for the song "City Of Stars" and The Greatest Showman. Their work on the original musical Dear Evan Hansen has received widespread critical acclaim and earned them the 2017 Tony Award for best original score. In 2022, they won the Tony Award for best musical for serving as producers for the Broadway production of Michael R. Jackson's Pulitzer Prize-winning musical A Strange Loop.
Mathes was born in Boston, Massachusetts to classical musicians and music instructors Joan and George Mathes. The family moved to Greenwich, Connecticut, where his parents taught music with the local schools and privately. Rob Mathes showed interest and skill in music at a very early age. By high school, Mathes was already working regularly as a professional writer and performer in the clubs of nearby New York City. He toured with Chuck Mangione in his early 20s. Mathes then began to focus on writing and arranging in Nashville, and soon was writing songs for Bonnie Raitt, Kathy Mattea, Aron Neville, Wynonna Judd, Faith Hill, Oleta Adams and Randy Travis. Mathes works frequently as a record producer in a wide range of genres. He has produced the last three Sting albums and has also produced many other artists including Panic! At The Disco.
The Song Writer's Style
Mathes is more a composer and producer than a song writer so he's always on the look out for what's going to get the most attention from the public which is why he specialises in pop and rock music despite being brought up with classical tunes. the word Pop describes all music that is popular and includes many disparate styles. Benj Pasek is known for his musical theatre style and it’s what has made him so famous in the music business, so combining his traditional musical theatre style with the showboaty aesthetic of Mathes pop and rock style created some outstanding and memorable hits that made The Greatest Shown known as THE musical that made musicals great again. Because what followed after this was a wave of original musicals been released from the greatest showman’s success. It's the musical the got me to enjoy musicals.
How The Voice Works
The voice is made up of four main components: Actuators, Vibrators, Resonators and Articulators.
Actuators
The journey of the voice starts with the Actuators which are the lungs. To inhale, the diaphragm contracts drawing air into the lungs. Then the abdominal muscles and the obliques push the air flow and push the air through the Larynx.
Vibrators
Larynx, also known as the voice box, pushes against the superior thyroid notch which can be on the exterior of the throat as it’s also known as the Adam’s apple. They are different sizes for males and females, males being larger than females. To create sound, the vocal folds are drawn together momentarily closing the glottis. The glottis is the space between the vocal glands. Air pressure builds up beneath the vocal folds and the glottis opens allowing air to escape through the edges of the vocal folds. The vocal folds are made up of five different layors: the epithelium, the superficial layor of the lamina propria, the intermediate layor lamina propria which is made up of elastic fibres, the deep layor of the lamina propria which is made up of collagenous fibres and the main body the vocalis muscle which is the middle of the thyroarytenoid muscle. The size of your vocal folds are different for males and females; adult females are usually 13mm whereas adult makes are between 15 – 20mm. The vocal folds are responsible for pitch in your voice, higher pitch you talk the faster the vocal folds have to move, this is why if you speak in a high pitch for long periods of time your voice hurts because the vocal folds are rubbing against each other two often. This is also why when you have a sore throat you speak in a lower pitch because it requires less movement from the vocal folds.
Resonators
Between the glottis and the tongue is the vocal tract, made up of the Larynx, pharynx, oral cavity and nasal cavity. As the air travels through the flexible spaces it resonates creating tone in the voice. The larynx and the pharynx are flexible and constantly change every time you speak. Every exhale of air from the lungs, through the vocal folds, the resonators change to create a new sound. You can never repeat the same word in the exact same way twice because your resonators are constantly changing.
Articulators
Your articulators are your lips, nostrils, tongue and jaw. Sound from the resonators are transformed from a buzz into an acoustic from the movement of the articulators. Every single syllable is shaped by the vocal tract and then final constructed into comprehendible noise from the articulators. Lip and tongue movement are crucial for constructing acoustics with your voice.
Although there are four segments of the voice each segment is connected to the next and therefore the sound we create is dependent on all four of these components working as one.
Looking After The Voice
If you want to properly take care of your voice as a singer or voice actor then you should consider avoiding coffee or any sort of caffeine. Caffeine has a dehydrating side effect that can cause dry throats which causes excess of saliva to build up in order to hydrate the vocal folds. If the vocal folds are dehydrated then they will become sore very quickly. This in turn causes projection to suffer with the dehydrated vocal folds and pronunciation to suffer due to the build-up of saliva when speaking. Similarly, alcohol and fizzy drinks also consists of dehydrating properties as well as sugars that can also make the vocal folds sore more easily after use.
Chocolate and milk on the other hand have their own problem, dairy products can cause mucus in your throat to thicken. It also increased your bodies histamines which is a compound released by the body in order to prevent infection or invasive cells from entering the body. Consuming dairy causes this to build up in the throat to prevent unwanted cells from getting in however it also closes up the vocal tract making it harder for air to push through meaning the resonators must work harder. This can cause sore throats and therefore it’s best to avoid high fat dairy products before a performance or recording.
In order to prevent your throat from becoming sore after a performance you should always do a vocal warm up. Your vocal cords are made up of various muscles all working together to create sound from your lips, they are no different to the muscles in your arms or legs other than their purpose. Warming up your vocal cords is important as it helps clear your throat, stretch out your articulators for better diction and can helps with breathing too. Stretching your vocal muscles is important is it helps relax the muscles before performing, recording or singing.
If the throat dose become sore, the best thing for it is to drink cold water or herbal tea in order to soothe and hydrate them. Additionally, gargling warm salt water helps heal the throat as it cleans the sore and the salt dehydrates the cells to promote the healing process of osmosis. Osmosis is the movement of water molecules from solutions of high concentration of water to a solution of low concentration of water molecules through the cell membrane. Causing osmosis to happen requires glucose to power the cells which is transported by the red blood cells. The blood is also made up of white blood cells which heal the body so if osmosis is being triggered in a area that needs healing more blood cells will go to that area which can then start the healing process quicker than if the body naturally discovered it.
Resting the voice is very crucial too. Just like arm or legs, the longer you use them the more strain they get so you need to rest them so that they can be fully functional, the voice is no different. Of course, most rest happens during sleep as well as most healing because the body no longer needs to priorities the functions of the body you do on a daily basis and therefore can concentrate on healing as a primary function. However if you have to sing or speak for long periods of time you may need to rest your voice for longer. The best way to do that is to not speak at all. Even a little hum or sound is like taking another step on your feet after a marathon, so best to not to make a sound.
Sci-fi Play Disitation Pitch Meeting
This is the pitch meeting where we were first told about the theme of the play that we had to put on and then we presented our ideas to the Producer, Jess Pervis, for them to create a concept of the play for us to create.
First Thoughts
The Disitation
So when I first heard about the brief for our final show from the producer, i have to say i was not on board with the idea. A 1950's sci-fi? Why? Why couldn't we just have done a tallent show, or a britains got tallent type of show where we get our drama teachers to be the judges. We could have Jessy be the anouncer and the winner gets a cheap plastic trophie. We could do pre-recorded backstage footage interviews that we could show on the screen and make it funny by showing purposely funny failed rehearsals. It's a good idea. However it's not what the producer wanted.
Now I know why they chose a 1950's sci-fi play, because of the makeup unit, so they could do something interesting and unique whereas my idea there wouldn't be anything good for makeup. So we need a play that would link all of our idea together in a way that would make sense. So the first thing that came to mind for me was Dr Who. We have a Tardis or a time machine of any kind and we are flying through the decades into everyone's different acts. it would make sense as to why there's a song from the 1960's in the same show as a song from the 1980's. I also suggested that we build a cheap spaceship made out of carboard on wheels that at least two people could travel around in on stage. Get people to push it around stage, it would be fun.
Well the Producer has heard all our ideas for their disitation, we now have to wait for the finalised idea and the casting and we'll be all set to start making this show. I've not really looking forward to this however as always I'll do my best in making this performance as good as it can be.
First Ideas Discussion
This was our initial discussion on coming up with our play after the disitation.
So our original idea was to have Jimmy in front of the TV watching a space show when he falls asleep and then wakes up in the show. Jessy then suggested that what if Jimmy got sucked into the TV instead of the dream, we could use sound effects of the static TV noise and it certainly was a good idea but we didn't know how we would portray it. Would we need to make a giant TV set for me to go through and if not how would we show me going through into the TV. It was just a little too ambiguous for our time constraints. Sonia suggested that considering that everyone else are characters from the TV show that we have them talking backstage saying the dialogue that would be said on the TV which is fantastic idea and simple one to pull off. Then we could have the stage go dark as the set changes then Matt runs on to wake me up to transition into the spaceship.
We were very concerned about how we would store our set and how much set we would have to build. We couldn't keep it in the theatre as another production was on just before ours so we needed somewhere where it would be safe but also easy and quick enough for us to be able to move it back down for our show. We were unsure if we could get away with having the entire play be on the ship as we did want to land on a planet however that would mean having to make more set which would take more time. Time was our biggest concern throughout this project.
Matt suggested that instead of us going to the alien planet that the aliens come aboard our ship. I had the idea that we never see the aliens because they're all off screen.
The other thing we needed to sort out was how our acts were going to be implemented into the story. We liked the idea that it's just something that happens on the regular so the only people who are confused by this is Jimmy, and therefore also the audience. You could make a lot of jokes about musicals and how everyone singings and where's the music coming from. I suggested an idea that Jimmy really wants to shoot some aliens however the gun actually just makes people dance and I end up accidently shooting the crew. Then you could have one of the other peoples dances involved while the other characters are trying to undo the dance gun in the background. Sonia thought that for Riley's tap dance he could be getting pulled into a tractor beam and having to tap dance his way out of it to avoid being stollen by the aliens.
We defiantly liked the idea of getting the audience somewhat involved in the production too. Matt suggested giving them multiple choices and different outcomes for their choice however that would mean coming up with multiple scripts which would be more work for us to do in time we didn't really have. Riley then expanded the idea that we miss hear them so no matter what they actually choose we chose for them via miscommunication. Which is a funny idea and think could be implemented into the scenes.
Developing Discussion Ideas
So after our initial discussion we moved on to trying to implement the acts into a story and we started off by writing down everyone's acts in an order that would make sense to a story. I wanted my character of Jimmy to not sing until the end of the play in order to get some sort of character arche into the play. I wanted him to be reckless at the start wanting to only shoot laser and have fun but at the end realises that he's messing things up so decides to do things the crews way. The big way he shows the crew he's changed is by cheering up the crew after they all feeling down and they want to just all give up. Having Jimmy mocking the dances and singing all the way through to then end up singing at the end shows somewhat progression of his character.
So we came up with an order. It was:
Jonathan's song "The Impossible Dream"
Matt's dance "Billie Jean"
Riley's tap "song undecided"
Connor's dance "Deep Mentality"
my song "From Now On"
my song "Mama Said"
Jonathan's song "Bring The Boy Home".
After that we then started listing as many references we could make to other shows as jokes throughout the run time. It was almost a challenge to see how many of these lines or references we could add in and make it work within the script. It was an easy way for us to also develop the script as we needed to find a way to link the quotes to each other and to the story in a way that made sense. This was just our quick and easy way of writing a comedy script in so little time and I think the audience would find it funny too. If they didn't understand the reference then it just seemed like funny dialogue, if they did understand the reference then it was even funnier.
Now we had a basic outline of the story, next thing we need to do is come up with a more concrete story line, like a story board.
Creating Ideas
So the basic idea for the story is that the main character of Jimmy is obsessed with old sci-fi tv shows. Then when he falls asleep in front of the TV he wakes up inside the TV show he loves as the captain. But every time the crew gets into trouble instead of using laser guns or fighting they dance or sing their way out Jimmy obviously doesn't like this and keeps wanting to use laser guns but isn't allowed.
From this initial description alone we knew that there was going to have to be a lot of self-aware jokes in this play. So when we were told to create a cheesy sci-fi story from scratch, we started off where everyone does, by writing down as many movie lines and references we could use or implement into our show. We had things from, Wallace and Gromit to Marvel to Star Wars to Madagascar. We wanted it to be filled with funny references to other movies that we enjoyed and we started piecing together movie quotes to see how we could come up with ideas for a script. If people got the references then they would find it funny, if they didn't then they would just think it was funny dialogue so it was a good course for action.
After having so many lines down, we wrote down what everyone's different acts were and what songs they were using for each one as we had to find a way to shoehorn these acts into the middle of dialogue in a way that didn't feel overly out of place. So I was singing "From Now On" and "Mama Said". Jonathan was singing "The Impossible Dream" and "Send The Boy Home". Matt was dancing to "Billie Jean". Connor was dancing to "A Deep Mentality". And Riley was tapping to "Telstar 1962". So now we knew what the acts were we started figuring out a way to mash all the acts together with the movie quotes and improvised dialogue. I knew I wanted the character of Jimmy to not start singing until closer to the end of the play to show how he had grown and learnt from the crew to problem solve in the way they did. So we quickly came up with a story board of ideas.
We start off with jimmy in his house falling asleep in front of his TV. the set then changes to be inside a spaceship where he is awoken by the crew in a panic in an astroid feild. Jimmy after getting them out the astroid feild asks what the mission is which Jonathan then responds with his song "the impossible dream". After taking off they are then attacked by aliens. The captain and crew all escape leaving Matt behind where he then proceeds to dodge the laser attacks via dancing while "Billie Jean" plays. The ship is then damaged in the attack the the ship crash lands onto a planet. The aliens on the planet can only communicate via dancing, the planet is also Connor's home planet, so Connor dances to "A Deep Mentality" to ask them for help. Jimmy wanting to use a laser gun fires at the aliens and scares them off. The crew are mad at jimmy and leave him there. Jimmy is upset and reflects on his mistakes, singing "From Now On". The crew try to fix the ship but it doesn't work so they all give up but jimmy encourages them to keep going by singing "Mama Said". The ship is fixed and they take off into space. Jimmy wants to go home so is teleported away. As this happens Jonathan sings "Bring The Boy Home". Jimmy wakes up in front of the TV. END.
So now we had the basic idea we now needed to create a more complex script, so we started off by simply devising a piece. I would wake up on the ship and act like an excited little boy. However it didn't quite work out. We played very much more into the is this a dream or reality with the crew insisting that he's always been there and that he's acting weird while jimmy acts like a child excited by everything. This was important to establish however I believe we drew the same situation out for too long. We needed to touch the subject then instantly move on and accept this reality. . Otherwise the opening to the show would be too long.
First Scene Improvised Run Through
The first time we did an improvised attempt at creating the very first scene in the show it didn't exactly go well. For starters, something I pick up on as we were going the scene was, we played too much into the fish out of water situation. There too much of Jimmy being amazed by it all, which is needed for the script, but he needed to accept the fact that he was Captain of the ship sooner. Like in a real dream when something weird happens you just brush it off because in the dream it makes sense; it's not until you wake up that you think about how weird it really was. And the rest of the crew acting like the Captain is acting weird is also way over done and it lasts too long. Having them scanning me to check if I'm alright, questioning if I was the real captain or not was really stretched out and too over done. I personally don't think we should have that in at all. The crew should just accept that I'm acting weird and act like it's normal behaviour for the captain even if they don't like the behaviour. Like me shooting a gun, they should think yes that's what the Captain does, but still think, the Captain shouldn't be firing at them. And didn't know how else to explain it other than that.
Something that was unnecessarily difficult to do was getting them to act off stage as the TV. Maybe there was a lack of communication from by part, however they just weren't doing it for some reason. Also when the crew come to wake me up I really think it needs to be more urgent, like they shouting at me and run towards me and vigorously shake me awake. It would really add some more comedy to the scene, physical comedy and shouting provides verbal comedy. But also it adds a sense of urgency to the scene that we are certainly lacking. We're supposed to be flying into an asteroid field and we're all seemingly chill about it. If everyone was acting more melodramatic and the tension in the scene was exaggerated then I think this has some great comedic potential. But we got a lot of work before we get there.
Also, I think introducing the crew more slowly throughout the scene would be better than having everyone on at the same time. At the moment it's pure chaos having everyone on set simultaneously, and no one knows what's going on. The rule of improvisation is "yes and" agree to anything that's happening and add something to it. However with so many people coming up with their own ideas and not one of us knowing the ending the ideas aren't complimenting each other they're just bouncing around everywhere making the whole scene really messy. So having just a few of us on at the beginning I think works to better control the scene. Also having the characters being introduced one at a time throughout the scene allows us to properly introduce them and allows the audience to have a clear understanding of who they are as characters.
Planning Out A Story Board
We decided to sit down and plan out a story board for our play because once we knew the outline of the play and the things that needed to happen in each scene then we could better understand the play and create it. To make things easier for us to learn and improvise, we separated the play out into scenes.
Scene 1
Jimmy is at home sat in front of the Tv watching his favourite sci-fi Tv show. He falls asleep while watching it.
Scene 2
Jimmy wakes up on the ship as they're heading into asteroids. Jimmy is introduced to the crew. Jimmy gets up a map and asks where he is, where they're going and what the mission is. Jonathan replies with the dream, the impossible dream. Jonathan starts singing "The Impossible Dream".
Scene 3
They come across an enemy ship. The crew what to communicate with them but Jimmy fires on them. However he's given a coffee instead. There's two identical big red buttons next to each other, one being laser guns and the other ordering you a coffee. Jimmy shoots at the aliens. The aliens board the ship and start shooting at us. Matt then needs to dodge the lasers by dancing bring up his song of "Billie Jean". The alien shot the engine and gas is going out everywhere. Connor decides to let the air out by opening a window and we are all getting sucked out. Riley the robot has to shut the window while also trying to not be suck out by Tap Dancing.
We discussed how we were going to implement the aliens as we didn't have enough cast members to fill out the script. Jessy had two good ideas that we can attempt in future. One was saying that the aliens were invisible and that you needed special glasses to see them. We would have these special glasses but the audience wouldn't. Or Jessy be the aliens with two puppets on either side of her body so as she moves so do the puppets giving us three aliens. We didn't think we had the budget, recourses or time to make or buy the set up she was talking about for our show so unfortunately that idea was scrapped, however having the aliens invisible is good and we could make self awake jokes about not having a big enough cast or physical comedy of being attacked by someone who isn't there.
Scene 4
The ship crash lands on an alien planet. there would be a group dance while in the ship as they're crashing, all synchronised to the swaying of the ship. We get off the ship and we try to play football but the ball flies straight up into the air and doesn't come back down. We were going to do this Wallace and Gromit reference with a helium balloon with a football print on it. We would just have to make sure to not lose it before the given scene. The planet we landed on was going to be Connor's home planet, so we could make an Infinity War reference, but also meant Connor was the only one who could communicate to the aliens through his dance "Deep Mentality".
To show the ship crashing we were going to have a little carboard cut out of a ship on a stick shaking flying towards a cut out of a planet on a stick. It would be cost effective and hilarious while fitting with the 1950's theme of how they made special effects. We didn't need to be overly complicated or well done with our props, costumes or set as making it purposely bad on purpose was part of the charm we were aiming for. We were inspired by things such as "The Play That Goes Wrong" to make self aware jokes and have intentionally bad things going wrong.
Scene 5
Jimmy fires a gun at the aliens and scares them away. Matt makes a toy story and monsters ink reference trying to get the gun back. Jimmy realises his mistakes and sings "From Now On". Jimmy and crew apologise to the aliens for the misunderstanding and they fix the ship. The crew are in bad spirts, they are tired and want to just give up and go home, but Jimmy won't allow it. To show his character development he singing another song to encourage the crew that being "Mama Said".
Scene 6
Jimmy gives up being Captain and just wants to go home because he doesn't think he's good enough. He makes Matt, second in command, the Captain of the ship and Jimmy is teleported home.
Scene 7
Jimmy wakes up in bed and it was all a dream.
So now we have the story board we now know what goes into each scene so when it comes to improvising it again we know exactly what our goal is in each scene and what we are doing. This is a massive leap forward and now we can start crating more of the play.
First Set Change Run Through
Matt gracefully decided to spend his half term writing up a script for all of us to use. Wonderful, brilliant, if it weren't for him we wouldn't had had a completed script until a week before our show date. But instead we were able to do a set changes run through one week before the show. Big thanks to Jessy Reid who wrote the first two scenes of the script and Matt Kuter who wrote the rest of the script in his holidays.
So we needed to know who could and couldn't do set changes for what reasons. I obviously couldn't do the first one due to having to stay on stage. We didn't know yet how much flexibility Riley would get in his robot costume so I didn't want him bending over and picking up things as I didn't know if he could do that in the final show. So Riley was limited to moving the set boards. I also had to remember that Jessy was available for set changes but considering she wasn't in on the day we did set changes I made things easy for her by making the majority of what she takes on and off be the main control panel and a chair she can put it on to wheel it off and on stage.
We needed to think of what actually needed to be on stage at certain times, so although we needed five wheely chairs we didn't need all of them on set until the crash landing scene so before then they could be backstage. For Riley's Tap we were staying on stage as we were getting sucked out however we wanted to give Riley as much space as possible during his dance. So we made it so all of us were on one side of the stage and Riley was on the other. The same thing went for Matt's dance having to get on and off the chairs so he had enough room to move about.
The biggest set changes were when I fall asleep, when we're on the planet, the crashed ship and me waking up because those where the ones where we had to get everything either on or off set while changing the background boards around. Everyone was needed for these set changes to make them run as smoothly as possible. To make things easy to remember I put the same people In charge of the same set so it was easy for them to remember. Matt and Connor were always on the board stage left as it had a broken wheel. Riley and I were always in charge of the board stage right but I was only needed when turning the board around, the rest he could do by himself. Jessy was always a chair and control panel and Jonathan was chairs. It was a good system and needs to be rehearsed more but the fact that it goes as well as it does in commendable in itself.
I'm proud of the work we were able to accomplish today and I'm excited to see the show finally coming together as well as it is. I'm excited for performing this.
Our Last Script Line Read
So as we were waiting from the light and sound technicians to arrive and then set up for our light and sound rehearsal, we decided that it would be a good use of our time if we did one final line read before we were off script for good. It would help us remember the lines so they were fresh in our memorise before we weren't allowed to use them for good.
It was a good use our our time and I found that I wasn't looking at the script for a lot of it, however when I did need to use the script I would have to scroll down a bunch to catch up to where we were. It's funny how a minuet worth of dialogue can take up an entire page worth of writing.
I'm very impressed by the script idea we came up with and well done to Matt and Jessy who took the time to actually type it up for all of us. Especially Matt who wrote it during the half term week. If it weren't for them, there wouldn't be a written up script.
Jimmy In Space?
Final Evaluation
On My Individual Acts
So the biggest problem going into the show was that iI didn't do any sort of vocal warm up. The only vocal warm up I did was the rehearsal we did right before the show, so my vocal cords had been warmed up however not my entire vocal range. Adding to this was the fact that my throat was very dry because I drank all of my water during Lunch and the rehearsal and didn't have enough time to refill my bottle before the show. This made a noticeable vocal mistake during "From Now On" where I tried to go a higher pitch but couldn't so immediately went back down lower instead. . In "Mama Said" I messed up on one of my lines as I forgot I had changed removed a lyric because of the backing track I was using but went to say it but corrected myself quickly. Because of the mistake I then rushed the Lyric which caused a long pause between the one I said and the next one which was a little awkward. Had I taken more responsibility and care making sure I had plenty of water and prober vocal warm up then maybe these mistakes wouldn't have been made. Additionally, if I had spent more time working on "Mama Said" and not so much on "From Now On" then I wouldn't have forgotten the Lyric.
Now, with all that having been said; I loved my performance. I was having too much fun to even care about the mistakes I made. I was so thrilling and excited to finally live my dream of performing a song in front of an audience that I didn't care to notice my own mistakes. I have always enjoyed singing, regardless of what other have told me about my voice, and I always wanted to sing way back in school plays but I was never given the chance to. But finally I have and I couldn't be prouder of myself. Could have gone better, absolutely, but the fact is that I've done it. And that means that no matter what I can only get better after these performances. Now I've sung a solo all that needs to be done is sing a duet and I would have completed my singing dreams. But I'll save that one for another day.
The Overall Performance
When we started this project I must admit, I wasn't overly enthusiastic about it. I don't really like 1950's sci-fi to be honest and when I heard about the time scale we had I was sceptical that we would even get it done. However despite everything we actually managed to pull it off and it went brilliantly. And more than that, I had so much fun both making and performing this show that I'm upset that we only did one performance of it. I wished we did more so I could have more time being Jimmy in space.
The one thing that went wrong for me in my performance was during the chase scene with B-TEC the killer robot, my head mic fell off and was stuck dangling behind my back, so i had to subtly try and fit it. But audience members noticed. Luckily I had plenty of time to fix it before my first song so It was fine.
I wish we had more time to have worked on this show. I think if we were given just two or three more weeks we could have really ironed out the rough edges. We could have really learnt the script and made it even cheesy. We could've made an even greater performance. And watching it back and showing the video to people, I wished we all had microphones and they were on at all times just so the camera could've picked up our dialogue better because they missed out on a lot of the jokes because the echoing room made it hard for the camera to pick up on the dialogue.
But even despite all this I think this was a great success and one of the best shows we have done. At least the one I enjoyed making and performing the most. I can't wait to see what we do next year.