1. I believe that I embody the characteristics of a good musical theatre student. One of the reasons I think this is due to the fact that I pay attention and stay on task. I always like being 100% committed to something. When I am practicing the musical parts of our play, I always am paying attention to what page we are on and what section we are singing. I also usually have a pencil handy to mark my music. I try to go over my part and hum it along while other people are singing their parts.
The second characteristic that I believe I have is energy. When on stage I always try and react to what is going on, in this play everyone has to be super energetic and happy (after all it is called "Happy Days"). That means that everyone has to be enthusiastic and over the top which requires a lot of energy. In welcome to Wisconsin, I try and make my actions big and interact with others. Also, everyone needs to bring energy to rehearsal or else it will be a group full of bored students. I believe that I have energy simply because I have fun, and to have fun you need energy!
The third characteristic I believe that I display is creativity and imagination. This characteristic is shown through the character that I play. You have to evolve as a character and being a chorister, you need some imagination. My dance/musical theatre teacher says that giving your character a name and backstory helps you with your acting and character development so I decided I would do that here. My character's name is Shirley and she has grown up in Wisconsin. She is outgoing and overdramatic when any sort of violence arises. She loves to dance and is very energetic. She is stubborn and speaks her mind, and when she graduates she wants to be a part time author because of her love of english. This character is nothing like me, but it will help me become a part of the play. When you are on stage you always need to be acting and my backstory for my character helps me do this. I think that my character story signifies that I have enough imagination and creativity to help the play, and help myself to be a better musical theatre student.
2. The first goal I have for myself is memorizing my parts and harmonies in the songs. Even when I have my music, sometimes I don't remember or can't get a certain note. I think that I am going to need lots of practice to be able to remember and sing all the different parts in the songs. When doing choreo, sometimes I latch on to the sopranos or altos not realizing because I don't have my music. It is hard to pay a lot of attention to your part while trying to learn new steps at the same time. The way I am going to improve my singing is to (of course) practice! I need to spend some time at home drilling the parts into my head, then I will be able to keep my part. Also, I can practice with a friend who is also a soprano two, or go over parts that I can't get with miss Armstrong.
My second goal would be perfecting the tap number. I was a bit behind because of my absence when it was taught, but it wasn't that hard once we went over it. Still, I think that I need to work on it a bit more because I don't have it memorized completely. Sometimes I have to think before going to the next step. I can easily achieve this goal with a little practice. I can go over the steps each week to keep it in my head. My only problem is that I don't have the music, but I can ask miss Armstrong or someone else to lend it to me.
The third goal I have in musical theatre is to connect with the people and characters of the cast onstage. Being a chorus member, I don't have a big speaking part but that doesn't mean that I can't be in character! I think that everyone could interact more instead on standing on the stage like statues. I especially thought this when we were rehearsing the beginning of welcome to Wisconsin. Everyone has to be more energetic and interactive. My goal is to be involved, in character and interact with the people onstage with me. The way that I will accomplish this is perhaps talking to new people and being enthusiastic so hopefully other characters will interact more with me and the rest of the cast.
3. September was only a short month ago and I feel that I have improved a bit, just not overly. I have learned a lot about how our play is going to work with the stage, and about choreography, but my character hasn't had enough time to really develop on stage. I have plans, but not much opportunity. That's ok with me as I am just a chorus member, so my improvements have been on other things. For example, I have learned a lot of the musical score and a few of the dances, but right now it's like a bunch of puzzle pieces and at the end we will put it together. I think that it's hard to improve on something when you just learned it, and that is why my improvements are not many. I do believe however that now we have lots learned we can begin to improve a lot more this month.
Monday 13 October 2014
Tuesday 2 September 2014
Get Singing
September 2 2014
Hello again! It seems that school is practically here, and I still have to do my last post! This one is called the "Get singing" and it is assignment number 3 on the list. Here I will talk about my opinions on my favourite, and my not so favourite songs. So get out your record player! Let get this show on the road!
This summer I put the "Happy Days" CD in the cd player and listed to it all summer! Me and my cousin couldn't get the songs out of our heads. One that was annoyingly catchy and was stuck in my head a lot, was the chorus of "snap" (although that wasn't my favourite song). A lot of the music in this play is upbeat and fun, it really screams FIFTIES! I love upbeat music that makes you want to get up and dance!
For my favourite songs, I have a few.
My first favourite is Aaay'mless sung by the car hops and Fonzie.
This is the song where Fonzie is on the road after his bike breaks down. He is feeling ashamed because he ran away and is thinking that he has lost his cool. My favourite parts of this song are the fast contrasting parts when the car hops sing the small verses. As for putting it onstage, I think that Fonzie should be centre stage singing his part, slowly walking towards a dark bench on far stage right; then he sits on the bench when the car hops' start singing. I think that the car hop's should already be on stage, but they pop out of their hiding spots when they have to start singing (behind cars or even one behind the bench maybe). Another possibility is if there are not enough hiding spots, they can pop out of the curtains instead, anything that is sudden and unexpected, because the song is slow and gloomy until then. Then, Fonzie gets up and sulks over to the other side of the stage while the car hops walk with him in a semi circle and start poking fun at Fonzie. Then, when Pinky comes on the stage for the small part at the end, she would come and sit at the bench that Fonzie just sat at (or she could stand behind it). They would both sing to the audience, giving the effect that they are so close, but yet so far.
My second favourite is "What I dreamed Last night Reprise" because it showcases all the dreams that Marion, Pinky and Joanie have. Mostly I like it because of the harmonies and the cannon. It's really powerful at the end when they sing in unison "I want what I want and I want it now!" That is my favourite part in the whole song.
My third favourite is the finale, but most of that is because it is the closing theme from "Happy Days". I think that that is the perfect way to end the musical. It feels finished, like you just finished watching an episode of "Happy Days"! It's all fun and everyone will be having a good time.
My favourite lyric is "disappear like drumsticks do at dinner on sunday night" (from run) I just find it funny.
Now for my least favourites…
I am sorry to say that dial tones are my least favourite (sorry dial tones). If one of their songs come on I feel an urge to skip it, and I often do. They are not terrible, they just aren't meaningful. The songs they sing are bland and lack something. So with that in mind here are my least favourite songs:
My number one least favourite is the practice version of "Hot love". They have nice harmonies, but too much of them. I think that it would be 100 times better if they had some overlapping parts, or maybe a cannon; but it stays pretty much the same from start to finnish. I wish that they had some sort of accompaniment and sped it up a little. Although it's funny that I say that, because they do just that at the performance of it at the picnic, which I find is much better, and I don't feel the need to walk over and turn it off. It isn't all that bad. So it's not that I hate it completely, just the first version ^-^. Another reason that this song urks me a little, is the fact that it is sort of offensive. They are talking about how they only want people that are beautiful, which pushes the image that girls have to care about how they look more often than how thoughtful and smart they are.
My second least favourite is Romeo midnight,
I only slightly dislike this one, it isn't that bad but is still sort of ordinary and bland. I think that the reason I don't like it as much is because it sounds too high. The person who is doing "do do weee eeeeew weee eeeeeew oooo (not sure if you know who I'm talking about…) but none the less they are singing too high for it to be pleasant. The song is just lacking in calibre compared to all the other songs in the musical! It's just not a get up and dance sort of song. Although, what might make it better is if you had some people doing a slower type of dance in the background, to keep you kind of entertained while they sing.
Now that I am done my assignment I bid you farewell, I hope you enjoyed my posts (if you read all of them I'd be surprised) but I will see you all tomorrow at the meeting!
I hope you all have a "Happy Day"!
Tuesday 26 August 2014
Get Happy Post 3 (Final)
August 26 2013
From the episodes that I watched of "Happy Days", I learned quite a bit that will help me with the show. Here in my last "Get Happy"post, I will focus on the setting and the car hop girls (because that is my character). I hope that my character analyses helped everyone out as well!
For starters, I'll give you a glimpse of Arnold's, the high school hang out area. Imagine this: the Juke box is "I'm all shook up" by Elvis Presley, the Fonz is writing in his office (the bathroom wall), the booths are full with chatting high school students, people are dancing in a swing style, Arnold is serving Malts and other types of food, and the old fashioned cars are parked out front. That is the low down of Arnold's.
Arnold's is the most popular place, but also there is Jefferson high school, where all the main characters go to school, the Cunningham house, the hardware store and the mechanic shop where Fonzie works.
The time is the 50's and the show definitively has the feel. They have jukeboxes and phones you have to dial that are attached to the wall. Everyone is part of the social life. If you want to be seen as 'cool' you need to have some fancy wheels!
What I have learned from this show is that we are (mostly) high school students, carefree looking to have a good time. Richie and his friends are always up to something and the Fonz is always ready to save the day. Richie is growing up and is learning life's lessons along side his best friends.
My character is a car hop girl. From the show I have learned that the car hops sometimes get pranked by the high school students. From the script, I know that the car hop girls do not actually get pranked, but they do sing with Fonzie and Pinky so I'm guessing they are supposed to be portrayed as "cool". The car hops are seen taking the food from Arnold's and bringing it to the cars. During the intro, one car hop spills a milkshake all over a police officer.
That concludes the "Get Happy" Post segment. If you read the whole collection of
posts-congratulations; you get a thumbs up!
See you in my next post, the all new "Get Singing" where I explore give my opinions on the soundtrack of the musical "Happy Days"!
From the episodes that I watched of "Happy Days", I learned quite a bit that will help me with the show. Here in my last "Get Happy"post, I will focus on the setting and the car hop girls (because that is my character). I hope that my character analyses helped everyone out as well!
For starters, I'll give you a glimpse of Arnold's, the high school hang out area. Imagine this: the Juke box is "I'm all shook up" by Elvis Presley, the Fonz is writing in his office (the bathroom wall), the booths are full with chatting high school students, people are dancing in a swing style, Arnold is serving Malts and other types of food, and the old fashioned cars are parked out front. That is the low down of Arnold's.
Arnold's is the most popular place, but also there is Jefferson high school, where all the main characters go to school, the Cunningham house, the hardware store and the mechanic shop where Fonzie works.
The time is the 50's and the show definitively has the feel. They have jukeboxes and phones you have to dial that are attached to the wall. Everyone is part of the social life. If you want to be seen as 'cool' you need to have some fancy wheels!
What I have learned from this show is that we are (mostly) high school students, carefree looking to have a good time. Richie and his friends are always up to something and the Fonz is always ready to save the day. Richie is growing up and is learning life's lessons along side his best friends.
My character is a car hop girl. From the show I have learned that the car hops sometimes get pranked by the high school students. From the script, I know that the car hop girls do not actually get pranked, but they do sing with Fonzie and Pinky so I'm guessing they are supposed to be portrayed as "cool". The car hops are seen taking the food from Arnold's and bringing it to the cars. During the intro, one car hop spills a milkshake all over a police officer.
That concludes the "Get Happy" Post segment. If you read the whole collection of
posts-congratulations; you get a thumbs up!
See you in my next post, the all new "Get Singing" where I explore give my opinions on the soundtrack of the musical "Happy Days"!
Get Happy Post 2
August 26 2014
Hello again! I'm back with more about the fun characters from "Happy Days" the TV series!
In this segment, I will be talking about Ralph Malph, Joanie, Marion and Howard! So stay tuned for these next fun few paragraphs about the over exaggerating Ralph Malph, the over the top sweet Marion, the little Joanie and the hardware man Howard.
Up first on our list is: Ralph Malph
The fact that his name rhymes is one clue, but anyone who has watched a few episodes of "Happy Days" knows that Ralph is the silly one. He is the class clown (like it says in the script). Ralph likes to over exaggerate everything. In one episode he lied to everyone and Potsie and Richie found out that he was embellishing the truth. Ralph is not an outright liar, he just doesn't always tell the whole truth. He has red hair just like Richie and is friends with Richie and Potsie.
Second we have Marion
Marion is the sweet housewife of Howard. She is the caring mother of Richie, Joanie and her oldest son who is not in this musical so I won't talk about him. In the play she wants to be someone other than a stay at home mom which makes sense because she is not shallow. Marion is very hospitable. For example when Richie has Fonzie over for dinner, she doesn't mind when he doesn't know his table manors; she still says nice things about him after he leaves.
Our third one is Howard
Howard owns the hardware store, and is the husband of Marion, therefore making him Richie and Joanie's dad. Howard is an understanding father. For example Richie came home drunk one night because Potsie convinced him to go to a Bachlor Party. Howard helped him to bed and didn't yell at him or give him harsh punishments. He is also always getting Richie out of trouble. For example, Richie and Potsie bought a car, but it was in bad shape and it broke down so they were stranded. Howard came and picked them up in the middle of the night. In this picture he is at the leopard lodge, hence the leopard print fez.
Fourth up is Joanie
Joanie is Richie's little sister. She is a whiney and mischievous sort. Joanie takes baton lessons and is really frank with a lot of things, which make her parents say things like: "Joanie, we don't say that." Mind you, my impression of her in the show is that she is a little kid (maybe 13 years old). I'm guessing that the musical is based off of the last season, and I have only watched episodes of the first. My point is that Joanie is probably portrayed as older in the musical. Look at these two pictures, as you can see Joanie ages quite a bit during the show!
See you later with more on the Happy Days series. Next time I will be talking about what I can take away from the show that helps me with understanding my character more. Then my "Get Happy" post series will be done, see you soon!!
Hello again! I'm back with more about the fun characters from "Happy Days" the TV series!
In this segment, I will be talking about Ralph Malph, Joanie, Marion and Howard! So stay tuned for these next fun few paragraphs about the over exaggerating Ralph Malph, the over the top sweet Marion, the little Joanie and the hardware man Howard.
The fact that his name rhymes is one clue, but anyone who has watched a few episodes of "Happy Days" knows that Ralph is the silly one. He is the class clown (like it says in the script). Ralph likes to over exaggerate everything. In one episode he lied to everyone and Potsie and Richie found out that he was embellishing the truth. Ralph is not an outright liar, he just doesn't always tell the whole truth. He has red hair just like Richie and is friends with Richie and Potsie.
Second we have Marion
Marion is the sweet housewife of Howard. She is the caring mother of Richie, Joanie and her oldest son who is not in this musical so I won't talk about him. In the play she wants to be someone other than a stay at home mom which makes sense because she is not shallow. Marion is very hospitable. For example when Richie has Fonzie over for dinner, she doesn't mind when he doesn't know his table manors; she still says nice things about him after he leaves.
Our third one is Howard
Howard owns the hardware store, and is the husband of Marion, therefore making him Richie and Joanie's dad. Howard is an understanding father. For example Richie came home drunk one night because Potsie convinced him to go to a Bachlor Party. Howard helped him to bed and didn't yell at him or give him harsh punishments. He is also always getting Richie out of trouble. For example, Richie and Potsie bought a car, but it was in bad shape and it broke down so they were stranded. Howard came and picked them up in the middle of the night. In this picture he is at the leopard lodge, hence the leopard print fez.
Joanie is Richie's little sister. She is a whiney and mischievous sort. Joanie takes baton lessons and is really frank with a lot of things, which make her parents say things like: "Joanie, we don't say that." Mind you, my impression of her in the show is that she is a little kid (maybe 13 years old). I'm guessing that the musical is based off of the last season, and I have only watched episodes of the first. My point is that Joanie is probably portrayed as older in the musical. Look at these two pictures, as you can see Joanie ages quite a bit during the show!
See you later with more on the Happy Days series. Next time I will be talking about what I can take away from the show that helps me with understanding my character more. Then my "Get Happy" post series will be done, see you soon!!
Sunday 17 August 2014
Get Happy! Post 1
August 17 2014
Hi everyone! It's Car Hop Michelle here to report on the "Hip and Happening" series of Happy Days! Too much? The lingo back then was so peculiar. This is my first instalment of my fun "Get Happy" Post Compilation. To start off things off, for my birthday I got the "Happy Days" series. I was thinking how awesome that was, because then I can get to know the characters, time and sets better. Also it seems my parents were exited to see the show too, because it was so popular when they were kids. I have watched quite a few episodes since my birthday so I'm just going to give a run down of a few of the characters for my first post.
First up we have Richie Cunningham,
The main character and also the most goody-two shoes of all the characters. Richie likes to wear sweater vests, and has red hair that is always reeealy smothered with hair gel (although it seems everyone's hair was that way). His best friend is Potsie (in the show) and Potsie is usually influencing Richie to do something sneaky. Richie is a really loyal son but he is sometimes influenced to break the rules (mostly by Potsie). Mort of the time Richie is responsible and not a rule breaker. For example, Potsie and Richie had tickets to a rock and roll concert, but Howard (Richie's dad) wanted them to look after the hardware store for a bit before the concert. To make a long story short, they got locked in the shop, broke a window and broke the lock on the door. Richie told Potsie to go to the rock and roll concert by himself because Richie decided to stay and look after the shop. He also is a smart student because when the Fonz re-inroled into high school for one episode, Richie was convinced to do The Fonz's homework for him. In the end, Fonzie wants Richie to help him cheat, but he doesn't do it. Richie is a nice person, honest, reliable, but also persuadable.
Second is Potsie.
Potsie is (as I said before) Richie's Best friend. Sort of "Cheeky" you might say, with back hair. Potsie is always coming up with ideas to get Richie and him in trouble (not on purpose but it happens anyway). For example, there was going to be an illegal race between The Fonz and some other guy, and Potsie convinced Richie to sneak out and go see it. They got caught by the police and got some long speech by the officer, but that doesn't really matter. My point is that Potsie is a sort of bad influence, but he is still good in essence. Potsie is kind of fun with lots of ideas, good ones and bad ones.
Three times the charm! aaaaay… It's the Fonz!
I hope you enjoyed the first instalment in my Get Happy Post Series. I will be sure to write back soon with more characters and more FUN!!!!!!!
Hi everyone! It's Car Hop Michelle here to report on the "Hip and Happening" series of Happy Days! Too much? The lingo back then was so peculiar. This is my first instalment of my fun "Get Happy" Post Compilation. To start off things off, for my birthday I got the "Happy Days" series. I was thinking how awesome that was, because then I can get to know the characters, time and sets better. Also it seems my parents were exited to see the show too, because it was so popular when they were kids. I have watched quite a few episodes since my birthday so I'm just going to give a run down of a few of the characters for my first post.
First up we have Richie Cunningham,
The main character and also the most goody-two shoes of all the characters. Richie likes to wear sweater vests, and has red hair that is always reeealy smothered with hair gel (although it seems everyone's hair was that way). His best friend is Potsie (in the show) and Potsie is usually influencing Richie to do something sneaky. Richie is a really loyal son but he is sometimes influenced to break the rules (mostly by Potsie). Mort of the time Richie is responsible and not a rule breaker. For example, Potsie and Richie had tickets to a rock and roll concert, but Howard (Richie's dad) wanted them to look after the hardware store for a bit before the concert. To make a long story short, they got locked in the shop, broke a window and broke the lock on the door. Richie told Potsie to go to the rock and roll concert by himself because Richie decided to stay and look after the shop. He also is a smart student because when the Fonz re-inroled into high school for one episode, Richie was convinced to do The Fonz's homework for him. In the end, Fonzie wants Richie to help him cheat, but he doesn't do it. Richie is a nice person, honest, reliable, but also persuadable.
Potsie is (as I said before) Richie's Best friend. Sort of "Cheeky" you might say, with back hair. Potsie is always coming up with ideas to get Richie and him in trouble (not on purpose but it happens anyway). For example, there was going to be an illegal race between The Fonz and some other guy, and Potsie convinced Richie to sneak out and go see it. They got caught by the police and got some long speech by the officer, but that doesn't really matter. My point is that Potsie is a sort of bad influence, but he is still good in essence. Potsie is kind of fun with lots of ideas, good ones and bad ones.
Arthur Fonzarelli is a mechanic, and a high school drop out. He is the master of cool in the little community. He usually wears a leather jacket and his trademark is "aaaaaaaay" along with the thumbs up or down he gives to other people. He seems to write lots of things on the bathroom wall too. Potsie and Richie are friends with Fonzie. I would say that Richie is better friends with Fonzie than Potsie is. The Fonz never shows weakness, and is constantly cool. He is also quite comical, but not tell a joke kind of funny. For example, he walks by a mirror takes out his comb but then makes a face like "I don't have to do anything to look better I'm already perfect!" then puts his comb down and walks away. I think Fonzies got a good heart too, even though he doesn't show it. When Fonzie told Richie that he didn't care about his test that he passed all by himself, he later takes it out and smiles as though he feels smarter, and he didn't feel really confident in himself before (when it comes to book smarts). He also has been known to not have great table manners according to the Cunninghams apparently pulling a wrench out during dinnertime is not acceptable. HaHa
I hope you enjoyed the first instalment in my Get Happy Post Series. I will be sure to write back soon with more characters and more FUN!!!!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)