End Of Year exam "Show understanding of Musical Theatre"

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ii-kOqVAG4XDH9LSHqtVxabYsHAVMShtoCEF05NAK5g/edit#slide=id.p3
A slide show about musicals

You will find it useful to bring headphones for the Drama exam on Monday 23rd.

Why use theatrical makeup?

Christchurchs Theatre Make-up shop,

You need to explain why make up is used; remember to match your makeup design with costume design.

Makeup task {Performing Arts Technology Standard"

Preparation tasks - Full task ; witches description and script in your google drive Drama folder.

Read the script you have been given. You will be allocated a character. Consider the dominant characteristics of this character and the role of this character in the story.

Make some notes on your character. You may find these questions helpful:

1.    Is this a real character, an mythological or a fantasy creature?

2.    • What are the dominant physical features of this character, eg. age, gender, size, shape, texture?

3.    • What are the dominant emotional features of this character, eg. kind, fearful, fierce, happy.

4.    • What is the status of this character, eg. how important is the character, how much power does this character have?

5.    • What is this character’s role in the story and how does this character relate to the other characters in the story?

6.    • What else is important about this character? Consult with the production team, in particular the director and costume designer. Record the director’s concept. [see above]

7.     Record the costume designer’s ideas (colour, shape). Consider the performance space – how close is the audience, what kind of lighting is being used? How will the lighting effect the make-up? Make appropriate notes that will guide your decision making later on. It is more supportive of achievement at the higher levels to create your own design.

Safe working practices with Stage Makeup

How can I use safe working practices with Stage Make Up

NZ rules

Witches and other scary creatures

We are going to do a design task - we have discussed witches and looked at some scenes of the witches from Macbeth. The context is: "We are doing a Shakespeare Festival performance with the  2 witches scenes from "Macbeth", [1:1, 4:1] the witches summon a range of evil creatures from the dirty, swirling mist around them. We want the audience to feel that the witches have opened a portal to the supernatural world. The time period is distorted and creatures from past and future times appear. The mood is threatening, malevolent. The witches speak in the words of Shakespeare and evoke a sense of frenetic ritual." If you want to do the NCEA task you need to do 2 designs.
Example of PAT makeup task
Level 1 NCEA exemplars

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clG8ha2D26g

Up and Moving

On Monday we will start "blocking" our solo scenes; you should know your lines. Think about the SPACE- where is the audience? The other character/s? Do you have set- chair/ table?What is a stage space?

Spamalot

Ms Clemence, Mrs Beer and I are going to see a musical, Spamalot on Friday.
Here is a review
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/arts/71621993/christchurch-spamalot-a-world-first

On Tuesday 15 we are going to see Grease.  When I have seen Spamalot I will write about it, that can be a template for our writing about Grease. Don't forget money and permission slips.

Drama vocabulary

It is easier to describe a performance [your own or others] if you know the right vocabulary. I have shared with you a list to your google drive drama folder. Here are some other resources.

https://quizlet.com/12180309/standard-grade-drama-vocabulary-list-flash-cards/
https://myvocabulary.com/word-list/theater-and-drama-vocabulary/

Writing your intentions

You should already have chosen a role and learned your lines.

Today you will rehearse and write your intentions for your role. I have shared a list of words with you which you should use to describe how you use your body to show your character-
GLOSSARY OF DRAMA TECHNIQUES
voice, body, movement and use of space 
Here is an example:

Statement of Intention – Role: Bess- “The Highwayman” 
I am going to be Bess. I want to show how beautiful and brave she is. She defies the soldiers and sacrifices herself to save her lover. I want the audience to feel my fear and to feel sorry for me as I am faced with an impossible choice.
I stand up straight with my shoulders back and look straight at the audience.  I press my lips together to show I am scared. I struggle against the ropes [imaginary] that tie me up. I use an angry voice and I yell at the soldiers. When I say "I love him" I use a quieter, deeper voice then I whisper "goodbye" as I pull the gun trigger.

90006 Statement of Context – Role: Bess- “The Highwayman” We have decided to focus on’ The Highwayman’ and treat it like we are telling a spooky story. We decided to trim it down and just focus on the love story between the Highwayman and Bess. We want the audience to get a sense that this love is so strong that it would survive beyond death. That it would go on forever. So there is a magical, spiritual feeling that we will try and create. [1] One of the things we have decided we really want to do is create a picture for the audience of what the night is like because this will add to the magical quality of the story. There is a lot of description about the night and we thought it was important to draw this out and create a sense of atmosphere. [2] I am going to be Bess. I want to show how beautiful and brave she is. She defies the soldiers and sacrifices herself to save her lover. I want the audience to feel my fear and to feel sorry for me as I am faced with an impossible choice.[3] We are going to use the first and last parts as ‘book ends’ and have them very similar to each other so that it comes back to the feeling that we are telling the audience a thrilling ghost story.

Creating a role

How to create a role.

A Role on the Wall

1. Choose a script: put it on your blog, your device/phone, copy it onto paper, print it out
2. You need to LEARN the words
3. Role on the Wall - what do you know about your character? Use the questions below to create a picture of your character
4. You can "draw" a role on the wall or do short answers to the questions

Who am I?Think about what your character is like in terms of personality.

What are my given circumstances?Think about your recent past and how this has affected you and brought you to where you are.

What are my relationships?Think about your relationship with other characters, events and things that surround you.

What is my objective? Why?This is what you want, your motivation or reason for action is.

What must I overcome?This is the problem that is stopping you from getting your objective; this is what you need to overcome to reach your goal.

What is my action?This is what you do to overcome your obstacle and attempt to reach your goal.

What is a theatre style?

We talked about Level NCEA today - currently we have been studying musicals [and this will be in the year 10 exam at the end of the year]. We finished watching High School Musical 2, you will need to write about one musical you know well in the exam.
 Here is a swimming pool scene on stage.

This is the description for tone of the Level 1 exams. 

Demonstrate understanding of features of a drama/theatre form

4 credits

External

1          A drama/theatre form could include but is not limited to:

·         clowning

·         Elizabethan theatre

·         Greek theatre

·         kabuki theatre

·         medieval drama

·         melodrama

·         mime

·         musical theatre

·         pantomime

·         puppetry.

2          Features of the form could include but are not limited to:

·         performance space (eg medieval use of pageant wagons)

·         acting styles (eg the extravagant gestures of Commedia dell’Arte)

·         themes or ideas (eg the Elizabethan wheel of fortune)

·         purpose (eg medieval exploration of Bible stories)

·         conventions (eg use of asides in melodrama)

·         use of technologies (eg mask in Greek theatre)

·         historical/social context (eg the Great Depression in New Zealand theatre).

Cabaret

http://www.broadwaymusicalhome.com/shows/cabaret.htm

What is the FOCUS [the message/s] of the  musical Cabaret?

Use a SEXY paragraph to answer.

Chose your piece and learn your lines

http://www.ace-your-audition.com/monologues-for-teens.html

http://monologuesforallages.webs.com/teenagers-12-19

http://www.durandbulldogs.com/pdfs/highschool/hsactivities/drama/monologue.pd


Choose a solo piece and copy it to your blog - you may also send it to your phone to help learn the words.
How can I learn my lines?

Once you have chosen your audition script you MUST learn your lines!

Learn LINES

1.Chose a study partner. Ready your lines OUT LOUD to them 20 times.

2.Then - copy your lines out 5 times.

3.ANNOTATE you script

When is a Musical an Opera?

Today we watched Cats

 and Phantom of the Opera

On our blogs we will put  a short description of each musical/ opera and a picture or video clip.
Then ANSWER these 2 questions-

1.When does a Musical become an Opera?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/opera/10220403/West-Side-Story-musical-or-opera.html

2. How do costumes enhance the roles in these musicals? Illustrate your answer with pictures.

Chicago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2oKhHCaMEo
Found out more about Chicago

Annotating script

Learning Objectives

1. Read script with meaning
2. Annotate - make notes on your script
3. Find the Given Circumstances [What are Given Circumstances?}
4. Find a Youtube clip from Chicago and list 10 adjectives to describe this musical.

http://stageagent.com/monologues

Here are some monologues from musicals - we will use some to do annotation in class.

What I have learned about musicals!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xZG3DClh3k

Scenes from High School Musical.

TASK: What I have learned about Musicals
1. Write a sexy paragraph and add youtube clips to your examples.

STATEMENT
I think musicals are..
I like musicals because...
There are a lot of different kinds of musicals.

EXPLAIN
Musicals have been popular since the 1920's. There have been different styles such as Broadway musicals like Annie, Rock Operas like Tommy and Disney musicals like Aladdin.

EXAMPLES

Wicked, based on a novel is about the Wizard of Oz story and has spectacular costumes and effects.
Singalong Disney songs Disney musicals are on film and live shows.They are popular with families.

The dancing from West Side Story is very energetic jazz dance.
YOUR OPINION:I like the energy and emotion in a musical.

TASK 2 What song/dance/dialogue do you want to do?
eg: I think we should do the comedy song "Look at Me I am Sandra Dee" from Grease, where the girls are having a sleepover.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uz5D-D7VYmY

work for Friday 19th July

Researching MUSICALS - they can
1. look up 3 different dances and describe them with attached You tube clip on their BLOGS [computers in Drama Room]

2, Then find 10 pictures of costumes to put on; answer- why are costumes important in musicals.

3 find 4 romantic songs[ballads; describe them and put links on their blogs - they must be from 4 different decades, eg: 1950'3 1980's 1990's 21st century

So what makes a musical?

http://www.greasemovie.com/

The classic Musical from late 1970's - we watched some of it today and were thinking about the CONVENTIONS of musicals.

Kylie recommends the Teen Beach Movie


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teen_Beach_Movie

Comic song.. Comic roles in Musicals
eg: Look at me I'm Sandra Dee


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uz5D-D7VYmY

I am just a girl who can't say no- from Oklahoma

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VprmD6oXpFQ

I have also found a good powerpoint introduction to Musical Theatre which I will put on the Drama site-
https://sites.google.com/a/hornby.school.nz/drama-at-hornby-high-school/home/year-10-drama

Now you find 2 songs or dances from 2 different musicals - as I have done for comic songs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq28qCklEHc

What is a Musical?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuasaV45NsM

Dance moves for Greased Lightening

Today we looked at the opening numbers from Grease, Oklahoma and Godspell. Students are looking up writer/ music writer and where/when it was set  and naming 3 characters
 Insert the opening number from another musical
eg:

Sharing Monologues

You are going to perform and film a monologue so here are some examples.

Monologue Sites

http://www.freedrama.net/small1t.html


http://www.ace-your-audition.com/monologues-for-teens.html


http://www.ace-your-audition.com/monologues-for-teens.html


There are other sites and I have books with Monologues: Just check with me before you start. The above are modern and aimed at teenagers. There are also monologues from novels and from Shakespeare.

http://www.shakespeare-monologues.org/home


http://www.monologuearchive.com/cla
http://www.acting-school-stop.com/monologues.html

Our Masks

Do your own post about how your mask making has gone, take some pictures of your masks and include them.

Next term we will work on moving and performing with masks.Like this year 7 class-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMoNJmehQyE

Find 2 examples of mask being work in live performances, it may be dance.

check this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFuon2qETxM

Commedia del ' Arte

Commedia dell'arte is a theatrical form characterized by improvised dialogue and a cast of colorful stock characters that emerged in northern Italy in the fifteenth century and rapidly gained popularity throughout Europe.

I saw a play at Court Theatre last December that was based on Commedia del'Arte traditions; it was very funny with lots of slapstick humour and audience participation. Have you seen any shows- TV, film, street theatre- which have a lot of physical comedy? Find an example, like this one... and share it with us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1IPu-8iiEo


Video to watch
http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/video/the-world-of-commedia

Creating characters through MASK

As you comment on this post please pate your blog url into the comment line so we can build up our links. Thies encyclopedia site is a good summary of European mask types historically.

Theatrical uses

Masks have been used almost universally to represent characters in theatrical performances. Theatrical performances are a visual literature of a transient, momentary kind. It is most impressive because it can be seen as a reality; it expends itself by its very revelation. The mask participates as a more enduring element, since its form is physical.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/367906/mask/9063/Theatrical-uses

Watch the video and describe what you saw on your blog, then find a different kind of mask in use [on a video] and share it with us by putting the url link in the comments

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/367906/mask/9063/Theatrical-uses

Emotions, Body Language and Movement

Today we worked on the Little Miss and Mr Men booklet. We were looking at negative and positive attributes.
Everyone started to plan their own character, a teenage Miss or Mister. We will  make MASKS for our characters.
Then we did some exercises to get our bodies moving. We looked at the LABAN way of describing movement.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laban_Movement_Analysis

Mr Men Little Miss

Today we have looked at Little Miss and Mr Men stories- we are looking about how people show emotion through body language, facial expression and voice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkQ8ptkSqqU