Lunch Performance

I actually had a great time at our lunch performance!
I was really worried at first, because I thought people might think we were "lame" or "dumb" or whatever. But when I saw my friends singing along to Cell Block Tango, I knew we could go all out and it would be great.

It was difficult to adjust to the small stage at first, but it ended up fine. We definitely needed a little more rehearsal time, but overall it was great. I had lots of people, staff and students, tell me that all of us did a great job, and I agree. We should definitely try to do this more often! I think it's a great opportunity for us to get more respect from administrators and get more people interested in auditioning for the class. 

I also think that it got people excited about HAIR and possibly made more juniors want to audition!

Character Analysis

I chose to sing a 16 bar cut of "Lying There" from Edges: A Song Cycle for my "audition" during class. This is my analysis of the character, Woman 1, who sings it in the show.

1. The character's name is officially Woman 1, but I really want to call her Lisa. She's always been called Lisa in my head, and is probably 20-25 in age range. She is average height, average weight, average everything in her mind. Lisa is not striking at all, but has a beauty that is not obvious to all. She has dirty blonde or brunette hair and blue eyes. She doesn't dress poorly, but she is not outgoing or bold with clothing choices. 

2. Lisa is not confident. She is introverted and shy, and does not know how to express herself without fear of being judged or looked down upon. Even though people see that she is fairly pretty and kind, she looks down on herself. She is busy with work and her relationship with her boyfriend is in a shaky spot. It feels as if everything that ever goes wrong is her fault. She blames herself for a lot of problems that have happened in the past with her family or job, and is so used to taking the blame that she has no idea how to confront people in a proper way. 

3. Since the only other character in her scene is her boyfriend, I will explain how he sees her. Lisa's boyfriend is very handsome, and he loves her a lot, but Lisa doesn't know why he's even interested in her. He sees her inner and outer beauty, and would call her beautiful, kind, perfect, intelligent. Even though he loves her, he is impatient because her feelings towards him are "wishy-washy." She tends to be unsure of things and doesn't like to take risks. 

4. Lisa loves her boyfriend, but she is not in love with him. She cares about him and loves his as a sister would love a brother, but her relationship is going downhill and she just can't find the words to tell him that. He thinks things are great, but Lisa is scared. She doesn't want to upset anyone, but she needs to get out and find her passions and explore life. 

5. The other character, Lisa's boyfriend, is infatuated with her. He is able to look past her doubts of their relationship, and really wants things to go well. He is optimistic, and totally in love with Lisa. He thinks she is beautiful and special, and believes that the feelings are reciprocated, but how is he to know that Lisa doesn't feel the same way if she never expresses herself. Lisa does not dislike anyone but herself, mostly because she is kind-hearted. There is a certain charm to her, even though she is introverted and shy. 

6. In the past, Lisa had doubts about her relationship with her boyfriend. She finds herself wondering why it's not working out. He is doing everything right! But something is awry, and she knows that it was never meant to be. She has doubts not only about the relationship, but also about her own stability and being ready for a serious relationship. Even so, after the song, she lays down on the couch beside him and tries to sleep.

7. Lisa is afraid to leave the relationship because she does not want to hurt anyone's feelings or have anyone upset with her. She would rather be sad and know she has a nice boyfriend, then miserable without anyone to lean on. Being a nervous person in general, she is scared that she will leave and never find true love. Lisa might have had an experience with a family member or a past boyfriend that lead her to think that way. 

8. kind, average, plain, nervous, content, skeptical, doubting, self-conscious, caring, compassionate 

9. Lisa has had a civil relationship with her parents and siblings. They never fought, but they never were truly honest with each other. To quote Frozen, a "conceal, don't feel" relationship I suppose. Since she never learned to express herself as a teenager, now she is an adult and going through the exact same thing with her boyfriend. 

Musical Theater Class!

Hello everyone! I'm a junior at an arts magnet school in Dallas, Texas by the name of Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. I may refer to it as BTW or Booker T. for short. I am a vocal arts major, but my true passion has always been musical theater. This school year, they've added a musical theater class! (thank the good Lord!) Naturally when I heard about the class, I signed up for an audition and was accepted. All summer I've been wondering about what we'd study and who's going to be there and all those jitters that I tend to get before I start a new adventure. Today was my third day, and so far, it's a dream come true.

Everyone seems very genuine so far! I have a few friends that I know from previous shows and some that I know from choir, but it's a lot of new faces, and I'm dying to get to know them. I hope this year will be filled with lots of spontaneous singing, but also some intense studying and learning. 

Today we worked on vocal warm ups which was nice because that's kind of my forte. I know the teacher that's working with us on vocals from a past show, and he's a great coach. It's relieving to see a familiar face! 

So on Friday we're going to start singing for each other! I'm anxious to see what everyone will choose for their song. I've been practicing mine when I get home from school so that I don't buckle when I perform for everyone else. So far it looks like we've got a REALLY talented group of students. 

Thank Christ that we have this class every day. Otherwise, I would probably be jumping out of my pants waiting for the next A or B day. I don't know what I'm going to do on weekends... probably sleep? Oh well. I'm so excited for this course! 

I feel like I need something clever to sign off with when I finish a post. That's what people who blog do, right? Hmm... some kind of alliteration maybe? I'll think on it. For now I'll just say ciao. 

Ciao! 
Malley on Musical Theater