Tuesday 30th June

Today we decided that that we would split ourselves into teams to get the backstage parts of the show done. I got put into team front of house. I was in charge of making all the finances of each show into a spreadsheet. This involved putting things into formulas aswell. I then helped design the tickets. I think that I will slightly change the tickets and put some vines on them and a picture of a plant.

Monday 29th June

Today we had the pianist meaning that we could go through the numbers properly instead of going through them double speed. We only sang today and we only did the songs that was able to be done with a piano as some of them needs more instruments. The top of Audrey 2 is now looking good with lips and the base colour of green paper going on aswell.

Thursday 25th June

Today we worked on setting up the show. Some of us cleaned the stage whilst others worked on the plant and others worked on  the set. I think it's good that it's now coming all together and I think that the stage will look really good when it's all done.

Monday 22nd June

Today we did a run through of Act 2. We had to do some numbers a couple of times to make sure that everybody was doing them right and they knew what to do. On the whole, today went well and I think that considering we have 3 weeks until the actual show, I think that it's in really good shape.

I am worried about the plant because at the moment, it's very flimsy and we haven't even started the bottom half of the plant. I'm worried that we won't get it done in time because only an few people are willing to give up their free periods.

Children's theatre research-Companies

Unicorn Theatre

Caryl Jenner founded The Unicorn Theatre as a touring company in 1947 and was trying to give children a valuable and often first ever experience of quality theatre.The Unicorn Theatre try to push the boundaries of imagination for their child audience in everything that they do. This also includes: welcoming families, schools, and young people for unforgettable theatrical experiences and try to expand horizons, change perspectives, and challenge how we all see and understand each other. They have a purpose built building at London Bridge contains two theatres, four floors of public spaces and two rehearsal studios. This allows them to work with some of the world’s most exciting theatre-makers to produce, present and tour a broad range of work.

 

Polka Theatre

Polka has been entertaining children t the theatre since it opened since 1979.Polka attempts to use the emotions, spark the imagination and, most of all, entertain. It has two theatre spaces, the Main Theatre and the Adventure Theatre are designed especially for children so that their first visit to their theatre is relevant, engaging and welcoming.At Polka Theatre, children aged from 0 to 14 can enjoy a wide-range of experiences from the dramas like Stamping, Shouting and Singing Home; to comedies family shows like Flat Stanley; world-premieres of plays for children like Cloud Pictures; and adaptations of well-loved stories like We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.

Friday 19th June

Today was our last rehearsal before our performance. We found out that our performance space is too small to do our silhouette meaning that we will have to perform it at another time at a different venue. We ran through Jack and the beanstalk and Little Red Riding Hood. I feel confident with both of these stories. It's only Goldilocks that I am worried about.

We also went through costumes but I am worried about the quick changes that we will have to do as they will be out in the open and with people rushing around at the side of the view, it could distract our audience. I'm still unsure what I'm wearing sometimes.

Thursday 18th June

Today we went through all of the musical numbers in Act 1. We danced them through a couple of times to made sure that we went through all of the parts that people were unsure of. We also sang through the numbers to make sure we knew all of the lyrics and that we had enough volume. The singing is a bit rough at the moment because we are using backing tracks rather than the band that we will be using.

Tuesday 16th June

Today we ran through Act 2 like we ran through Act 1 the other day but once again the backing tracks were again too fast for us. This hopefully won't be a problem during the performance because we will be using a live band. We was then told that Act 2 had much more energy than Act 1 so we went over some of the dances in Act 1 and put the energy that we lacked the other day.

We also got taught the dance to "It's just the gas." I think that the choreography looked really good as it's one of the numbers in the show where it is simple but effective. We are in a chair and we do simple movements as we're not meant to be the main focus of the song.

Tuesday 16th June

We are now one week away from our first and only performance . Today we ran Little Red and Jack and the Beanstalk. We also worked on the opening to our whole piece because we hadn't done that for a couple of weeks due to working on Jack and the Beanstalk. We also sung through our finale song "I'm a believer" for the first time. Because we haven't seen our performance space yet, we're not sure if we will be able to do Goldilocks or not because to do this effectively, we need a big space and the space we have may be too small.

I think that we just need to know the lyrics to the songs that we are doing and make sure that he people in the last couple of scenes of Jack and the Beanstalk just need to learn their lines. One thing that I'm worried about is the fact that we still haven't done the transitions from one story to another.

Monday 15th June

Today we ran through all of the first act. The things that we lact was energy and the volume of singing. I think that I did ok on all of the dances but I did struggle to remember "Ya Never Know." I feel like I could of done better though. I don't like the backing tracks that we are using at the moment because they are too fast making it look messy and sometimes we practicing double speed to what we are actually will be doing on the night. I think that the performance will be better and more accurate as we will have a live band who will be able to play things that we want to our own speed.

Friday 12th June

Today we completed "Jack and the Beanstalk." This means that all we have to do is learn our lines, clean our performance and learn our transitions between the stories. We then decided a finale song. As a group we ended up with choosing "I'm a believer" from Shrek the musical. I think that this is a good choice because it's a really upbeat song and will keep the kids entertained and engaged until the end. I am slightly worried about what we are doing about props and costumes as we haven't even had time to discuss this yet and with the performance still not being the best it can be with only two weeks left, I'm worried that it will be forgot about.

Thursday 11th June

Today we ran through all of the ensemble numbers that are in the show. I felt that the dancing for the show is going really know. I think that we should now focus on the singing of the show rather than the dancing and only go over it to keep it fresh in our minds. That being said, I do think that "Ya Never Know" still is a bit of a mess at times and should go through that number the most. Now that the whole show is set, I think that it's good that we can just go over and clean the dances and work on our singing whilst dancing as I don't think that we have done that for most of the numbers.

Tuesday 9th June

Today we sung through the numbers that we have done and then went through the whole of Act 2. I think that this was a good idea as now I'm now much more aware of what actually happens in Act 2 and what I need to do. I feel like the ensemble army needed as much but. I think it makes the audience focus more on the story. I think that it's really good that we've set the whole show and that we are aware of what we are doing.

Tuesday 9th June

Today we found out that we would be going to the Primary School's instead of the Primary Schools coming to us making it more difficult to set our piece because our stage will be different everytime. We would also be using silhouette instead of the lighting tower as that can't be transported.

After this, we did a run through of all the scenes we have done so far for "Jack and the Beanstalk." We then put some audience participation in when Jack decides to climb the Beanstalk. We then created a scene for when Jack has climbed the Beanstalk. We use the song "welcome to Duloc" from Shrek the musical and change the lyrics to show how much of a perfect place the sky is. This will help keep the kids engaged with the story.

Monday 8th June

Today we went through all the dances that we have done so far and cleaned them up. I still am slightly worried about "Ya Never Know" as it a fancy need and that everything has to be on point otherwise it won't look right. I am surprised how well it went considering that we haven't done some numbers all together like the opening number for a couple of weeks. I think that the show is starting to take shape and I just hope that everybody can keep up the hard work.

Tuesday 19th May

Today we ran through the numbers we did yesterday and then we filmed them. We then got some easy and basic movement for "The meek shall inherit" at the chorus. We then do the same thing at every chorus but slightly different. This then means that the ensemble get to do something rather than just sitting there and doing nothing on stage when we could be used.

Thursday 4th June

Today we watched a documentary on musical theatre. This was about how quick people can be told that they canose jobs due to shows closing or about the fact that the producers just don't think that they are right for the job. It also showed how children can get into theatre through academy's that are set up by the musical or by open calls. We then went through "Ya never know" because that is the weakest dance so far. We then filmed it so we can can practice out of lesson.

Tuesday 2nd June

Today we finished "Ya Never know." I think that it looks really good and I think that the audience will enjoy this. I am still worried about this leapfrog that everybody has to do as its a hard move as they are standing up but it should work on the day. I now need to go over this to make sure that I know what I'm doing for the whole dance

Tuesday 2nd June

Today we worked on the market scene. We took inspiration from the beginning of the musical "Beauty and the Beast." This starts of with me and other members of the group walking round in the stage trying to sell items at a market. Jack tries to sell his cow and everybody tries to flog their items to him. Jack then bumps into bean man who tells them to go away so he can talk to Jack. We then do the song "I've got the magic in me" convincing Jack to buy the beans. This then leads to everybody doing a cheesy dance to this so that the kids stay engaged throughout. We cut the song to make it shorter to keep all of the kids entertained.

Monday 1st June

Today we learned the dance to "Ya never know." I think that this is a challenging dance but I think that it looks really good. I think that the choreographer did well to not just dance it, we can also act it aswell. I am worried about the leapfrog that we have to do as I think it may look messy but I think we just need to practice it and it'll look really good.