Rent

Today we went off to do separate scenes again, so Tom and I went off to set 'Light My Candle'. It is quite a long song and almost tells a story, so we set it according to the lyrics, using them to help us with what to do. We tried to keep it simple so we can focus on the acting and singing as it is quite wordy and conversational in the way it is sung. I think we need a bit more time on this to perfect it but we have made a good start and at least blocked the whole song, we just need to work on the details like the blowing out and relighting of the candle which will be easier to do with an actual candle to use.

Rent

Today we spent the lesson doing the song 'Goodbye Love' which is everyone except from Angel as it is his funeral. We start coming out of the church and then it goes into the song. It is pretty simple with no dancing but with simple movement to highlight whoever is singing at the time. Half way through the song we all leave except from Roger and Mark who have a heated discussion which Mimi comes back to hear the end of. Mimi then sings to Roger basically saying goodbye forever because she doesn't want him to see her die, so we have kept this quite static with only a small bit of contact between Mimi and Roger to keep it as naturalistic as possible as it will hopefully affect the audience more this way. Then Roger leaves and Mimi sings out as if to Roger, accepts help from Benny and then leaves by herself. I think this song will be good once everyone knows there lines and is familiar with it as it is quite a wordy and rhythmical song so quite difficult so sing when you do not really know it.

Rent

This lesson we first ran through all of the scenes we have done so far as it was Dan's last lesson before he is off for two weeks. This went well, we have done quite a lot and it is all to a good standard it just needs polishing. For the rest of the lesson we split off doing separate scenes again. Dan Smith and I are playing the Jeffersons so we went off to work on their bit of sung dialogue. After listening to the track we decided that we would turn it into straight dialogue as there is no music to it and it is just a voicemail they leave. We rehearsed it so they are very the over top parents, my character keeps butting into hr husbands conversation with their daughters answer machine, adding in little details much like a normal mother would.

Rent

As Dan is going to be off for a couple of weeks we have been working to get all of the songs that he is in done before he goes away. The last one we had to do was 'Without You' where Angel dies. Roger and Mimi sing this duet. We decided as a company that we wanted to have each couple come on at a different time throughout the song and do some kind of contact improvisation/ short contemporary sequence that reflects their relationship during the show. I am really happy with the bit Tom and I have created as I think it is very interesting to watch and portrays the love hate relationship that Roger and Mimi have. The song ends with everyone looking at Angel to signify that he has died (he is on a bed in the middle of the scene that has also been made for him during the song).

Rent

This lesson we started working on Santa Fe, which I was asked to choreograph a section for during the lesson. This was quite difficult as I had not watched the song and was not sure what to do, so I watched the Broadway version. Although they do a dance it is pretty simple but big movements compiled together, so I tried to recreate my own version trying to stay with quite a contemporary feel. I found it difficult to make it not too 'dancey' as most of the people doing it are not dancers, so I had to simplify some of the steps after choreographing the section. I think with practice it will look good as it is simple, they just need to go with the flow of it and feel the music as the steps are quite slow and need to be exaggerated so they go with the easy, calm beat of 'Santa Fe'.

After watching the video of the dance there a few things I want to change to make it look more natural and easier for the non-dancers as it does not look quite right.

Rent

Today we were lucky enough to have Lorna in the lesson who is playing Maureen so we took the opportunity to put her into 'Tango Maureen', the opening 'Rent' and 'La Vie Boheme'. This took quite a while as we had to teach her all of it but it was also beneficial to us as anyone that was struggling was able to re-learn anything the needed to.

We split off to do separate things today so Tom and I went off to set 'Another Day' together. We decided that we would use the table that mostly features in the loft as Roger seems to spend a lot of time around it and sitting on it, also we thought it would be interesting to use. The song starts with Mimi kissing Roger and then Roger continually fighting with his feelings, not knowing whether to give in to Mimi or not. We used the table to sit on and move around trying to highlight this fight internally and physically with Roger and Mimi, with some intimate simple movement when Mimi is singing soothingly to Roger and then harsh sudden movements when Roger gets angry. We need some more time to work on the end of this but I think it is looking good so far and will be interesting for the audience to watch without it being a dance.

Rent

We have just had our first production meeting. These are very important to make sure everyone is on the same page with the style and direction of the show we are creating as well as organising everything and making sure everything is counted for. We were all assigned jobs such as lighting, costume, set and advertisement. I am part of the fundraising team, which we decided we needed after the discussion of mics and other things we want for our performance which we will only be able to afford if we do something to fund them. After this we went on to discuss the actual show, what the style and atmosphere was that we wanted to create, how we wanted the stage set out and the more creative side of things. We decided we want to extend the stage with extra, different leveled blocking as well as some platforms either side of the audience so that some things can happen down the hall. We discussed how we want the audience to actually be sitting and decided on more of an informal cabaret seating so that they are in a more relaxed environment and feel less like they are watching a show. For the tone of the show we have decided to basically stick to the original Broadway version, although without some scenes, but with some of our own influences so that you can tell it is a Revolution Arts piece.