Evaluation

Evaluation

At the beginning of March we put on a show containing group and solo songs. All of us performed on the stage at some point. I feel I did well but there was much room for improvement. The performance as a whole went well. We all remembered our lines and were all familiar with the show from which it had originated.

I think I should have rehearsed more, for example singing alongside the backing music and with the fellow members of my group, this is because we were ever so slightly out of time in some parts. We took advice on how to take care of our voices prior to the performance for example not eating dairy products and getting plenty of sleep and rest. However I was ill the week before with a bad cold which had effected my throat and the ability to practise this was an unfortunate occurrence. Ideally I would have spent more time practising so that it was to standard that I was happy with. In preparation for the performance I watched other performers online and looked at different styles, costume and movement, so that we could present the song in an entertaining way. Our main influence was from the film Chicago, here is a clip…

The reason we wanted to perform this is because it’s got a powerful tone and we wanted to do a girls group because we felt we would be able to work hard together. I feel it the song worked well though we did come across difficulties with it. For example, due to the absence of one member we had to find a replacement, rehearsals were tricky missing one singer as we all had equal parts and the performance didn’t come together as a whole. The replacement quickly got up to speed and we were able to move forward. Also I struggled along the way with singing as I am not confident with the whole singing performances. The part with all of us singing as group allowed me to feel more confident because other voice were active at the same time I was and my solos were in short bursts. For my next singing performance I intend to extend my solos but I will practise for longer periods in order to build my confidence prior to performing.

At the beginning of the performance rehearsals we found organising the movement challenging because there was a lack of imagination around simplifying original moves. In the end we came up with some of our own, which were only simple movements but worked well. I feel if we had too much movement then we wouldn’t have focussed on our singing as much and the vocal would have suffered. Even given the simplicity of the dance I missed my cue to drop down at the end, I don’t think many people noticed. Next time I will practise more and the movement in general needed more rehearsals so that it came naturally and we wouldn’t have to think about it.

The arrangement of the song was as it was presented in the film Chicago with some differences we didn’t have a male intro and I think the arrangement suffered for it as without the male part at the start the instrumental intro went on for too long. Also, the part which is usually sung in Russian we translated into English and whilst this was done very well by the person who performed it, after speaking to an audience member,  it lacked the mysterious quality of the original arrangement  it did not sound as romantic. As well as this it did not cause the audience to feel empathy towards that storyline because in the original you feel sorry for her as she can’t speak English so she can’t defend herself. However we felt at the time trying to sing the part in Russian given that none of us spoke Russian would not be delivered well as we do not have the accent or proper tutoring from someone that has spoken Russian and we did not have time to learn it and put it in to the song.

As it was a family show with all age ranges in the audience (family and friends) we dressed accordingly to the song and appropriately for the audience members. We all wore black tight fitting clothes, that covered us but were easy to move in, which helped when doing the movements as it enabled breathing easily. Thankfully there were no wardrobe malfunctions which one of the other groups experienced which surprised the performer.

The stage was arranged at different levels courtesy of the rostra. This made the performance more interesting as the vocalists were at different heights and you could see the performers more clearly, this made the performers and movements look more entertaining and you could see them all clearly. If we were to perform it again I think we should make use of the stage and the rostra more to create more dynamic feel. The lighting helped create the impact as we used strong lighting colours like reds and whites. We also used spot lighting for the individual solos whilst the rest of the group were in darkness so the focus was all centred to the person speaking. This added intensity to the lyrics being sung. I would not have changed anything in the lighting as I felt it strengthened the performance overall.

I took part to focus on the role before I sang, even though it was singing I still had a character to portray as the song is from a musical. I sung the part of Liz, who shot her husband in the head. I started the performance and had the responsibility of cueing everyone in timing wise. This took a lot of practise but I feel I got it right one the day as the group all came in on time. We all had mics; I sang confidently and loudly and got the audience’s attention as I heard a reaction, which slightly made it hard to keep my focus. I feel I could of done better in the singing part if I wasn’t as ill and worked a lot harder. Overall it was received well and got a good audience reaction, with very positive feedback following the show.