Friday 15th January (Rent Act 1 Run and After College Rehearsal)

During our lesson today we ran Act 1 up to We're Okay and finished it in our after college rehearsal. The lesson rehearsal was very successful however I would like to improve on my physicality in Light My Candle, my vocals in Out Tonight and my homeless characterisation when off cast and during Rent. 

My strengths in the first act today were that my characterisation and interactions have really improved since our last rehearsal, I feel much more at ease with it which is allowing me to focus on my lines better and feel confident without a script, which I now feel. Specifically in La Vie Boheme, I am really enjoying dancing and singing at the same time, however I struggled staying focused during the transition between an upbeat fun song and then the shift in atmosphere in I Should Tell You. I am going to try to keep eye contact with James throughout this to help me stay in character and keep in mind the emotions of the song. Rent and Out Tonight are coming together really well, they both need a lot of energy which makes it difficult. During Out Tonight I am staying as active as possible without compromising on the quality of my voice. Christmas Bells has not had many rehearsals but is one of my highlights of the show, I know the song very well and love the improvised, stylised pedestrian movement that we as a cast adopt. We all have different motives, mine being drugs, and our interactions work really well. I physically compete with other 'junkies' for the drug dealers attention, and sing aggressively towards him, showing desperation.

A weakness of these rehearsals is the volume of my voice in La Vie Boheme, I have a few solo lines that I struggle to project my voice on because they are just on the break between my head and chest voice. I have improved since our early rehearsals so hopefully if I keep practicing I will be able to project my voice out to every section of audience for the final shows. 

After this, in the after college rehearsal, we ran half of act 2 with the other cast, up until Seasons Of Love B. I am developing my off cast characterisation slower than my on cast as I am more focused on that. It is challenging trying to have specific characterisation without pulling focus from the main action, however because I am in the same songs on and off cast, just playing different roles in them, t is easy to know where I should fit in, depending on how I interact and the dynamics of the song when I am on cast. I have found that in I'll Cover You Reprise I can act the same way as I do on cast because of the solemn feeling that is created at the funeral. This is similar to my movement in Goodbye Love, following the funeral. I am sad and showing this by reaching for others for physical support and bowing my head a lot, which works for Mimi and my off cast ensemble character. 

Net is our Que to Que rehearsal which will test my knowledge of the play and how the staging works.