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Blocking with the Audience in Mind

3/31/2022

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Due to technical limitations, some schools find that they must do the Elementary School Musical the only way they can.  They rely on a few lead characters and a handful of narrators.  If they only have two stand up mics at the front of the stage, how could it be any different?  The rest of the cast becomes the ensemble.  That means they sing and dance, but don't play characters with featured parts.  What a shame!

But it can be worse to try to do a Musical with many featured parts, but with no way for them to be heard because there are still just a few stationary mics on the stage.  Even with some lavaliers on the main characters, the plot can still be lost for the audience.  That's where well-planned blocking and staging comes in.


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The most important aspect of directing Elementary School shows is to play to the hard-of-hearing grandparent who is likely to attend.  Make every decision according to how that grandparent will be able to hear better or understand through movement and blocking to get  the gist of the story.  Gotta make it easy for them to "get it."

If there are only a couple of mics available, make sure the kid who is talking or singing is right next to one of them.  Make sure their crosses to get to the mics make sense.  Group the speakers so that they can easily and gracefully get to a mic before they speak, but have them at least try to "walk and talk" getting there.  Project!!  Use gestures!!  Pull focus!!!  Cheat out toward the audience!!  (I am convinced that most people need to read lips, gestures, and body language to understand actors on stage.)

Here is an acting game that can help acclimatize the children to working on the stage.  As they become comfortable, blocking will seem more natural and easier for the audience to follow.

"Freeze, Frame, Focus"
is an acting game used to help young actors learn about Planes, Proximity, Levels, Focus, and creating a good stage Picture. Being aware on stage how close the actors are to each other 
(proximity), how they are arranged in depth on the stage (planes), how they fill the scene without blocking each other (levels), how they can help throw or pull attention on the pertinent action or character (focus), and how to keep balance on the stage (picture).  

How to play:  Have the children walk around on stage filling it to the edges.  You may play music or give them direction to walk like a "robot," or "Lion," or some other character.  When you call Freeze, they all quickly assess where they are on stage. Then you call someone's name as the Focus child. 

Everyone else must make a good stage picture (Frame) focussing on that child. If they are standing tall in front, they should make themselves shorter and throw their arms out toward the Focus child.  If they are small in back, they should stand as tall as they can and throw their arms toward the Focus child.  All of the children should maintain good proximity so everyone can be seen.  They should also watch their planes, not bunching up, but filling out the scene.
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Opera or Singspiele?

3/25/2022

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In Mozart's day, 1756-1791, "serious" opera in the Italian style was very popular, but some thought it needed reforming. Some people grew tired of it and thought that singing dialogue was very affected.  In serious opera, scored music continued through the entire work including arias, duets, choruses, dances, as well as sung dialogue. 

In Germany, a popular entertainment for the general public was singspiele, where the songs and dances were interspersed with spoken dialogue.  The promoters of Italian Opera thought singspiele was an inferior type of entertainment, suitable for just the lower classes.  Mozart was always on the lookout for fresh opportunities, and of course, his music gave the singspiele a boost.  He wrote several singspiele for his audiences in Austria.  One of the most popular was "The Magic Flute."
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Singspiele led to Vienese Operetta which then led to Musical Comedy on Broadway.  Most Musicals on Broadway follow in this tradition of having spoken dialogue interspersed between the musical numbers.  However, some composers have created scores for shows that have sung dialogue and music underscoring throughout as in Opera.

Where the shows are done with up-to-date sound engineering and personal mics on each actor, these through-composed shows can be entertaining.  Some popular shows in this pseudo-Operatic style are "Into the Woods" and "Once on This Island."  These shows take mature voices and charismatic acting to punch through the music.

Many Junior High schools may want to produce one of these kinds of shows, but have trouble.  I have seen too many productions where the audience could not follow the plot because of faulty directing and many sound malfunctions.  
When young actors try to sing quick-exchange dialogue against a pre-recorded track, they really need extra stage presence and developed voices as well as working mics.  Besides, the audience has a hard time locating which actor is singing when they are all treble voices and don't have the stage presence to pull focus. 

My hope is that directors of youthful actors will choose productions that suit their abilities and work within their limited technical production capabilities.  Perhaps a more traditional show would work best instead of the hottest ticket on Broadway.  Just think about it!

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Reshaping and Resizing Costumes

3/17/2022

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PictureLyla as Betsy Ross
Spent yesterday remodeling a Pioneer dress made for my tall thin daughter's Trek experience into a Colonial "Betsy Ross" costume for my 9 year-old granddaughter.  One thing I learned from former experience is that your can usually take in a bigger costume, but you can never take out a smaller costume. 

So, after a lot of thinking and engineering in my head, I managed to shorten the sleeves and raise the skirt without cutting any fabric.  By adding lace to the sleeves and skirt, the folded extra fabric is totally disguised.  I also added a lace "cape collar" to hide any pinning needed to take in the shoulders and bodice.  I also made a Colonial side pouf apron to cover the distance between the costume's waist and the little girl's actual waistline.  It actually looks pretty good.  The mop cap ties the outfit together.

When you do costuming for the stage where anything worn is viewed from a distance, you can take many shortcuts.  I don't really even finish the seams.  (I take seams out and in so much, it's just not worth the time and effort.)  But this time, I realized that I should take more care because this child's school activity will be viewed up close and personal. 

The 3rd Grade classes are doing a Wax Museum.  Each student made a poster about the historical figure they were assigned.  At the event in the gym, each child will be dressed like their character.  They will stand frozen in a pose while the parents walk through viewing the characters and read the posters.

P.S. I actually got to go to the Wax Museum.  Lyla looked great as Betsy Ross.  It was educational to see all of the students dress up as wax figures of famous people.  The students stood frozen standing for a few minutes, then sat frozen for a few minutes.  Pretty impressive for third graders to stay in character and quiet for so long!
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The One True Outfit

3/12/2022

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Many toddlers go through this phase, I imagine.  They latch onto one outfit that they want to wear day and night.  Right now my granddaughter who lives with me has decided that the new dress her mother bought for her is her favorite.  She wants to wear it all the time --- even to sleep in.  We do not know how long this phase might last, but it may be for a long time.

Our middle son Matthew took this phase to new heights.  He also had the one true outfit.  His story became legend in our family.  So much so that I decided to write a Children's Picture book about it. 

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His little friend had given him cowboy boots that he had grown out of.  That started the whole thing.  From then on Matthew not only wanted to wear the boots, hat, vest, bandana and rope he collected for his costume, but he also determined that his little yellow T-shirt and denim shorts were part of it, too.  He came to all his meals with a scowl on his face and asked in a gruff voice, "Is this cowboy food?"  Once we had explained that indeed whatever it was we were eating was true cowboy food, he would join us. 

This went on for a year!  Oh wait, you'll have to read the story to find out what happened next! ​

The music track you hear is from the Children's Musical "Stone Soup."  Curiously, this fun show set in the Old West, also features cowboy food!
The ending credit music is from the musical "The Adventures of Dick Whittington" --- but wait, I may have given away too much!
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Where Are They Now?

3/5/2022

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Many people can still remember the television game show from the mid 1980s called "The Newlywed Game."  On one show, a young couple was asked to say how they met.  They both said that they played TREES in a Children's Theater production of "Peter Pan."  That answer got them some curious looks and loud applause.  Imagine my surprise to learn that the young husband and wife had actually met while performing in my little show!  (P.S. They played other characters in that show, as well!)

Just read an article about the "Harry Potter" cast and what they look like now. It put me in a nostalgic mood.  I then started to imagine my young performers and what they must look like now so many years later.  Most of my first performers must be married with children of their own by now.  They surely must have progressed in their many and varied careers.  I know that a few have remained active in theater productions, but not many. Some seem to remember fondly being in my shows, though.  It surprises me to randomly get a note of appreciation now and again.  

Thank goodness for social media.  Seeing these young people now posting with their families seems so surreal.  It is definitely hard to recognize them!  They look very different now than they did as kids.  Guess they will live in my memory forever as 5-12 year olds!
Facebook Comments:
Kamberlynne Washburn
So much fondness!
Katri Jeffery Lein
We had so much fun doing the plays at the church!!
Joyce Knight Lohr
I remember them well.
Dawn Haole
My firstborn was too young to be in your shows when our paths crossed. She hung out with us at Narnia rehearsals. The first year that she was a Sunbeam , you were introducing a new song from the brand new children's songbook to Primary. Innately aware of timing and pitch, she asked if she should sing what you sang or what Sister Alexander played. ONE note was different. One short note. I don't recall the answer to that question. She later minored in music and now serves in music callings in her ward. When needed, she arranges music to suit the voices available to her.
Sarah Crowley Chaston
Dawn Haole and I still remember tiny bits of these rehearsals. Specifically a lady in grey sweats singing the song (I don't know the title, just the lyrics) "Now the real adventure starts. A journey that will truly test the best that's in our hearts . . ." Don't know why that song in particular is still stuck in my head in its entirety 30ish years later.
Lynn Marie Rinker Stallard
Justin is a missionary. Richard graduates in a few months and Sara starts high school next year. Life is moving a little too fast for me!

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    Author

    My name is Betsy Bailey.  I have sung, written and taught music all of my life.  I enjoy writing and directing Children's Theater shows.  This blog will be directed to topics on creating the magic of Children's Theater.  I would love to hear your comments!

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