h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I am trying very hard with the tap dancing, but I'm still rubbish! Ah well, hopefully I can manage to do enough to make it seem as though my character is rubbish, not me!

I'm sure you'll do your best!

And have a wonderful holiday, david!

Merry Christmas, David.

Nollick Ghennal Keep on tapping

Thanks for the Christmas wishes.

I'm back. I forgot to tke my script home with me to go over lines (oops!), but managed to mutter my way through most of them in quiet moments anyway. My new slippers make lovely tapping noises, and won't damage any floors, so that's rather handy. My time-step (an allegedly basic tap thingummy) is getting smoother and faser. Hurrah! First rehearsal of 2006 is tomorrow - better get the script out to check I haven't been making my lines up over the break...

Hi David B,

Butting in to your journal, as another amateur operatic person - hope that's OK !

Congrats on getting the part and good luck with M&MG - I'll be following your progress with interest. I'm doing Half a Sixpence with my local society in April. No part, but lots for chorus to do and apparently I'm playing a posh person as well as a common person so that should be fun. We just did the Mikado in October - my first show with the group - and I played Peep-Bo (third of the Three Little Maids, two songs, bit of lib with a couple of good funny lines). Was great fun.

I'd love to do another principal part but I messed up the singing on my last audition so am a bit worried about trying again. Ho hum.

Anyway, hope you don't mind me joining this thread to keep up with how your rehearsals are going, and share moans about people not turning up etc.

Lbclaire

Of course it's OK! I'd love to do the Mikado at some point (though preferably not as one of the three little maids ). Half a Sixpence has an awful lot of chorus stuff (slightly more for the men than for the ladies, but that's hardly unusual). 'Flash Bang Wallop' is a great company number. Don't worry about messing up the audition. Just have another go next time and I'm sure it'll be fine.

As an alternative David I have heard that the Hot Mikado is well worth performing (it is one my Society did a couple of years before I joined).

lbc with Half a Sixpence. Costume changes - hope you have a decent area backstage to exchange one costume for another, and sufficient time to do it not to need a dresser. There were costumes hanging all over in our last production - one fellow got a severe ticking off for hanging one of his costumes over a backstage light switch, so that when he made his change he turned on the lights by mistake. Not only that, he did it twice

Pimms

Good luck with the first 2006 rehersal, David. I'm sure you'll enjoy being back in the swing of things.

Hi Lbc. I'm not a performer. Just an interested observer. I love the Mikado. It's my favorite of the G&S's.

Thanks David . Yes, there is a lot for the chorus to do. We've only been rehearsing for a few weeks so are just working on the songs at the moment and starting a bit of blocking, but it's rather daunting when you get to the middle of a great long song with lots of horrible high notes and harmonies (and I thought this was an easy show <hollow laughter&gt, then you turn the page and you find ten pages of 'dance break' - eek, I'll either be very fit or very knackered (or both) by the end of this!

And thanks re. audition. It's sooo frustrating - I'm fine as soon as I've got the part!

Lbclaire

Thanks Pimms - I've been spying on your journal re. Scrooge, which was fascinating. Great to see how other groups do things, and your makeup and costume looked brilliant! Don't envy you the flying harness though - we once used a harness in a play where a character had to hang himself, and let's just say it bunched up in a rather indecent fashion...

Don't know about costume changes - I didn't have any at all in The Mikado (took too long to get in and out of our kimonos!) so it could be interesting!

Lbclaire

Hi Hypatia,

Yes, I like it too. Was glad to get shot of the kimono, wig and full white makeup though .

I did Pirates of Penzance at university and loved it, but I don't know any other G&S.

Lbclaire

First 2006 rehearsal complete! A run-through of Act One with almost all principals and a couple of smaller part players present, which went rather well. We now have a photoshoot booked for later in the month (if I can get a copy of any with me in, I'll provide linkage) and the dances twirl ever closer.

I remembered all my lines and blocking (moves around the stage for the uninitiated), which was a relief, but every single one of us made mistakes during the blasted 'Family Solicitor' number. And we haven't choreographed that one yet - moving always seems to have an adverse effect on singing for a while.

Two male chorus members have dropped out of the show over the Christmas break, which is a real shame, particularly as one of them is exceptionally good and very friendly. I don't know the other one, so I can be neither nice nor nasty about him. I hope we don't lose any more, or they may have to disguise some of the ladies as men...

Ah, a lurker
I meant to mention that I always try and find a part to audition for, as it has key advantages over being in ensemble (more kudos, likelihood of more space in dressing room, less choreography to learn), but I've only succeeded in getting parts in two of the last half dozen shows. I find being in the ensemble harder work than having a part, and because of this enjoy the challenge.

lbc are you going to start your own Half a Sixpence Journal thread? I have enjoyed recounting my frustrations and successes and the feedback from h2g2 friends

David I hope you can keep the rest of your male ensemble Gives men a bad reputation when they don't show the committment the women do. Makes me feel slightly guilty when men get into the cast mostly on the strength of being men (regardless of talent), but talented women are sometimes bumped out because there are too many wanting to perform.

You've done two of the best G&S then lbc . I'd recommend HMS Pinafore in the same popularity ranking. Other G&S (IMHO) lack the top-notch tunes, plot and dialogue combination. Personally I also like Iolanthe, though I've not performed it.

Yes, maybe I will. I don't think many people tend to visit my PS but it's worth a try! . If nothing else, it'll get my frustrations out about people not turning up / not learning lines / not knowing words to songs we've been doing for the last six months etc etc ...

<>

Re. men in amateur dramatics - you've hit the nail on the head there, Pimms. Without taking anything away from you or David, as I'm sure you got your parts on merit, it's intensely frustrating sometimes when it feels as though men just have to turn up and they get a part (eg. in the Mikado, they virtually had to beg someone to play Pish-Tush, as no-one auditioned for it. You'd NEVER get that with a female part.), whereas we women have to fight it out between us. Plus the fact that there are almost always more male parts than female.

OK, rant over - here at least. I'm off to start a 'Half a Sixpence' thread on my PS and see what happens.

Lbclaire

Friday 6th January 2006

More fun with the Lambeth Walk, which has been re-choreographed over the vacation due to the set for that scene being a different size and shape than expected! I am features on the front line for part of this, so I'd better get it right. There's also one point where I'm convinced I'll be dancing off into the wing with my partner and reappearing a few bars later. Oh, well, that'll entertain the stage crew!

Most of the steps are the same as the first version we did, but in a different order, which is rather confusing. The men and women have swapped sides as well, which perplexed me greatly for a while. It's a good fun number, though. And the new version really builds to a climax.

Adding to the dance tension for me is a ligament problem that has decided that this would be a good time to rear its head again after an absence of several years. I have a knee support thing and am hoping that will keep me safe while dancing.

I've also got hold of a real monocle (with a clear lens, though), which is much more fun than the plastic thingy I had last term. It caused much hilarity when I quietly slipped it in half-way through the rehearsal. Yet more people said it suited me. Maybe I should get a prescription lens for it and have a contact lens for my left eye?

Next Friday we begin the dance routine for The Sun Has Got His Hat On. That's my big number, it's 'fast and furious' and I am needed for most of it. No standing at the back and singing! I'd better do lots of practice this week...

Rechoreographing You spend ages learning something and then the director/choreographer decides to change it . Is your rehearsal room floor big enough to allow the stage to be marked out on it in tape? That is how we work it, but inevitably there are a few compromises and it isn't quite the same when the set is around you.

Possibly play up the injury if they ask you to do anything too tricky - I'm sure they don't want you injuring yourself further and having to perform with a crutch

Is your monocle metal-rimmed with eye supports and a ribbon/chain to wear around one's neck to catch it if it falls out, or a classic simple glass disc? I have one of the former which enables one to wear it without squashing one's eyelashes, and widen one's eye to drop it out in surprise. As with yours it is non-magnifying, simply a prop. Rarely get a chance to wear it

It's th meal-rimmed eye support type. It's supposed to be kept in a waistcoat pocket when not in use, so should the cord still be worn around my neck, or should it be attached to a waistcoat button or pocket? So confusing.

I don't blame the director or the choreographer for the re-setting of the number, it's just unfortunate. Nothing else has to be re-rest, thankfully. And it is much better now.