Part 1
Part 2
Part 3 - Moments of Happiness (acapella)
Part 4
A drawback of our Thursday matinee performance was our volume level in the more challenging songs. For instance, in the Prologue 'practical cats...rabbinical cats' verse, confidence was lacking, hence a lower volume. It has been advised that we tone down the dance solos slightly so the singing is not completely overshadowed. The following song - Naming of Cats - is whispered by all. However, at the moment you are only hearing the people who know the words, which I would include myself in. Nevertheless, the knowledge of lyrics should mean the volume is loud and clear, and this is not the case. The backing track can only be increased if we on stage are louder. With the backing track increased, it will become easier to hear and understand the timing, which is a factor we are collectively struggling with and contributes to the current low volume.
Another aspect that needs development is the balance of people on stage. For example, during Sophie's speech which comes after Josh and I singing 'Jellicle cats come out tonight...to the jellicle ball', there are far more people stood stage left than there is stage right. To overcome this problem, I've decided I will come off the runway to be on the same side as Josh. If I still notice an imbalance, I plan to improvise and mime to other characters that they need to move.
The Old Gumbie Cat and Rum Tum Tugger are our strongest numbers. It is now just the matter of tightening the choreography, so having flat hands whilst tapping and making the arm and leg movements sharper in the fast pace instrumental of Tugger.
Another area of improvement is facial expressions in The Jellicle Ball. This is a target I would definitely apply to myself. Up until show week, my main concern for this song was being fully confident with the choreography. I believe I have achieved this confidence through the rehearsal process. Therefore, my focus now switches to how I reflect this confidence, which is through strong facial expressions.
What went really well in our Thursday matinee was the group's ability to improvise. During 'Moments of Happiness', the music cut out. This led to Ellie singing part of her solo acapella and the group singing- 'Moonlight, turn your face to the moonlight. Open up, enter in' with no backing either. Personally, I enjoyed the song acapella. It lowered the mood of the piece even more which is what we are striving to achieve in the opening of Act 2.
Watching the video back, I felt my vocals weren't at their best for Gus: The Theatre Cat. Prior to the show, we were unable to do a group warm up which has taught me to fully warm up alone if we ever don't get the chance to do so. Furthermore, the emotional content in Gus, i.e. the admiration that Jellylorum has for him, needs to be made more obvious. At the moment, I am making a lot more eye contact with Josh than he does with me. This effects the connection we are trying to portray to the audience; to prevent this, Josh and I have planned to rehearse our songs before the evening show, in which we will strongly focus on eye contact between eachother and to the audience. In Growltiger, we were missing a sword, which was later found. Being part of the props team, I felt responsible and wish to strictly set everything next time.
Finally, The Ad-dressing of Cats has largely improved. Yet, a few minor issues still remain. For instance, me and Ellie tend to rush the weaving through the agency characters, which takes place at the back of the stage. This causes us to travel asymmetrically. This can be fixed if me and Ellie take a moment to look at eachother. Seeing as we are presenting Grizabella, a shared look with a smile is appropriate because it would show our happiness for her. The presentation of Grizabella could be greater; as me and Ellie release her, we need to maintain our arms to be up and out towards her as she takes the runway.
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