My Son Pinocchio - Geppetto's musical tale UNIT 2
Pinocchio audition
I auditioned for the character of Pinocchio, as I want to play a different character from the ghost light tours, Nancy was a victim, and quite a sad emotional character, whereas Pinocchio is an energetic child, who’s clueless but also has an bratty attitude. I think I could push myself to play him as he is very different from myself, him being a boy and also being a child. I think this is a role that would suit me and would be interesting to play and add my own ideas to his character.
I view the physicality of Pinocchio as very loose, as if he is a deer learning to find his balance, I also imagine him to be light on his feet, so that he is energetic like a little boy would be. To research this role, I googled around to see how other people viewed him, where he’s described as: curious (everything is new to him), rebellious, mischievous, excitable, childish, just trying to discover what's right and wrong. I also watched both the cartoon and Disney live action film, I personally thought the original cartoon was better than the film as it moved at a better pace. However, I preferred the live action Pinocchio as he was light on his feet, but also appeared to have shoes that were too big for him which made him appear even smaller and more fragile.
After the audition I felt proud of myself, because my hard work rehearsing paid off and I managed to capture his silly character - although it went well, I think I did it better whilst practising beforehand. If I was given the chance again I would make my physicality more dramatic, as I focused more on the dialogue than the body language. Therefore, in the callback with Stromboli I will focus on making my physicality better.
For the next audition (callback) I was paired with Charlie who was playing Stromboli. We started rehearsing by reading through the lines to familiarise ourselves with them. After, we spaced the scene to give it movement; in this scene Pinocchio doesn't have many lines, therefore I focused on showing my ability to move more like Pinocchio - a wooden puppet. To do this I bent my knees inwards, and let my arms hang by my side, keeping my elbows stiff. I’m excited for the singing audition as I can add lots of movement to it and therefore present Pinocchio's physicality well.
During the callbacks, all the Pinocchio and Stromboli pairs watched each other perform, this was helpful to watch how other people imagined the characters. I loved the way some people moved to act like they were made of wood, and I also liked some others voices and accents. I went for an american accent to match the Disney vibe, and as it helped me to speak in a high pitched, childlike voice.
After the callbacks I asked Kelly for some feedback, she said my performance hit the brief, with my facial expression and voice being on point. However, in my first audition I didn’t have the right physicality which she wanted to see me develop. Moving forward to the singing audition I will be really practising moving like a puppet to improve this area.
Next, we had our dance/movement audition in a Disney style workshop. At first we were shown videos and photos by Abby from Disneyland, of the parade, characters and overall atmosphere of Disney. We then had to try to separate different Disney characters into fur and face, meaning those that were dressed with large heads were fur characters, and people with makeup on were face characters. We all had to pick a fur character and walk around the room as it - I picked minnie mouse as I was familiar with her character and story. We then moved on to learn a short dance which was used at the Disney parade - I loved this as I was able to put so much energy into my dancing and use my facial expressions to be animated and excitable.
:
Today I did the singing audition, I performed it whilst having my arms swinging at the elbows to give a wooden effect. I made sure to have lots of energy, learning from the Disney dance auditions yesterday. I bounced around as I sang, and performed with expression through my voice and face. I tried to choreograph the song so I knew what I was doing, but to improve I would try to add movement to the parts I was standing still on.
After this, 5/11 people were called for callbacks, me being one of them. For this we had to sing a scene from Pinocchio with Geppetto, it went really well as we managed to get off script in the 5 minutes we had, and spaced it well making sure we both were able to show our big characters.
Later on, I was called back to sing the blue fairy song. I had prepared it slightly from when I originally planned to do a fairy in training. I did my best, but it was very sudden so I felt as though some of my high notes could have been reached better. I would also improve the character to make her bigger, more sassy and more magical if I was given this role.
For this show, I have now been cast as Pinocchio for the shows on Wednesday! I will be paired with George, who played Bill Sykes with me when I was Nancy, which makes it easy as we are already familiar with each others work styles. I will also be playing a marionette for the other shows as Stromboli's puppet, and as a character called Thalia who is a young girl that is made by Buonragazzo. Here are my costume inspirations for these characters.
I emotionally connected with the character, by doing my research to fully understand his personality. It was difficult because not only was I playing the opposite gender, but I was playing a boy made out of wood. This role definitely pushed me to see how different I could be from myself. I feel as though the audience did connect with my character on an emotional level, because the story moved from introducing my character, showing his difficulties (e.g him trying to explain to his dad why he was naughty ‘But I was born yesterday!’), and presenting a dilemma which engages the audience's emotions (Pinocchio running away and trying to find where he belongs). The final scene shows Pinocchio's character development, as he is willing to sacrifice himself for his dad, ultimately proving him to be worthy of being a real boy. In this scene, I tried to show Pinocchio's thought process on my face as he hears what's being said, before letting them out and giving himself up.
I made Pinocchio have a high pitched American accent to convey the nuances of the character, therefore it was important I used my diction to articulate everything properly and pronounce things well so that it could be understood in my accent. I wore a mic on stage, so I didn’t have to project as much as I would without it - when doing the mic check I spoke at the volume I do when I perform to make sure it's the right level of volume in the audience. When singing I made sure to learn where to take my breaths in the solo ‘I’ve got no strings’ and rehearsed it alot to ensure I could keep singing well whilst dancing. I enjoy acting through song, as I view it almost like a monologue, so I made sure to be expressional whilst singing, and bold with my body movements.
As a wooden boy, I stood with my knees somewhat pointing inwards to give me that awkward look, whilst letting my arms swing by me, keeping my elbows slightly bent. Looking back, I could’ve moved with more energy as a little boy would. I also think I could’ve moved further to the front of the stage, we were constantly given feedback to use the front of the stage from Kelly, which did improve as the shows went on. My physicality dramatically switched when I became a real boy, I let my body return back to how I usually am, to show him as a real person.
I interacted with lots of different characters, such as: the marionettes (who Pinocchio was fascinated by), Gepetto (who he looked up to), stromboli (who he liked at first, then feared), children (who he didn’t understand how to be friends with). Pinocchio rarely engaged with the blue fairy, but perhaps I could've played him to be more in awe of her. I worked mostly with Gepetto in scenes, and our conversations flowed well, with us both listening to what each other were saying. However, I delayed a couple of my lines such as: ‘Wow I slept like a log!’ I had my script offstage to check over things, however I think it threw me off when I didn’t have time to look so next time I won’t have it with me, and stay confident that I know what I’m doing. But, my delays weren’t noticeable, as I played them off to be comedic pauses, adding to my clueless character.
For Pinocchios costume, I wore a white T-shirt, with red dungarees, a big blue bow and a yellow hat. The dungarees definitely made me look more childlike, with the bow and hate giving Pinocchio his signature look. For the wooden element, the makeup team drew wooden lines all over me, on my legs, arms, neck and face. We were unsure if this would work as Pinocchio turns into a real boy at the end, however we just emphasised our physicality to change him into moving as a real boy would; It was more important to be wooden for the rest of the show. I also had a prop nose that I wore when Pinocchio was lying. To make it grow the first time, I peeped out behind a table as I lied, to show the audience my long nose. The second time, I angled myself to make it appear longer as I tilted my head upwards and sideways to slowly reveal it.In the second show, I accidentally took my nose off on stage, I was focused on moving on to the next scene so I started to take it off as I was walking off stage, but quickly realised and put it back on. However, the focus wasn’t on me at that point so hopefully it wasn’t too noticeable. I will take this as a note to focus on one scene at a time.
I interpreted the script to make Pinocchio a somewhat unintentionally cheeky character. For example in the line, ‘But I was born yesterday!’ I made it sassy instead of complaining. I also added some sass when Gepetto says ‘Haven’t I told you not to talk to strangers Pinocchio?’ and he replies, ‘No.’ I wanted to make Pinocchio a comical character as well, therefore I made sure to emphasise the cluelessness to add to the funny moments such as him saying he ‘slept like a log’, with Gepetto replying ‘you are a log’.
My favourite piece of the show was ‘I’ve got no strings’ as it was so much fun to perform, and I loved getting the audience involved. I also felt it suited my voice really well, and I was able to have a dynamic use of physicality in it. I didn’t feel disconnected with my character, as the atmosphere on the stage really helped to keep me focused. However, I do wish I’d been 100% on every line, as they were all quite little and similar so it was hard to remember which one went where. For my next production I’m going to go above and beyond when learning my lines so that I know them so well I am sick of them! Overall I was proud of my performance, It was my first time playing a lead and I hope it is the first of many.
When I wasn’t Pinocchio, I had two different roles, one of them being part of the ensemble. I played a featured role called ‘Thalia’ who was a child created by Bonragazzo, she was the epitome of perfection, therefore I made sure to hold my posture high, smile gently and move elegantly as a perfect child would. I loved being part of the ensemble as the scenes were so much fun. My favourite scene was definitely toys as it was such a high energy song which I could put my all into, I loved working with my dad, sister and brother to create a typical family relationship of siblings that argue but also have fun together.
I also played a Marionette, one of Stromboli's puppets. This was such a good role as it was so different and required me to be completely clueless and have nothing going on in my head. I plastered a smile on my face and kept my eyes wide, sometimes I would stare at someone in the audience - their reactions were brilliant. This was difficult to rehearse with as the role of Pinocchio was quadruple casted, and so was the role of Stromboli, but the ensemble was only triple casted. This meant we had to rehearse things a lot of extra times so that all of us got a go. We had a system that worked for any Stromboli or Marionette, the Stromboli would hold us on our necks, if they wanted us to flop over they would let go, if they wanted us to lean on each other they would move us over, and if they wanted us to talk they would wiggle their hand. In the number ‘Bravo Stromboli’ every Stromboli was in it as a puppet, which meant we could rotate round when rehearsing.
I enjoyed playing 3 different roles as it pushed me to work really hard to perfect each one, and experience all kinds of roles in just one show.
For this show we had 3 different audiences: a relaxed performance, a school performance and a public performance.
For the relaxed performance we had to adjust the show, to stop it from being too scary for the audience. We also went out before the show started and introduced ourselves as normal people to show the audience we were only playing a part. Also we changed an action during pleasure island to blowing raspberries instead of shouting to make it less threatening. I played Pinocchio for this show, even though the audience was empty, and a few things went wrong, it was still a good show all round.
For the school performances the stalls were very full, one show was completely sold out - 246 guests! This definitely added to the atmosphere, as you could hear the children's excitement when characters they liked came on stage. I played a marionette for these shows, which was very fun as the kids seemed to be fascinated by us being dolls. We were able to go outside and greet the kids after, all of whom were so happy to meet us all, and lots of them couldn’t believe the marionettes were real! The school audiences also loved to get involved during I’ve got no strings, where Pinocchio encourages everyone to join in and dance with him.
The public audiences had a good atmosphere as the stalls were fairly full. However, it was mostly adults on the night instead of kids, which meant they were less eager to join in at times, but they appreciated certain jokes more. Because of this, it’s important to keep the energy up to keep the audience invested in the show and give them energy too.
Today I did the singing audition, I performed it whilst having my arms swinging at the elbows to give a wooden effect. I made sure to have lots of energy, learning from the Disney dance auditions yesterday. I bounced around as I sang, and performed with expression through my voice and face. I tried to choreograph the song so I knew what I was doing, but to improve I would try to add movement to the parts I was standing still on.
After this, 5/11 people were called for callbacks, me being one of them. For this we had to sing a scene from Pinocchio with Geppetto, it went really well as we managed to get off script in the 5 minutes we had, and spaced it well making sure we both were able to show our big characters.
Later on, I was called back to sing the blue fairy song. I had prepared it slightly from when I originally planned to do a fairy in training. I did my best, but it was very sudden so I felt as though some of my high notes could have been reached better. I would also improve the character to make her bigger, more sassy and more magical if I was given this role.
For this show, I have now been cast as Pinocchio for the shows on Wednesday! I will be paired with George, who played Bill Sykes with me when I was Nancy, which makes it easy as we are already familiar with each others work styles. I will also be playing a marionette for the other shows as Stromboli's puppet, and as a character called Thalia who is a young girl that is made by Buonragazzo. Here are my costume inspirations for these characters.
Pinocchio:
Marrionette:
Thalia:
Pinocchio evaluation
I emotionally connected with the character, by doing my research to fully understand his personality. It was difficult because not only was I playing the opposite gender, but I was playing a boy made out of wood. This role definitely pushed me to see how different I could be from myself. I feel as though the audience did connect with my character on an emotional level, because the story moved from introducing my character, showing his difficulties (e.g him trying to explain to his dad why he was naughty ‘But I was born yesterday!’), and presenting a dilemma which engages the audience's emotions (Pinocchio running away and trying to find where he belongs). The final scene shows Pinocchio's character development, as he is willing to sacrifice himself for his dad, ultimately proving him to be worthy of being a real boy. In this scene, I tried to show Pinocchio's thought process on my face as he hears what's being said, before letting them out and giving himself up.
I made Pinocchio have a high pitched American accent to convey the nuances of the character, therefore it was important I used my diction to articulate everything properly and pronounce things well so that it could be understood in my accent. I wore a mic on stage, so I didn’t have to project as much as I would without it - when doing the mic check I spoke at the volume I do when I perform to make sure it's the right level of volume in the audience. When singing I made sure to learn where to take my breaths in the solo ‘I’ve got no strings’ and rehearsed it alot to ensure I could keep singing well whilst dancing. I enjoy acting through song, as I view it almost like a monologue, so I made sure to be expressional whilst singing, and bold with my body movements.
As a wooden boy, I stood with my knees somewhat pointing inwards to give me that awkward look, whilst letting my arms swing by me, keeping my elbows slightly bent. Looking back, I could’ve moved with more energy as a little boy would. I also think I could’ve moved further to the front of the stage, we were constantly given feedback to use the front of the stage from Kelly, which did improve as the shows went on. My physicality dramatically switched when I became a real boy, I let my body return back to how I usually am, to show him as a real person.
I interacted with lots of different characters, such as: the marionettes (who Pinocchio was fascinated by), Gepetto (who he looked up to), stromboli (who he liked at first, then feared), children (who he didn’t understand how to be friends with). Pinocchio rarely engaged with the blue fairy, but perhaps I could've played him to be more in awe of her. I worked mostly with Gepetto in scenes, and our conversations flowed well, with us both listening to what each other were saying. However, I delayed a couple of my lines such as: ‘Wow I slept like a log!’ I had my script offstage to check over things, however I think it threw me off when I didn’t have time to look so next time I won’t have it with me, and stay confident that I know what I’m doing. But, my delays weren’t noticeable, as I played them off to be comedic pauses, adding to my clueless character.
For Pinocchios costume, I wore a white T-shirt, with red dungarees, a big blue bow and a yellow hat. The dungarees definitely made me look more childlike, with the bow and hate giving Pinocchio his signature look. For the wooden element, the makeup team drew wooden lines all over me, on my legs, arms, neck and face. We were unsure if this would work as Pinocchio turns into a real boy at the end, however we just emphasised our physicality to change him into moving as a real boy would; It was more important to be wooden for the rest of the show. I also had a prop nose that I wore when Pinocchio was lying. To make it grow the first time, I peeped out behind a table as I lied, to show the audience my long nose. The second time, I angled myself to make it appear longer as I tilted my head upwards and sideways to slowly reveal it.In the second show, I accidentally took my nose off on stage, I was focused on moving on to the next scene so I started to take it off as I was walking off stage, but quickly realised and put it back on. However, the focus wasn’t on me at that point so hopefully it wasn’t too noticeable. I will take this as a note to focus on one scene at a time.
I interpreted the script to make Pinocchio a somewhat unintentionally cheeky character. For example in the line, ‘But I was born yesterday!’ I made it sassy instead of complaining. I also added some sass when Gepetto says ‘Haven’t I told you not to talk to strangers Pinocchio?’ and he replies, ‘No.’ I wanted to make Pinocchio a comical character as well, therefore I made sure to emphasise the cluelessness to add to the funny moments such as him saying he ‘slept like a log’, with Gepetto replying ‘you are a log’.
My favourite piece of the show was ‘I’ve got no strings’ as it was so much fun to perform, and I loved getting the audience involved. I also felt it suited my voice really well, and I was able to have a dynamic use of physicality in it. I didn’t feel disconnected with my character, as the atmosphere on the stage really helped to keep me focused. However, I do wish I’d been 100% on every line, as they were all quite little and similar so it was hard to remember which one went where. For my next production I’m going to go above and beyond when learning my lines so that I know them so well I am sick of them! Overall I was proud of my performance, It was my first time playing a lead and I hope it is the first of many.
When I wasn’t Pinocchio, I had two different roles, one of them being part of the ensemble. I played a featured role called ‘Thalia’ who was a child created by Bonragazzo, she was the epitome of perfection, therefore I made sure to hold my posture high, smile gently and move elegantly as a perfect child would. I loved being part of the ensemble as the scenes were so much fun. My favourite scene was definitely toys as it was such a high energy song which I could put my all into, I loved working with my dad, sister and brother to create a typical family relationship of siblings that argue but also have fun together.
I also played a Marionette, one of Stromboli's puppets. This was such a good role as it was so different and required me to be completely clueless and have nothing going on in my head. I plastered a smile on my face and kept my eyes wide, sometimes I would stare at someone in the audience - their reactions were brilliant. This was difficult to rehearse with as the role of Pinocchio was quadruple casted, and so was the role of Stromboli, but the ensemble was only triple casted. This meant we had to rehearse things a lot of extra times so that all of us got a go. We had a system that worked for any Stromboli or Marionette, the Stromboli would hold us on our necks, if they wanted us to flop over they would let go, if they wanted us to lean on each other they would move us over, and if they wanted us to talk they would wiggle their hand. In the number ‘Bravo Stromboli’ every Stromboli was in it as a puppet, which meant we could rotate round when rehearsing.
I enjoyed playing 3 different roles as it pushed me to work really hard to perfect each one, and experience all kinds of roles in just one show.
For this show we had 3 different audiences: a relaxed performance, a school performance and a public performance.
For the relaxed performance we had to adjust the show, to stop it from being too scary for the audience. We also went out before the show started and introduced ourselves as normal people to show the audience we were only playing a part. Also we changed an action during pleasure island to blowing raspberries instead of shouting to make it less threatening. I played Pinocchio for this show, even though the audience was empty, and a few things went wrong, it was still a good show all round.
For the school performances the stalls were very full, one show was completely sold out - 246 guests! This definitely added to the atmosphere, as you could hear the children's excitement when characters they liked came on stage. I played a marionette for these shows, which was very fun as the kids seemed to be fascinated by us being dolls. We were able to go outside and greet the kids after, all of whom were so happy to meet us all, and lots of them couldn’t believe the marionettes were real! The school audiences also loved to get involved during I’ve got no strings, where Pinocchio encourages everyone to join in and dance with him.
The public audiences had a good atmosphere as the stalls were fairly full. However, it was mostly adults on the night instead of kids, which meant they were less eager to join in at times, but they appreciated certain jokes more. Because of this, it’s important to keep the energy up to keep the audience invested in the show and give them energy too.
Here are some photos from stage of all three characters:
PHOTOS
Comments
Post a Comment