Rent -Take Me Or Leave Me
Based on
Rent is based on Italian Opera La Boheme by Giacomo Puccini ,Librettist; Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giascosa.
This opera is an Opera which is split into four acts, set in Paris between the years of 1837-1838. The Four Characters that live together are Marcello who’s a Painter ,Rodolfo who is an Playwright , Colline the Phyllosphere and schaunard the Musician.
From the video above , I gathered knowledge about what the Opera and the similarities between it and Rent. One similarity is they all live close together as in Rent they live in the same village and in the Opera they all share a room . In both the group are presented as less fortunate and all do something which they hope will bring them fortune and put theme in a better position that they are in now.
More similarities in both I've taken from the video.
- The theme of Love and Health
- Social Injustice and not being financially stable. (YOUTUBE,2019)
The Musical
Rent the Musical is written by Composer , Lyricist and Librettist Jonathan Larson . The first showing of Rent being in 1994 at the New York Theatre Workshop, In January 26 1996 opened off Broadway before in 1996 where it moved to the Nederland er Theatre on April 29th 1996.
The Rock Musical was set in late 1980’s - to early 1990’s
The themes of Rent The Musical are: Social Justice, Romance , AIDS. Political interest and Drug abuse.
Characters: Mark Cohen, Mimi Marquez, Rodger Davis, Tom Collins, Angel Schunard,Maureen Johnson ,Joanne Jefferson, Benjamin Coffin and Ensemble.
Basic Overview: Rent focuses on a year of a group of less fortunate artistic friends that all live together in East village in Manhattan. HIV is a big part of Rent as the characters face a Challenging year in their lives. Mark who’s portrayed as an Aspiring filmmaker struggles to find his real purpose in the world. Mimi and Angel who are both HIV positive are facing the reality of trying to find true love as they are both living with the disease .Rodger who is a Musician is also dealing with life as being HIV positive and is focused on how he will leave his mark after he dies .However Joanna and Maureen do not suffer with HIV but are facing their own problem as a couple
The film was based on Jonathan Larson’s Rent, written by Stephen Chbosky, directed by Chris Columbus. The film is very similar to the Original Broadway of Rent although they had adapted some of the settings for particular scenes.For example in Take me or Leave Me the Original setting was a bedroom although in the film they are an an engagement party arguing around tables.
AIDS and HIV and Rent
Human Immunodeficiency Virus is a virus that damages the cells in your immune system and weaken your body leaving you unable to fight infections and Diseases. AIDS is when the immune system is under attack and is unable to fight any infections leaving the infections and diseases to build up leaving your immune system critically damaged and can be life threatening. The causes of this virus is sexually transmitted through having unprotected sex and is a higher risk you have multiple sexual partners. You cannot cure these diseases and but for HIV It can be controlled with medication in order to give you a somewhat normal lifestyle but as for AIDS as your body is under attack your life expectancy will decrease severely. By researching this I can imagine how the characters in Rent felt having this to live with this condition and how it may of effect them mentally and people around them. Although the characters should have been responsible for their actions it seemed as though this was something that was happen a lot.
AIDS and HIV and Rent
Human Immunodeficiency Virus is a virus that damages the cells in your immune system and weaken your body leaving you unable to fight infections and Diseases. AIDS is when the immune system is under attack and is unable to fight any infections leaving the infections and diseases to build up leaving your immune system critically damaged and can be life threatening. The causes of this virus is sexually transmitted through having unprotected sex and is a higher risk you have multiple sexual partners. You cannot cure these diseases and but for HIV It can be controlled with medication in order to give you a somewhat normal lifestyle but as for AIDS as your body is under attack your life expectancy will decrease severely. By researching this I can imagine how the characters in Rent felt having this to live with this condition and how it may of effect them mentally and people around them. Although the characters should have been responsible for their actions it seemed as though this was something that was happen a lot.
Take me or Leave Me
My Character (Joanne) and Dylan (Maureen) they are a couple (with Joanne being Lesbian and Maureen being Bisexual )who have had an argument because Joanne believes that Maureen is cheating and entertaining other women. Joanne is a lawyer and is very uptight and has her own way of doing things in which she believes is the right way of doing things and believes in this situation she has done nothing wrong. Maureen is the total opposite of Joanne and cares less about what others think and doesn't believe she is one to blame. In this duet they are both singing about how lucky the other person is to have them and if there not going to except each other for who they are then they can break up. The song is mostly Maureen rubbing how wonderful and innocent she is in Joanne's face until Joanne has had enough and decides to say her piece.(YOUTUBE,2019)
The Grunge Movement
Grunge was known as a style of rock music. The style in which Rent is very much Grunge as the costume that majority of the characters are wearing are mainly that style. The grunge period in which involved music, clothing etc first came about in the early 80s -90s. Around this era it was when everyone had a particular style of clothing , STD's were very common and using drugs and listening to rock music. The word grunge means dirt or grime and was also used to describe a music genre , fashion style and lifestyle in which people lived themselves. 
Catch Me If You Can
Musical -Fly Fly Away
Based on:
Catch Me If you Can is
based on the Life of Frank William Abagnale Jr who was born on the
27th April 1948 in New York He was known as an check forger , Con
man and in-poster for five years during the period of the 1960's. He is a business man and has written a book about his life and how it got to where he is now. At the early age of only 16 it began when his parents decided to get divorced and he was sitting in a court room and was asked by a Judge who he wants to live with and in answer to this he decided to run away as it was all to much to deal with at a young age. Abagnale Jr was part of the run away but didn't want to be caught and be found to be 16 so he changed the date on his driver license to the age of 19. He ended up posing as an Air Pilot writing off fake checks and being caught by the police . He was arrested in France by the French police and ended up going to prison for fraud.
Abagnale and
Associates
Frank Abagnale is
one of the most respected authorities when it comes to forgery and secure
documents. He has been lecturing and consulting hundreds of financial institution,
corporations and government agency’s all over the world. He has been associated
with the FBI for over four decades and lectures at the FBI academy and for the
field offices of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He is also a member of
the National Advocacy Centre which is operated by the Department of Justice, Executive
Office for the US. (youtube,2019)
The film- 2002
The film is directed by Steven Spielberg and the writing
credits Jeff Nathanson alongside Frank Abgnale himself. In the film Frank is played by Leonardo De
Caprio and Brenda is played by Amy Adams. Brenda is a nurse and fall in love
with Frank who is proposing to be a doctor. The film is based on the life of Frank
Abagnale and what he gets up to during his time. In the part of the movie in
which Brenda and him meet, she grows a closer relationship with him and before
you know it, is engaged to by Frank. They have an engagement party to celebrate
but as the FBI’s catches up with his location he has no choice but to leave,
leaving Brenda distraught and heartbroken.
(YOUTUBE,2019)
(YOUTUBE,2019)
The musical has the same sort of storyline although the
musical has been adapted to include songs and dances. The cast to the musical
is different to the film. The first ever performance was on March 11th
2011. The composer is Marc Shaiman playwright is Terrance McNally and lyricist
is Scott Wittman. Brenda Strong is played by Kerry Butler and Frank JR AND SR
are played by Aaron Tveit and Tom Wopat.
Fly Fly Away-
My character is a nurse who falls in love with a character. In
the song she is singing about she’s never loved someone so much and that even
though she knows he has to leave she hopes that he will come back and that they
will have their happy ending. In the scene the song is set in their bedroom
where Frank and Brenda sneak off to have some alone time , she is then left Alone
as Frank has to leave, standing by the window she sings the song. To help decide the way I wanted to set my song I watched a number of live videos of Shirley Bassey and Adele singing and channelled them in order to have more an effective performance. (Youtube ,2019)
Hairspray
Time period and Context
Hairspray was set around the time period of the 60's when The
Civil Rights Movements and Racial segregation was still going on, Hairspray the
Film and Musical both take place in Baltimore in the 1962, where Racism was
also going on. The Civil Rights act was a time where all African Americans were
allowed the freedom to vote if they wished and having their voices heard from
the government. However, this never meant they had equal rights to the white
citizens of America, as Racial Segregation was still happening. As for being
able to vote it wouldn’t be as easy for a black American as they would have to
go through multiple of tests, pass the residency requirements and poll taxes
before being able to vote. The white Americans were the ones who ran everything
including the Political system and the Social Institutions so it was even
harder for the Black Americans to do thing’s easily. In Hairspray, in the Corny
Collins show, the same thing was happening were the whites only allowed the
African Americans to dance and acted as if they were really happy and loved
having them included by having them on the show, they used to take the songs
that they wrote and changed them making them more Caucasian friendly as they wouldn’t
have wanted the Traditional sound on their show.
Martin Luther King and segregation
Martin Luther King was a Black American Baptist Minister and
Activist. He was born January 15th 1929-1968. Martin took over the
role of his grandfather shortly after he passed at the church Ebenezer Baptist
Church in Atlanta. From gaining this knowledge alone is shows that Martin had
strong beliefs and liked to speak out on them. In 1954 he became a Pastor at
Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and was a worker for civil rights for his race, he
was then by this time a member of the executive committee and took leadership
of the first Negro nonviolent demonstration of contemporary times of the bus
boycott which had lasted 382 days and on December 21st 1956 the
supreme court declared that Negroes and Whites rode on the buses as equals. However,
during this period Martin Luther King was arrested, his home was bombed and
destroyed and he received personal abuse whilst still emerging as a Negro
Leader of the very first rank. Martin Luther King’s “ I had a Dream “ speech
and the march on Washington for social justice had influenced the progress
which had been made since 1963 when he had done his speech. The link between
the influence of Martin Luther King’s Speech and the context of Hairspray is as
we know Hairspray was based in 1962 and it was only till the end of the film
the rights for equality changed and so did things start to progress in 1963
after Martin Luther king’s speech.
Musical and Film
The Musical was first on Broadway on the 15th
August in 2002. This musical was adapted from the 1988 film in which John
Walters had written. After seven successful years of being on Broadway it
closed to then be created into another film in 2007. John Samuel Waters was a
Film Director, Author, Actor, and Screenwriter. He was born on the 22nd
April 1946 in Baltimore. The music for the Musical was written by Marc Shaiman
and Scott Wittman and was adapted by the book “Hairspray” by Mark O’Donnell and
Thomas Meehan.
The story of Hairspray is set in 1962 Baltimore where Tracy
Turnblad who is a plus size teenager, has one dream which is to dance on The
Corny Collins Show , after being put in detention with the African Americans
students in her school, she was taught some of their dance moves and due to her
new dance moves that she had learnt she won a spot on the show , overnight she
transform from a regular girl to a star and uses her influences from the
African Americans to help Racial Segregation on the show. Due to the fact there
was still Racism still going on Tracy faced a lot of bullying from the network
producer Velma and Her Daughter Amber who were jealous of her success, but with
the help of Corny Collins she overcomes all the bullying and continues becoming
successful in what she plans to do in which is to integrate The Corny Collins
Show. The musical has a powerful message
on boosting equality and acceptance and progress and using the story of Tracy
helps you to look pass the colour of someone skin and shows that everyone
should have equal rights.
You Can’t Stop the beat
In order to create our own version of You Can’t Stop the
beat, I had looked at different versions of the song including the film and
stage version done by multiple Actor and Artists. For the dance aspect of the
song we looked and several videos of how they danced in the Film and Musical
and used that to help us choreograph the dance to the song. The message in some
of the lyrics in the song showed how things were slowly progressing despite
what was going on during the time period. For example, in the verse where Penny
and Seaweed’s part when they sing “Ever since we first saw the light a man and
woman like to shake it on Saturday night” which is important because it shows
that a white woman and a black man are finally dancing and singing and
truthfully enjoying themselves together. The song brings both races together as
they realise it’s not so bad being together after all.(YOUTUBE,2019)
The costumes in Hairspray were very bright and full of different colours and styles. I looked at what people used to wear in the 60's and used that to influence my choice of costumes.
The choice of hair around that periods was very big, coloured wigs but I had decided to keep my hair in a slick back bun. The costume I have decided to wear is a white shirt , a red polka dot skirt and a mesh red scarf that I had wrapped around my neck and wore jazz dance heels as my shoes.
Dream girl’s the Musical and Film were both influenced and
inspired by the Supremes. The Supremes consisted of four ladies named Diana
Ross, Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard and Barbara Martin who was the fourth
member who shortly left after their first single. They were originally called
the Primettes but as fame arose the later changed their name to The Supremes in
1961. They formed that year in Detroit and were active from the years of 1950's
to 1970's. The style of music the sang was RNB, Pop and Rock. Some of the songs
that they released were “I hear a harmony” in 1966, “Love child” in 1968 with
Diana Ross taking the lead.
(YOUTUBE,2019)
The costumes in Hairspray were very bright and full of different colours and styles. I looked at what people used to wear in the 60's and used that to influence my choice of costumes.
The choice of hair around that periods was very big, coloured wigs but I had decided to keep my hair in a slick back bun. The costume I have decided to wear is a white shirt , a red polka dot skirt and a mesh red scarf that I had wrapped around my neck and wore jazz dance heels as my shoes.
Dreamgirls
Supremes
Dream girl’s the Musical and Film were both influenced and
inspired by the Supremes. The Supremes consisted of four ladies named Diana
Ross, Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard and Barbara Martin who was the fourth
member who shortly left after their first single. They were originally called
the Primettes but as fame arose the later changed their name to The Supremes in
1961. They formed that year in Detroit and were active from the years of 1950's
to 1970's. The style of music the sang was RNB, Pop and Rock. Some of the songs
that they released were “I hear a harmony” in 1966, “Love child” in 1968 with
Diana Ross taking the lead.
The film and Musical
The Broadway Musical of Dream girls first showed in 1981,
with music by Henry Krieger and lyrics and book by Tom Eyen. Jennifer Holiday
played Effie White, Loretta Devine played Lorrell Robinson, Ben Harney played
Curtis Taylor Jr, Cleavant Derricks played Jimmy and Sheryl Lee Ralph played
Deena Jones.
The 2006 film version Dreamgirls was based off the Broadway
Musical with music by Stephan Trask and Produce by Laurence Mark. Jennifer
Hudson played Effie White, Beyoncé Knowles played Deena Jones, Eddie Murphy
played Jimmy, Jamie Fox played Curtis Taylor and Anika Noni Rose played Lorrell
Robinson.
The west end Musical Dreamgirls performed in the West End in
2018 till January 2019. Amber Riley played Effie White, Brennyn Lark played
Deena Jones, Asmeret Ghebremichael played Lorrell Robinson, Ryan Reid played
Curtis Taylor Junior and Tosh Wanogho- Maud played Jimmy
Story of Dreamgirls
The story starts with Three young black ladies who come together
from Chicago and form a group called “The Dreamettes” which consisted of Deana,
Effie and Lorrell. They were performing “Move” when Curtis Taylor who is a
manger and aspires to manage his own artists, spots them and offers them an
offer which would potentially change their lives, they were offered to be
backup singers for a worldwide a Worldwide Star Jimmy, they continue to tour
around and perform on stage every night. The story is full of dreams, love
affairs and fame. Whilst the group are on tour, Curtis Decides to let them
perform by themselves with Effie being the lead and Deana and Lorrell as
backing singers. Curtis starts to fall for Main singer Effie white and she does
too until backing singer Deana catches his eye and becomes his fiancé, Effie is
jealous and it shows through her performances and Curtis decides that I would
be best if she goes to the back and lets Deana to take the lead and feels like
Effie has put on too much weight and it doesn’t look that well for their image
and his. Effie doesn’t cope well with being a backing dancer and causes
problems with the other girls and is later asked to leave and is replaced with
another singer, she later returns to watch the final show when they performed “Hard
to Say Goodbye” because this will unfortunately be the last time they see each
other. Effie is successful in her career as a solo artist performing in bars
and clubs.
Hard to Say Goodbye
Their final performance together is shared when the Dreams
sing the song Hard to Say Goodbye as a group. The song represents unity and a
journey that they all had been on together. We had decided to choose this song
as our final song because the message in the song is similar to what we as a
class are going through as this is our last performance together as we are
about to go off to university and pursue our careers. I watched different
versions of the song and how they performed the different and used the knowledge
of the style of The Supremes which influenced Dreamgirls, and had channelled how
they would move and engage with the audience. In regards to character we
decided to perform as ourselves to give the full effect of portraying our
stories. I discovered by watching the different videos that the movement in the
songs are rather repetitive and simple to allow the audience to focus on the
message.
Cabaret
Cabaret is known to be entertainment held in a nightclub or restaurant
where the audience will watch a selection of performances whilst eating and drinking
at tables. The performances consist of Music, Theatre and Dance all merged
together. They are often performed by groups of people such as dance companies
and acting troupes. 
Cabarets aren’t known to be a family friendly type of
performance as it grew from night clubs it included a lot of adult themes and
sexual nature. In the US, Burlesque dancing, which was known to be a provocative
and sexual style of dance was incorporated in the style of dance and Cabaret
performances.
What is Cabaret?
Cabaret is known to be entertainment held in a nightclub or restaurant
where the audience will watch a selection of performances whilst eating and drinking
at tables. The performances consist of Music, Theatre and Dance all merged
together. They are often performed by groups of people such as dance companies
and acting troupes.
The style originated from France during the 19th
century but later travelled all around Europe and on to the United States. Cabaret
is known now to be a type of performance however the word originally referred
to being a restaurant or a bar where they would serve alcohol with meals. Alongside
these meals there would occasionally be acts performing in-between.
There are some styles of entertainments are associated with
images of cabaret, with Liza Minnelli’s portrayal of nightclub performer Sally
Bowles in the 1972 fil which was adapted from the 1966 Broadway musical
Cabaret. They style of Caberat is much more diverse and is not just a single
performance.
Le Chat Noir
Le Chat Noir was originally known to be a salon which opened
in 1881, was a gathering place for intellectuals and artist from Paris. When it
first came about writers, composers and performers would join together, share
and discuss their ideas and test out new materials. Like Cabarets, Le Chat Noir
would serve food and drinks giving the audience a meal and a show to watch at
the same time. After a while Le Chat Noir became a popular spot and grew so big
that they had to move to a larger space, through this it began to attract a
bigger audience and more artist with the owner of the club hosting each performance,
another name for this is Master of Ceremonies which is role that brings together
the theme of a Cabaret. Unfortunately, after years of success the Le Chat Noir
closed down in 1897, after the death of the owner Rodolph Salis.
Moulin Rouge
Due to the Le Chat Noir being such a success it had inspired
many more opening of cabarets with one being the iconic Moulin Rouge which had
opened in 1889. During the period of the 19th century, there was a
lot of optimism and enthusiasm for the culture and celebration in France, which
is shown in the architecture and interior design of the Moulin Rouge. Although
Le Chat Noir was the first ever Cabaret to open in France, the performances at
the Moulin Rouge are more what people see when they hear the word Cabaret, the
performances were huge production influenced by circus acts, however due to the
small environment the shows would stay enclosed and more intimate. The birth of
the Can- Can took place here, the Can-Can was a fast paced synchronised dance
in which female dancers would move and lift their skirts in a particular way.
Styles and Themes
Cabarets aren’t known to be a family friendly type of
performance as it grew from night clubs it included a lot of adult themes and
sexual nature. In the US, Burlesque dancing, which was known to be a provocative
and sexual style of dance was incorporated in the style of dance and Cabaret
performances.
Chicago
Chicago the Musical, is a musical focusing on fame, justice
and the media. It is set in the 1920s in Chicago based on real life murders and
trails, with Roxie Hart, an aspiring star who murders her lover and is
arrested, despite the fact she tries to convince her push over of a husband to
defend her. Later in the Cook County Jail, she meets her hero, the famed double
murderess and nightclub performer Velma Kelly. As they both have the same
Lawyer, Billy Flynn, tension between them rises as they both push for the
spotlight, though they are able to be on stage, they try to grab the attention
from newspaper reporters.
Story of Chicago:
The story of Chicago is based on a play by with the same
name by Maureen Dallas Watkins and the true story Beulah Annan, with her murder
of her boyfriend, who is portrayed by Roxie Hart in Chicago. The murder trials
of Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner were around the period when men were the
victims of the jazz age and women got away with murder. Annan changer her story
multiple times and invented a fake pregnancy and still shook off charges of
killing her lover. She left her husband the day of the trial.
Beulah Annan was born November 18th 1899-March 10th
1928. Her story inspired Maurine Dallas Watkins play Chicago. The date of the
crime was April 3rd 1924 and the verdict was May 24th
1924. The Aftermath of the trial ended on May 25th 1924, she left
husband as she said “he is too slow” and divorced him because she thought he
deserted her. She then married two more times after that before her passing due
to Tuberculosis in 1928.
The Musical and Film is based on Maurine Dallas Watkins play
Chicago. The film was realised in 2002 and was based on Bob Fosse’s 1975
Broadway play with songs written by John Kander and Fredd Ebb. The movie was
directed and choreographed by Rob Marshall. The play had been adapted from a
play to a film to a stage musical then into a movie musical.(YOUTUBE,2019)
Mack and Mabel
All that Jazz is one of the songs from the musical. There are
many different version of the dance and is set in a cabaret with Velma taking
the lead. In order to help us choreograph our own version of All that Jazz. We watched
several versions of it and sweet charity to help us. The style is Bob Fosse’s style
which is was Jazz, sexy, stylish and easily recognised. Choreographer Bob Fosse
was born 23rd June in Chicago. After years of acting classes, he
moved to Hollywood to start his film career. He appeared in films like “Give a
Girl a Break”. His film career was sadly cut short due to his premature
baldness so he turned his path to Choreography. He choreographed “The Pajama
Game”, he went to direct five feature films such as the “Cabaret” and “All that
Jazz” which won four Academy Awards. The dance style included knees which were
turned in , rolled shoulders and sideway shuffling.
Context and story
The story of Mack and Mabel is based on a real life film
maker who is named Mack Sennett and a rising star Mabel Normand, they both have
a very close relationship as Mabel is one of his stars. This story shines light
on Hollywood itself and the fun and excitement of the silent screen. The relationship is fairly complex as Mabel started
off as a waitress with so much ambition and some many dreams. Mack discovered Mabel
back in 1911, but along the journey they had a love affair but things turn for
the worst as she leaves him to work for director W.D Taylor and later dies due
to her overdose on heroine. Sadly, after her death Mack had nothing but
memories and he created his own ending in which they were to be married. Based on
an idea by Leonard Spigelglass and based on book by Michael Stewart.
Productions and Character Profile
1974 Broadway produced by Derrick Merrick,1995 West End ,2006
West End Revival.
Robert Preston was a stage and film director he was born on 18th June 1918- 21st March 1987. Robert Preston was the original actor to play the character of Mack Sennett.
Michael Stewart wrote the book of Mack and Mabel.
Jerry Herman was born 10th July 1931 many of his
other musicals were called Milk and Honey, Hello Dolly and many others.
Bernadette Peter: was the original Broadway actress to play
the role of Mabel. Bernadette is an American actress, singer and children’s
author. She was born the 28th February 1948.
Look what happened to Mabel- Music by Jerry Herman
Jerry Herman was an American Composer who wrote all the
music for Mack and Mabel including look what happened to Mabel. During this
song Mabel is singing about what it would be like once she became a star and
how she would go from a clumsy waitress to a big sensation.
In order to help me choose my costume for Mabel I decided to
look at a number of waitress costumes and different versions of the stage
musical to influence me.
Annie get your Gun
The film 1950 comedy and action
The film was directed by George Sidney and Charles Walters.
Betty Hutton as Annie and Howard Keel as Frank. The film is based on the story
of a real life American shooter Annie Oakley.
The musical – 1946
The Book was by Herbert and Dorothy Field, music by Irving
Berlin b Directed by Joshua Logan. The first production was at the Imperial
Theatre on May 16th, 1946 with Ethel Merman as Annie and Ray
Middleton as Frank.
Annie Oakley(YOUTUBE,2019)
Annie Oakley Born Phoebe Ann Moses was born on August 13, 1860, in Dark County,
Ohio, she was known as Annie Oakley the woman developed her superb marksmanship
abilities as a teen, earning enough to pay off the mortgage for her mother's
home. She then married fellow marksman Frank Butler in 1876 and would later
become a star attraction for Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show for years, renowned
for unparalleled shooting tricks, she then retired in 1913 and died in Ohio on
November 3, 1926.
She is remembered as one ling and sewing instruction while
helping in the care of orphaned children. She then returned to living with her
mother and her second stepfather in her early teens, when she was able to help
the family by hunting game for a grocery store. Oakley earned so much from her
skills that by the time she of the leading women of the American West.
Wild West Show
Annie after beating him in an 1875 Thanksgiving shooting
competition the following year, Moses married Frank E. Butler, a top shooter
and vaudeville performer. They both had a union that would last more than half
a century. They began working together professionally in 1882, after franks male
partner fell ill and Moses took his place. She then took on the stage name of
Oakley, which was believed to be taken from a Cincinnati locale.
Annie Oakley met Native-American Leader Sitting Bull in 1884
he was so impressed with her manner and abilities that he took her on and
bestowed upon her the additional name "Little Sure Shot." Oakley and
Butler then joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in 1885. The couple toured
with the show for more than a decade and a half, with Oakley receiving the
spotlight and top billing while Butler worked as her manager, assisting Oakley
with her stunning displays of marksmanship.
Anything You can do
In the duet the pair are singing about who is better at doing particular things and seem to be in some what competition. They are at a evening party where the are dressed in evening attire and have seem to have gotten into an argument which leads into the song Anything you can do.
I have looked at the film and live performance to help me with the layout of my piece but also as an influence for costume.
Research:
The reason for me doing each piece
of research was to ensure that I had enough information and knowledge in order
to help me develop the pieces. In all cases I had to research what each piece
was about, the context behind it and the time period. For example, for Hard to
say Goodbye I researched The Supremes. This was useful as it allowed me to understand
where the Dream girl’s story originated from and also taught me about the time
period in which it was set. For Fly Fly Away I watched videos of Shirley Bassey
and Adele to help me with the torch song as when they were performing they
often would perform without much movement and just sing out and use expression
to tell the story. I Also used the hand held microphone in this solo, watching
videos of Adele helped me because learn
how to solely focus on the song and how I will present the story to the
audience with just using the handheld microphone.
For Take me or Leave me I watched multiple
versions of the song to help me create my own version and also to help me
understand the relationship between the two characters and how Dylan and I could
form that relationship between each other. As for Look what happened to Mabel,
it was similar to Fly Fly Away in the sense of both songs were taken out of concept
to fit the theme of cabaret so I had to research my character by exploring and
thinking about what she is thinking and feeling during the song as that what
would be the thing that would draw the audience into the story of Mabel, which
was important as I never had a scene beforehand to explain or set to show the
audience what is going. For Anything you can do I had to research the story of
Annie get your gun to see how the relationship between Annie and Frank so It
could help me develop my relationship as Annie with Dylan as Frank.
Costume:
My costume ideas both came from the time
period of the piece and also what the costumes were in the pieces and then I would
use both to influence me on choosing the costumes I wanted for the piece. For Example,
You can’t stop the beat: I researched
the time period of the 60’s and looked at what they used to wear which was
bright colour and funny over exaggerated wigs. Knowing this I decided to look
at the musical and film and came to the decision that I wanted to wear a plain
white T-shirt and a red pocodot skirt and a red scarf.
All that Jazz: I had a look at
the costumes that they wore in Chicago and decided that I wanted to wear
something mesh or fishnet.
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