Thoroughly Modern Millie: Week 5

On Sunday, Sara, Mr. Meiklejohn and I have finally figured how to arrange the rostrums.



Here's a more simpler diagram:



When figuring this out, we needed to bear in mind some concepts:
1 - The audience's perspectives
2 - The area for the main section of the stage (there's going to be dancing so the actors need enough space for that).
3 - The area for the actors to move around on the elevated stage
4 - Area for backstage (The actors will have to be able to enter and exit freely and move around backstage swiftly).

Also, Mr. Meiklejohn had assigned me some musical numbers for me to block the movement for it. This coming Sunday, we will be working on Not for the Life of Me, Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life, They don't knowand What do I need with love?.
I have been listening to the music (from the cd sent by MTI) and trying to visualise how it could look onstage. This can be quite challenging as I do not know the full capacity of the actor. Since this is also a musical, I also have to know their voices as well. Sometimes there has to be some alterations due to the actor's voice. This will then affect the acting/movement for the scene.
This proves that the idea and visualisation is not enough and the director really needs to see it actually happen on stage. If it does not work, then an alternative has to be found.

To prepare and get some ideas, I've looked at some youtube videos and how the other schools/universities has approached this play. Here are two videos that I liked, especially the interpretation.

Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life:


The director had gone after a humorous effect here. When I first read/listened to the song, I felt that it was more of a romantic feeling to it.

What do I need with Love?


The contrast between the start of the song and the rest of the song is very clear in this interpretation.
Our stage has different levels so I could use that to my advantage and play with it (to compensate for not having the bars. Also, our stage has more of a connection with the audience. This helps a great deal since this song is Jimmy talking to the audience.




Soon, we will have to:
-start making the props we have to make
-start and finish collecting props
-Take out the flats and see what we can do with them