Learning aim A- My presentation

My presentation notes
Aspirations

• Idena Menzel started her career in Rent and won a Tony award for it.
• She played Maureen Johnson
• She’s won 2 Tony Awards all together, the second being her originating role of Elphaba in Wicked.
• She is still relevant to this day and is currently touring in a show called ‘If/When’

Which Drama School is for me? – MADD

• MADD teaches all three art forms, Acting, Singing and Dancing
• The day starts at 8:30 till 6:30
• Heavily dance based- Mrs Sweeny’s quote, “Because it was so heavily dance based, most of the singers would struggle with the dancing”
• You will usually have a lesson of Ballet, Jazz, Ensemble singing, Musical Theatre class and some sort of Drama lesson.
• To get into MADD you have to be 16 or over.
• You will get an audition and interview only so you don’t need any qualifications to get into the school
• You will take part in a short Jazz dance class for your audition and it could include tones of Ballet.
• They offer a 3 year professional musical theatre diploma course which costs £27,600

Which drama school is for me? – Guildhall

• They don’t have any dance courses so if you’re looking to be a triple threat then this school will not help.
• However Sean Jones went to this school and is not playing Mickey in the musical blood brothers.
• Sean Jones said “It’s a good place for actors to train however it will never fully prepare you for auditions in the industry”
• You need 2 A levels to get into Guildhall so this motivates students to work in order to get into the school. 

Which school suits me better? – LIPA

• LIPA offers an Applied theatre and community Drama course. You will receive a BA honours degree from this course and they pride themselves in training triple threat performers.
• It is a three year course and there are around 22 people accepted onto this course a year.
• They look for candidates with at least 5 GCSEs grade C or above and two A levels at grades B and C.
• You will also pay £27,750 all together for a three year course.

Which school suits me better? – Evaluation

• Start with the fact guildhall doesn’t offer dance courses and wouldn’t better me as a triple threat performer
• MADD doesn’t state any A level or GCSE qualification criteria, the candidates just need to show that they have talent, This makes it much easier to get into if you are not a very academic person.
• LIPA make you work harder to get in as less people get offered a place and they want qualifications.
• However MADD focuses too much on dance, so if you were a performer wanting to improve upon all three art forms, this school wouldn’t be for you.
• MADD’s fees are £27,600
• LIPAs fees are around £27,750
• MADD is local and you wouldn’t need to charge more money for fees such as living.
• Living in Liverpool (accommodation, food and travel) is likely to cost £1,000 a month

What skills do you need to be a musical theatre performer?

• Musical theatre performers need skills in singing, acting and dancing. Performers need to be able to vary their style of singing according to the style of musical theatre
• A musical performer also needs discipline.  They are expected to perform every single performance the same as the one they did the night before, maybe even the same as the actor before. This is because the director knows that it works and provokes the audience’s emotions in the right way.
• Flexibility is an extremely important quality for a musical theatre performer, as when you work in the industry you have to be available for auditions, as if you can’t make it to auditions it makes you seem unreliable and not serious for this career pathway.
• Networking skills are important in order to open more doors and give you more opportunities within the musical theatre industry. Having good communication skills allows you to make connection within the industry and makes you a familiar face when it comes to auditions.
  What skills are used within the Industry?
• Ability to dance in different styles- This is an important skill to have as different dance genres are in different musicals. An example of this is the dance in Chicago is much different to the dancing within Oklahoma
• The ability to work in teams and solo- It is important to be able to work in a team as you need to make your characters relationships believable. If you don’t get along with the other cast members, The audience will be able to tell.
• The ability to emotionally connect with the audience- Sean jones said that it’s selfish for the actor to feel the emotion within a song or scene and even show their emotions while crying, as you are feeling the emotions for the audience, and not allowing them to show their own emotion.
• Puppetry- Performers don’t train in puppetry the same as they do dancing, singing and acting. However if they were cast in a show such as the lion king they would need to use them. It is important for a performer to show that they are willing to learn new skills in order to show their willingness to do anything to improve the show and their reliability within the industry.
  A day in the life of a musical theatre performer
• Starts at 9:00
• Then do vocal warm ups
• Go off to auditions and rehearsals for most of the day
• Then after their day they get some time to relax and prepare before their show or night job
• NEED to get some rest before the next day.

Employment trends and working conditions

• Equity is the UK trade union for professional performers and creative practioners.
• Equity has 40,000+ members and was put together to fight for the rights of musical theatre performers.
• Minimum salary is £447.50

The lifestyle of a musical theatre performer.

• In recent interviews she states “Frozen made me a role model for young girls. But I’m not, I’m a mess”.
• She says that “she felt like she was living a double life “ being able to sing such a huge well known song at the Oscars, “And then come home and have to go to meditation with my ex, figuring out which days he was visiting our son.” 
• She doesn’t need to rush around anymore as she has established he place as a performer in musical theatre.
• Many performers not only workout in gym but also do rigorous dance training when touring and participates regularly in activities such as snowboarding, netball and other easy, fun sports.

So what is the role of a musical theatre performer

• Be in as many productions as possible in order to build up your CV and skills.
• Use networking skills to meet as many people within the industry as possible and become a familiar face for casting directors.
• Make sure to protect yourself by equity so that you get fair pay and are able to live off of your wages.
• Always keep learning to make sure that your skills are always improving and so that no one younger and better can play your role better than you.