Reflecting...

ON BUGSY MALONE!!!!

No, this ain't no emotional stuff because it's getting closer to the end of the year. I'm answering questions about how the production of Bugsy Malone so far.

What have I learnt so far?

From this production, I have learnt about how important it is to have every actor there and available. Often people won't respond to their characters name or just not respond when they are called as a general group, this means that not everyone is one stage, or knows their lines or their cues. This can be very frustrating for those who are more dedicated and into the activity, as they can be blamed for their partners or entire group not being on cue or even on stage. Even so, this has been an important lesson for myself and others, as some did expect this project to be short, sweet and fun, and while it is fun, some people don't understand how fun it can be to pretend to be another person. Because, for some time, you aren't you, you don't have your problems, you have someone else's, the problems of someone who doesn't even exist, the problems of someone who will never be real and actually feel the guilt or anger or sadness from these problems you are pretending to have. With acting, you can pretend to be someone constantly angry or sad, and through this, you can take out the anger or sadness that you have and take it out how they would.

How have I been challenged?

I don't think I have been too challenged with my role as Knuckles, in a way it is very much similar to my role as Ed, the character I played in the play last year, basically, say what you have and nothing more. I think what I have been challenged with is the dancing and trying to bond with these people I don't know, I have never been that great of a dancer and I can be very awkward at times with strangers or people I haven't talked to in a long time.

What have been some of my favourites moments so far?

Some of my favourite moments have been watching Nadia getting really mad as Fat Sam and watching others being terrified of her and her yelling, that's kind of mean, isn't it? But, it isn't the only thing I've enjoyed, even though I'm a horrible dancer, I enjoy our short dances at the beginning of lessons, they're fast-paced, keep me moving, and even though it is very cramped, I enjoy the dancing component, but if you ever find a video of me dancing either crop me out or delete the video, I will most definitely look stupid. Even still I am going to put videos of me dancing on here and I know I will severely regret this later in life.

What am I looking forward to?

I am looking forward to doing both of the shows twice in a row. This sounds crazy, doesn't it? Well, I want to know what's like to have that sort of pressure to have two shows in a row, it will be a form of a taster for what a real full-length musical would be like, except very diluted, seeing as the shows are each forty minutes long.

How do all of these blog posts show my working?

They show that I have taken time to study what it would have been really like to be a gang member in the 1920s, how it would have been to really have been Knuckles all that time ago. What I would have seen on my way to Becker's Book Emporium, what I would have worn while passing everyone else on the streets, what kind of words I would have heard people using. Because of the blog's I have done I understand all of this and it's importance.



What am I wondering?

Should Knuckles death have more of a comedic aspect to improve upon the humour like in the video? Or should it still be an emotional, heartbreaking moment for Sam Stacetto, a mobster, who's never known more than nothing and his gang? (I could smell the cheese from a mile away)

Does anyone have a fedora I could use?

How many people can Nadia terrify before this is over?

Don't actually answer that last one, she'll hit me and then she'll find you, if you're a student, and likely hit you as well. Love you Nadia :)

You complete and utter noodle!!!

You heard me right! You're a complete and utter noodle!!! This time we're looking at the 1920's slang and noodle is slang for 'head', so I was practically saying 'You complete and utter head!!!'.
It's not that good of an insult, is it? Well, nevermind, there are other really confusing words I can tell you about!

Alderman: A man's pot belly
Ameche: A telephone
Ankle: To walk or a woman 
Applesauce: A way to show a lack of appreciation
Babe: Woman
Baby: A person
Bearcat: a lively, spirited woman
Beef: Problem
Bee's Knees: An extraordinary person, thing or idea.
Bent Cars: Stolen cars
Big Sleep: Death
Button man: Professional killer
Buttons: The Police
Canary: Woman singer
Clam: A dollar
Cooler: Jail
Cop: Detective
Copper: Policeman
Cut down: Killed
Dope fiend: Drug addict
Dope peddler: Drug dealer
Dough: Money
Egg: Man
Fella: a man
Gal: Woman
Giggle juice: Liquor
Giggle Water: Liquor
Gowed-up: On dope or high
Gumshoe: Detective
Gumshoeing: Detective work
Guns: Pickpockets or hoodlums
Guy: A man
Heebie-Jeebies: The jitters
Hooch: Liquor
Hood: Criminal
Hoofer: Dancer
Kale: Money
Kick off: To die
Mitt: Hand
Mob: Gang
Mugs: Men
Nailed: Caught by the police
Newshawk: Reporter
Nippers: Handcuffs
Noodle: Head :)
Packing heat: carrying a gun
Sap: A dumb guy
Stiff: A corpse
Swell: Wonderful
Tail: Shadow or follow
Wop: derogatory term for an Italian

I tried to only include words that would appropriate and suiting to Bugsy Malone. But, if you would like to know more words to completely and utterly confuse the ever living heck out of everyone, look at these websites! (My sources!)

https://thoughtcatalog.com/nico-lang/2013/09/59-quick-slang-phrases-from-the-1920s-we-should-start-using-again/
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/10/how-sound-bees-knees-dictionary-1920s-slang/322320/
https://alcapones.com/slang_dictionary.php

Crackin' Down On Knuckles!!

Brutus "Knuckles" Adras, the full name I created for the character I am playing in Bugsy Malone, Knuckles. I created this name because, in both the film and Broadway show, their real name is never shown or told, they are referred to only as Knuckles. As I have previously mentioned in my last blog post, Knuckles is named so because of their habit of cracking their knuckles so often.

Here is their character profile!!

Name: Brutus "Knuckles" Adras, the names Brutus and Adras each have different meanings, Brutus meaning 'stupid', I chose the meaning for obvious reasons, Knuckles being one of Fat Sam's dumb gang members. Adras means 'horseman', I was originally looking for a name that plainly meant man, so that the two names would come together to mean 'stupid man', but for some reason, 'stupid horseman' sounds a bit funnier, more original and unique, doesn't it?

Age: In the film and Broadway shows Knuckles is played by a tween, which is one of the things that makes 'Bugsy Malone' so different, the entire cast are children and tweens. Even so, if this had been a production with older, more suitable, cast, I believe that Knuckles would have been portrayed as someone either in their late teens or early twenties.

Most Common Emotion: Fear, I believe that Knuckles would be in either constant fear of the gang leader, Fat Sam, or in admiration.

Physical Characteristics: The cracking of the Knuckles, as discussed.

Fears: Fat Sam, can you blame him? The guys always yelling about how stupid they are and often threatening to kill them. Even still, Knuckles could never leave him, Fat Sam would hunt him down.

Strengths: Knuckles strength is his strength, it is often mentioned how dumb the gang members are and Fat Sam even says 'You've got muscle where you ought to have brains,'. It is stated quite a bit how Fat Sam's gang member s are slow and dumb, having no other better characteristics.

Early Life: Brutus grew up as a down and out until he walked into Becker's Book Emporium while trying to get away with stealing some food from a shopkeeper. He was allowed in and Fat Sam offered him a job for some good cash. Since learning that Fat Sam was also a down and out when he was young, Knuckles has been in constant admiration of the gang leader who built an entire empire out of nothing.

Makeup Ideas: With Knuckles, I think it would be best that, if there was any makeup, it could be depictions of scarred skin and dirt covering their face.

Costume Ideas: A suit of some kind would be best for a character like Knuckles, but seeing as I don't have something like that. I imagine it would be something along the lines of a plain white shirt, dress black jacket, and black jeans or tights.

https://www.google.co.nz/searchq=bugsy+malone+fat+sam&rlz=1CAACAJ_enNZ690NZ691&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwid067gk-HeAhVTOSsKHZlRD1kQ_AUIDigB&biw=1366&bih=618&safe=active&ssui=on#imgrc=CG3teRjSlI1oSM:
https://www.google.co.nz/searchq=makeup+dirty+face&rlz=1CAACAJ_enNZ690NZ691&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwid_5ajlOHeAhVHdCsKHXTlAoEQ_AUIDigB&biw=1366&bih=618&safe=active&ssui=on#imgrc=6hOVN7BZm4VV-M:

The Very Beginning Of Bugsy Malone!

This year, instead of the Festival of The Arts, we have Passion Projects, although there is really not much of a difference to me, seeing as I've been doing the same type of project for the last two years as well, those plays being Annie and The Lion King. But, this year, we're doing the play production of the movie, Bugsy Malone, a play about two gangs going to war in the 1920's, the gang led by Sam 'Fat Sam' Stacetto and the other led by Dandy Dan, yes, that is his name, yes, it does sound really stupid when we rehearse the script, but we can't exactly change it. This year, I am playing a character nicknamed 'Knuckles', known to be named that because they crack their knuckles, this character is in Fat Sam's gang and the leader of this gang actually played Scar in The Lion King last year, so I'm their lackey once again, except we're kind of the good guys.

What were the buildings like?

The buildings, in the 1920's, were commonly skyscrapers and other forms of tall buildings, they were commonly duller and grey colours with straight and flat walls for architecture. 

What was fashion like?

The fashion in 1920 was clean and outrageous, with shiny, and frilly skirts for the women, and tight, and bold suits for the men. The hairstyles were really short cut, ending as bobs for the women and cut even shorter for all of the men. Most people wore hats, headbands and all other forms of different head accessories. The shoes were often high heels/stilettos for all of the women and leather dress shoes, coming mostly in either black or brown. 

What was home life like?

The home life is a broad subject so I'll start off with gender roles. Even with women being viewed as more individualistic and rebellious in this age, many of them were still housewives, cleaning, cooking, and taking care of children. All of this while their husbands worked for long hours of the day.  Moving on, The Roaring Twenties is often a nickname for this set of years, named so because in this time, in America, women earned the right to vote, great technological advancements were made, more children than ever started to get an education, more women than ever got a job outside of their household and attended school's and universities, and men and women began to marry for love.

What was entertainment like?

The entertainment of the 1920's included the first commercial radio stations, where they broadcasted across America. By 1929, ten million houses had radios, there were 800 different stations and sales of the radio's reached $426 million US dollars. Radios weren't the only form of entertainment though, as 'movie palaces' began to appear in all of America's major cities, costing a quarter (25 cents) for a double feature and a live show. Movie Palaces were able to seat thousands at a time and by the end of the decade, the weekly average of people became 90 million, some even going more than twice a week! Even so, the movies were just in development, and during this time, they were still colourless, and silent!

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/rise-to-world-power/1920s-america/a/movies-cinema-sports-1920s

https://sites.google.com/site/unitedstatestakesontheworld/entertainment-of-the-1920-s

https://1920sentertainmentbybrianna.weebly.com/entertainment-in-the-1920s.html

https://family.lovetoknow.com/about-family-values/family-life-1920s

https://glamourdaze.com/history-of-womens-fashion/1920-to-1929

https://classroom.synonym.com/home-life-1920s-18988.html

https://geeks.media/bugsy-malone-cast-then-and-now

https://vintagedancer.com/1920s/1920s-fashion-men/

http://owwmedia.com/2016/09/the-roaring-twenties/
https://www.widewalls.ch/1920s-architecture/

Final Blog post for Drama 2018

What I have learned about performance skills is that to play a character you need to know their story and their emotions. If you don't know who the character is and how they react to different situations you could portray the character completely wrong and the storyline could go into disarray and confusion.

The evidence that I have of how I have improved my performance skills is that I do Drama activities outside of school times and seen how actors have portrayed themselves. I think that seeing and experiencing acting for yourself is the best way to learn and I believe that there is no better way to learn about acting and performing. When I act I think about who the character is and how the character would really react to the situation, then I would apply the necessary acting techniques to myself.

What I know about performing arts jobs is that there aren't just actors, for a production you need so many different jobs. You need someone to control the lighting. You need stage crew to move props. You need directors to control how the production goes. Sometimes you even need acting, dance or even singing coaches to help enhance the quality of the performance.

What I am wondering about performing arts is how many people did it take to perform big productions, like Hamilton and Les Miserables?

NZ Performing Arts

In Christchurch, we have several performing arts companies and venues

Court Theatre

- The types of shows we have here are mainly smaller productions, especially kids acts and comedy shows. The people who are more permanently stationed there are 'The Court Jesters', they do improvisations that are often about comedy. There are no recorded lists of what skills are needed for joining the Court Theatre on their site, you would most likely have to contact them.

Imagine Youth Theatre

- The Imagine Youth Theatre do productions that include younger children and adults as main roles, that are most well known for productions such as Alice through the Looking Glass and Pinnochio where they include children. There are no permanently noted actors on the Imagine Youth Theatre site although there are two main people who make up the company and hire the actors and children for the productions. As a child there you do not need too much experience in acting as this is mainly to give children a chance to act and have fun.

So we've been looking at scripts to perform for Drama...

and we've been looking around and narrowed it down to these -

• God, I hate Shakespeare - By Something Rotten. This is probably what we are going to do at this rate.
• A Shakespeare script that Miss will give us. She said she would look around for something that would suit the number of people we have.
• We looked at doing something from Wicked. But, it seemed the notes were too high for us.

Maori Music Task and other tasks

Maori Music Task

This is a version of pop music by Stan Walker and featuring Ria Hall, Troy Kingi and Maisey Rika, I believe maori language week is what inspired them to perform this song. I liked how catchy the song was and how they used part of the national anthem in the song. How with progress everything came along and together.

I found a translation of a few lyrics:

Nō tawhiti, nō tata                                 No matter if you're near or far

nō te whenua o te Atua tātou              We come from the land of God

ahakoa nō hea mai koe                       No matter where you Belong

ka whawhai tonu mātou mōu              We'll fight for your freedom

Maori Matariki Story Task

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN-OluHpI6I

It is a traditional story from long ago, it was written for people to pass from generation to generation. The main story idea was for the legend to be told how the author perceived it.

DEVISIN' STUF ABOUT WAR AND BLOOD

On Friday we played games like Sneak Up Granny, Tequila and somehow Duck Duck Goose to practice our skills.

Okay, so for drama we are devising ideas for a play of some sort about ANZAC day and Gallipoli. We were thinking we could show a New Zealander and Turk fighting then they kill each other and maybe the mans wife receiving the news of his death. Personally, I think that instead of war we maybe settle our differences like civilized humans instead of being like animals fighting over our territory.

Matariki or is it Mataariki?

What is Matariki?

Matariki is a celebration of the new year, harvest of crops, new life and remembering the dead. Although it is also the maori name for a cluster of stars also known as Pleiades. Matariki has two common meanings, ‘the eyes of god’ (mata ariki) or ‘little eyes’ (mata riki). According to legend, when Ranginui, the sky lord and father, and Papatūānuku, the earth mother, were parted by their confined children, the god of the winds, Tāwhirimātea, became so angry that he tore out his eyes and threw them into the heavens.

Why do people celebrate Matariki?

It is usually celebrated after a harvest of crops and it means a maori new year.

Who celebrates Matariki?

The people of New Zealand, even some people refer to it as the New Zealand Thanksgiving.

When is Matariki celebrated?

It comes in mid-winter, after the harvest.

Where is Matariki celebrated?

Matariki is celebrated in New Zealand.

How is Matariki celebrated?

Matariki was commonly celebrated long ago, and many still do now, by offering gifts to the Earth Mother, planting new trees, and gathering their family together. Now a lot is celebrated with music, dance, food and family.

WE DID IT!!!!

WE DID IT

WE DID IT

WE DID IT





WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!

From this experience I have learnt that choreography is a lot harder than it looks, Revolting Children was my favourite of out it and the Time Warp, Time Warp was our class production and on the day when we went on stage, Nadia and I went to the front as we knew the moves by heart, but when we went onto the stage, about six of the class didn't actually go onto the stage. That is not counting the people that were away on the day so quite a few people didn't get to actually perform. One of the only things I enjoyed was dancing with Nadia as she is energetic.

Revolting Children,  however, went much better than the Time Warp, with a lot more people going onto the stage and participated. That and we got a lot more time to work on it. It was a lot more fun because we all did the choreography almost perfectly and the singing was quite clear. If did this again I think we would try to get a lot more time to practice and maybe get some costumes or make sure we're all in perfect school uniform.

The teachers being vague so I'm writing about musicals I haven't seen.

I haven't seen Wicked, but I haven't seen many other Broadway musicals either so I'm writing about it.

I like the idea of going to see Wicked because I've heard so many good things about it and even heard snip its of the music and have enjoyed the shorts I've heard.

I probably haven't seen Les Misérables either, but do I care?

I found it really surprising when I found out that the whole Les Misérables is sung all the way through and doesn't have parts in between the songs that are normally spoken.

I really should watch Matilda, but take a guess of what I didn't do... Watch it!

I am not the biggest fan of Matilda because of how it was edited and how it didn't stick any closer to the original book by Roald Dahl, I still like the musical though. 

Dance in Musicals, 9 February

Who, originally, thought of having dance in musicals?

Dance within musicals dates back to 5th Century BCE Greece and cannot be traced to a single person

What musical was the first to include dance?

Once again it is impossible to track as it goes back to ancient times

When was the most successful musical made?

The Lion King has become the top-grossing musical of all time with more than $6.2 billion earned globally. 

Where was the first musical with dance shown?

The closest place it can go back to Greece in ancient times

Musical Songs

Here are some songs I think would be good for a musical finale or during the musical itself.

You can't stop the beat from Hairspray - For multiple reasons including the fact everyone can get involved and the fact that empowers both larger people and colour and it's also a fun exciting song.

Waving through a window from Dear Evan Hansen - I do not know this musical very well and it may not be a song everyone can, vocally, participate in, but, for those who are dancers this may be a very exciting opportunity for them to show known or unknown skills.

 Stand by you sung by Rachel Platten - It may not have been in a musical but this song emanates a lot of feelings and can even, with a little bit of lyric change, show a strong bond of friendship.

My name is Jessica

I'm 12 years old

I have three siblings

I don't really have a favourite performer

The Lion King Musical Clip/Trailer

Top musicals from:

1930's - 1939's The Wizard Of Oz originally was a book written by L. Frank Baum. It is about when a tornado rips through Kansas and Dorothy and her small dog Toto are whisked away in their house to a magical land, Oz.

1940's - 1940's Pinocchio is about when the woodworker Geppetto wishes upon a star for his wooden puppet to come to life and the Blue Fairy grants his wish.