Conventions of the Show: Evaluation of ‘A Chorus Line’

Conventions of the Show: Evaluation of ‘A Chorus Line’ 

Music

'A Chorus Line' tells the individual stories of the dancers who go to an audition. Overall, the show is very random in the way that it tells lots of different stories from these dancers and each story is completely different from the next. The only key thing they all have in common is their passion for dance. As each story is vastly different. They are all vastly different in overall mood and atmosphere. Lots of the stories were told through song. As each story/song had a different mood and vibe, their overall musicality was vastly different too. The music style of each song helped to convey the overall tone of each story. Even if the audience didn't fully understand the story that was being told, they would understand the tone of each character through the musical. For example, the music in ‘At the Ballet’ was quite sombre, slow and delicate whereas all the montages were very upbeat and fun. Another example is my number, ‘Dance: Ten; Looks: Three’ as it was high in energy which helped to display that my character was fun and energetic too. My monologue also had music underneath it. It was upbeat when I was talking about the fun parts of Val’s life but the music slowed when I started to say something more serious like “I could do terrific fan kicks but they weren’t good enough. Of course, what he was trying to tell me was that it was the way I looked. Not the fan kicks.” The slow music helped establish that Val isn’t always this bubbly character, she has had some body confidence issues.  

Singing

In terms of technique skills in singing, I had to think about key skills when it came to performing this show. One of them being diction. Diction is a skill that I have had some challenges with and one I wanted to work on. The show tells the story of each individual character on the line. Diction is so key in the songs so that the audience is able to understand what the character’s story is. I think my diction improved since our first rehearsal up until the performances. I felt that I have developed my skill as I received feedback saying that I was clear when singing. When it came to singing as an ensemble I had to use the skill of harmonisation. The songs have separate harmony parts and for this show, I was in both the Tenor harmony group and Alto harmony group depending on the song. I was successful in having the ability to switch from one harmony part to a different one so that the vocals were balanced. I worked with my groups to ensure that everyone was happy with the harmony so that we could work together to make sure our harmony was clear. 

‘A Chorus Line’ is a dance-heavy show and a lot of the time we were doing big dance breaks while singing or we had just done a big dance break that went straight into singing. This meant that I had to think about my breath control during the performances as I needed enough breath and support to be able to push out my singing. Having that level of breath control allowed me to still be able to sing and belt clearly during dancing and after dancing. An example of this would be the singing after the 3 jazz combinations in the opening number, ‘I Hope I Get It’, where we sing “I really need this job, please God I need this job, I got to get this job…”. That last “Job” was a big note and I sang it in the original key which was rather high. Without breath control I would have really struggled to push that high note out. 

In terms of my character, I did a string American accent and I made my voice quite high-pitch and squeaky compared to how I would normally speak as this is what I think suited my character the best. Due to this I had to focus on my vocal technique to ensure that when I sing this ‘character voice’ was still carried through. My voice was more nasally but I had to make sure I was still using my chest voice while keeping this nasal twinge to my character accent. I think I was successful in this and was able to upheld good tonal quality while still doing a character voice. An example of this would be my song, ‘Dance: Ten; Looks: Three’.

I think one main struggle of mine with the singing would be linking my breath control with phrasing. With this show, I was out of breath a lot due to the heavy dancing so my main concern was making I was taking a breath when I needed to. This did draw my focus away from my phrasing during my number. Phrasing is key as if you take a breath mid-sentence, it splits the phrase which could take away the meaning of what you are singing. This is something I want to develop and I can do that by sectioning out my lyrics and speak songs as if they are monologues to see where natural breaths and pauses would take place. This would then help me when singing as I will remember when the appropriate time to breathe between phrases is. 

Acting

When it came to bringing my character to life and giving her a persona I saw Val as this vain, sometimes arrogant woman who may act younger than she actually is. She’s a big personality that oozes with confidence and is very dramatic. My character was loud, needed to be the centre of attention but is kind and quite nurturing especially to young Mark, who I was next to in the line. Saying this, I also saw Val’s confidence as a mask for the insecurity she actually has when it comes to her figure. The whole number, ‘Dance: Ten; Looks: Three’ is a song about how she completely changed her body because at an audition her figure was ‘the problem’. This song can have a dark twist on the fact that she felt that she needed to have certain features emphasised in order to make it as a dancer. This slightly dark/sad side to Val is covered up by comedy through ‘Dance: Ten; Looks: Three’. This story line of Val is something that I kept in the back of my mind, especially when it came to characterising my monologue. I worked on growing a feeling of frustration throughout my monologue and played on that throughout my song as well. This gave my character a purpose/a motive. She ended her frustration once she got plastic surgery. For this role I had to use a variety of acting skills like communication, voice control, ability to memorise lines and movement skills. 

I think I was successful at my ability to communicate my character and her story across to the audience. I think I did well to alert the audience of the exact kind of person my character is. For my character, I put on a character voice, this helped me to define Val and every time I used her accent, I was able to fully put myself into the role. Before ‘Dance: Ten; Looks: Three’ I had a big monologue that explained Val’s story and for this I had to use the acting skill, ability to memorise lines. I was successful in this skill as I was able to fully remember my monologue and had no slip-ups during the performances. I was also successful in terms of my movement skills and physicality of my character. When it came to walking, I gave Val a specific walk, especially when she gets picked to go on the lien at the end of the opening number, ‘I Hope I Get It’. 

I received feedback from my teacher about my overall acting within the whole show:

“Your projection and accent was amazing, clear and authentic. However you could work on your pace of delivery as at times it did seem rushed. That’s all I have – you were fab, character driven, believable and just amazing!!!”

Overall, I agree that I could work on my pace of delivery. With monologues or big chunks of lines, I have the tendency to rush through it as I am worried about blanking on what I’m meant to say so I have the urge to rush it before I forget it. The fact that my monologue was over the top of music did help with my pace as the music helped me to make sure I wasn’t too fast. I still think I could have took my time a bit more as my music was cued with certain words. With monologues I have to remember that when performing, this is the first time the audience is hearing it so I need to allow them to take time to take in what it is I am saying. This links with communication as I want to make sure I am communicating my lies to the audience clearly.

Dance 

‘A Chorus Line’ is the most dance heavy show I have ever performed in and I knew it would be a huge challenge for me as dance is the one I have had the most struggles and challenges in. Throughout the show, I performed a variety of different dance styles: Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Contemporary, Stylised 20’s kick line. Each style required its own skill set. Ballet was delicate, slow with movements but they were strong, similar with contemporary. This contrasts Tap which was all about accuracy and speed to ensure we could do quick fast-paced steps. These then contrasted with Jazz which is all about the flow between steps. I used all the skills for each dance style to be able to execute them well. Here is some feedback I received from my dance teacher:

"Feedback and feedforward for your role in A Chorus Line.

I felt that as a practitioner you have improved immensely in all areas of your skill set. Demonstrating a very high level of stage craft, presence and stylistic qualities across all the different choreographic pieces. Moving forward onto future productions from a dance technique perspective, utilise your basic and grounded skills more effectively. For example, work the little details more precisely so that once it's embedded into your muscle memory you can then focus on relaxing into the style and performance  element of the choreography."

I think I was successful at dancing each style within the show but I think I can work on refining and paying attention to detail so that I am able to stylise the moves even more. I was particularly strong in the number "At the Ballet" as Ballet is a dance style that I have studied for 10 years so was very familiar with the style. As well as Ballet, when it came to the number, 'Tap Dance' I would say I was also strong within this number as Tap was something I studied at college last year so, like with Ballet, I was already familiar with the stylistic qualities of Tap.

In terms of the 6 skills in dance (balance, coordination, flexibility, posture & alignment, stamina and strength) I would say my biggest challenge was my flexibility. When we first started the show rehearsals, I really struggled with the high kicks featured in the dances, especially 'One Rehearsal' and 'One Bows' and movements like the 'jazz split' in 'I Hope I Get It'. Throughout the rehearsal process I made significant improvements with my flexibility. I noticed it as I found these movements become gradually easier for me and I am also closer to fully being into the splits. Another skill that I made huge improvements in was my stamina. 'A Chorus Line' is a heavy dance show and each number is quite close together (in terms of the gap of time between them) especially in Act 1. This meant that we had high energy one after the other so when it came to run-throughs and rehearsals, I found myself getting out of breath very quickly and loosing energy quickly when rehearsals first began. I know I improved my stamina as when it came round to the dress runs and tech runs for the show, I found myself being able to dance for longer without loosing energy and getting tired as quickly as I was previously. I also noticed that I was getting a lot less out of breath after big numbers. For example, in the opening number, 'I Hope I Get It', after the last group dance break before we are selected to be on the line for the next part of the audition, we sing immediately after dancing. At first, I find it very difficult to have enough breath to be able to push the notes out. By the time the show came round, I found it a lot easier to sing immediately after dancing. 

Time period

The main way we communicated the time period of the show was definitely through our costumes. 'A Chorus Line' is set in 1970/80's America. As the show has a very simplistic stage and there is no specific nudge in the script to alert the audience that the show is in the 70's, our costumes were so important to help communicate the time period to the audience. The 70's included big hair styles, colourful clothing as we got closer to the 80's (the Disco era) and then the earth tones with bell bottoms, flares and more short length skirts and cropped tops (the Hippie Era). In terms of 70's dancewear, skirts were shorter, leotards were very high-waisted flared trousers were popular as well as large disco collars. As the 80's came along, dance accessories were introduced such as leg warmers  and sweatbands/headbands. For my costume as Val, I had big hair and a colourful purple dance outfit. Purple is Val's colour on the line. Each of our character's had our 'line' colours as this help differentiates each character from the next as there are so many main characters (17 total). I also had purple accessories including legwarmers. My 'bottoms' were dance pants, they were very high-waisted like what the popular dance wear in the 70's would have been. 

Everyone in the show made sure there characters' costume fit with the time era, this includes makeup. Makeup in the 70's was characterised by bright and sparkly eyeshadow, dramatic graphic eyeliner and an abundance of statement lashes. For my character, Val, I did bright purple eyeshadow matching my costume colour and big graphic eyeliner with sparkle on my eyelids to fit with the 70s aesthetic and time period of the show. 

We also communicated the time period through the dance styles displayed on stage and through our set. For example, in ‘Montage Part 4: Gimme the Ball’ we used a classic Ellis Presley move. I also communicated the time period through my character voice I did for Val as it sounded very 'Golden Age' Broadway.