She was able to reserve great seats for a discount prize so I took advantage of it and went to see her :).
http://www.wickedthemusical.co.uk/cast/wickedCast_SAORIODA.asp
I thought the show was absolutely amazing (even if I'd seen it years ago I still enjoyed it) and reminded me what I am here for and what this is all about (it had been a while without seeing a show for me).
I couldn't help myself from starting to watch the show with a "studying thought" at the back of my mind and I started Observing.
Of course during this observation process any kind of recording (video or audio) was prohibited as any professional shows are, and the possibility of taking notes was none as there was no light and the noise of my scribbling would have probably disturbed the people watching next to me, so I had to take on board for this observation only my concentration on recording any data and thoughts that went through my mind during the performance.
I observed how much intensity of work I could notice behind each performer on stage..I was trying to focus not only on the principle roles but also on the ensamble and all of them were 100% always into character even when it was hardly possible to see them.
I then observe how Saori, my friend in the show, grew as a performer since we graduated together.
She is Japanese and we together started college as the ones with serious difficulties with the language and really struggled through the 1st year...she was amazing since day one so everyone could see her great potentials but being in a MT college, acting in English was a good part of the course.
She was now confident and she could blend with the others perfectly and being an amazing singer and in such an important show, she must have overcome those pronunciations difficulties we both had at the beginning of our training, especially for her as Japanese is a completely different language in phonetic, alphabet and sound compared to the more similar Latin languages Italian and English, so well done Saori!!!
Of course part of my observation needed to get analyzed more... How she got there? What took her to achieve this improvement? So I also talked to her bout my course project and how I'd love to interview her to collect her experiences as evidence of what it takes for a performer to succeed...especially for a non-English one!
She is now at the end of her contract that meaning she is back in the audition system and that would be even more interesting for my research; she was happy to help and I will be soon posting about it.
Wicked was the first musical I watched in London, and it was what made me a musical theatre fan :D It just opened in Singapore, where I live, and I cannot wait to go watch.
ReplyDeleteI found your friend's success so inspiring! I remember how I had difficulty in musical theatre classes at school; I cannot pick up lyrics from just listening, fast songs are simply difficult, but slow songs are as difficult because it requires articulate pronunciation... (The difference between 'r and l' 'v and b' 'th and s/z/t' are hard for Japanese speakers to pronounce.)
Of course Mina, I totally get you! I remember how difficult it was for me and even more for my Japanese friend! I couldn't imagine myself doing the same with Japanese!!!
ReplyDeleteLet me know if you can how the Wicked production is in Singapore, it would be of a great interest for my project!