Okay, so for the last few days (Wednesday - Sunday morning) I was in Tampa for the State Thespian Festival, which is basically a combination of a competition and theatre workshops. During this time I performed the piece I brought, a large group musical number called, "The Claws That Catch" from Through the Looking Glass. Not only did I perform in Ballroom A, which is where large group musicals always perform for the judges, but our piece was given the honor of representing our district at the state level, so we got to perform on the incredible Morsani stage at the Straz Center. As the musical follows the sequel to "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," the song is guided by the infamous Queen of Hearts as she calls for the creation of an evil creature known as "the Jabberwocky." For our take on the song, we decided that the Queen forced her card soldiers into becoming the beast itself, which you can see right down below. (Don't worry! I got their permission to post this! I'm in the last duo that gets up at the beginning of the number on the right hand side.)
It's been one heck of a time.
While it's lovely for me to share this information, one might ask, "Why are you telling me?"
Well, aside from the fact that I'm lowkey highkey deliriously tired and slightly incoherent, I was inspired by a series of pieces and ideas that came to mind while I was sitting in various rooms and attending whatever workshop I could scooter to quick enough. After thinking deeply about my film opening (I was deeply asleep during the nap I took before starting this post), I've decided that my film opening is based solely on introducing Charlotte. With the opening I aspire to establish the difference in her relationship to the people in Salem Village and the natural environment she is innately drawn towards.
While we already knew that the musical "Carrie" is one of my greatest sources on inspiration for my film, after performing my large group musical piece a series of times I recognized a few aspects of the music and style that I'd like to implement into my own opening. As you may have guessed because of the fact that my opening is focused on Charlotte, the opening number is most likely going to be a solo. This helps not only with time management but also with scheduling and whatnot, it's always easier to work with smaller amounts of actors than larger. Anywho, my large group musical piece is tied to "The Jabberwocky," a poem written by Lewis Carroll in 1871 in his novel "Through the Looking Glass" about killing a beast. Although the song is about bringing the beast to life, both the song and the poem open the same way,
"Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe."
Another part of the performance that I feel I could pull inspiration from is how we break out of our characters throughout the process of the song. The first instance of this happening is towards the end of the little scene between the Queen (played by Daniela Machado) and King (played by Gianni Palermo). If you can see the card soldiers faces, you might notice how the smiles or expressions they wear look uncomfortable and forced before they begin to break out of their plastic expressions, all of them reaching out for something in the distance. Regardless of whether they were reaching for help or because they felt as though their time to mold together was approaching, the contrast between what is seen on the outside and what is portrayed when they lose control is what I'm the most interested in. Like the card soldiers, Charlotte begins her story as just another face in the crowd, afraid to stick out (as seen with the lyrics "it hides in shadows waiting for its pretty prey" in the video) and forced to follow the crowd when eyes are on her. Although Charlotte will not be going through a demonic transformation in my film opening, I hope to showcase the difference in her character when she is with people and when she is without.
Anywho, stay tuned for an exciting week of updates! I'll be posting images of my costume for Lottie in the next post!
Carroll, L. (n.d.). Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll. Retrieved March 18, 2018, from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42916/jabberwocky
Jabberwocky. (2018, March 17). Retrieved March 17, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabberwocky
R. (2013, August 16). Through the Looking Glass - THE CLAWS THAT CATCH. Retrieved March 17, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFsGeH2KB-o
Top 100 Vocabulary Words That Adults Should Know. (2011, August 23). Retrieved March 18, 2018, from https://drdianehamilton.wordpress.com/2011/07/22/top-100-vocabulary-words-that-adults-should-know/
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