Keep on truckin'!

Good work today, everyone. We cleaned up a lot of our dance numbers and are ready to tighten up the first half of the show on Saturday. Be prepared to really work "Mama Will Provide" and to run through everything else we've done so far.

COSTUMES ARE DUE SATURDAY.
This is so we can make sure we have everything cleared for Tuesday, February 14th. Any costume questions should be directed to Mrs. Taylor, Mrs. Carbonar, or Mrs. Colahan.

THE PIZZA PARTY IS SATURDAY!
Check this post for what you need to bring. Everyone is asked to bring something to contribute to this fun lunch!

ATTENTION ALL ALTOS:
You are doing an awesome job in vocal rehearsals. Keep it up! Keep practicing your harmonies at home, listen to the music and sing along, and practice your dance moves with your vocals. Keep up the confidence! You may be slightly outnumbered by sopranos, but you have the spunk and vocal power to keep up with them!! Practice, practice, practice!!

SATURDAY IS THE LAST CALL FOR T-SHIRT ORDER FORMS.


And a special note from some GVMS Musical Theater alumna...

Thanks so much for your support.

... and last but CERTAINLY not least: STAY HEALTHY!! Everyone seems to be getting sick. Please, please, please keep yourselves hydrated, warm, and away from contagious people!! We can't afford to lose any of you during rehearsals... only three more weeks to go!!

Snow day homework!

We hope you're staying warm and bundling up when you go outside!!

FOR REHEARSAL TUESDAY:

• We Dance lyrics and music MUST be memorized
• One Small Girl lyrics and music MUST be memorized
• Waiting for Life lyrics and music MUST be memorized

We absolutely need to make up for lost time and you must be ready to move on. We have no time to waste! We will be starting with the memorized songs on Tuesday. We cannot continue on to more blocking and choreography UNTIL THESE SONGS ARE SOLID. Our pace is up to you.

Congratulations to (drum roll please....) Brittany John, our "Pray" soloist! Awesome job, Brittany!

FOR REHEARSAL WEDNESDAY NIGHT:

• For small group rehearsal, we will need Mama, TonTon, Ti Moune, Asaka, Agwe, Papa Ge, and Erzulie
• Be prepared to work individually with Ms. Sunnergren on all of your vocals
• Bring homework!
• Understudies and swings are not to come.

Notes from Saturday

Monday night rehearsal: dialogue rehearsal -- Peter, Tink, Wendy, John, Michael, Mr. & Mrs. Darling, Liza, named Lost Boys, Hook, Smee, Starkey, Tiger Lily

Please bring homework and/or be prepared to spend down time memorizing lines if you are not already off-book. You MUST be off book by this Saturday.

THIS THURSDAY IS A LEADS REHEARSAL

We only need the following people:

• all Lost Boys
• all Darlings
• Hook
• Smee
• Mr. Starkey
• Tiger Lily
• Peter
• Tink

Everyone else is free to go home after school on Thursday, 2/10.

Our cast and crew are hard at work getting ready for the last three weeks of rehearsals!!

AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES CANCELED

Due to the anticipated inclement weather, rehearsal today has been canceled.

This means it is CRUCIAL that you ALL know ALL of your lyrics and movements for Thursday. This year with all the snow, you have more responsibility to work on the material yourselves. Without your support, we won't be able to get everything done!

• Smee, Starkey, Hook: have "Goodbye Peter Pan" memorized
• Peter & Wendy: memorize lyrics to "Why?" (Ally, we will teach you a different alto harmony, but be sure you know your words), work on getting off-book with your lines
• Lost Boys: be completely off-book for all scenes we have rehearsed, have "We're Going Home" memorized
• Darlings: be off-book for the first scene
• John & Michael: be off-book for the first scene as well as all of the Lost Boy scenes you are in that we've rehearsed, have "We're Going Home" memorized

Know your cues! Know your exits and entrances! Know your blocking!

PRACTICE YOUR DANCE MOVEMENTS IN THE SNOW! 

Perform them with your friends! For your parents, your dogs, your stuffed animals! 

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!

Comment here with anything you feel the cast needs to work on (for example: movements for Come Away, vocals for Braves to War, the blocking for the Darlings' opening scene, etc.)

Quick update

To those who could not comment on the blog, I've now enabled anonymous commenting. You can choose that option from the dropdown menu:

... and you should have no problem leaving a comment from there. Please remember to include your name every time you comment!!

In other news: Make sure you have the lyrics to Wendy's Song memorized for Saturday!!

See you soon,
Ms. Hrap & Ms. Neville

Great music rehearsal!

Thank you all for a great rehearsal today. We are almost through a big chunk of the music for the show, so by Saturday, we'll be up and moving around!

Reminder to leads:
- The Darlings (includes Liza): have dialogue from pages 1-21 memorized
- Wendy, Peter: have dialogue from pages 1-14 memorized & move on if you can!
- Lost Boys: have dialogue from pages 21-35 memorized
- Pirates: have dialogue from pages 21-35 memorized, familiarize yourselves with Rich Damp Cake


PLEASE PRACTICE ALL THE MUSIC WE'VE LEARNED SO FAR!!
To download Wendy's Song, comment below and I will re-upload the song.

Remember to keep your grades up, stay bundled up and healthy, and practice, practice, practice!

See you Thursday,
Ms. Hrap & Ms. Neville

Memorization Tips

This year is a little bit different than years past because our show has a lot more dialogue in it than usual. The task of memorizing lines might seem scary, but with practice, it becomes very easy! It's like memorizing lyrics to your favorite songs... after a while, it's like second nature! Here are some line memorization tips for you all:

(via Thwaites Theatre Photos @ flickr's creative commons)

1. Read through a set number of lines (maybe 5 lines, or one page at a time) 3 times.
2. Take the lines apart. Know what your character is saying. Once it makes more sense to you, it will come more naturally.
3. For long speeches, start by memorizing the first sentence. Recite the first sentence from memory, and then add the second. Recite the first two sentences from memory, then add the third, and so on.
4. Group the words and thoughts into things you can remember... for example, Peter's line on pg. 31: Wendy, this is a very important rock. It is called Marooner's Rock. When a sailor has done something really dreadful, the captain will bring him to this rock, tie him to this stake and leave him to be marooned.

You might take a look at the word "rock." Notice that it is in every sentence:

• Wendy, this is a very important rock. It is called Marooner's Rock. When a sailor has done something really dreadful, the captain will bring him to this rock, tie him to this stake and leave him to be marooned.

The first two sentences are short and sweet -- easy to remember. For the last sentence, you might try to remember that Marooner's Rock will play a part... "the captain will bring him to this rock ... leave him to be marooned." And you can remember the Sailor will be tied to the Stake.

• Wendy, this is a very important rock. It is called Marooner's Rock. When a sailor has done something really dreadful, the captain will bring him to this rock, tie him to this stake and leave him to be marooned.

Hope this helps. Happy memorizing!

December News

Thank you all for such a great music rehearsal yesterday. We definitely accomplished a lot, but we still have a lot more to go! Thanks for your patience as we learn the music. To make the process go faster, you can acquaint yourself with the music files I've posted here or, as I joked yesterday, get the CD from iTunes (but seriously... you can buy the CD on iTunes).

(via heatherknitz @ flickr's creative commons)

A few notes before you fly away for winter vacation...


Academics
As we explained to the students at both rehearsals, the musical is treated just like a sports team in that the participants' grades are monitored, making sure that students who take on extracurricular activities are still putting academics first. That being said, each week, we receive a list of students who are to be put on academic probation. Starting January 4th (our first rehearsal after break), the students on that list will not be able to attend rehearsal that week, unless they improve their grades.

What constitutes being on academic probation? 

1. A student has a failing grade in any of their classes
2. A student has NI or U as their qualities of a learner grade in more than two classes

Students and parents should be able to check academic standing on Skyward. The list we receive comes out on Friday. Parents: what is the best way to keep you abreast of your student's academic standing? Please leave a comment here letting us know how we can best work together on this issue.

IMPORTANT: Peter Pan Homework

- Mr. Darling, Mrs. Darling, Michael, John, Liza: have dialogue from pages 1-21 memorized

- Wendy, Peter: have dialogue from pages 1-14 memorized and move on if you can!

- Lost Boys: have dialogue from pages 21-35 memorized, familiarize yourself with Wendy's Song

- Pirates: have dialogue from pages 21-35 memorized, familiarize yourself with Rich Damp Cake

- Everyone: have the lyrics to Come Away and The Darlings memorized

A Little Fun
In case you need a tongue twister to play with at a holiday party or on New Year's Eve, here is the "Yolanda" tongue twister that is part of your acting warm-up:

Yolanda was yearning to yodel

She yaya ya-ya-ya yaya a lot

And lady oh-lay as often as not

Yada oh lady, oh lady, oh-lay

Yolanda would yodel all night & all day!

Thanks for your hard work, and keep it up! Have a wonderful winter break, and see you next year,
Ms. Hrap & Ms. Neville