Musical Blog
In September we were all told that the highlight of the year would be the Musical. Every teacher said you get as much out of it as you personally put in. I decided that I would throw myself into the mix from the day of the auditions.
Auditions day came and we were told that we would be singing ‘country roads,’ we stood up in fours and sang for Mrs Oliahan. The best part was that we were all making a fool of ourselves but because we all had to do it we just embraced it.
We were all excited as we were told that callbacks would be taking place within the next 10 days.
At the start of December the whole year got together for an assembly. It was their we were told that we would be doing ‘Joseph and his amazing technicolor dreamcoat.’ An eerie silence followed and confusion was obvious on the faces of many.
Nobody had ever heard of Joseph and with this Mrs Oliahan announced callbacks would be taking place. We all headed back to class slightly disappointed with the choice of the musical.
When I got to my class the teacher decided to show us some of the Joseph movie. This was great because many of us realised that we knew some of the songs.
Callbacks were done the next week in three groups. I was on in the morning which suited me as I really wanted to get them over and done with. I was handed a script as was everyone else and we took it in turns to sing lines from the musical.
Shortly before the Christmas break an assembly was organised to tell us who got what parts. I was Extremely excited. Mrs Roy began to read out the names of the characters and the people who would be playing them. I got very anxious towards the end as my name had not being called for anything. But eventually the brothers were called but I wasn’t called.It was down to the last three Phaero, Jacob and Joseph.
I was amazed when my name was called I was going to be playing the part of Jacob.
I couldn’t wait to tell my parents because they had advised me to try and get either Jacob or Pharo because they were two essential parts without having the need to be in every scene.
Just before the Christmas break anybody with a singing role was given their scripts to learn in the weeks off school.
After the break rehearsals became very intense with the main parts practicing/rehearsing with Aisling and Mrs Olihan for 4-5 hours daily. The teachers had split our time up into two, half for learning and practising the songs and half for learning and perfecting the dance routines. Each form was given a slot of between thirty and forty minutes a day to go over their routines with Aisling the choreographer. This made sure that no one form had more time on stage than the next.
The narrators, brothers, Joseph and I had allocated slots with Aisling as we had a lot of dances and moves to learn.
In the weeks following we began to add the singing to the dancing and this was a big step because it really began to start fitting together.
In late January we began full year rehearsals which I hated because all eyes were in the performers but in hindsight it was great because it prepared us for performing for an audience.
One of my favourite days of the musical was when we got to see the stage and the set for the first time. I think this gave everyone the sense that whether we were ready or not this show was taking place on the 12th,13th and 14th. That day involved a lot of listening and cooperating as we were told how we would maneuver ourselves backstage.
The full orchestra was the last piece of the jigsaw which came together on the Monday. There was an enormous difference between the CD and the orchestra, it took a bit of getting used to but it was worth it in the end as it sounded fantastic.
Our first full dress rehearsal was on Friday the 8th for the primary school standard six.
Tuesday the 12th came so quickly we began with a matinee performance for the first and sixth years and then we had our opening evening performance. The build up was electric getting makeup plastered on and costumes fitted.
The following day we were giving amazing feedback in the form of “One of the best opening night performances the school has ever had.”
The following two days are a blur they also consisted of a Matinee and an evening performance.
I’ve got to agree with all the teachers and say as of this point the musical has been the best part of TY by a country mile. I have it to thank for conquering my severe stage fright and if that was my only achievement from TY I would have been very happy.
Marcus Brassington
In September we were all told that the highlight of the year would be the Musical. Every teacher said you get as much out of it as you personally put in. I decided that I would throw myself into the mix from the day of the auditions.
Auditions day came and we were told that we would be singing ‘country roads,’ we stood up in fours and sang for Mrs Oliahan. The best part was that we were all making a fool of ourselves but because we all had to do it we just embraced it.
We were all excited as we were told that callbacks would be taking place within the next 10 days.
At the start of December the whole year got together for an assembly. It was their we were told that we would be doing ‘Joseph and his amazing technicolor dreamcoat.’ An eerie silence followed and confusion was obvious on the faces of many.
Nobody had ever heard of Joseph and with this Mrs Oliahan announced callbacks would be taking place. We all headed back to class slightly disappointed with the choice of the musical.
When I got to my class the teacher decided to show us some of the Joseph movie. This was great because many of us realised that we knew some of the songs.
Callbacks were done the next week in three groups. I was on in the morning which suited me as I really wanted to get them over and done with. I was handed a script as was everyone else and we took it in turns to sing lines from the musical.
Shortly before the Christmas break an assembly was organised to tell us who got what parts. I was Extremely excited. Mrs Roy began to read out the names of the characters and the people who would be playing them. I got very anxious towards the end as my name had not being called for anything. But eventually the brothers were called but I wasn’t called.It was down to the last three Phaero, Jacob and Joseph.
I was amazed when my name was called I was going to be playing the part of Jacob.
I couldn’t wait to tell my parents because they had advised me to try and get either Jacob or Pharo because they were two essential parts without having the need to be in every scene.
Just before the Christmas break anybody with a singing role was given their scripts to learn in the weeks off school.
After the break rehearsals became very intense with the main parts practicing/rehearsing with Aisling and Mrs Olihan for 4-5 hours daily. The teachers had split our time up into two, half for learning and practising the songs and half for learning and perfecting the dance routines. Each form was given a slot of between thirty and forty minutes a day to go over their routines with Aisling the choreographer. This made sure that no one form had more time on stage than the next.
The narrators, brothers, Joseph and I had allocated slots with Aisling as we had a lot of dances and moves to learn.
In the weeks following we began to add the singing to the dancing and this was a big step because it really began to start fitting together.
In late January we began full year rehearsals which I hated because all eyes were in the performers but in hindsight it was great because it prepared us for performing for an audience.
One of my favourite days of the musical was when we got to see the stage and the set for the first time. I think this gave everyone the sense that whether we were ready or not this show was taking place on the 12th,13th and 14th. That day involved a lot of listening and cooperating as we were told how we would maneuver ourselves backstage.
The full orchestra was the last piece of the jigsaw which came together on the Monday. There was an enormous difference between the CD and the orchestra, it took a bit of getting used to but it was worth it in the end as it sounded fantastic.
Our first full dress rehearsal was on Friday the 8th for the primary school standard six.
Tuesday the 12th came so quickly we began with a matinee performance for the first and sixth years and then we had our opening evening performance. The build up was electric getting makeup plastered on and costumes fitted.
The following day we were giving amazing feedback in the form of “One of the best opening night performances the school has ever had.”
The following two days are a blur they also consisted of a Matinee and an evening performance.
I’ve got to agree with all the teachers and say as of this point the musical has been the best part of TY by a country mile. I have it to thank for conquering my severe stage fright and if that was my only achievement from TY I would have been very happy.
Marcus Brassington