Bergman Allison - Acting the song: performance skills for the musical theatre

2008, 2016 Tracey Moore, Allison Bergman

All rights reserved. Copyright under Berne Copyright Convention, Universal Copyright Convention, and Pan American Copyright Convention. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Allworth Press, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

Allworth Press books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Allworth Press, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or .

20 19 18 17 16 5 4 3 2 1

Published by Allworth Press. an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

307 W 36th Street, New York, NY 10018

Allworth Press is a registered trademark of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., a Delaware corporation.

www.allworth.com

Portions of Chapter One first appeared in the international journal Studies in Music Theatre , 2007.

Cover design by Mary Belibasakis

Cover photo by Maureen Janson Heintz

Interior design by The Roberts Group

Page composition/typography by Integra Software Services, Pvt., Ltd., Pondicherry,

India

Graphic Illustrations by Andrea Weinreb Alexander

Circle graphic used by permission of Mike Samuel, www.mikesamuelgraphics.com

Original music and music notation provided by Clay Zambo, www.clayzambo.com

Print ISBN: 978-1-62153-522-5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Printed in the United States of America.

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO OUR FAMILIES.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Relatively speaking, musical theatre education is a new concept. But more and more college musical theatre programs are starting up every day and now aspiring singers, dancers, and actors can hone their craft in childrens programs, high school classes, summer camps, and intensives. The BFA in music theatre is a popular degree and universities are flooded with applications. Lots of people want to be in the musical theatre, and thats great: This is a fascinating craft, and its wonderful that people want to learn about it, talk about it, practice it, and get better at it.

But there are some misconceptions out there, and many misguided performances. This book was initially written to remedy a particular approach to singing musical theatre songs that seemed old-fashioned and out-of-step with advances that had been made in regular actor training. Better training, it was hoped, would groom smarter actorsthe kind that everyone wants to work with. So, these pages speak to those who teach others about musical theater. But in the last ten years since the book was published, the industry changed: Electronics and the ease of digital recording altered how we audition and how we study, and ten more years of shows opened on Broadway that needed to be discussed. Hence, this second edition.

This book is designed to help those who teach music theatre, and we are an assorted bunch: voice teachers, dance instructors, acting faculty, English teachers, communications professors, and pianists. We are coaches, music directors, directors, and choreographers trying to put on a show. We are actors, singers, and dancers ourselves. So whatever your approachwherever you come fromthis book was designed to help you come to a deeper understanding about whats involved in singing a musical theatre song and to guide you in passing that knowledge along to your students.

To make things easier for both teachers and students, we have created a supplemental Student Companion Ebook . It contains the Worksheets found in these pages as well as sample completed Worksheets (from actual students of this method) to serve as guides. It offers common-sense advice for the students about what to expect as they work their way through this method, and some additional checklists and advice, whether they are auditioning for college or professional theatre. If you are a self-learner using this book outside of a classroom situation, the Student Companion Ebook will give you some extra help.

This book has three parts.

The Elements: The first section looks separately at the voice, the body, and acting principles.

The Classroom: The second section integrates these elements on three levelsonce for beginning students, once for intermediate students, and once for advanced students. Taken all together, this section provides a curriculum for two or three semesters of in-depth musical theatre workshop classes. The last chapter in this section is dedicated to diagnosing and coaching specific problems.

Practical Use: The third section moves from the classroom setting to the real world and addresses auditioning, rehearsing, and performing.

This book is full of exercises, teaching suggestions, and Worksheets. (Full-sized, downloadable copies of the Worksheets are a part of the Student Companion Ebook , and are also available on the website SkyhorseSupplements.com. It is suggested that students keep completed Worksheets in a binder for future reference, or with their scripts if they are preparing for a specific role.)

If youre a performer, you can read the book and do the Worksheets on your own, referencing the Student Companion Ebook for help. If youre a professional coach, accompanist, music director, or director, this book will offer you some ideas for new things to try in rehearsal. If youre a teacher, the information in these chapters will help you guide your students toward an authentic, truthful, personal performance that is based in the theatrical traditions of Stanislavski and grounded in the notions of conflict and want, stakes and tactics. The singing adds an extra element to the acting work, but in the same way that Shakespeares verse or Mamets language or Pinters pauses are a part of a characters reality, the reality of a musical is that the characters will, at some point, break into song. When we act the song, singing is just another given circumstance.

TRACEYS THANKS

I am indebted to several people in the writing of this book. The last point of the previous paragraph was something that my late acting teacher Charlie Kakatsakis used to say. To him, I owe a debt of gratitude that I am trying to pay forward forever in my own work. It was during his musical theatre workshops, co-taught with Jack Lee, that I first saw how one might become a singing actor.

I am grateful to the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop in New York for letting me eavesdrop while a performer for many several years. Much love goes to the creative composers and lyricists I met there, whose passion for this craft continues to be an inspiration to me. To Ben Krywosz, Roger Ames, Todd London, John Steber, and New Dramatists: The seeds that were sown at the Composer/Librettist Studios bear fruit to this day. Thanks to the staff and students at the NYU Graduate Musical Theatre Writing program for many joyous experiences. And finally, a deep debt of gratitude goes to the late Rob Jaffee and to Michael Fields for wonderful summers spent at CSSSA.

I would like to extend my deepest thanks to Allison Bergman, and the many musical theatre professionals and friends who lent their thoughts to the beginning of each chapter. To my beloved students from Western Kentucky University, who donated their completed Worksheets to the ebook: Yall are a generous bunch. Thanks to Larry Silverberg for his support, and to Mike Hanes, the first person who ever told me to just go out there and tell the story.