Acting in Musical Theatre: a Comprehensive Course

Acting in Musical Theatre Acting in Musical Theatre is the only complete course in approaching a role in a musical. The musical theatre performer must be a master of many styles of acting, singing and dancing, and this is the first book to combine these disciplines into a comprehensive guide. Just starting out? This book will guide you from the beginning of your training through years of professional work. If you are an acting instructor, it will lead your students through a complete training programme. If you’re an experienced actor, this book will help you achieve real performing power. Drawing on decades of experience both on-stage and in the classroom, the authors provide crucial advice on all elements of the craft, including: • Fundamentals of acting applied to musical theatre • Script, score and character analysis • Personalizing your performance • Turning rehearsal into performance • Acting styles in the musical theatre • Practical steps to a career Acting in Musical Theatre’s chapters divide into easy-to-reference step-by-step units, each containing related group and solo exercises, making it the definitive textbook for students, teachers and professionals alike. Joe Deer has been a musical theatre educator, director/choreographer and performer in Broadway, National Tour, regional theatre, and university productions for the last twenty-five years. Founding President of the Musical Theatre Educators’ Alliance International, he is head of Musical Theatre at Wright State University. Rocco Dal Vera is a Professor at the University of Cincinnati’s College- Conservatory of Music, whose graduates populate virtually every Broadway and National touring stage. He is co-author of the book Voice: Onstage and Off, and has coached hundreds of musicals and plays at America’s best regional theatres. “This is the book we have all been waiting for! Every actor needs a guide to help solve the complex array of puzzles that emerge when we begin to dissect a lyric, a song, or a complete role in a musical. And here it is. Written in an engaging generous style, and full of examples and exercises, this book makes the textured work involved in the technique of acting in a musical more of a game and explora- tion than a chore. Whether for the beginner or the experienced professional, the student or the teacher, the fan or the critic, this text is a must-have and a must- read.” Victoria Clark, Tony Award-winning actress, The Light In The Piazza “Though I attended a highly respected drama department for six years (two degrees), there was never a single course offered having anything to do with musical theatre. Therefore, I am all the more impressed by Acting in Musical Theatre, which gives a comprehensive and thought-provoking guideline to the study of performing on the musical stage. I found it fascinating and functional, and I am sure you will, as well.” Tom Jones, Tony Award-winning author/lyricist of The Fantasticks, 110 In The Shade and I Do, I Do! “The method for acting in a musical has finally arrived! Deer and Dal Vera have de-mystified with articulate clarity a fully internalized, assimilated, and yet somehow flexible approach to the actual method of rehearsing, performing, and auditioning for the musical theatre.” Lara Teeter, Tony Award Nominee, On Your Toes, and Head of Musical Theatre, Webster University “At last a book that assists us in guiding our students to inhabit characters in musicals organically! A major milestone in musical theatre pedagogy.” Robert Barton, author of Acting: Onstage and Off “Acting in Musical Theatre covers it all – acting, musical terminology, style and auditions. It is a must-have resource for all teachers and students of performing in musical theatre.” Mary Jo Lodge, Lafayette College, USA “Whether you are a fledgling musical theatre artist or a seasoned professional, this book offers an array of insights, suggestions, guideposts and exercises which you will find invaluable.” Michael Ellison, Bowling Green State University, USA “A lively, engaging read that, as a comprehensive guide to acting in musicals, in many ways fills a heretofore empty niche. The authors do not patronize, but help the student focus on those aspects of the profession under his or her control.” Judith A. Sebesta, University of Missouri-Columbia, USA “A great handbook for the serious student, giving relevant information for all stages of development.” Kathleen Savage, Performer’s College, Essex, UK Acting in Musical Theatre A Comprehensive Course Joe Deer and Rocco Dal Vera First published 2008 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2008 Joe Deer and Rocco Dal Vera All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Deer, Joe. Acting in musical theatre : a comprehensive course / Joe Deer, Rocco Dal Vera. p. cm. Includes index. 1. Acting in musical theater. 2. Musical theater—Instruction and study. I. Dal Vera, Rocco. II. Title. MT956.D44 2008 792.602’8—dc22 2007034017 ISBN 0-203-93107-6 Master e-book ISBN ISBN13: 978–0–415–77318–8 (hbk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–77319–5 (pbk) ISBN13: 978–0–203–93107–3 (ebk) ISBN10: 0–415–77318–0 (hbk) ISBN10: 0–415–77319–8 (pbk) ISBN10: 0–203–93107–6 (ebk) Contents Dedication xx Foreword by Lynn Ahrens xxi Special Thanks and Acknowledgements xxiv Introduction xxvii Training for the musical theatre xxvii Acting in Musical Theatre – the book xxviii How to use this book xxx SECTION I FUNDAMENTALS OF ACTING IN MUSICAL THEATRE 1 CHAPTER 1 Acting Basics – The Foundation 1 Unit 1.1 What makes good acting? 1 Unit 1.2 Preparing to work 2 Unit 1.3 Giving and taking feedback 3 1.3.1 Taking feedback 3 1.3.2 Giving feedback 4 1.3.3 Asking for feedback 5 Exercise 1A Creating a workbook 5 1.3.4 Safe space 6 Unit 1.4 Being an actor 7 1.4.1 The Magic “IF” 8 1.4.2 Believability and truth 8 1.4.3 First time 9 VI CONTENTS 1.4.4 Public solitude and relishing exposure 9 1.4.5 Acting is believing – the difference between acting and performing 9 1.4.6 Playful work, disciplined play 10 1.4.7 Theatricality 10 1.4.8 Inside out/outside in 11 CHAPTER 2 Acting Basics – Step-by-Step 15 Unit 2.1 Acting fundamentals 15 Unit 2.2 Given circumstances 16 2.2.1 Facts of the world of your script 16 Exercise 2A Bringing in your research 17 2.2.2 Inferring given circumstances 17 2.2.3 Worldview 18 Exercise 2B What is my worldview? 18 Unit 2.3 Relationships 19 Exercise 2C List the relationships 19 2.3.1 My world and welcome to it 20 Exercise 2D Everything is mine 20 2.3.2 Endowment 20 Exercise 2E Endowing 21 Exercise 2F The liars’ club 21 2.3.3 Metaphoric relationships 21 Exercise 2G Playing the relationships 22 2.3.4 Relationships change 23 Exercise 2H Metaphoric relationships 23 2.3.5 Who am I, anyway? 24 Unit 2.4 Objectives 25 2.4.1 Why versus what for 25 Exercise 2I Why versus what for 26 2.4.2 Superobjective 27 Exercise 2J Objective hierarchy 29 2.4.3 Testing the objective 30 2.4.4 Specific ideal outcome 31 Exercise 2K Specific ideal outcome 31 Unit 2.5 Beats 32 2.5.1 Identifying beats 32 Exercise 2L Finding the beat 33 2.5.2 Fight only for what you want right now 33 CONTENTS VII Unit 2.6 Obstacles 34 2.6.1 External and internal obstacles 34 Exercise 2M Identifying obstacles 35 2.6.2 Physicalizing the struggle 35 Exercise 2N Obstacles: What’s in your way? 36 2.6.3 Emotions are obstacles (but in a good way) 36 Exercise 2O Push-me-pull-you 38 Unit 2.7 Strategy and tactics 38 Exercise 2P Applying the concepts 40 Unit 2.8 Evaluation, discovery and adjustment 40 2.8.1 The creative mood and preparation 41 Unit 2.9 Text, subtext and inner monologue 42 Exercise 2Q Subtext and inner monologue 43 CHAPTER 3 Making It Matter 45 Exercise 3A Tell the truth, now live it large 46 Unit 3.1 Raising the stakes 47 Unit 3.2 Meeting the emotional demands of the music 47 Exercise 3B Or else I’ll die 48 Unit 3.3 Citizenship in the Land of IF – the creative state 48 SECTION II SCORE AND LIBRETTO ANALYSIS AND STRUCTURE 51 CHAPTER 4 Musical Analysis – Listening for Clues 51 Unit 4.1 Introduction 51 4.1.1 Learn to listen 52 4.1.2 The music never lies 52 Unit 4.2 Kinds of musical information 53 Exercise 4A Ways of listening 54 Exercise 4B Easy listening 54 4.2.1 Composer’s markings 55 4.2.2 Emotional qualities 56 Exercise 4C Emotional qualities 57 4.2.3 Melodic shape 57 Exercise 4D Melodic shape 57 4.2.4 Tempo quality and changes 58 Exercise 4E Tempo changes 58 4.2.5 Rhythmic quality 59 VIII CONTENTS Exercise 4F Rhythmic styles 59 4.2.6 Musical key 60 4.2.7 Modulations 60 Exercise 4G Changing keys 60 4.2.8 Tensions and releases 60 4.2.9 Musical accents 61 Exercise 4H Using accents 61 4.2.10 Musical dynamics 62 Exercise 4I Dynamic changes 62 4.2.11 Musical idiom 62 4.2.12 Musical character quality 63 4.2.13 The relationship between melody

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