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Teaching the others a dance to Revolting Children

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Teaching the others a dance to Revolting Children

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Biography.com. (2014) Andrew Lloyd Webber. [Online] Available from: https://www.biography.com/people/andrew-lloyd-webber-20825129. [Accessed: 29th December 2018].

Roberts, L. (2018) Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice working together for first time in 34 years. The Telegraph. [Online] Theatre News. 27th December. Available from: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-news/7897225/Andrew-Lloyd-Webber-and-Tim-Rice-working-together-for-first-time-in-34-years.html. [Accessed: 29th December 2018].

Cavendish, D. (2016) Andrew Lloyd Webber interview: ‘I was thinking I would never work again’. The Telegraph. [Online] Culture Theatre. 1st November. Available from: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/what-to-see/andrew-lloyd-webber-interview-i-was-thinking-i-wouldnt-work-agai/. [Accessed 29th December 2018]

Britannica.com (2018) Andrew Lloyd Webber British Composer. [Online] Available from: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Andrew-Lloyd-Webber-Baron-Lloyd-Webber-of-Sydmonton. [Accessed: 29th December 2018]

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This digital log will discuss the history and influences of Andrew Lloyd Webber. It will include his working methods, style and how we adapted and implemented these within our group performance presentation. A reflective approach will then be used to analyse our strengths and weaknesses, areas to improve on, and problems we as a group had to overcome.

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Andrew Lloyd Webber uses his own emotions and life experiences in his work. He uses the musicals he produces to carry the message he wants to portray to his audience. As Telegraph.co.uk suggests, Phantom of the Opera (1986) is one of the biggest musicals he has written, but this was written mainly as a way for him to show the romantic side of his nature (2016). More recently he has produced the new musical School of Rock (2015). Following a slump in his career, this musical is a huge success and Andrew enjoys the rebellious nature of it. He has always been passionate about music and due to this his school days were not always easy. School of Rock (2015) is a very good example of Andrew using his own life experience to ‘rebel’ against what is expected by society.

As Andrew Lloyd Webber states in Telegraph.co.uk:

I got known as the school swot, which wasn’t me at all,” he explains. “And I vividly remember there was a day when I thought, 'I can’t do this anymore.’ I was about 10 and I was supposed to be playing the piano at the school concert and I got up in front of the whole school and said, 'I’m sorry I’m changing the agenda. I want to play some songs I’ve written.’ Each was dedicated to one of the masters. By the end the whole school was clapping along. That was the moment the real me broke through. So the idea that the kids in that school are released through rock music hit the rawest possible nerve. I decided I would slightly rebel through music and frankly I would do it through rock. (2016)

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Rehearsing the big flashy styles of Andrew Lloyd Webber

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Rehearsing the big flashy styles of Andrew Lloyd Webber

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The classroom students rehearsing our characters

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Andrew Lloyd Webber’s style has become widely recognised as flashy, powerful and dramatic, using his music to create the atmosphere and set the scene. He has blended a wide range of genres, including rock, English musical-hall song and operatic forms, and has made these genres popular to a wider audience. Andrew Lloyd Webber shows are always a spectacle, and are extremely successful in speaking to the audience they are performing to.

As Britannica.com suggests:

Lloyd Webber’s best musicals were flashy spectacles that featured vivid melodies and forceful and dramatic staging. He was able to blend such disparate genres as rock and roll, English music-hall song, and operatic forms into music that had a wide popular appeal. (2018)

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Andrew Lloyd Webber is world renowned composer and theatre practitioner. His work has made him a billionaire and now in his 70th year, he is still producing big flashy spectacles that wow audiences in theatres around the world. From the research I have done, it seems that Andrew Lloyd Webber was destined to be a hugely successful musician from a very young age, with a talent and passion for music and a vision of how he can use his talent to reach out to society with the powerful messages he portrays, using his vivid melodies and blending of genres. This is a very clever way of reaching out to a much wider audience, and speaking to them and stirring their emotions through theatre.

When asked to choose a theatre practitioner to research and present using their styles and influences, for myself, Andrew Lloyd Webber was the obvious choice. He has influenced me throughout my theatre career and my life, and his music speaks to me and moves me in a way that only his music can. His compositions are full of emotion, power, passion and strength, which is truly an inspiration.

I thoroughly enjoyed this project, and even though at times there were problems we had to overcome, on the whole it went well and we achieved most of what we set out to. This project has taught me a lot about myself and my strengths and weaknesses, and how I can improve as a team player. It has also reignited my passion for performing on stage myself, as I spend a lot of my time directing. I enjoyed being on stage and playing a big character that I could really engage with. This performance did illuminate my lack of confidence with learning lines, as I felt much more comfortable with a script in my hand.

If I were to do this performance presentation again, I would consider putting more research content into the piece, separate the group up a little more to play to each person's individual strengths, and look at using a non-musical song and perform it in the flashy and dramatic style of Andrew Lloyd Webber. I would also encourage all the members of the group to bring forward more ideas and involve themselves fully in the rehearsals and work to move the piece forward, rather than just a few of us.

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Andrew Lloyd Webber has been hugely influenced by music and has played musical instruments most of his life, from the age of 3. Andrew Lloyd Webber came from a very musical background, his father was the director of the London College of Music, his mother was a piano teacher, and his brother Julian, a cellist. Andrew Lloyd Webber began his own musical journey learning the piano, the violin and the French horn at the age of 3 years old, and began composing his own work at just 6 years old.

As Biography.com suggests:

His father was the director of the London College of Music, his mother was a piano teacher and his younger brother, Julian, is a renowned cellist, so one might say that he was born with musical blood running through his veins. A true prodigy, early in life Lloyd Webber played the piano, the violin (at age 3) and the French horn, and began writing his own music (at age 6). (2014)

As Biography.com suggests, Andrew Lloyd Webber harbored a dream since childhood of becoming England’s chief inspector of ancient monuments, and began pursuing this dream in 1965 by attending Westminster School as a Queen’s Scholar and began a course in history at Magdalen College, Oxford. (2014)

Andrew Lloyd Webber did not complete his course however, as he felt that music was his true calling, so he dropped out in the winter of 1965 and began studying at the Royal College of Music instead. His focus was on Musical Theatre, as this was s genre that particularly interested him. (Biography.com 2014)

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Strengths and Weaknesses of Our Group During Rehearsals

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Strengths and Weaknesses of Our Group During Rehearsals

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Our group on the whole worked quite well together, 5 very different people coming together playing to our strengths. Quite early on in the process it was apparent that I was the natural leader of the group, and this dynamic worked well for us as my experience in theatre and directing seemed to help the other group members to have someone to seek advice from and discuss ideas with, that could view it from the production point of view as well as the dramatic and expressive angle. The theme we chose for our piece worked very well with the personalities and current confidence and acting abilities of the group members, which meant the more confident performers among us could take the lead where necessary. Certain members of our group were of very similar mind-set, which was to work as hard as possible and get everything done and decided so we could really engage with and work on our individual performances. Jodie myself and Shelly all shared the same vision and drive to push the piece forward, we were all extremely focused. Jodie is a natural organiser, she and I always work well together as I am the creative and she is the organiser. Shelly was also very dedicated and very much a team player. I really enjoyed working with these two especially as the chemistry between us came through in our individual roles.

The majority of the rehearsals went well, however space to rehearse caused a number of problems for us. During rehearsals we fell into our natural roles and I did tend to be the driving force in making decisions and getting things moving, however this was no problem to me as due to my experience it is something I do regularly.

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How We Implemented Andrew Lloyd Webber's Styles in Our Performance Presentation

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How We Implemented Andrew Lloyd Webber's Styles in Our Performance Presentation

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In the beginning planning stages of our group presentation, each member of our group researched a different area of Andrew Lloyd Webber and his work. We began the process by sitting down together and brainstorming on a spider diagram of our research material and our ideas of the best way we could present them.

Fairly early on in our initial planning stage, we began discussing a classroom setting with students and a teacher. It was then suggested that we could perform it in the style of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s most recent hit musical ‘School of Rock’. This genre would allow big characters and dramatic musical numbers in the style of Andrew Lloyd Webber, and also underpinned a rebellious streak which Andrew Lloyd Webber felt himself while producing the musical School of Rock.

We agreed that the piece would need large characters to enable us to put forward our understanding of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s use of real life experiences, and that it would need to be a dramatic piece with characters that could represent various character traits and genres in a fairly simple environment.

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History and Influences - The Collaboration of Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice

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History and Influences - The Collaboration of Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice

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As mentioned by Biogaphy.com, the person who would soon become Andrew’s long term partner Tim Rice, wrote to Andrew stating that he understood Andrew was looking for a ‘with it’ lyricist and he would be interested. Andrew was intrigued by this letter so met up with Tim. (2014)

This was the beginning of a 12 year partnership between them. Their first musical The Likes of Us (1965) was not a success initially, however their second musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolored Dreamcoat (1968) was an enormous success and one of the longest running musicals in the West End.

As Telegraph.co.uk states:

The pair met when Lord Lloyd-Webber was studying history at Magdalen College, Oxford aged just 16. He dropped out to pursue a musical career with Sir Tim and they worked together for 12 years. Their first collaboration, The Likes of Us, was not immediately successful and was not performed until 2005. However, their second attempt was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, one of the longest-running musicals in the West End. (2018)

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Problems We Overcame and What We Would Do Differently

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Problems We Overcame and What We Would Do Differently

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It was difficult at times to rehearse properly as only myself, Jodie and Shelly were present, the dedication from the others was not as apparent as ourselves. We arranged to rehearse at Jodie’s house on a number of occasions and it was only the 3 of us there, Jess and Ben didn’t attend. Myself, Jodie and Shelly wrote the script, and I put together the sound and lighting scripts. The input from the other group members was a lot less than ours, in both ideas and dedication, however we did not let this stop us as we wanted the piece to be a success. We found that planning set rehearsal times with Ben and Jess while we were in college was the most efficient way of getting the group together, so this is what we did, and full group rehearsals happened more regularly after that.

On reflection, the song ‘Pharaoh’s Story’ lead by myself, should have remained as a solo and not involved the rest of the group. Performing this song did not play to everybody’ strengths, so we should have come up with an alternative performance for the group members who were not confident singers.