Wizard of Oz 👠✨
Week 13 of Milly’s acting journey
Where to start, I knew this week was going to be packed, busy yet extremely exciting. And that’s exactly what it was like, plus much more. I feel like before this week, I was a different person when it came to my growth as a performer and a person. I’ve learnt what it’s like performing on stage by yourself for a period of time and how to always keep responding to others physically in both speech and facial expressions and body language. I also now know how rewarding it feels after a show, and how much you just want to do so many more shows after the last. It’s been such an amazing experience performing the iconic character of Dorothy and for me it couldn’t have gone any better.
Dorothy Gale - 7th and 9th
7th - First Show Day
Our first show on the 6th definitely rattled our Cast 2's expectations due to it ending up being a really good dress run. The audience wasn't enthusiastic which didn't allow any laughs or energy to be felt, making it awkward for the actors on stage. Lines had been forgotten that were key and main props like the Tin Man's oil can was missing and the green spectacles in Oz, which disturbed the magic of the show. It showed me what to remember for our first show, like be at the wings as the audience are walking in so that no one is chasing around for me, know where Toto and the basket is along with lots of main props like the green glasses were in the basket and especially my ruby slippers since I wear them for the majority of the show. The actors in the first cast were amazing, I think just knowing props were missing and lines were being jumbled around, messed with their head a little bit.
AM SHOW (7TH)
It's official, I had my Dorothy debut! The 7th came, and before I left the house, my mam said how she was excited to see me tonight. I only thought she was watching my final show, which proved to be wrong as I was then informed, her, my nannie and grandad, and my next door neighbour would be coming also. This definitely brought on some nerves, as I wanted to have a few attempts in front of an unknown audience before the final show in front of friends and family. However, I put it to the back of my mind and looked forward to our first morning show. I went straight into the makeup room, and a girl called Millie Collier came and said she would be doing my makeup. We both shared that sense of nervousness, since she was nervous she was doing a principle cast member's makeup and didn't want it to go bad, and I was nervous since I was performing as Dorothy in front of audience for the first time. This led to us just slowly diverting into talking about our course and how we felt about it. This definitely made me calmer and upon leaving the makeup room, I picked up my Dorothy dress ready to get changed into. My hair was braided as best as possible to appear like Dorothy's and I think makeup did an outstanding job! The time was edging nearer to opening the doors for the audience and me and Emie both shared a pep-talk with each other, reminding each other that we would be amazing, and if necessary, treat it like a very professional dress run to not apply too much pressure as we knew that the audience were students and there wouldn't be any family or friends. I was glad we had that chance beforehand, as during the interval I was ready and prepared for the second half thanks to a quick look over of the script to jog my memory and we had barely any time to do anything else if you were on stage straight away. When the show finished, I remember feeling this huge feeling of relief. It had it's mistakes like all first shows, and we know how to improve next time around, but knowing we did it from the start all the way to the end just made me really calm and prepared for the show later on in the day. When our cast got together to discuss how it went, we all said how we needed to re-rehearse Act 2, as we kept missing lines and taking pauses when we couldn't remember what to say or what was to happen next. That meant it was our main objective before going into the second show, and we did it straight after Kelly had given us her thoughts and opinions. We also said as a cast how we could have had more energy and been further into character as we had been, to make it really over the top and not naturalistic. Our main struggle was figuring out when and where our many chants came into play, since we knew we missed two out but couldn't remember where they should have been. With all of this in mind, we took on Kelly's thoughts which was similar to what we all thought, along with speaking clearer and not rushing at all any of our lines as there were times when they weren't understandable to even Kelly, who was sat up in the box at the back. I had a specific improvement, which was during my emotive conversation with the Lion, to not go quiet when I'm showing sadness, as it's an important scene and you need to hear the words Dorothy is speaking. Again, with all of this on board I made sure to practise any things I struggled with and had major concern with.
PM (7TH)
WOW! There is nothing like the feeling I felt when we finished our evening show. The audience was full of energy, and I constantly felt encouraged throughout. Again, it was not perfect, but our Act 2 was so much better than our first show by a mile as lines were well remembered and if one was missed, myself and others would prompt with an improvised line. It really showed our true teamwork and chemistry as a whole. I felt really nervous beforehand since I knew my good friend and some of my family would be there too watching me, so there slight pressure since you always want to do really well in front of your loved ones, so it was a natural instinct. Thankfully, it went swimmingly, and my personal goal was to take on Kelly’s advice of being clearer during more sadder and emotive scenes, alongside being more expressive and youthful as Dorothy. I felt like I accomplished this as I felt coming off the stage during the interval quite proud of myself, and made sure entering into the second act, to keep it going until the very end. It was quite funny as when I first entered the stage, Callum, who plays my Wizard, is meant to pass me Toto as I’m shouting out for him, but since it was delayed, I must have called him twelve times and the audience started to laugh when they caught on to the fact it shouldn’t have happened. I made sure to keep in character however and stay quite distressful and worried, but not over the top, and making sure that I kept noticing the tornado coming my way. Despite that minuscule hurdle, the entire show felt very successful and seeing everyone after being so lovely and kind to me made me feel just so loved. What made the entire show an even lovelier show, was the fact my best friend from secondary came to the show and I didn’t realise until Act 2, during the scene where the Wizard is explaining to us the real truth. As I turned my head to look forward and above the audience, I caught her eye on the front row directly in front of me and I was just so surprised. I had to really keep my cool and try not to cry which was hard haah. Before leaving, I made sure to see Kelly and thank her so much for allowing me the chance to feel so privileged and told her how grateful I was for this role. I felt excited and so ready for Friday for our final shows.
9th - Second and Final Show Day
AM (9TH)
Walking into college, I remember feeling raring to go and put everything I had improved on into my performance. We had to be in earlier for 9 since our first show was at a slightly earlier time of 12 since we were performing to a whole group of y7's from Ingleby Manor. I felt a sense of pressure to make it really good and animated since this performance would perhaps interest a few of them to want to eventually join our course. I made that my main aim for the first show, to make myself very expressive and show off any acting abilities I could show so that the students would be more intrigued and interested. Before the start of the show, we as a cast were getting prepared as we had started the morning on quite the disastrous front, with us missing both an Aunt Em and our Lion. This definitely rattled our nerves, especially mine as I knew the audience was fully packed and I wanted it so badly to be a great show. The amazing Alan and Freya were our stand-ins and I kept thanking them for being so involved and despite it not being their cast, for being so open and literally saving our show. I thought our first show went really well, there was difficulty which we prepared ourselves for since with Alan not knowing how we have staged scenes like the chants, we had to remove them and keep things simple but make sure Alan was still his own Lion. We didn't want to change how he performed his character at all despite Geoffrey's Lion being very different. We slowly adapted and it fit into place all of our characters by the middle of Act 1. The audience definitely made us all very energetic, and I could feel us easily bounce off each other. They kept making me laugh because whenever the lights dimmed and the room went pitch black, they all began screaming and shouting which made me laugh as they must have all thought something or someone was going to scare them. However, I loved their excitement and what made my heart melt was during act 2, when three young girls at the front near to where I was sat in the scene, all were trying to say hi to me and toto. Moments like this definitely encouraged me to keep the magic real. In all the shows we have done so far, all the cast can go outside and interact with the audience - in character, if its students or outsiders and as yourself if it's obviously family or friends. It was really how you wanted to go around it, but since it was young y7's I wanted to stay in character and made sure to bring Toto with me. The same three girls came up to me and were petting Toto and kept saying how I was their favourite which I replied in my Kansas accent thank you so much. Despite it being a very differently thought out show, I enjoyed sharing the stage with new people and it proved how we can all get through moments of hardship if we work together. With one final show left, my main aim was to make it the best show yet!
PM (9TH)
Due to the first show being so early, it meant there was huge gap till 7 which was when our second show would begin. This meant I had to look after my hair especially well since it had been done this morning by my mam as makeup didn't have time to do it due to the early show. However, due to such a big gap I made sure to make the most of it and double check my lines, practice any scenes like the chants where it could be a lot better and mainly just relax and rest so that I'm not getting nervous for our last show. Me and Millie T heard music in the theatre so had a little dance, and we all kept laughing which I just loved since all my worries had disappeared. Soon, our cast's last performance was about to take place and more than anything I was excited to show my friends and family what I've been working hard on, and I was ready and prepared to make it an amazing show for everyone. I learnt earlier on in my course that my hairdresser/ boss was also Emie's hairdresser which made me realise we live in such a small world. In this show, I knew also that Nicola would be in the audience with my family, which I told Emie, and she was so surprised. During the interval, we went to the wings and tried to spot her, and she was three rows up from the front which we tried to remember during our bows. I of course spotted my family before the show began, and I remember feeling very loved knowing they were all there and supporting me. The first Act went amazing, and when walking off Emie turned to me and went "This is going so good!" alongside an internal scream of happiness that we shared together. It got me all excited for the final Act, and since it was the final time I'd be Dorothy, I made sure to go and smash it. My last line is ".... the grass really is greener in your own backyard" which I mixed up and instead spoke ".... the green really is grasser in your own backyard". I walked off and laughed at myself as it was like Milly came out for a second as I tend to jumble my words when I'm excited. Taking my final bow was so surreal and I felt so emotional as this whole experience was nothing like I could have thought of when I first walked into college in September. Being the last person out to take a bow too added to the moment and looking and seeing my family made it all the more worthwhile. I can't express how grateful I felt, being able to share this experience with my new friends that share the same passion of acting with me and performing a character that has a special place in my families' hearts. It's a memory I won't ever forget.
I asked my mum and dad what they thought of my performance as Dorothy and this is what they said:
Mam : When I saw my daughter play Dorothy Gale I can
honestly say it was a special moment as Milly was in her comfort place , she
was alive and doing what she has always wanted to do. She brought you into Oz
along with her peers and led everyone through the journey she was on. Amazing x
Munchkin - 6th and 13th
Being a Munchkin was so much fun as it showed me how important being a part of an ensemble is. You need to be lively and intrigued, no matter how silly you may feel as to the audience they can easily spot someone who isn't giving their all when everyone else is. Being a munchkin consisted of surrounding Dorothy, looking intently at her as the Good Witch of the North speaks to her. We also had to run away in fear when the Wicked Witch appeared to show the power, she has over us Munchkins. We all had personal characters, so I was Rose, my job was hairdresser in Munchkin Land, and I was Bonnie's mum (played by Emie) and I worked with Pop Corn (played by Emily Howard). On top of that, we had to create a story of how much we were forever in awe of the Good Witch, which I said I cut and styled her hair for her, and she told me she loved it. We all had an additional prop that we brought on stage to add more character to our stage presence, in which I brought a blue hairbrush to tie in with the blue outfits we all had to wear. Whenever I would perform as Dorothy, I knew how much I needed the Munchkins to be energetic, full of life and interactive which made me keep that up for when I was Munchkin for Latoya's Dorothy. You learn to interact with the Munchkins as they fill the stage which I always loved as Dorothy as you shared a moment with them, and it showed how loving and sweet she is. When I was Munchkin, I remember my hairbrush dropped out of my pocket by accident and I had no idea where it fell to, so in character I had to slowly look around for it. At the time, I was stressing a lot since if I didn't find it in time, it meant it was on stage for the rest of the show and I did not want that to happen at all. I eventually found it under Charley's dress as she was walking towards Dorothy, and I ran to pick it up and held it as tight as possible. Looking back, I now laugh but it shows that accidents can happen and to always keep your cool and stay in character. I loved being a Munchkin as it was something new to me and I enjoyed every second.
Ozian - 8th and 14th
The colour for Ozians are green which meant my whole outfit and makeup would have to tie in with that colour. The experience was a lot like the Munchkins but being an Ozian consisted of a lot of structure and being told where to stand and walk. For example, we march on stage to the sound of a drumbeat, we pass each other through gaps and march on the spot. This highlights how strict and controlled Ozians are in comparison to the Munchkins who waltz in when very relaxed and not being told what to do. I liked some order as it was something we would practices, and I could easily remember it overtime. As an Ozian, I kept my hairdresser character and my prop was a green hairclip, but we all had to have a pair of green glasses. The green glasses were talked about all the time on stage whilst they were in Oz, as they are meant to keep your eyes from being blinded by the green. I made sure to keep them either with me all day or in safe spot when the time came to needing them. Overall, being a Ozian was very different to being a Munchkin, but they both showed me about the importance of an ensemble.
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