Saturday, May 07, 2005

Character development

This being my first lead, this is also the first time I've had to worry much about character development. I've nearly always done a bit of it in the chorus ("I'm friends with this one, sweet on that one, don't like so-and-so because he mistreats my sister"), but not much, lest I commit the capital offense of "pulling focus". As Emelia in Comedy of Errors I had a bit to do, but most of it was dictated by the director's concept of the show. This time it's different.

I've taken the bare bones of what the director has given me, added my own impression of Pitti-Sing taken from the many times I've seen Mikado, and am starting to play with the mix. I see her as the fearless one of the Three Little Maids, since she's the one who dares to approach Pooh-Bah when he first appears after their arrival and is the one who stands up to Katisha in the Act I finale. She's a little bit awed by Pooh-Bah's obvious importance, but also curious about him. Our director has Pitti end up with Pooh-Bah at the end, so I have her starting to be interested by this "tremendous swell", perhaps a little - hmm, "star-struck" isn't quite the word; perhaps a little too ready to believe Pooh-Bah's lofty opinion of himself? She's rather taken with his voice as he toasts Nanki-Poo in the Act I finale, is not unwilling to help him out in the little deception Ko-Ko and Pooh-Bah develop for the Mikado in Act II, and so on. Obviously I'll need to work this out with our Pooh-Bah, but if we do this properly, the audience won't wonder "when did that happen?" when we end up together at the end of the show.

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