Tongue Twisters, Memorizing Lines & Interpreting Dialogue – Princess Shayna Musical

Last Week’s Post: 11.”Kvelling” Bursting with Joy –  Princess Shayna Musical

WOW, this is the 12th Princess Shayna Musical journal entry/blog post from the multi-talented, skillful  and encouraging director,  Kim Woycke.

Only 18 more days until the performance!

I was most impressed with the cast members rehearsal last Friday. Some of the children brought costumes for their roles and ones they thought would be perfect for another character. I love observing how the cast members share their ideas about different character’s attire, their own costumes, and their offers to share clothing or costumes with each other! It is most heartwarming to see how the cast and Kim have created their own Kingdom of Kindness, which is filled with an abundance of encouragement, commitment, generosity, talent and laughter!

Kim has decided to extend the next three Friday rehearsals by one hour, to have more time to work with the cast. I admire Kim’s Yellow Preparedness and Blue Thoughtfulness to offer the cast members an extended rehearsal time to make sure they feel confident and comfortable about their lines and their performance.

“Wow!  Our musical is really starting to take shape.  This week was a  very exciting week for me, as we had our first “Stumble Through”.  (A stumble-through is exactly what it sounds like – a first run through the show, where we do our best to just plow ahead and sloppily get through all of the material).

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with our progress of the show.  After discussing a few logistical details with the cast we were able to start are run-though.  This was the first week that I asked the cast to be “off-book” (meaning their lines memorized) and I was very happy with how well they knew their parts!  We didn’t quite make it through the entire show, but in general the cast remembered the work we had done!  I am excited for this coming week when we’ll be able to really start polishing and adding finesse to the show.

One of the things that really pleased me the most this week had to do with the actors and their lines.  When writing the show, we really worked to incorporate as much of the original dialogue as we could.  However, as Sheila and I have discussed, the beautiful poetry can almost turn out like a tongue-twister when read out loud.  I was very impressed with two specific aspects of how the cast approached their lines:

1) Some cast members were amazing and memorized everything word-for-word.  They were able to focus on the detail of the writing and bring it to life so completely and descriptively.

2) For those that have a little more difficulty with memorization, I was really impressed.  I have always reminded the cast that they have say in writing their lines, and if they find a way to express the same thought with different words, that I am open to that.  Some cast members did a wonderful job editing the lines that we originally wrote to make them more manageable for them to memorize confidently.  I was so impressed with the cast members that did this, as they really were able to find the most important parts of the lines and they were able to bring those thoughts out concisely and clearly.

I am looking forward to continuing to rehearse our show.  We have three final rehearsals left, and then it’s off to the theater!  I am very proud of what our cast has been able to accomplish so far, and am looking forward to another great run-through next week.”

I am looking forward to tomorrow’s rehearsal and watching the cast members perform in their costumes!

Below are the 10 previous blog post that will guide you through the Princess Shayna Musical production process. Now, you can also read them on the NEW Princess Shayna’s Pages on my website. Be sure to read the Princess Shayna Musical Announcement for details about the performance!

10. Actors Create Village Scenes, Songs, Choreography and Walls – Princess Shayna Musical 

9. Singing Visit to the Brain Color Villages – Princess Shayna Musical

8. Characters’ Back-Story & Staging Scenes – Princess Shayna Musical

7. Young Song Writers Compose Original Music & Lyrics – Princess Shayna Musical

6. Building A Strong Collaborative Community – Princess Shayna Musical

5. Students Plan, Compose & Connect Emotions to Music & Lyrics – Princess Shayna Musical

4. Students Create Their Own Kingdom of Kindness – Princess Shayna Musical

3. Auditions, Rehearsal, Casting & Music – Princess Shayna Musical

2. Diabetes, An Actress & A Royal Wizard – Princess Shayna Musical

1. Princess Shayna – A New & Original Children’s Musical

“Sigmund the Royal Wizard says, “Rimsiyavyo,  Discover 5 Ways To Boost Your Brain Power…
Scroll up to the right-hand column on this page and Click on # 3. to  Sign up for Sheila Blog
don’t forget, 10% of the royalties from the sale of Sheila’s books is allocated to JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) .”

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