Unit 10: Self Reflective Blog 1 (Singing)

Independently Preparing For a Song

To begin preparation for drama school auditions we were given the task to select a pre-1965 musical number in our vocal range, we then had to learn the song off-book and print out the sheet music as we would in a real drama school audition that would require singing a song.

For my song choice I chose. 'When you're good to Mama" from the musical Chicago, sang by Queen Latifah - as "Matron Mama Morton" (The Matron of a women's block in jail who takes bribes from prisoners). I was already familiar with this song as I have watched the film which first debuted in 2002 and I have also performed this song when I was apart of the performing arts company 'Make Believe'.

Chicago is an American musical with music by John Kander and lyrics from Fred Ebb. The story is based on criminal justice and the concept of a celebrity criminal. It follows the trials and tribulations of a slick lawyer representing and defending Velma, a nightclub performer who murdered her husband for infidelity and Roxie Hart who shoots dead a man who manipulates her dreams and uses her for her body.

The original broad way production was performed in the style of Brecht and made audience members feel uncomfortable with the fourth wall being broken, the broad way production opened on June 3rd 1975 at the 46th Street Theatre and ran for a total of 936 performances. However the show struggled as the highly successful 'Chorus Line' came out the same year and beat Chicago in both ticket sales and Tony awards.

Chicago is a 1926 play written by Maurine Dallas Watkins that is best known today as the inspiration for the 1975 stage musical Chicago. The play is a satire and was based on two unrelated 1924 court cases involving two women, Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner, who were both suspected and later acquitted for murder, whom Watkins had covered for the Chicago Tribune as a reporter. The play has been adapted as the 1927 film Chicago, the 1942 film Roxie Hart, and the 1975 stage musical Chicago, which in turn was adapted as the 2002 film Chicago. - Wikipedia

I learned the song off - book and was ready to perform however I was slightly nervous as I anticipated mistakes because it would've been my first time singing alongside the piano. In comparison to practising alone at home. I did quite well as Tom (the pianist and my lecturer) could see I have been practising as I could follow and keep up with the pace of the piano. My one critique was I would have to embody the character with much more confidence as Mama Morton has. It is a big song and Mama Morton is holds a big name of importance in the prison and I would need to represent that. Other than that I picked a well suited song for my voice as it is mostly sang in tenner. In future I will remember to make my performance much bigger and ensure I am telling a story through my song, in order for the audience to understand what I am singing about.

What is the song about?

Matron Mama Morton is in charge of the murderess row in a women's prison. In this number she shows a distressed Roxy Hart around the prison and informs her on how she runs the prison and if she wants to survive her best chance would be to stay on her good side. This is also the first appearance we see of the matron and therefore this is the introduction to her character. It is entertaining to see the contrast in characters, between herself, Velma and Roxie,her character engages us into wanting to know what actually goes on in that prison.