The opening of a production is arguably the most important piece of choreography. It is the first impression we will create as a company and sets the tone for the entire production; therefore, it is crucial that we get it right!
Personally, I would compare the opening of a show to a warm up. In the same way that a warm up sets you up for a productive rehearsal, the opening of a show sets you up for the remainder of the performance time. If an opening is not strong it is likely that the performance will follow a weak tone throughout. An opening was something that we struggled with for a while and after a work-in-progress show back to Bleeding Edge Theatre Company, we realised that our opening didn’t get across the fun attitude we were hoping it would. It was lacking in energy, making it harder, and almost impossible, for the actors to collect enough energy to last throughout the hour-long show, as they had none to begin with. Ultimately, as choreographer, I made it my responsibility to create an opening number that would act as warm up for The Truth About Bedtime…
I had many ideas for the opening number so I decided to take it solely into my hands. By now, I was aware of the ability of each individual member of the company, so I was able to choregraph accordingly. At this point in the rehearsal process we had become too familiar and attached with our show and consequently had reached a stand-still on the creative side of things. Due to this, my main aim for the rehearsal was to get the company laughing and having fun again. I hoped to bring something new and refreshing to the rehearsal and create something the company would have fun performing.
Song choice felt important to me. I wanted a song that was relatively well known and had a fun, upbeat energy to it. I quickly decided on You Make My Dreams by Daryl Hall and John Oates, sticking with the themes of ‘sleep’, ‘bedtime’ and ‘dreams’. The story I wanted to create through this opening number was friends meeting for a sleepover, creating images of pillow fights and singing into hair brushes. Similar to the exercise, I went for recognisable comedy in this opening number in hope that pillow fights and meeting up with friends would be identifiable for the audience. In addition to this, I decided to include specific movements in the opening number that would foreshadow the play, appearing again in later scenes. A few examples of these included the assisted side lift and aeroplane arms, which appeared again later in the Lucid Dreaming scene.
It was clear to me at the end of this rehearsal that the energy had been lifted back into the rehearsal room again and I was keen to keep this energy towards the opening number fresh for the performance. I was not willing to take the risk of the ensemble becoming bored with the choreography, so it was unanimously agreed that the number would never be performed at full energy until closer to show day. The opening had finally become what we wanted it to be, and it is in my opinion that this was achieved because the company began to enjoy the choreography again. I hoped that this enjoyment so clearly on the face of the actors performing this routine would spread to the faces of the audience, and we would get them excited to discover The Truth About Bedtime…
L.R.
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