Before you have an audience, you are essentially filling their place and have to serve as the audience’s eye as you are directing a musical. As you watch rehearsal you are evaluating what the audience is going to see and making adjustments and choices to provide the best musical possible. But before you get to the point where you can see what you have planned come to life, you have to still utilize that eye while trying to visualize your choices in your head.
In my opinion, having a good “audience’s eye” is one of the most important attributes of a good musical director. It’s not always easy to do… especially when your plan and ideas are just sitting in your noggin!
Check out this video and/or continue reading to learn more...
Using your Audience’s Eye to block your show
Your cast at this point knows WHAT to say. That is given to them in the script. And, before you work on HOW to say it, they need to know WHERE to say it. That comes from blocking and that should be the first thing that you give them. Knowing their physical movements right away will give them plenty of time to remember them AND it helps them be able to work on line memorization as well - linking lines to movement.
All you need to do is focus on simple traffic patterns and positioning! Don’t spend your time developing complicated blocking… at least not right away. Most of the time complicated blocking does just that - complicate things. Simple blocking makes things easy to plan, easy to communicate and easier to learn. If needed, later on in the process, you can always add some extra flare to some of your blocking if you feel like it will enhance the story… basically, that it will actually make sense.
Traffic Patterns
What I mean by traffic patterns is giving entrances, exits, crosses and other basic movement during and between lines. In order to communicate your traffic patterns, it’s important that you (and your cast) know basic stage directions. Here is a chart that you can use to help explain them to your cast. But an easy way to explain it is - if you were standing center stage, facing the audience and you fell onto your back, those would be the directions.
In order to keep things clear, I would also name the entrance and exit spots based on your theater and your show’s set. If there are doors or main spaces for coming on and off the stage, name them and stay consistent with what you call them.
Make sure you and your cast have a simplified downward view of your set that can be used as a visual for blocking - planning and communicating. Feel free to mark the stage directions on it as well as the specific names for the entrances/exits.
Creating Pictures - Positioning
Do not feel bad if creating pictures does not come easy to you. Creating pictures is not the easiest thing to do. If you think about it, it is a lot like creating a painting. Basically, you are creating a live composition the same way that a painter would paint a 2D composition. And building a well composed picture is one of the hardest tasks for a new painter and director.
In art, “composition” is the term used to describe the arrangement of the visual elements in a painting or other artwork. It is how the elements of art (line, shape, color, value, texture, form, and space) are organized or composed using the principles of art (balance, contrast, emphasis, movement, pattern, rhythm, unity/variety) to give the painting structure and convey the intent of the artist. So yeah… not the simplest thing to digest! Hahaha.
Instead of thinking too hard about this though, take a moment and look at some of your favorite artist’s work - especially the “old masters”. AND, try to find paintings where there is a group of people obviously. What you can take away from this is how they have to arrange the people in their works so that they can all be seen. That is the point. We want to see everyone!
Some simple rules to remember:
Make sure that the audience can see the action
Triangles are great!
Actors need to “cheat out” to see faces
That basically means that their body should never really turn more than 45ª away from the audience
Avoid full profile and definitely no butt shots!
Asymmetry is a good goal, but really, you just need to keep things balanced on stage
Avoid straight lines… until the kick line actually starts (your ensemble is going to want to get into a line while they are onstage and you have to break that up!)
How do you prepare yourself to give blocking?
I am sure that there are a ton of different ways for you to make your notes in preparation to give your blocking to your actors. The way that I do it is by having a basic drawing of the set that I can draw into my script and then use initials of the characters and simple arrows to mark movement. You might not always need the simple set drawing to convey certain movements. You might not even need the arrows and might just make simple blocking notes.
I normally just add little sketches of the set in the margins, but Michael actually creates a page that has two simple set drawings on it. He will then print that page out the same number of pages as his script and then print his script (single-sided) onto those pages. Basically, it lets him set up his script, when opened, with the set drawings on the left and the script page on the right.
The moral of the story is that you need to find the simplest and most organized way for you to get your ideas onto paper so when you are in rehearsal you can easily and confidently relay your plan to your actors.
Like everything else in directing your musical, being prepared is key
You need to be prepared when directing a musical and ready to teach the blocking of your scenes. Have notes ready so you can relay basic traffic patterns and set pictures efficiently and effectively. BUT, it’s also important to be open for change. As you give your musical blocking and watch it come to life, some things might not feel right. That’s ok. Your cast will see that you were obviously prepared, but that you want to try something new for the sake of a better outcome. Hang loose and be willing to try new things when necessary.
Once your actors have the basic foundation of movement, these basic traffic patterns and positions, then you will be able to get into more of the fun work of acting - reactions, their motivations, building characters, etc.
We are building out a library of resources that is aimed to help you in your directing journey. There is a Character Breakdown Spreadsheet that is an essential tool in planning your production and a Character Worksheet which is great for helping your entire cast (especially your ensemble members) build fun characters. I would definitely recommend downloading that worksheet. It makes the entire process so much more fun for your actors.
