Happily Ever After

PappyCat · Happily Ever After

Hey everyone!

I'm Fred in our production of OUAM. Our director is kinda leaving it up to me to figure out my own choreography for "Happily Ever After," but I'm not much of a choreographer, so I was hoping you guys could tell me what YOU did so that I could get some ideas.

Thanks!

charlie'sgirl

Things to think about when attempting to choreograph...
Do you know what your set looks like? It helps when choreographing to know what you can interact with. Where are you feeding the energy of the song to- is it a personal moment to herself or is she sharing it with the audience? How are singing it- strip down the lyrics and find the key words and phrases have your movement relate to what your saying so that it supports it but doesn't act it out (I hope that make sense, basically the movement should add to the song/story- the audience knows what's going on they don't need every little word acted for them, your movement should intensify/spring from the emotion your trying to get across) and finally how would your character move...a lot of actor's will be completely in character until they have to dance, for some reason dancing freaks them out! Luckily though Happily ever after is more of an acting moment then a dance so just explore the physicality of your characte, after you find who she is moving her will be easy! hope this helps!

LaurelDP

The song is supposed to be a flirty, funny strip tease...

Our Winnifred didn't really have that many layers to take off. She she took off her robe, and danced around her chamber, flirting with our suit of armor, talking into the mirror, standing on boxes, etc etc etc.

Tenalto

For ours, we had a group of five girls and Dauntless on one side of the stage as Fred's "thoughts." They stood back and did some simple dancing while I sang and interacted with the people that trouped across the stage. We also had our Wizard come on in different wigs as the Godmother during the Cinderella verse and the witch in the Rapunzel verse. While the part about Snow White was going on, we had seven boys shuffling across the stage on their knees in floppy felt dwarf hats. When in came time for the "I wanna live happily, happily, etc." part, Dauntless and I stalked toward one another and did some mini-tango steps. After that, I sat on his knee until right before "satisfied," when he and the girls in the background start sidling off stage. Consequently, I landed on the ground and pouted exasperatedly at the crowd as I sang "satisfied." It worked pretty well.

dancingbarefoot

charlie'sgirl gave some really good comments. I would like to add that this a moment where Fred is alone in her room. How do YOU dance or move about while singing in your room? (If you're a singer and into musicals, I know you've done it!) There's an abandon in our movement when we think no one is watching. People try and do things they wouldn't in front of others (and sometimes it backfires - which could be fun to play with this character). I agree, use the set and props as much as possible (is there a bed curtain, hairbrush, table/chair, mirror? in what other ways can they be used?) Also, as was mentioned, the emotions are important. Forget singing for a moment and look at the words as a soliloquy. What is she saying, or thinking out-loud about her situation compared to other famous princesses and how does she feel about it? Hope this helps!

musikal_geek

What I think would be REALLY funny if you casually did things while you sang about the different fairytales, but you weren't acting out the fairytale per se.
For instance, when you sing about Rapunzel, brush your hair. When you sing about Snow White, take a bite out of an apple (if you have a nightstand, you can put one there). When you sing about Cinderella, walk across the stage and accidentally lose a shoe.... things like that! But don't do it as if Winnifred was pretending to be those characters, pretend that all that happens is just a coincidence!

I just thought of this now, so that probably didn't make very much sense... just tell me if it did or not, and I'll come back and fix what I need to. Embarassed

star2ballie

You probably can't do this because it would require casting more people, and it's just you. But.

In our show, whenever Fred did a different princess, the little scene was acted out. Let's see if I can remember:

1.) Ella the girl of the cinders
Did the wash and the walls and the winders
But she landed a prince who was brawny and blue eyed and blond
Still I honestly doubt that she could ever have done it without that
Crazy lady with the wand--Cinderella had outside help!
~For this one, we had a girl come out in a ragged dress and a scrub brush. She scrubbed the floor, and then Prince Charming came out and looked at her all shocked like, "HEY! I FOUND A WINNER!" and he helped her up...and then at the 'still I honestly doubt that', Cinderella spun offstage and did a SUPER quick change into a ball gown, and at the 'crazy lady, with the wand', the fairy godmother spun on in a tizzy, and then pointed her wand offstage. and then Cinderella spun on into the Prince's arms, and they froze, and the lights went off of them.

2.) Snow White was so pretty they tell us
That the queen was insulted and jealous
When the mirror declared that Snow White was the fairest of all
She was dumped on the border
But was saved by some men who adored her
Oh I grant you they were small
But there were 7 of them practically a regiment
~Snow White came out holding a mirror, fluffing her hair and bouncing along with the music, and at "queen was insulted and jealous" the evil queen came out, took the mirror and in its place put the poison apple. Snow White took a 'bite' from it, and fell on the floor. at "some men who adored her", we had seven guys come out as the dwarves...they did the whole fake shoes on their knees, and it was HYSTERICAL. seriously. they all wept over her body, and then all picked her up and carried her offstage.

And we did the revival version of the song, so we didn't do anything for Rapunzel. But it could be done easily, I'm sure.

The song was really, really, really cute. And it gave a few more kids opportunities to do stuff! Smile

PappyCat	Happily Ever After Hey everyone! I'm Fred in our production of OUAM. Our director is kinda leaving it up to me to figure out my own choreography for "Happily Ever After," but I'm not much of a choreographer, so I was hoping you guys could tell me what YOU did so that I could get some ideas. Thanks!
charlie'sgirl	Things to think about when attempting to choreograph... Do you know what your set looks like? It helps when choreographing to know what you can interact with. Where are you feeding the energy of the song to- is it a personal moment to herself or is she sharing it with the audience? How are singing it- strip down the lyrics and find the key words and phrases have your movement relate to what your saying so that it supports it but doesn't act it out (I hope that make sense, basically the movement should add to the song/story- the audience knows what's going on they don't need every little word acted for them, your movement should intensify/spring from the emotion your trying to get across) and finally how would your character move...a lot of actor's will be completely in character until they have to dance, for some reason dancing freaks them out! Luckily though Happily ever after is more of an acting moment then a dance so just explore the physicality of your characte, after you find who she is moving her will be easy! hope this helps!
LaurelDP	The song is supposed to be a flirty, funny strip tease... Our Winnifred didn't really have that many layers to take off. She she took off her robe, and danced around her chamber, flirting with our suit of armor, talking into the mirror, standing on boxes, etc etc etc.
Tenalto	For ours, we had a group of five girls and Dauntless on one side of the stage as Fred's "thoughts." They stood back and did some simple dancing while I sang and interacted with the people that trouped across the stage. We also had our Wizard come on in different wigs as the Godmother during the Cinderella verse and the witch in the Rapunzel verse. While the part about Snow White was going on, we had seven boys shuffling across the stage on their knees in floppy felt dwarf hats. When in came time for the "I wanna live happily, happily, etc." part, Dauntless and I stalked toward one another and did some mini-tango steps. After that, I sat on his knee until right before "satisfied," when he and the girls in the background start sidling off stage. Consequently, I landed on the ground and pouted exasperatedly at the crowd as I sang "satisfied." It worked pretty well.
dancingbarefoot	charlie'sgirl gave some really good comments. I would like to add that this a moment where Fred is alone in her room. How do YOU dance or move about while singing in your room? (If you're a singer and into musicals, I know you've done it!) There's an abandon in our movement when we think no one is watching. People try and do things they wouldn't in front of others (and sometimes it backfires - which could be fun to play with this character). I agree, use the set and props as much as possible (is there a bed curtain, hairbrush, table/chair, mirror? in what other ways can they be used?) Also, as was mentioned, the emotions are important. Forget singing for a moment and look at the words as a soliloquy. What is she saying, or thinking out-loud about her situation compared to other famous princesses and how does she feel about it? Hope this helps!
musikal_geek	What I think would be REALLY funny if you casually did things while you sang about the different fairytales, but you weren't acting out the fairytale per se. For instance, when you sing about Rapunzel, brush your hair. When you sing about Snow White, take a bite out of an apple (if you have a nightstand, you can put one there). When you sing about Cinderella, walk across the stage and accidentally lose a shoe.... things like that! But don't do it as if Winnifred was pretending to be those characters, pretend that all that happens is just a coincidence! I just thought of this now, so that probably didn't make very much sense... just tell me if it did or not, and I'll come back and fix what I need to.
star2ballie	You probably can't do this because it would require casting more people, and it's just you. But. In our show, whenever Fred did a different princess, the little scene was acted out. Let's see if I can remember: 1.) Ella the girl of the cinders Did the wash and the walls and the winders But she landed a prince who was brawny and blue eyed and blond Still I honestly doubt that she could ever have done it without that Crazy lady with the wand--Cinderella had outside help! ~For this one, we had a girl come out in a ragged dress and a scrub brush. She scrubbed the floor, and then Prince Charming came out and looked at her all shocked like, "HEY! I FOUND A WINNER!" and he helped her up...and then at the 'still I honestly doubt that', Cinderella spun offstage and did a SUPER quick change into a ball gown, and at the 'crazy lady, with the wand', the fairy godmother spun on in a tizzy, and then pointed her wand offstage. and then Cinderella spun on into the Prince's arms, and they froze, and the lights went off of them. 2.) Snow White was so pretty they tell us That the queen was insulted and jealous When the mirror declared that Snow White was the fairest of all She was dumped on the border But was saved by some men who adored her Oh I grant you they were small But there were 7 of them practically a regiment ~Snow White came out holding a mirror, fluffing her hair and bouncing along with the music, and at "queen was insulted and jealous" the evil queen came out, took the mirror and in its place put the poison apple. Snow White took a 'bite' from it, and fell on the floor. at "some men who adored her", we had seven guys come out as the dwarves...they did the whole fake shoes on their knees, and it was HYSTERICAL. seriously. they all wept over her body, and then all picked her up and carried her offstage. And we did the revival version of the song, so we didn't do anything for Rapunzel. But it could be done easily, I'm sure. The song was really, really, really cute. And it gave a few more kids opportunities to do stuff!

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Happily Ever After