144 – Musical Casting (8)
“I had many dreams when I was young, but now I can’t remember which rented room I left them in~♪”
Lucky Seven Entertainment headquarters building training room.
The vocal trainer, dance trainer, and acting trainer first checked Goo Ga-eun’s current skills.
Instead of trainer Song Hyun-seung, we called in someone with experience in musical vocals.
[Name: Gu Ga-eun]
[Vocal: 65 → 70 / Dance: 72 → 75 / Talking: 64 → 67 / Visual: 76 → 77]
As a result of her experience as an idol, her abilities have increased considerably.
Since she is an all-rounder, this was actually Gu Ga-eun’s limit.
As this audition was not a typical audition, she decided to try three numbers.
In general, music in musicals seemed to be called numbers.
She had to practice the parts before and after the number because she had to see the acting as well.
“What does this mean?”
Goo Ga-eun acted by saying the line behind number 1.
I also opened the script once.
It was a script written for the musical .
—-
I hear a strange sound outside. Seo-ah opens the door and looks into the hallway.
Seo-ah: (Turns her head left and right sharply) What does this mean?
She confirms that there is nothing and closes her door again.
—-
It was expressed exactly as it appeared in the script.
There was some awkwardness in his movements, but I didn’t think his skills were that bad.
But the acting trainer,
“Um… ….”
She tilted her head.
First, the vocal trainer cleared his throat and commented on Koo Ga-eun’s song he had just heard.
“Overall, it’s not bad. However, I think it would be good to basically have a lot of choir singing in musicals, so the vocal range should be reduced but made clear.”
“It’s a sanctuary… ?”
Gu Ga-eun tilted her head.
It seemed like they didn’t know what a sanctuary was.
Well, I had no choice since I kept theory classes to a minimum while attending school in order to raise my vocal ability as quickly as possible.
“Why, for men there is bass, baritone, and tenor, and for women there are contralto, mezzo-soprano, and soprano.”
“Ah… !”
That’s how much you learn in music class at school.
The vocal trainer continued speaking while looking at the sheet music.
“Basically, since the role of Seo-ah is a soprano, I play soprano, but even within soprano, there are many different types.”
“Okay… ?”
From here on, facts that I did not know came out of the vocal trainer’s mouth.
As musicals are a genre originally derived from opera, it is said that they borrow some of the theories used in vocal music.
Of course, musicals are now completely different from operas, so there are many aspects that have developed independently.
“I think the lyric soprano would be a good fit for the role of Seo-ah, and Ga-eun’s vocals are closer to that, so I think she’ll just have to practice with the lyric.”
“Yes, yes…” ! But what is a lyric soprano? ?”
The vocal trainer briefly explained the lyric soprano.
It is a soft and lyrical vocal.
It is a type that is suitable for lyrical songs that are not too dark but not too bright, so they are often used for female leads in musicals.
However, even if she plays a lyric soprano, Ga-eun Koo says that she is doing a musical and not an opera, so she goes about it in that way.
Operations do not use microphones, so vocalizations that spread to the end of the performance hall are used, while musicals use microphones, so there is no need to do so, so the singing style is relatively free.
This time, the dance trainer spoke to Gu Ga-eun.
“Musical dance is often mixed with jazz dance or pure dance. But musicals draw on all kinds of genres. “I think it would be good to learn a few different genres at this point.”
“Yes… !”
Even with the same all-rounder type, there are slight differences.
While Jo Min-ju is slightly better at vocals than dancing,
Goo Ga-eun, on the other hand, is better at dancing than vocals.
Therefore, the portion of practice for this musical seemed to focus on strengthening vocals, which were slightly lacking among dance and vocals.
If there is anything I need to practice in terms of dancing, it is because my only experience so far is dancing alone with Jo Min-ju.
How about dancing with several other people?
Instead of the dance trainer who finished speaking briefly, the acting trainer who had tilted his head earlier spoke to Gu Ga-eun.
“I was a little worried that Ga-eun would be hurt….”
“It’s okay…” ! I know I can’t act too… !!”
“I understand. Right now, to put it mildly, I’m just at a beginner’s level. Honestly, if you put me on stage like this, no matter how much I am an idol, I will only get criticized.”
“Yes… ….”
Gu Ga-eun lowered her head and slumped her shoulders as if she was downcast.
Then, her acting trainer seemed embarrassed and did his best to comfort her by saying, “It’s natural because she hasn’t had much acting training, yes.”
… If she gets upset by saying something wrong, it could affect her successful idol career, so her acting trainer seemed to pay as much attention to her mentality as possible.
“Basically, both plays and musicals are stage acting, so there is not a huge difference, but it is good to know that musicals are approached more emotionally by the audience.”
“It’s emotional… ?”
“People who want to deal with the theme of a play in a profound way, or sometimes think about philosophical things, generally watch plays. On the other hand, many people come to see musicals because they are touching and fun to watch.”
“Something is difficult….”
To be honest, I am not very knowledgeable about musicals, so I just nodded and listened to her.
Actually, the content contained in the script for Was not an extremely difficult story.
Does it feel like a story about people living in a gosiwon, or in other words, a humorous take on the difficult days of small-town citizens?
“If it were a large theater, you would have to move louder and speak louder, but this time, since it is a small theater, I don’t think it will be necessary to that extent.”
“Okay… ?”
“The reason we move loudly and speak loudly is to make people see and hear from far away, but that’s not necessary in a small theater. “You just have to pronounce it correctly.”
‘Studio Neckmu’ was really so tight on funds that even though it was a fairly large production company, it was scheduled to perform at a mere 100 seats in Daehakro.
When I think about the time when Yellow Cow was Red Dragon, the Hongdae live club I rented for them to test themselves had a capacity of 500 people….
“You opened the door earlier and looked around outside. “At that time, I couldn’t really convey my emotions.”
“Emotions… ?”
“Think about it, Yeoju Seo-ah just moved into a goshiwon. It’s a place I don’t really want. But I hear a strange sound outside. “You must be psychologically anxious, right?”
“Is that so… ?”
“… ….”
Koo Ga-eun is not only the daughter of Tomoe, the daughter of a wealthy family, but also the daughter of the founder of a successful mid-sized company.
Compared to ordinary people, she has lived a much more prosperous life.
Of course, I don’t know in detail what kind of place gosiwon is, and I can’t even sympathize with the desperate feelings of those people.
However, the background of this musical is Gosiwon.
It was closer to a story depicting the lives of the urban poor, beyond the common people.
Vocals and dance aside, the key was whether Koo Ga-eun would be able to understand the character ‘Seo-ah’ in the musical.
The acting trainer slowly came towards me and whispered in her ear.
“You shouldn’t let people experience goshiwon… ?”
“That’s not possible.”
Gu Ga-eun is already famous in the world as the daughter of a rich family, but it was obvious that public opinion would not be good if the story of her experience at the gosiwon spread.
A rich family’s daughter cosplays as a commoner.
Even so, there is a strong trend on the Internet that even her poverty is being stolen by her rich people.
I approached Gu Ga-eun and tried talking to her, though I wasn’t sure if it would help.
“Think of it this way. You did something wrong and were put in solitary confinement in prison. But I heard a person groaning in great pain from beyond the door. “Then you’re anxious, right?”
“Well, that’s right…” !!”
… Gosiwon is not a solitary prison, but if Goo Ga-eun were to suddenly end up in a gosiwon, she would feel that way.
From noble mtl dot com
Honestly, I don’t like it even if it’s me.
Goo Ga-eun once again, she performed the part right after the song ended.
Oh, she was much more lively than before.
It’s not for nothing that actors become somewhat immersed in their roles.
The acting trainer muttered quietly next to him.
“You are better at teaching than me….”
I tried to protect the pride of being her acting trainer by saying that it was just because I had known Goo Ga-eun for a while.
Why do I have to worry about the mentality of my acting trainer….
***
“I had many dreams when I was young, but now I can’t remember which rented room I left them in~♪”
Private practice room in Gangnam.
As Eunjin Lim looked at the score, she sang number 1.
The guide vocalist suddenly got into a car accident, so we had to practice without a guide vocalist.
The private practice room here was also not free.
They signed a contract with ‘Studio Neckmu’, which only gave them a discount on the price, and Eunjin Lim paid the costs.
She had no intention of becoming an idol, but she was a little envious of the fact that they fully subsidized the rental fee regardless of whether the practice room was in-house or off-site.
After singing number 1, Eunjin Lim moved the mouse connected to her laptop.
And then I clicked the stop recording button.
It was a necessary procedure for her to check for herself how she sang in the absence of a teacher.
‘I feel like I’m putting too much pressure on my neck, or maybe I’m not….’
There is nothing more difficult for her than looking at herself objectively.
It would be great if the company provided a trainer to give feedback, but there was no such support.
This time, I uploaded her choreography video on my laptop and imitated her movements.
Still, thanks to the filming equipment provided by her practice studio, she had no difficulty taking pictures of herself.
After that, she spent a lot of time comparing and analyzing the videos.
‘If you just practice hard for two weeks like this….’
The heroine of this play happens to be living in a gosiwon.
Lim Eun-jin was also a person who slept in a gosiwon in Gangnam.
I looked it up on the Internet and found out that Gu Ga-eun is the daughter of a rich family.
Lim Eun-jin thought that there was no way she could surpass her, at least in terms of acting.