Each year, my school puts on the most amazing musical performances. In 2023 I decided that I wanted to be a part of these stage spectacles. And so, I did an audition and got the part of Chuck Cranston. I was over the moon with this part. I knew that Chuck Cranston was going to be such a fun part to play. Chuck is Arial's (the main character's) boyfriend. Chuck is very controlling of her and treats her as a sex object which is made clear in his song "The Girl Gets Around". Chuck is an all round bad-boy, he disobeys the rules, gets into fights, and he is very disrespectful. Chuck has his brain-dead disciples also who view him as some sort of rightious leader. So, how could such a rough character be so fun to play? Well, becuase that's what acting is all about: embracing a character who you can't actually be in real life.

Upon recieving my script, I immediately set to work reading the entire script. As I read, my mind flooded with ideas of how to play this character. I whipped out my trusty old pencil and marked my ideas down. Once I had read the script a good three times, I wrote a "character report" for Chuck Cranston, analysing him as a character and setting out how I wanted to play him. I wanted him to appear mean and tough but also a bit stupid to show the foolishness that people like him posses. I wanted him to come across as sort of cool, calm and collected and have him be in charge of the scene in a kind of arrogant way but also as a hot-headed delinquant when he doesn't get his way, like a baby, again showing his foolishness. The director also wanted Chuck to have a Southern American accent. I knew that this would be a challenge, but after all, nothing is impossible. To get the accent down, I began by listening to songs that are sang in Southern American accents, such as "Our Song" by Taylor Swift; "The Git Up" by Blanco Brown; and "Honey I'm Good" by Andy Grammer; and a heck of a lot of Elvis! I would first listen to them, and then sing the songs while attempting to replicate their accents. I noticed that in the Southern accent, vowels are often elongated and slid. The "i"s are more like "ah"s. Once I had the basics down, I watched some videos on YouTube on how to do a Southern Accent. I watched the videos after learning the basics myself because I believe that self-exploration and discovery are ultimately going to be more memorable and beneficial for learning the accent as opposed to just being told how to do the accent by a YouTuber.

Rehearsals

We rehearsed frequently - every Tuesday and Friday after school from 3:10 to 5:30. We would also rehearse some lunchtimes and weekends. I was in the unique position of being apart of both casts. For our production of Footloose, there were two casts. That means each character had two people playing it. One cast would perform twice on the first day, and the other cast would perform twice on the second day, and then the first cast would perform again twice on the third day, and finally the second cast would perform again twice on the fourth day. Luckily for me, I was asked to perform in every show with both casts.

Singing

Before footloose, I had never sang a solo infront of anybody before, let alone an entire audience. Chuck had three songs in total. Two of which were fairly small. The first song was "The Girl Gets Around" which also happened to be the first solo song in the entire show, so the pressure was definately on as the perception of my performance would set the standard for the show. The song lyrics describe a woman who outwardly presents herself as innocent and naïve, but in reality, she is experienced and knows what she wants. Despite her appearance of innocence, she's skilled and confident in her actions and interactions, especially romantically. Chuck admires her boldness and is captivated by her, acknowledging that she has a powerful and irresistible allure. The repeated phrase "The Girl Gets Around" emphasises her active and adventurous nature. The song is sang quite high, which is not great for me as I have one of the world's deepest voices, so we transposed it down by a fifth. I practised this song with my singing teacher at least once a week for twenty minutes. Chuck's other two songs, "After Girl" & "Somebodies Eyes Reprise" were fairly small and simple, so we left learning these until the week before the show.

Dancing

Luckily for me, Chuck isn't really the dancing type, however he did have to dance in his solo songs: "The Girl Gets Around" and "After Girl". We covered the choreography for "The Girl Gets Around" in one rehearsal session after school. I have never danced before, so this was a completely foreign skill to me. I was really struggling to both execute and remember the moves. During that initial session, I messed up about a million times! I kept practising on my own after the first session, and I was able to get better at it, but now arose a new challenge - singing and dancing at the same time. Now, this really was a challenge, so much so that both I and my backup dancers completely messed up during our first full run through of the show. While the mess-up was catastrophic at the time, with the whole cast and directors looking thoroughly unimpressed, it acted as a volta for me and the other dancers to work 10 times harder on the dance. So, that is what we did. My sister was actually the dance captain, who had choreographed the dance for "The Girl Gets Around" so she and I got to work, for several hours on multiple evenings to help me nail the moves. Once I had all the moves down, I arranged group reheasals, first with just myself and the guys playing Chuck's mates. We bashed out the moves together after school for three hours straight on three consecutive evenings.

Watch our runthrough of the dance from one of our rehearsal evenings:

We sent this video to the cast and director who were thoroughly pleased with our progress, so as the final piece of the pie, I called a dance rehearsal for all of the dancers featured in "The Girl Gets Around". The lead director was so pleased with our progress, that she let us come up with our own choreography to the song: "After Girl". The next day, we had a reheasal of the "Girl Gets Around" with all twenty dancers involved and it went wonderfully. The hard work really did pay off and morale was high.

The Show

Show week had come. The week where all of our hard work gets displayed. I was quite nervous, but this was drowned out by my sheer excitement. I got into school early for my hair and makeup. Makeup is not my forte nor is hair, so my sister did my hair and one of the dancers did my makeup. I looked fabulous (if I may say so myself!). With my hair and makeup done, I took to the stage to do some last minute rehearsing with my fellow cast members but before we knew it, it was showtime. I put on my costume and admired myself in the mirror before we were called for a sound check.

📷 Me with my hair and makeup done and in my Footloose costume

As we lined up on stage undergoing our sound check, I began to get quite nervous. I wasn't nervous about the acting or the dancing, but the singing. I had never sang infront of an audience before on my own, and I was singing extremely high in my range. My song was also the first solo of the show, which is good because it meant that I would get it out of the way and put an end to my nervousness quite quickly, but also gave me the pressure of being the person to set the standard for the show. But time doesn't wait for anyone. We all gathered backstage, some people shaking with excitement, others shaking with fear. Behind the thin stage walls, an echo chamber of audience members' chatter could be heard. It certainly sounded like there were a lot of people in the auditorium. Then the chatter stops and all falls silent. The silence only broken by the welcoming of the headteacher. This was it. The show was about to begin. I was so nervous yet so excited. As the headteacher wraps up and the audience put their hands together, we all huddled in the wings waiting for the music to start. And there it was, the conductor had waved her wand and the musicians began to play. There was no going back now. People slowly trickled out onto the stage in the opening number, "On Any Sunday". Every member of the show, including myself was present in this number. I was one of the last to go on, and when I did go on, my nerves were not calmed. The audience was large but lively. Before I knew it, the opening was done, and it was my time to shine. I paced around in the wings trying to calm myself, taking deep breaths as I did, until the stage lights flickered on and I had to perform. I walked out like a semi-drunken stud with my cigarette in hand and the audience couldn't stop laughing at me. Their laughter actually helped to calm my nerves somewhat as I had wanted to play Chuck as a fool. I did my acting scene, and then it was straight into my song. Once I got going, my nerves dissapeared, and I sang and danced my heart out. It all went brilliantly and the audience absolutely loved it, laughing at my character profusely. We really did set the standard for the whole show, as once we had finished and gone backstage to reunite with the rest of the cast, we were bombareded with congratulations from our overjoyed cast members. Our performance had induced high morale amongst the whole cast and we were all so proud of ourselves. As the show continued, nothing really could have gone better, I acted, sang and danced my heart out. The audience hosently just could not stop laughing at this character I had developed. The show was a complete success and feedback was overwhelmingly positive. However, that was just one show out of my eight. My family would be at my next show - inflicting another factor of nervousness in me. I am pleased to say that all of the shows went really well. I did however lose my voice on the weekend and week after, but it was totally worth it!

Aftermath

After the show, my teachers' all had lovely things to say about my performance, telling me I was the best (although they probably said that to everyone). I also got recognised out in the street four times by random people who had watched the show, all of whom had great things to say about me. The show was featured in three newspapers:

• North Somerset Times open_in_new
• Somerset Apple open_in_new
• FACES of Clevedon open_in_new

One of my other interests is photography. My photography was used in the newspaper reports and in the Footloose programmes. I also made a cute little memory video with my photos:


We also had reviews from top critics at the Somerset Fellowship of Drama who said about me:

"At this performance you demonstrated just the right amount of swagger in the role of gang leader. Your distain for the young upstart Ren, who almost inadvertently steals your girlfriend was well expressed both in body language and facial expression. Chuck is a character who treats women without respect and expects them to love him for it..... not an acceptable attitude in the current era, but not unusual 40 years ago. Great bass singing too" - Jadi Carlyon SFD Adjudicator

"What a unique character Chuck is within the show. Probably the only character who does not endear himself to the audience. Sam had the swagger, appropriate level of aggression and the rich vocal tones to make Chuck rather sinister and threatening without having to exert physical aggression to any large degree. A bit of a James Dean lookalike that was perfect. I hope Sam isn't like this in real life!" - Andy Marchant SFD Adjudicator

Watch the full show:

Act 1

Reflections

My time in the musical was not only extremely fun, but also a chance to develop a wide variety of skills:

Character Analysis and Creativity:
I developed a deep understanding of my character, Chuck Cranston, through thorough script analysis and creating a "character report." This helped me to improve my analytical and creative thinking, which are essential qualities for storytelling and problem-solving in various contexts.

Time Management and Commitment:
I committed to regular rehearsals and managed multiple responsibilities, including singing, dancing, and acting in all performances across both casts. This made me more effective at time management and dedication to achieving long-term goals.

Collaboration and Leadership:
By organising additional rehearsals and working with others, I displayed teamwork and leadership.

Adaptability and Resilience:
I adapted to new challenges, like learning a Southern accent and dancing for the first time, demonstrating flexibility. Even after setbacks during rehearsals, I persisted and improved through hard work and practice.

Vocal and Physical Performance Skills:
I expanded myv vocal range and tackled singing solo for the first time, along with learning to dance. These physical and vocal skills not only improved my stage presence but also built confidence in public speaking and body coordination.

Confidence and Overcoming Fear:
I overcame my stage fright, especially when singing in front of an audience for the first time, aiding in my personal growth, courage, and the ability to face challenging situations head-on.

Things I could improve for my next production of "Legally Blonde":

Handling Unexpected Situations:
There were a few moments when I anticipated lines from my castmates that were either delayed or missed entirely. In those instances, I froze up, awkwardly making it obvious that I was waiting for something to happen, which meant that my performance was not natural in these moments. To improve, I need to stay in character during these moments, reacting naturally to maintain the flow of the scene, even if things don't go as planned. Learning to improvise and keep the momentum going will help make the performance feel seamless and authentic.

Maintaining the Accent While Singing:
While I had worked hard on perfecting my accent for the dialogue, I noticed that it tended to slip when I started singing. For future productions, I’ll focus on maintaining consistency in the accent, both in speech and song. This could be achieved through more vocal exercises that integrate both singing and speaking in the accent, so it becomes second nature.