Eve Rasdell 24101494

Throughout this portfolio, I will be providing a detailed analysis and evaluation of the development of an original music theatre piece that I conceived and devised collaboratively within a group. I will be exploring the concept of the musical, the creative process involved, and the specific role I played as lyricist. I will discuss considerations made, such as the different decisions we made influenced by budgeting. 

Concept of our musical

Our original musical theatre piece aims to highlight the threshold of pain, exploring how individuals cope with emotions through themes such as grief, loss, and complex relationships. This was heavily influenced by our own personal experiences and that “the world keeps turning no matter what you’re going through”. Throughout R&D week, many aspects of our piece developed as we explored new ideas once we were in the room. One addition was the salsa sequence, which hadn’t been part of our original piece. While reading through a scene, Rebecca Snowden suggested incorporating a salsa sequence to add a moment of humour and lightness. Her idea was to give the audience a brief sense of escapism so the show didn’t remain on one tone emotionally. This shift added a dynamic contrast to the piece and helped balance the heavier themes we were working with. It also made more sense to introduce the character through the use of the sequence, giving the audience further understanding of the character. 

Budgeting, finances and marketing

A part of our planning involved estimating costs and making decisions to keep the musical affordable. Although budgeting wasn’t my primary role, I contributed to discussions about cost efficient casting. We deliberately structured the musical around a small ensemble of 7-8 performers, meaning that when named characters were in a scene others not included would then be extras. This approach would reduce expenses along with still having an atmosphere on stage. Despite the higher cost “Actor-musicians” will be to cast, it would overall still be more financially beneficial. We also explored ways to minimise staffing costs. One of our early ideas was to cast actor‑musicians, so that the performers themselves would provide live music. This eliminated the need to hire a separate band and have extra rehearsals. One of my ideas was to ensure we had a fully versatile cast with instruments, so that when they aren’t needed they would be able to accompany those on stage. Additionally, we chose to work with a minimalistic set so that the audience’s focus remained entirely on the performers. I found this prevented any unnecessary visual distractions allowing the audience to fully immerse themselves in the narrative rather than visuals. A minimalistic set will also help us to keep costs low, giving us more flexibility with the budget and allowing for more dispensable income in other areas for the production. For the R&D showing, we made use of items that were easy to source and already available to us. This was effective, as the simplicity of the props complemented the overall aesthetic of the piece. Aside from needing to supply flowers for the “Funeral scene”, we were able to stage the showing successfully with minimal additional purchases. 

We also thought about possible funding bodies for the musical which would help our finances. Our project aligns with many aims from different UK organisations that support new creations such as Arts Council England and the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, who would provide more financial support for our new show. Along with this, an option would be to utilise our own separate connections to local theaters and universities to broaden the show’s outreach. For example, as we are all students at Leeds Conservatoire, we could get in touch as Alumni and ask for our show to come back for another Research and Development week for the students. This wouldn’t cost us any money but would greatly benefit our following and creative ideas for the show. 

Whilst thinking about the budgeting for our musical, we also discussed how we would market our piece. Olivia Clark managed our social media, and we utilised short clips for content such as rehearsal clips and cast introductions to give audiences small tasters of what our musical consists of. Because our piece explores grief and the threshold of pain, we thought our target audience would be adults aged 18+, as this demographic is more likely to resonate with the emotion of the material. This age group is also more active on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, making the apps the most beneficial for promoting our work. By our marketing being visually engaging and suitable for short attention spans, we were building interest with no additional costs which aligned directly to our target audience.

My role’s and collaboration

Before beginning the production process, we distributed roles within the group so that everyone knew their responsibilities and to avoid overlapping tasks. This structure helped us throughout the project, as it ensured that every area of the musical was accounted for. However, I found communication challenging at times, particularly because we were creating the piece entirely from scratch and needed to stay updated on constant changes. To overcome this, we organised group meetings and a shared group chat where we could exchange ideas and make decisions collaboratively. Although there were some conflicting views at times, we reached compromises to help this. For example, I felt the script contained too much swearing, which risked weakening its emotional impact, while others felt it reflected everyday speech. We resolved this by using stronger language only at climactic moments. This process demonstrated how open communication and compromise were essential to maintaining a cohesive creative vision.

During the creation of our original musical theatre piece, I initially found the process challenging as our group worked quite independently due to our assigned roles, with mine being lyricist with Olivia Clark. This resulted in me finding it difficult to understand the intended narrative for each song, as we weren’t consistently collaborating or discussing our shared aims. However once we had outlined the aims for the songs the process became a lot smoother especially the collaboration between myself, Olivia and Darcey, allowing us to progress quickly and confidently. We would often begin with Darcey finding a chord progression that captured the emotion of the scene, which gave me and Olivia a clear musical foundation to work from. Once this was in place we were then able to write lyrics combined with the piano. For example, Olivia and I found it very productive when Darcey was in the room with us, as her presence enabled us to shape melodies that aligned with the chord progression in real time. This made it much easier to create the music and lyrics in a natural and cohesive songwriting process. Prior to this, we struggled with lyric writing as we only had a chord progression on the piano to build upon. This highlighted how essential collaboration is in a creative process, especially when combining both music and lyrics, as each element relies heavily on the other to develop effectively. 

Along with this, I also took on the role of graphic designer and drew the poster for our musical. We chose to make the poster hand drawn rather than animated, as we felt this approach reflected the rustic quality of the piece itself. One of the central tones of our musical is the idea that life is flawed, so we wanted the poster to mirror this by being more abstract and intentionally “unpolished.” A drawn poster allowed us to communicate this theme visually, reinforcing the style of the show while also providing a recognisable brand. We originally started with the concept of four people standing and looking towards a hearse, as we felt this image communicated the central theme of the musical clearly. It visually captured the idea of grief, allowing the audience to understand the tone of the piece at first look. However, we later realised that this design was too morbid and literal. By presenting the theme so directly, the poster risked becoming self‑explanatory, leaving no room for imagination or intrigue for the audience to discover. It also suggested that the musical was only about death, which could misrepresent the wider emotional journey of the piece. This led us to rethink the design and think of something more abstract and symbolic. We spent time exploring alternative versions of the poster and shared ideas before deciding on the image of wine glasses on a table.This choice felt more symbolic and representative of the musical, as wine is referenced throughout the piece and is tied to the relationship between two of the characters. The simplicity of the image also aligned with the tone of our show, offering a more metaphorical approach than our original design. During a lecture with Matthew Bugg, we discussed what makes an effective theatre poster and found that the most impactful designs are often the simplest, as they draw attention without overwhelming the viewer. With this in mind, we ensured the poster carried a deeper meaning by drawing the wine glasses as half empty, imitating the familiar saying and reinforcing the musical’s focus on loss and emotional decline. This allowed the poster to visually reflect the journey of the piece while still leaving space for audience interpretation. 

Reflections and evaluation

I felt the R&D performance was highly successful. The audience response demonstrated emotional engagement which was what we were aiming for. Many audience members expressed strong reactions showing a clear connection to the themes. Speaking with audience members after the showing, gave us insight into how the work was being interpreted. Despite us having to cut down the performance for the showing, they were able to have a solid understanding of the narrative. Their feedback suggested that the core message remained intact, which reassured us that all we had created throughout the process was valuable. One of my biggest learning curves during the week was maintaining the mindset that my creative choices must make sense in terms of the musical. As the choreographer, I initially approached the salsa section with a focus on how it would visually look, so I choreographed it for the entire cast as I felt that would look best regarding the style of dance. However, it wasn’t until we staggered through our material for the showing that I realised it didn’t make sense and also felt out of place in the musical. It felt disconnected from the scene and distracted from the characters who were actually involved prior to that moment. This helped me recognise that instead of focusing on what looked the most visually impressive, I needed to consider what would feel logical and meaningful to the audience. Limiting the choreography to the characters present in the scene not only strengthened the narrative and our aims but also made the movement more purposeful. Also changing the routine to only the two people who were in the scene allowed me to focus my attention more on the storytelling and authenticity of the moment rather than what looked “the best”. 

I was originally very apprehensive about writing lyrics for a musical, as my previous experience had only been writing in a pop genre. However, this process pushed me outside of my comfort zone and enabled me to broaden my skills, particularly in the genre of song writing and improve on my storytelling rather than personal expression. Due to this, I was able to extend my understanding of Musical Theatre storytelling and develop more versatility in song writing. Having developed this skill, I will now be able to collaborate more confidently with composers and other students in future projects, contributing to new work. This will make more opportunities available to me along with supporting my growth as a performer, expanding my artistic versatility. If we had more time to develop the musical, I would refine character traits to deepen the audience’s connection to them. One idea would be to give each character distinctive habits or recurring phrases, making them recognisable through their behaviour rather than just their names. This would strengthen their individuality and make their emotional journeys clearer, helping the audience feel more invested in who they are and what they represent.