Utilizing circles of attention in musical theatre acting: a personal perspective

ABSTRACT Pedagogy and methodology for acting curriculum is consistent among universities in the United States. Students are introduced to acting principles formulated by Konstantin Stanislavski, Sanford Meisner, Uta Hagen, Robert Cohen, Jerzy Grotowski, Robert Benedetti, Lee Strasberg, and other experts in the field. This is not always the case for musical theatre acting courses offered by these same institutions. Musical theatre “acting” courses usually just expose students to a broad range of songs within the historical canon of musical theatre repertoire. Primary focus tends to be on the singing technique and vocal interpretation of the song. Musical theatre students in the academic setting must understand that acting technique represents the intellectual life of a character. The musical structure employs the emotional colour to the given circumstances of the character’s reason for singing the song. As a practitioner and educator of musical theatre pedagogy and methodology, I have experienced great success by utilizing Stanislavski’s “circles of attention” when coaching students through musical theatre song performance. The technique provides a clearer path of analysis for song text, activates given circumstances more clearly, clarifies moment-to-moment work, and links musical notation to language in order to achieve a more meaningful performance experience. It has become the most effective teaching tool in my musical theatre courses.