Someone Woke Up Dossier

Song Dossier Name: Cecelia Sanchez Song: Someone Woke Up

Show: Do I Hear A Waltz?

Music: Richard Rodgers

Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim

I. Character a. Character Name: Leona Samish

Age: ~30

b. Assets: Kindly, hardworking, passionate. c. Flaws: Selfish, materialistic, naïve. d. Complexes: Needs to be taken care of because she’s only ever taken care of other people. e. Occupation: Secretary. f. Education/Social Standing: She finished high school, but never went to college because she had to take care of her siblings. She’s comfortably within the middle class, but had to work her way up to it. g. Private Life: Severely lacking in the romance section, and she doesn’t really leave her home much. h. Public Life: A “mother” for her younger siblings, and is well-liked by her peers. She has a few close friends, but not many. People enjoy her because she’s always eager to please them and ends up spoiling her friends with material gifts. i.

Political/Philosophical Views: Idealist/sentimentalist

j.

Sexual Life/Moral Views: She tries to fit the stereotypical 1950’s woman role, but sometimes her emotions overtake her and she acts out of jealousy or spite. She also tries to be sexually conservative, but again sometimes her emotions take control.

k. Secrets: She’s very lonely and is scared she’ll end up an old man, but she’ll never admit that to anyone because she wants to keep her happy, bubbly façade. l.

Choose four or five adjectives that most accurately describe your character and list them in order of importance:  Romantic – She wholeheartedly believes she’ll find a whirlwind romance, and is driven by her romanticist ideals.  Unrefined – In the sense that she’s kind of a bumpkin rather than rude.  Kindly – She’s always friendly and eager to please others.

Song Dossier 

Naïve – In relation to her romanticism. Gets caught up in her own make-believe world and expects reality to do the same.

II. Place When and where does the song take place? Be Specific 1950’s Venice, Italy. Summertime. The streets/canals of Venice. III. Structure of Song/Scene a. The Moment Before: What happened to motivate the song? This is her first-ever time abroad, and her first vacation in forever. She’s just arrived in Venice and is in awe/extremely excited. b. What is the song about/essence/basis for “as if”? She’s expressing her joy and excitement about being somewhere as foreign and beautiful as Venice. IV. Objective a. What do you want? What are you trying to do? Leona wants a grand adventure, I’m not even sure if she realizes that’s what she wants. She wants a fairytale to happen to her, and she’ll do anything to make it happen. V. Urgency a. Why do you do what you do? The need? What are the stakes? She’s only there for a week! This is the trip of a lifetime! She needs to experience everything about Venice as it might be her last chance to travel. VI. Obstacle a. What is preventing you from accomplishing your objective? People usually don’t act in accordance to the fantasies in your head. VII. Relationship a. To whom are you talking? Mostly to herself, sometimes to her companion, Cookie. VIII. The Final Moment a. Have you reached your objective? Yes, falling into a canal is something that would never happen to her in New York, so she considers it the beginning of her fairytale adventure. b. What has the song accomplished, how are you different from when you began? She’s calmer, and slightly more embarrassed, but still excited. IX. Lyric Analysis a. Define any words or phrases that are unfamiliar:

Song Dossier N/A b. Note any interesting and/or internal rhymes: The entire song is arranges in an “AABBCC…” format, except at the very end where both the melody and the rhyme scheme are interrupted. X. Preparation: “…that device which permits you to start your scene in a condition of emotional aliveness.” – Sanford Meisner What are you doing in the “moment before” which gets you emotionally prepared for the start of the song? What is the “as if” that you are using from your own life from experience or from your imagination? 1. Emotional Preparation: Remembering our hike through the botanical gardens to Waimea Falls and the Bonsai Pipeline. 2. “As If” My trip to Hawaii last year! I was so excited and awestruck the entire trip, it’s almost perfectly reminiscent of how Leona’s feeling. XI. Putting it Together a. Indicate some choices you tried and discarded, and why. 1) Using chairs as the “canals” and falling off them before the third verse. a. This was very awkward and uncomfortable. I also don’t know how to safely fall off things. 2) Cutting out the fall entirely. a. Doesn’t make sense with the words, and I don’t want to cut out the third verse