Example Of Essay On Actor Response – Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson

I saw the Indiana University Theatre production of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson on April 23rd at 7:30 PM at the Ruth N. Halls Theatre. The show was written by Alex Timbers, with music and lyrics by Michael Friedman. For the purposes of this response paper, I choose to write about Robert Toms’ portrayal of Andrew Jackson, given his status as the main character and the many interesting acting choices he demonstrated throughout the production.
Andrew Jackson, as portrayed in the musical, is a rock version of the famous American president and historical figure, whose given circumstances involve his childhood in the Tennessee hills, wherein his family are killed through illness and Indian attacks. Despite the rock music, the production costumed its actors in 19th-century clothes, including Andrew Jackson (who is given an extremely long revolver).
Andrew Jackson’s character in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson is an incredibly complex character, having to wrestle both with the earnest, idealistic man and the amoral statesman he ended up becoming. Both of these faces are found very clearly in Toms’ portrayal of Jackson, and can be exemplified in the “I’m Not That Guy/I’m So That Guy” scenes. In the former, Jackson is timid, afraid and meek, Toms’ physicality becoming very passive and his voice plaintive in the performance of his song. In this scene, Jackson’s goal for the song is “to ask for help” and “to express his feelings of helplessness.” This demonstrates Jackson’s feelings of impotence and innocence, wanting the US government to get involved in the Indian attacks out on the frontier.
However, in the following scene with him as a young adult, Jackson is inspired to take matters into his own hands to stop these Indian attacks on the frontier. Once he begins singing this song, his goals become “to defend” and “to assert himself as a confident, self-assured man.” This beat change from the previous scene is showcased in the more bravura performance of “I’m So That Guy.” Here, Toms is much more confident and blustering, his aggressive and lively vocal and dance performance demonstrating his greater feelings of ability and self-righteousness in his quest to remove the Indian ‘threat’ from America. The contrast between these two version of Andrew Jackson indicated a significant change in body language and vocal variation, meeting characters more with direct eye contact.
Overall, Toms’ portrayal of Andrew Jackson is incredibly big, bold and challenging, carrying himself on stage with a tremendous confidence that befits the character. The character himself is a punk-rock re-envisioning of a very complex and controversial historical figure, making it doubly important that Toms be able to demonstrate a clear sense of self-righteousness and charisma, which he uses to lead his people. I’m certain Toms had to undergo a great deal of ‘as-if’ investigation, as the character himself is many different people over the course of his lifetime, most of which hold contradictory views and perceptions of history. Toms’ clear, rock tenor voice carried that big personality through the songs extremely well, and he managed to carry out some extremely complex and physically challenging dance choreography with aplomb. While there were moments that Toms had difficulty successfully conveying the masculine power of such an adult figure due to his age, the youthful energy of the rest of the production fit his portrayal extremely well.