So Monday was the chorus call for the tour of Legally Blonde the Musical. As a side note, can I just say how much I love this show?! It seems crazy, but considering my favorite movie is Clueless, at least I'm consistent. Anyways, the call was at 10am and I arrived at 9:15 with my ideal outfit (a teal blue tank top and short white skirt), hair down, ready to look as cute, preppy, and cheerleadery as possible. Again, it was packed, my goodness I think more girls are moving to New York everyday. The musical had reserved two rooms at the audition center just to hold people and you still had to tip-toe around to avoid stepping on people.
As I walked onto the scene I notice this huge line coming out into the hallway and I'm wondering what the heck is this for? It turns out that this was the line for non-eq girls to sign the non-eq list. Now, I have never stood in line before to sign the list and was truly perplexed as to how this was going on. It turns out:(long explanation coming) When some non-equity girls arrive at the audition the equity monitor and the official sign-up list weren't there yet, so the girls found a piece of paper and made a non-official sign up list. When the equity monitor arrived, she honored the unofficial list but she made the girls re-sign themselves up. However, some girls had left planning to come back later and were unable to reclaim there spot.
As I got up to the list I noticed that there were names missing..i.e. 63 and 65 had a name by them but not 64. Whoever the original #64 is, I'd like to apologize but you snooze you loose, I put my name right on into that spot and went to find a spot to sit.
The wait was long as usual, at least three hours, and I was still in the second group of non-equity ladies to go. I was so excited to get in there because they had a live drummer to go with the pianist. As we enter they have a lady from Telsey casting and the asst. choreographer greeting us. They both tell us how cute we all look and then we get down to business. We begin learning the number that Elle performs as her substitute admissions essay to Harvard (just the first 30 sec). Its supposed to be sharp, with a little hip-hop feel at times and was really fun! It was only 4:8 counts long and we learned it quickly, did it in a few times in smaller groups and then it was time to do it five at a time.
As each group goes, I notice that the asst. choreographer is writing stuff on people's headshots but he is not separating them into piles. Its my turn to go and I'm having so much fun! Yay cheerleading, how I miss you! I did a clean cute routine and tried to see what the guy would do with my headshot. I think he put a dot on it....what the heck does that mean when I saw him writing words on everyone elses? It didn't matter anyways, because as the last group finishes performing, they informs us that they aren't going to be keeping anyone to sing or to dance again, because they aren't really looking for anyone at the moment but they will be keeping our headshots on file...Booooo to the whackness! Talk about anti-climatic and considering I want to be in this show I was even sadder. Sigh, this is the chorus call scene.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Catch Me if You Can
The new trend on Broadway is turning popular movies into musicals and today's audition was no different. The Leonardo Dicaprio movie Catch Me if You Can is coming to Broadway and has been previewed in Seattle's 5th avenue theater. The audition was held yesterday and it was crazy in there! The call was at 10 am, and the monitor basically shooed all the non-eq girls out into the hallway where we had to wait just to find out if we would even be seen for the day. At ten he announced that we were to all "go away" until 12:30pm. Now, I had gotten there at 9:30 so waiting for three hours was highly unappetizing and I didn't have anywhere to go in midtown anyways. So a friend and I went upstairs to the 2nd floor of the audition studio and just hung out for 2.5 hours. If I'd have been by myself I know I would have taken my little tushie right on back home.
Now I have learned that hanging around no matter what the monitor (guy/girl who is running the waiting room) says is key when you are a non-eq. When he first made his announcement he said that they would probably only see the first twenty non-eqs at 12:30 and I was number 78, but I stuck it out until 12:30 and guess what? They saw all of us! This was so nice of them because they really didn't have to do that and I am grateful that they were willing to go that extra mile. Especially when 136 equity girls alone had shown up for the call! Just proof that if you really want to get seen, you hang in there until they close the door in your face.
Since, we were non-e
quity there really are no rules for how they hold our auditions. So they bring all 75+ of us into the room at the same time!!!!! And guess who is there?? The one and only Jerry Mitchell (pic)! Mr. Mitchell is an award winning choreographer who worked on Legally Blonde , La Cage Aux Follies, Hairspray, and a multitude of other shows many of which are on Broadway. Anyways, here he is in person teaching us the choreography for his show! The material was really simple, he and his assistants taught us 4:8counts which included the Charleston (Thank you Miss Tauna!) and dancing pretending we had a hat on our head. All 75 girls went through the combination twice, then Mr. Mitchell broke us up into five groups of fifteen and each group got to run the combo once. Then as each group went through it for the second time he hand picked girls to go stand to the side. Surprise!!! This was the audition. I think a lot of people were shocked! Personally, I think that I gave it my all, but I was not hand picked....(frown face). Anyways, the girls the girls that were kept, stayed behind and learned some more of the combination and then a few of them were told about callbacks.
I think there is a twofold lesson to be had in all this. One, stick around no matter what the monitor says if you REALLY want to be seen and Two, when you are learning/practicing a combo in the audition room always remember that its part of the audition too! Not just when its three at a time and they have your headshot in front of them!
Overall, it was a long day (3.5 hours waiting) for 15 mins of time in front of Jerry Mitchell, but no complaints. Hopefully I can impress him on Monday at the Legally Blonde auditions!!!!!!
Now I have learned that hanging around no matter what the monitor (guy/girl who is running the waiting room) says is key when you are a non-eq. When he first made his announcement he said that they would probably only see the first twenty non-eqs at 12:30 and I was number 78, but I stuck it out until 12:30 and guess what? They saw all of us! This was so nice of them because they really didn't have to do that and I am grateful that they were willing to go that extra mile. Especially when 136 equity girls alone had shown up for the call! Just proof that if you really want to get seen, you hang in there until they close the door in your face.
Since, we were non-e
quity there really are no rules for how they hold our auditions. So they bring all 75+ of us into the room at the same time!!!!! And guess who is there?? The one and only Jerry Mitchell (pic)! Mr. Mitchell is an award winning choreographer who worked on Legally Blonde , La Cage Aux Follies, Hairspray, and a multitude of other shows many of which are on Broadway. Anyways, here he is in person teaching us the choreography for his show! The material was really simple, he and his assistants taught us 4:8counts which included the Charleston (Thank you Miss Tauna!) and dancing pretending we had a hat on our head. All 75 girls went through the combination twice, then Mr. Mitchell broke us up into five groups of fifteen and each group got to run the combo once. Then as each group went through it for the second time he hand picked girls to go stand to the side. Surprise!!! This was the audition. I think a lot of people were shocked! Personally, I think that I gave it my all, but I was not hand picked....(frown face). Anyways, the girls the girls that were kept, stayed behind and learned some more of the combination and then a few of them were told about callbacks.I think there is a twofold lesson to be had in all this. One, stick around no matter what the monitor says if you REALLY want to be seen and Two, when you are learning/practicing a combo in the audition room always remember that its part of the audition too! Not just when its three at a time and they have your headshot in front of them!
Overall, it was a long day (3.5 hours waiting) for 15 mins of time in front of Jerry Mitchell, but no complaints. Hopefully I can impress him on Monday at the Legally Blonde auditions!!!!!!
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