Annie the Musical Auditions

Annie the musical is coming back to Broadway in the Fall of 2012.  They have already started having auditions for it and I originally went in to the Equity Chorus Call (ECC) for dancers last month.  I unfortunately did not get to the audition in time to hear my name called from "the list" so I was given some ridiculously high number like 157!  Which meant I would be waiting around FOREVER!  Now, luckily for me being equity means that as long as I get to an audition on time I will be seen, but having such a high number does have its downsides.

1.  I have to wait around for hours, because they only take in 30 people or so at a time, and each group takes anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.

2.  Just like any other job the people in casting can get bored after watching people audition all day and may stop paying attention.

But apparently these are risks I'm willing to take, since I can't seem to get there on time!

After waiting around for a couple of hours, I finally get to go into the room.  The choreographer of the show Andy Blankenbuehler is there with his assistant and he is teaching the combination himself!  He has previously done: In The Heights, 9 to 5, and Bring It On the Musical and I have never auditioned for him before so I was pretty excited.  We learned a quick combination from the section NYC in the musical.  It was very stylized and had some intricate footwork to it; which took me and everyone else in the room a little time to get.

After learning it, we went in small groups for casting which each group having to dance twice.  After my group went the first time Andy asked me if I could dance the combo "smaller."  I gave it a go and saw my headshot go into the "yes" pile! Yes I watch But then, there was no cut! We were all excused and confused because the previous groups were asked to do a quick tap combo after the first cut.  Welp, they ran out of time and thats what happens when you come late and go in the last group!!

Fast forward to a few weeks later, I was asked to come in and sing at Telsey.  I sang "Where Am I Going" from Sweet Charity and it went horribly.  Just not my best job at all.  I was pretty upset about it, but I learned some things from my Big Fish experience, so I didn't give up on getting seen for this show and we will see what happens!

Ain't nothing gonna break my stride....

"Nobody's gonna slow me down, oh no, I got to keep on movin!"





Yeah yeah, last week was one of those kind of weeks.  Lots of auditions, lots of rejection.  Not the most fun I've ever had in my life.  On Monday, I went over to an audition for Fame, which will be touring through China for a couple of weeks in August.  At 5'8", I'm a little tall to play a high schooler in the theater world, but I'm not THAT tall so I decided to give it a whirl.  Now in comparison to the previous calls I've been to this summer.  There were a surprising number of girls at the call.  I showed up right when the audition started and was in the second group of equity girls to be seen.  The combination was to the title song "Fame" and was a very high energy number.  The choreographer was very specific that energy was the most important factor when doing the combo.  So I had a lot of fun just rocking out to the iconic song.  I made the first cut, and then went to the holding room to wait for them to finish with everyone else.


When we got back into the room, there were not many people left.  There were maybe 20 people in the room, but as I looked around I saw I was the tallest girl there.  Never a good sign!  So we learned a bit more of the combination, performed it, and I was cut.  No biggie, if your too tall, your too tall.  What can you do about it?  I certainly don't wish I was shorter!

Taking that in stride, I then, on Tuesday, had a callback for Becoming Chaplin.  It was just a singing callback and I chose to sing something pretty traditional, "Mister Snow" from the musical Carousel.

I've been working on this silly song for awhile now and really felt pretty prepared to sing it.  I headed over to Pearl, and arrived slightly before my appointment time.  As I sit there I get to hear what goes on in the audition room and listen to people talk about whats happening in there.  Not always a good thing.  Anyways, people are going in and having to sing two songs! And they are asking for a joke!  What the hay?  As I sit frantically searching for a joke on my phone and thinking of what the secondary song I could sing is.  I think I may have gotten a bit of distracted from the task at hand.

Its my turn to go into the audition room, and I tell the accompanist about my song and how I'd like it played.  But it was all for not, because in the middle of my 16 bars I have a royal screw up.  I came in two measures early in part of the song and had to repeat myself to get back on track with the accompaniment.  Crap!  They smiled and thanked me, no second song, no joke.  How embarassing... Honestly, I never mind being cut when I do my best, because I know there's nothing else I could have done.  But when stuff like the above happens I get frustrated to the high heavens.  I am over it now, but it took me a week before I could blog about that one.  At least what I was singing sounded pretty.   Ish happens.

Becoming Chaplin Audition

After finishing with the Northern Stage audition I hopped on the train to head to another audition for a workshop for the new musical Becoming Chaplin.  The Northern Stage audition had started at 9:30 and Becoming Chaplin was scheduled to start at 10.  So heading downtown at 10:30 I was in a bit of a hurry to make sure I got there in time to be seen.  Lucky for me when I arrived the first group of equity girls was still in the room and I was only #65!  Again, where is everyone!?


Now, originally the monitor, the person who runs the audition room, told me I would have to go with the non-equity girls because I had arrived so late.  But I quickly filled out my card and changed, just in case he tried to switch things up on me and surprise! that's exactly what he did.  As the second group was heading in he told me that I could go in with them.  So I rushed to put my shoes on and was the last person to get into the room.

Now, if you've ever seen a Charlie Chaplin film you know it has a lot of physical comedy in it.  So at the audition choreographer, Warren Carlyle tried to recreate this.  The first third of the combination was counted in sevens and sixes and was filled with acting, we were basically trying to portray someone waking up and stretching.  Then the combination broke into a little soft shoe number! Fun.  However, at the end it got very difficult.  The combination finished with a million chaine turns into a triple pirouette, into twelve fouettes, finished with a double pirouette and drop to a split! Seriously.....is this real life?

Now the combination was super long, but I managed to keep my brain on long enough to pick it up. Plus, I was in the very last group to audition so I had plenty of time to run through it in my head.  Watching 30 plus girls go before you is always helpful, but it also made me realize just how impossible that turn combination was.  You simply can't turn that much on a wood floor, with rubber soles, IN HEELS!!!  Luckily for me I have been too lazy to get my shoes rubbered so I had suede on my LaDucas.  Anyways, when it was finally my turn, I had a lot of fun with the acting and then when we got to the turn combination, I managed to get through the entire thing without stopping.  By the end I wasn't spotting and the entire room was just spinning by in a blur.  I'm also sure that they were the ugliest, most turned in, hiked up shoulder fouettes ever seen in an audition room.  But I dropped to my split and was finished!  Hooray!

Then choreographer told us that we could all be excused, but once in the hallway my name and one other girls name were called back into the room to dance some more!  But when we got in there he explained to us that we didn't need to dance again, that he simply wanted to let us know they would be calling us at some point to come in and sing again!  Awesome.

Callbacks for Memphis

In March I wrote about attending the equity chorus call for the national tour of Memphis.  Well, in the middle of April I received an email from Telsey casting to come in for a call back! Hooray!  After a long harrowing ordeal to get to NYC, I arrived an hour late for my appointment and had to go in the next group.


Unlike some other equity callbacks, this call still had a ton of people, and the first group took a very long time in the audition room.  However, once they were done the later group of girls, and there must have still been 50 of us, went into the room to learn the combination.  The combo turned out to be the same combination learned at the chorus call, with a few differences.  Mainly that there were two different variations that you had to learn and then based on how you were lined up you did one or the other.  A bit much to have to remember in an audition situation.  But we learned them and then went five at a time.  They then made a cut, and I was kept.


For the second combination all the girls were brought back into the room and told to put our heels on.  The asst. choreographer, Edgar Godineaux, then taught us a second combination which was very fun!  It was a cute combo, which I can only describe as being in the style of a Motown doo-wop singer.  It was a little longer, but despite being exhausted I managed to pick it up.  When it came time for my audition, I gave it all I had at the time, didn't mess up, and thought I did pretty good.


Unfortunately when it came time to move on to the next thing, about nine of us girls, were called over by the casting director and told that "It wasn't a bad thing, they were just considering us for another track, and that they didn't need to hear us sing today"  Booooo, there were still about 50 girls left so I was a little disappointed not to sing.  At the time, I wasn't sure if I had just been cut or if they really were considering me for another track in the show.  But as of last week, offers went out for the tour, so I guess it was a cut.  Its all for the best though, but I sure do love that musical!  Maybe next time!