White Christmas National Tour

Last week was the start of what would be my record-breaking seven audition week.  So to start the week off right, I got up early in the morning to attend an invited call for the national tour of White Christmas.  Now, if you happen to remember my last posting on the White Christmas audition, I stated that it was the toughest tap audition I'd ever been to.  Well, I think that award now belongs to the tap audition for Big Fish, but still WC is no joke.

We started the day off by learning a brief 32 tap combination, which had to be done one at a time.  I didn't have too much difficulty with it tap wise, but the nerves of having to tap by yourself can cause anyone to mess up.  Luckily my solo went fine and I made the first cut.  Next, we had to learn an actual tap combination from the opening number of the show.  We only learned a portion of it and the steps themselves weren't difficult.  The real difficulty was the speed at which they taught the combo. They told us they teach it that speed to test if we could learn the entire show in only eight days.  Once we learned it and reviewed it a few times we did the combination three at a time.  Unlike my previous WC audition I did not mess up!  They made another cut and then asked us to come back and dance for Randy Skinner in a couple of hours.

I returned back to White Christmas, after running to another audition, and Randy Skinner was there to watch us dance.  We added on to the tap choreography we learned previously and the second portion of the combination had jumping and more rhythmic difficulty than the first part, but was taught just as fast.  When it was time to do the combination three at a time, I discovered I was in the first group so NO time to practice!  Each group got a chance to do the combination twice in a row and once everyone was done another cut was made!  We are up to three cuts now if you are keeping track!

Those of us that made the third cut, changed into our heels, and started to learn a jazz combination.  It was a beautiful 1950's style jazz number, with fast feet, and a calm upper-body.  I loved dancing it and picked it up pretty quickly which was good since I was now obviously going to be dancing in the first group from here on out.  After everyone performed this combination for Randy he made another cut.  Cut #4!  Then we put our tap shoes back on and learned a completely different but much shorter second tap combination.  After we danced it in groups, we were done!  No more cuts and no singing for the day!  Hooray!

Binder Casting called me the next day to come back in and sing at the end of the week (making it the infamous audition #7).  I decided to dress a little bit the part and wore this adorable vintage dress I bought in Sacramento during the Young Frankenstein tour with black patent leather flats.  Sometimes when I go in to sing for shows that aren't "tall shows" I will try to avoid sky high heels so they don't think I'm a giant.  I sang "Oh Diogenes" for them and was asked if I could sing legato.  I told them "yes", and was going to offer to sing something else but the accompanist was handing me my book so I just let it go.  I felt really good about this audition, but I also know that I most likely won't book the gig.  They usually hire the same people year after year and so unless the track I'm right for opens up, my name will just get filed away for future reference.  Still, a good way to end my record breaking week!

Anything Goes National Tour pt. 2

In January I went to the open call for the national tour of Anything Goes.  If you'd like to read about it please go here.   Four months later, I had the opportunity to go back in for another round of auditions for the tour.  Which is just an example of how unpredictable the casting of shows can be.  You never know if you've been cut or they are just waiting until later to call you in.

The audition started out with the jazz combination we learned in January from the song "Blow Gabriel Blow" and then a cut was made.  I was kept and then we put our tap shoes on to learn a tap combination!  Yay!  Of course the combination was from the shows title number "Anything Goes".  It was a classic style tap number, only 64 counts long and the difficulty was not too bad.  The combination consisted primarily of back essences, grab offs, buck triple time steps and cramp rolls. I'm apologize if you don't know the tap vocabulary.  After learning it as a large group we began to do it three at a time.  I nailed the combination and the grab offs they made each person do alone.  After everyone danced they made another cut and those of us that were left now had to sing.

I actually debuted a new song at this audition called "Oh Diogenes".  It is a classic Rodgers and Hart song and perfectly suited to audition for this type of show.  It is a little longer of a song, at 32 bars, than the usual 16-bar cut I sing most of the time.  The song went pretty well and I was asked to sing a second contrasting song.  I chose to sing "Simple Little Things" which is starting to become my go to second/soprano song.  After I got done singing everyone behind the table looked happy and generally entertained which was nice.  A few days later I received an appointment for final callbacks the following week!

*Unrelated Thought*

Thus far in my auditioning I've noticed three different faces people generally have behind the table.

1. The person who smiles no matter what.  They will keep smiling even if you sing off key, crash and burn with the accompanist, etc.  Of course that can lead them to look a little like a crazy person sometimes. LOL

2.  The person who gives you the dead stare no matter what.  You could be Idina Menzel in the audition room and they will just stare at you like they have heard it all before.  No smiling ever.

3.  The person who actually seems to be reacting to what you are singing.  They are along for the ride with you.  They might not actually be smiling but they are into it.

Obviously, my personal preference is to sing for person #3, followed by #1, and lastly #2.  Person #2 has a tendency to unsettle me when I'm singing, which can make me nervous and thus mess up my audition.

*Unrelated Thought End*

Pippin pt. 2

Part two of my Pippin adventure occurred last week, when I was called back in to dance and sing again.  The girls were scheduled to begin at 11am but they were running behind so they lumped us into the boys group at 11:45.  Unfortunately there were a massive amount of boys at the call, so it ended up being a fairly large group of us squeezed into the audition room.  Now, I had hoped that we were only coming in to dance the Manson Trio again, but I was not to be so lucky on that Tuesday!  Instead we learned an entirely new Fosse number that was ten times more energetic.  The combo was from a section of the show where the cast is teaching Pippin about "the birds and the bees."

Pippin Video (the combo starts at 50:00)

After learning the combination we performed it two at a time and I must admit I had a lot of fun.  I also danced it pretty well and made it past the next cut.  I was feeling pretty happy with myself but I had no idea the catastrophe that was in store later.

We were told to come back at 2pm so that everyone could sing for the creative team, but things got started late and there were still too many people left.  The casting director told us that we would be signing 16 bars of our own music, but then it was decided that we would be singing "Morning Glow", music from the audition sides we got.   Now that would not have been a problem if I had bothered to learn it!  But somehow I didn't think that we needed to know the song and so I spent my entire 90 minute wait freaking out, trying to learn a brand new song, and finally deciding to just sing from my book.  Unfortunately instead of singing "Don Juan", which got me called back the first time, I tried to switch to singing "Come Down From the Tree" because I felt it was more in the style of "Morning Glow".  Well, I walked into the audition room, explained my song to the pianist and then he started playing my ballad as an UPTEMPO song!  Can you say crash and burn!  I actually had to stop in the middle of the song and ask to start over because I was not singing with the music.  I have NEVER had to do that EVER!  Needless to say it was the worst singing audition I've had in a really long time.  I was cut immediately and that was the end of that!  What a very long day.  

I Wanna Be A Producer!

This summer Atlanta's Theater of the Stars (TOTS) is putting on Mel Brook's and Susan Stroman's hit musical The Producers.  As with most summer stock theaters, auditions usually start with an EPA equity principal audition, where people audition for all the shows that a theater is doing for the summer.  I attended the EPA for TOTS about two months ago where I sang "Don Juan" for them and was told that I would be called back when TOTS was casting for The Producers.

Well, two months later I found myself at a callback for the show with several other girls.  Most of whom I knew and a few who had done the show already.  The call started at 2pm and I was unaware that I had a full day of dancing ahead of me!  We started off learning a number called "Springtime for Hitler" which was a musical theater jazz combo from "the show within the show."  The combo was quick and contained some abstract Nazi imagery, presented in a satirical way of course.  After we learned it we performed the combination three at a time, but no cuts were made.  We then got a chance to do a brief showgirl combination, that pretty much consisted of each girl doing her best Las Vegas showgirl walk across the audition room alone, but I discovered that my showgirl walks needed work!

At this point after two jazz combinations, we put on our tap shoes to learn a tap number from the show.  We were supposed to be showgirls at a party, but as the night goes on the showgirls slide down the road to intoxication!  It was fun and funny; especially, getting to see how everyone else in the room interpreted the drunkeness. I love getting to watch people's creativity in auditions.  Once this third combination was learned and done three at a time, I thought for sure we were done dancing, but we had one combination left in store!  We changed into flats and then learned a combination from "Till Him" which is done towards the end of the show.  We all had to pretend to be old ladies who were falling in love for the first time in a long time.  Hilarity ensued as everyone gave their best grandma impression, while still having to remember a tricky combination, and having to improvise a section at the end.  Phew!  A serious day of dancing to say the least.

Those four combos wiped everyone out, but we still had to sing.  I sang....can you guess? Yes, "Don Juan" and then the people behind the table told me I had a "very good audition today".  Always a good sign!  I heard from my agent that I am "on hold" for the show.  Just like with what happened with Nice Work if You Can Get It.  Basically, they have offered the role out to someone else, but they really like me.  So if a spot opens up in the next month, I may find myself in Atlanta!  No complaints here!

Pippin @ American Repertory Theatre

Pippin, the 1970's musical originally directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse, is being revived at Boston's American Repertory Theatre.  I was called in to audition a few weeks ago and arrived just in time to change and run into the audition room.  Given that we were auditioning for a Fosse show, I decided to wear my favorite black unitard that makes me feel like I could be in All That Jazz/Fosse/Chicago.  After a few minutes of waiting for them to finish principal auditions in another room we started learning a combination from a number called the Manson Trio.

The Trio starts at 2:30

Since I had never seen the show before, it was all new material for me, but it was all very stylized.  Lots of very specific hand and hip movements and I was in love!  I wish I could explain how much I love Fosse's work.  It just connects with me.  Anyways, everyone learned the combo and then it was time to do the usual, dancing three at a time for the casting associate and assistant choreographer.  I had a great time doing the combo and I thought I did a pretty good job at it.  There was a cut was made and I was kept!  The other girls who made the cut and I were told to come back at 2pm to dance again and sing for the head casting agent, Duncan Stewart.  This was tough for me as I was supposed to be on a flight that afternoon, so I ran home, packed in a hurry, and dragged all my stuff back to audition again.

Unfortunately, when I got there they were running a bit behind.  When the boys were finally done in the room, we girls got a chance to review the combination and then we danced it again for casting.  After that we all stayed and sang; I had to ask to be put at the front of the group so I could make my flight.  I sang "Don Juan" my go to song and then ran off to the airport where I barely made my plane!

West Side Story International Tour

The past month I was busy working on a project that left very little time for auditioning.  I've only gone to three auditions recently, so there hasn't been much to update on.  Apologies for that.  Now, I did recently go in for my first invited call for a principal role.  It was for the role of Anita in the international tour of West Side Story.  What a fun role!  I was given a song and sides to learn and practice, which was nice because it helped me feel a bit more prepared going into the audition and I had about a week to get everything together.

The day of the audition, I was in the middle of doing a full run through for the show that I was rehearsing and had to run out during lunch just to be able to get to the audition.  I arrived there about fifteen minutes late, which my agent had already cleared with the casting folks beforehand and unfortunately, during my hasty exit from rehearsal I left my shoes behind!  I had to do the entire audition barefoot!  When I finally entered the audition room, ridiculously flustered, there were six other girls already in the middle of learning a combination from "America".  I had to jump in and learn the combo the best I could; however, the director, Joey McKneely, was gracious enough to go back and quickly reteach the beginning of the combination for me.  After reviewing it a few times and giving us corrections we then did the combination two at a time.  After that he had us do grande jetes (leaps) on each side and then everyone went outside to wait to sing.

I asked to sing as soon as possible so that I could get back to rehearsal, but still had to wait for  two girls to go in front of me.  Once it was my turn in the room I sang the excerpt they gave me from "A Boy Like That".  The song happens when Anita discovers that Maria is still seeing Tony, a Jet, who has just killed Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks and the boyfriend of Anita.  I sang it once and then Joey came over to me and said that while he liked my voice he wanted my acting to have less outward anger and suggested I turn the emotion more inward.  So I sang it again, and then he wanted to hear the last note again!  So I sang the last half of the song again!  I think that some people might get discouraged by corrections in an audition, but I love it because to me it means that they are interested in you and they want to see how well you take direction.

After the singing, I read the sides I was given.  Again, there were a lot of corrections and suggestions from Joey.  He even cajoled me into doing an improv dialogue with him where he was a little kid who wanted a cookie and I had to tell him no over and over again!  Now in my head I don't yet consider myself an actor so this was all incredibly foreign to me, but I gave it my best and tried to apply what I do when singing a song to reading the lines.  I definitely see a straight acting class in my future though! In total, I probably read the sides about three times and then they sent me outside to have my measurements taken!  Of course, that didn't mean I got the job.  The Rockettes do the same thing to their final round girls so that if they are selected they can start costuming right away.  They didn't take everyone's measurements though so I at least made it past the next cut!

Overall, it was a very new audition experience for me.  I haven't heard back from them yet, and the tour leaves in less than a month so I assume they gave the role to someone else.  But I was very happy how the audition turned out, especially since it started out so crazy!  Here's to more principal auditions in the future!



*This is the one and only Debbie Allen playing Anita during America at the Tony Awards.  Her dancing is just ridiculous!

Amazing Grace @ Goodspeed Auditions

Goodspeed Opera House is putting on a new musical called Amazing Grace, which is about the song's author, John Newton.  The audition notice specifically said that they were looking for performer's who played instruments; which meant almost everyone decided NOT to go the the call.  I wasn't going to go either, but then decided that I since I do technically know how to play the violin I should give it a try.  When I arrived at the call there was barely anyone there.  I came exactly on time and was put in the first group!  Thats how few people were there.  I had to hurry and get dressed so I could go into the room.

The choreographer of the show is Benoit-Swan Pouffer the artistic director of Cedar Lake Ballet and while he wasn't there that day his assistant was to teach us the combination.  Hello, contemporary concert dance! It was a combination of contemporary and African dance, fun to do, but pretty sure I looked like a nut!  We danced the combination in groups of three and after each group went they asked if anyone wanted to tumble.  After I danced in my small group I volunteered to tumble.  I swear this winter I have tumbled at almost every audition, its insane.  Anyways, I was kept after the first cut and had some down time while the non-equity girls went into the room to dance.

During the wait, I rented a room so I could warm up and practice my song.  I have started doing this recently at auditions and it really helps!  I decided to sing Come Down From the Tree from Once On This Island and prepared about a 32 bar cut despite the fact they had asked for 16 bars.  When it was time for me to go in and sing the accompanist told me my cut was too long!  Whaaaat??!  So he suggested we start from a different location, which I agreed to do, but wasn't exactly thrilled that I had been caught!  Lesson learned.  The song went awesome!  Yes I used the word awesome because its the first time I felt like that after singing at an audition.  The casting director then asked me if I could bring in an instrument if they called me back and I agreed.

A couple of weeks later I got a callback for the show.  We came in to dance again and I realized that I was in a room filled with former Alvin Ailey & Philadanco company members.  I had to wonder why I was there, but I stuck it out and learned the combintion.  By the time we were finished learning the combination we were all exhausted and sweaty and then we learned that the choreographer wouldn't be coming in!  Instead he watched the auditions on Skype!  Very interesting this new fangled technology.  We danced two at a time and then a few of us were asked to read sides, sides are small parts of the script actors get to perform at auditions.  When I went in to read, I was awkward and terrible, but it was my first time doing sides at an audition!  The director thanked me and I knew I had just taken myself out of the running for the job.  Learning something new everyday.