Tonight, after CITY OF ANGELS rehearsal, I headed out to Wheaton to audition for Wheaton Drama's production of CHICAGO.
Now, I showed my voice instructor (who I LOVE) the song I wanted to sing at my lesson and she asked for a copy so she could practice it because it had 5 sharps. I am really wishing she had just attempted it once....but we will get to that in a minute.
Anyway, they were asking people to make appointments and once I decided I was going to do it, I made an appointment for 9pm because I thought rehearsal would go later due to us starting later and then it would take me about an hour to get there. Well, even stopping to pick up a mandarin chicken salad I was over an hour early, which is great because that gave me time to eat and relax and try to get out of "rehearsal" mindset and into "audition" mindset. HA! Honestly, this was another audition I went to to get some experience and have some fun, because I don't think I have a chance since it opens less than a month after CITY closes.
I headed out right after I got out of CITY rehearsals and had enough time to swing by Wendy's for dinner (yea salad) and chill for an hour in their lobby before my audition time. While waiting I heard 8 other people sing the same song I had started preparing!!!! I thought about changing it, but I did not have the sheet music for the other song I was considering and I wanted to at least LOOK at it!!
This director did things in a different way that I wish more directors would do. Each person that registered was assigned to either group A, B or C. There were 3 rooms. Room A was singing, Room B was dance and Room C was cold reading. Every 20 minutes the group would rotate to the next one. It got people in and thru the process in an efficient manner. Of course, the 9pm on a Sunday group was so small that there were only 2 groups and my group only had 2 people in it!
On to the singing room, which was the stage. Let this be my lesson for the day -- sing your song AT LEAST once with a piano!!! Seems simple right, but no, I have just been singing with a recording and it was a half-step higher than the music I had. OOPS. Other lesson I have to learn -- don't apologize when you don't do 100%!! On the positive side, the last 16 bars of the 32 I sang were strong, supported, correct and full!
Next, the cold read. My partner started the minute she got the pages so I wasn't able to set an intention in my head. Stupid me. Once I knew who I was reading I should have come up with SOMETHING!! And then we switched. I gave her a couple of seconds to read the other side and asked if she was ready to begin and got a dumb look. Oh help! We get going, reach a point where she wants to put her arm around me and asks me to "get shorter." This. Is. Not. Good. So, I crouch down and do something with my arms and the next thing I am finishing my lines HOLDING the person reading for Mama. Oh. My. Goodness!!! Yea, I started laughing and at that point I pretty much knew that all hope was lost.
On to the dance. Now, they had set up 2 times that you could go to the choreographers studio to learn the routine. Sadly, I had conflicts with both. So I had about 12 minutes to learn an intricate routine, ran it all the way thru 2x with the choreographer and then performed it. Well, I did pretty good on the back half, but I was lost at the beginning because my brain was so full!! Oh well.
Needless to say, I received a very nice e-mail from the director telling me that I did not get cast. Once again, I am of the opinion to go on the second night and now I know a couple of new things to work on. In the meantime, I have CITY to focus on as that is opening soon and more auditions to prep for!
22 March 2010
Audition #5 -- It's a Hard Knock Life, For Me!
I've been debating heading up to GR for this audition for a long, loooong time. Circle Theatre, a theatre that I interned for in 1995 was holding auditions....and they were doing ANNIE! HELLLOOOO!!!! Miss Hannigan = DREAM ROLE!!!!
Because I was not 100% sure if I was going to come up for the auditions, I did not make an appointment, but I was perfectly happy sitting around for a bit until I could get in. I met a girl from Colorado who flew in to audition for the role of Annie because she had just done it and wanted to do it again. I met a bunch of people doing the latest Circle Show. And I listened to my song and practiced!
Finally, I got called in with about 14 other people. There were about 14 people sitting at a table for the 2 shows they were auditioning for, and they were RIGHTattheedgeofthestage. I was the 2nd to last person to audition and I had noticed that the accompanist was coming out from behind the piano to greet each person so I walked right up to him, stuck out my hand and introduced myself and thanked him. I then showed him my music with its 3 key changes in 16 measures. Then I stepped into the curve of the baby grand (ooooh!! baby grand!!) and said, "Hello, I am your tall drink of water for the day. My name is XXX and I am going to be singing XXX from XXX." Then I sang my 16 bars and got the feeling that they wanted more. Before I sat down to change shoes they wanted my picture and after seeing everyone being serious and being in a silly mood, I did a "Japanese tourist."
Then it was time for the dance combination! Ok, after what I have done the last couple of auditions with dance combos this one was the easiest one yet!! They wanted to try to combine the styles of "Little Shop" and "Annie." The song was "Easy Street" and I felt that since the song has so much attitude I was going to put it into my dancing. They did not say to play it straight, so I put character into it. I don't know if it was the right thing to do or not, but.....
After the audition someone asked me if I was auditioning for Miss Hannigan, I responded in the affirmative and they told me I had the perfect voice for her!
I don't think I am going to get this show (I did not), but it was a lot of fun going back home and auditioning for a theatre that I interned at back in 199*mumble*. I think I had poor song choice for what I was auditioning for and I think I may have come off as being a little too flippant when in actuality I was trying to break the nerves up in me.
Because I was not 100% sure if I was going to come up for the auditions, I did not make an appointment, but I was perfectly happy sitting around for a bit until I could get in. I met a girl from Colorado who flew in to audition for the role of Annie because she had just done it and wanted to do it again. I met a bunch of people doing the latest Circle Show. And I listened to my song and practiced!
Finally, I got called in with about 14 other people. There were about 14 people sitting at a table for the 2 shows they were auditioning for, and they were RIGHTattheedgeofthestage. I was the 2nd to last person to audition and I had noticed that the accompanist was coming out from behind the piano to greet each person so I walked right up to him, stuck out my hand and introduced myself and thanked him. I then showed him my music with its 3 key changes in 16 measures. Then I stepped into the curve of the baby grand (ooooh!! baby grand!!) and said, "Hello, I am your tall drink of water for the day. My name is XXX and I am going to be singing XXX from XXX." Then I sang my 16 bars and got the feeling that they wanted more. Before I sat down to change shoes they wanted my picture and after seeing everyone being serious and being in a silly mood, I did a "Japanese tourist."
Then it was time for the dance combination! Ok, after what I have done the last couple of auditions with dance combos this one was the easiest one yet!! They wanted to try to combine the styles of "Little Shop" and "Annie." The song was "Easy Street" and I felt that since the song has so much attitude I was going to put it into my dancing. They did not say to play it straight, so I put character into it. I don't know if it was the right thing to do or not, but.....
After the audition someone asked me if I was auditioning for Miss Hannigan, I responded in the affirmative and they told me I had the perfect voice for her!
I don't think I am going to get this show (I did not), but it was a lot of fun going back home and auditioning for a theatre that I interned at back in 199*mumble*. I think I had poor song choice for what I was auditioning for and I think I may have come off as being a little too flippant when in actuality I was trying to break the nerves up in me.
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