Can you do a killer impression of Michael Jackson? What about Lady Gaga? Maybe even a Taylor Swift? If so, keep those impressions fresh because they could come handy for not only Las Vegas but for the Great White Way as well.
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Unifieds. For those who have endured through these audition sessions, I tip my hat to you. It’s a stressful and hectic process which proves to be more fruitless than successful. But there are those times when the stars align that a unified audition goes so well, an offer of admission is made.
These are rare but I’ve seen them happen. More often, a student will come in, give a strong audition and that will at the very least, put them on our radar as a strong candidate for admission later on. Then there’s the flip side, when we see a student give a lackluster audition that disqualifies them from consideration. It doesn’t happen in the majority, but it does happen.
While there isn’t a sure-fire blueprint for success to get into every school you audition for, there are definitely things you can do to help your chances in that room.
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Recently, I attended a college audition session where there was constant issues with the accompanist. While they were certainly trying their best, they just weren’t skilled enough to be able to play an audition session at this level. And because of this, it had a negative impact on the students auditioning that day. Each person after the next had some issues; whether it was rhythms, key signature, every student seemed to be off when singing their selections.
Over the course of your performing career, this is going to happen to you. While the majority of accompanists are fantastic, talented and helpful, there will be some who can torpedo your audition with their lack of skill.
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So we’re backstage at the conclusion of performance #10 in a 12-show run of Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, produced by Big Dawg Productions at the Cape Fear Playhouse down here in Wilmington, NC. We’re in the single, narrow dressing room that accommodates all five of us and our two-person backstage crew, changing back into street clothes.
J. Robert Raines, who plays Doctor Watson, is in the midst of changing his shirt, with a broad smile on his face.
“That,” he says, “was just so much fun!!”
Amidst murmurs of agreement all around, acknowledging that it had taken us a while to reach a performance level that was “fun” for all of us, we stumble across one of the harsh realities of community theater; that by the time everybody literally gets their act together, the run is over.
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At 34 weeks pregnant with my first child, and being the “love all the info person I am,” I’ve read several books (or parts of) on pregnancy. I know that the baby can hear voices right now. I know it’s good for my husband and me to speak out loud to her since she can recognize our voices specifically. But it feels weird. Now, we speak all the time to our cat, but then again our cat is vocal and answers back which makes it seem less strange. But talking in the general direction of my stomach…hmmm.
Anyway, I found a way around it - Music. Specifically, Broadway show tunes because that’s mostly my entire music library. Here are the songs and shows my Broadway Baby is being exposed to which if the books are right may result in helping calm her when she’s here, live and in-person!
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The theatre is all about perspective. Depending on how you look at a song or characters, the entire arc of the story can change. Take Grease for instance. On one side it's viewed at as a fun, teenage musical about falling in love and getting through high school. On the other hand, it's a cautionary tale, making the statement that it's okay to succumb to peer pressure to get the boy of your dreams.
By looking at some of these shows in a different light, it allows us to see through the eyes of a different character. One musical that comes to mind is Oklahoma!
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As a POC(Performer of Color), I celebrate anytime Broadway demonstrates inclusion whether it's with casting or show selection. However there is one group that is massively getting left out from this new wave of diversity awareness, Native Americans.
The timing has never been better to bring Native American stories and performers to Broadway.
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What started as monthly classes at the Rochester Brainery, the occasional weekend performance by small comedy groups, and casual stage time at Johnny’s Irish Pub has yes-anded into a flourished improv community of esteemed talent. Theater-drawn members of the Rochester, New York municipality have been flocking to the Focus Theater, a small local theater that now offers numerous classes for the arts, primarily a birthplace to the new improv comedians of tomorrow.
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Whenever someone asks me for audition advice, there are two things I mention first:
Know the character and context of your audition material.
Have multiple pieces ready to go.
The first is pretty obvious. It doesn’t matter what monologue or song you’re auditioning with. Know exactly who that character is and what is going on in that moment of the text.
But the second is something you might be surprised more auditionees, especially college bound students, don’t know about.
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So, you’ve spent your summer creating your balanced list of schools you will apply to, found your audition material, and worked to prepare it. Fasten your seatbelts--it’s application and audition time!
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