Now Playing -
hum of refrigerator.
Now Eating -
a biscuit.
Now Feeling -
dawg tired.
Now Tweeting
- Melanie
Sometimes it's nice being the unknown quantity.
Last Thursday I auditioned at a theatre at which I have never worked. While I am not enthused about working at this particular theatre (no pay, and rumors of unprofessionalism), working with the leading man (at whose behest I auditioned) and performing this particular role in this particular show are bigger draws.
I arrived and saw no-one I knew. That was good, because it allowed me to focus and not get involved in any awkward chitchat with folks with whom I would not normally associate outside of an audition setting. The music director was woodshedding tunes from the score on a piano in the lobby. Not very well. But it's a tough score, and he may not be very familiar with it, so he gets a pass. A friend of mine showed up with another actress (who I'd recently seen in a show but hadn't met) in tow, and introductions were made. We settled in to finish up our paperwork.
The director ran the audition (as opposed to a stage manager) and had us all move from the outer lobby to the rear of the theatre to wait. I was about the fourth one called. Went in, introductions were made, and the accompanist played my song, a little too slowly for my liking.
And Sweet Betsy from Pike, that song is low. I knew it was low � the woman who originated the role is quite the contralto, and I'd sung another of her roles back in the day and wasn't able to hit her lowest note then. (I'm sure I could now. 
) But after a full day of talking at work, and a scattershot warm-up that didn't encompass the range of the song - oof. It was tough. While the music director was running through stuff, I think I heard him mention that several of the songs have alternate keys, and that this was one of them. I worked on it during my lesson Friday, and Joy and I discovered that a mere half-step higher makes a world of difference. Here's hoping I get the opportunity to see if it does.
The director stopped me midway through and said it was very good, and the music director turned to me with a big grin and said "That was great!" The director asked how big my range was and I answered, "Big." He said, "It must be to be able to sing that." I told him it was listed on my resume, and as he paged through the paperwork I simply said, "C below middle C to high C is my practical range." The music director plunked out a high C and I hit it. Rule #1: Never lie on your resume.
Thank-yous were exchanged, an I'll-call-you was proffered, and I was outta there. I loitered for a bit with my friend, said hi to a guy who's rehearsing the next show, and left just as the Resident Equity Scab arrived, ostensibly to make some kind of show of auditioning before eventually going over the director�s head and demanding her role of choice.
She wore...
jeans and pink sneakers. Reeeeeally classy audition wear. 
Rule #2: Always dress for auditions.
Friday, the director called and asked me to come to the callbacks tonight. He told me I'm called back for the role I wanted, and also for another role. Which I am not interested in. Which calls for a French accent and dance ability, but is also waaaaay out of my age range, if traditionally cast.
Which brings up an always-interesting quandary. Do you deliberately only excel at reading for the part you want, or do you give it all�well, your all? The answer's obvious, of course: you give everything your very best. Especially for a director who doesn't know your work from the proverbial hole in the wall. I can't imagine "throwing" an audition in such a fashion.
I also can't imagine giving up midway through, as I've heard one fellow actress has done several times as of late. It seems she's another one in the "I'm getting so used to being precast I can't be bothered to audition" camp. She threw two auditions for roles that The Powers That Be wanted to hand to her, and I suppose it says something for TPTB that she was not given the parts. But lordy, she sure lost points with me when I heard about that.
Yesterday a friend and I went to see Joy's opera company do Il Trovatore. Or as she calls it, the "Park and Bark!" Minstrels! Gypsies! Gypsies hard at work with their hammers and anvils! [Hammers and anvils? Isn't the gypsy purview more along the lines of dancing, colorful clothes and tambourines? Not when they launch into the only piece of music I recognize..."The Anvil Chorus!"] Time-release poison that allows you to sing one last big aria before you die! Beheadings and burnings-at-the-stake! It was all great fun. And some fine singing as well.
After, Friend and I went to dinner, where we had a good, long talk. 'Bout theatre stuff, and "personalities" stuff, and life stuff. I'm concerned that her life stuff (which is pretty miserable at the moment) is seeping into her theatre stuff, and detrimentally affecting her reputation, her relations with others, and her sanity. I worry that that out-of-control aspect of her life is tainting the one place in her life which I know I always hope is sacrosanct, the stage; where we go to create things of beauty. I tried to impress upon her that she cannot control the behavior of others, and that she is responsible for herself and no-one else. That no-one (well, 99% of no-one, anyway) is "out to get her;" that there are people in her life who love her and want the best for her. That sometimes tough decisions turn out for the very best. That she can only do what she does, and try to be the best she can be at that thing.
I hope some of it sank in. She's a good friend, and I care about her.
That said, I went to the callback tonight, and did what I could with what I got. It could have gone better, but it could have gone a whole lot worse. We shall see.
Which I guess brings me around to Rule #3: Do your best regardless. In the end, the only person you're competing with (or against) is yourself.
And unless you're auditioning for Dora the Explorer: The Musical!, never wear jeans and pink sneakers.
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a very fine cat indeed - Friday, Jan. 17, 2014
happy new year! - Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013
this is where i am - Saturday, Jun. 30, 2012
this is how it is - Friday, Feb. 24, 2012
a very late last year's wrap-up - Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012
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