Tonight was the big night for auditions. There were a total of six auditioners (5 ladies and yours truly). I was familiar with all but two of the females. I have worked with the remainder on more than 1 occasion… so at least I was familiar with most of them. And of course, I HAD to be the first to arrive. But when volunteers were taken to be the first to perform, there were actually people who were more eager than I.
The first to go was a high school age girl who had never been in a show her entire life. She knew the story of Little Women, has read the book, seen the movie, and just wanted to try something new. She chose to sing “Think of Me” from The Phantom of the Opera. She was really nervous. After she got through the excerpt, the director asked her to sing it again and gave her advice on how to better perform the song. The second time she sounded much better.
The next person to audition was a freshman in college who came just to audition for the show. My apologies because I do not remember what she sang or how she did.
The next contestant was someone I have worked with on several previous occasions. I have been in different show casts and she has been the vocal director for past shows. Most recently, we were part of the choir for a performance of Faure’s Requiem. After she performed her two selections from Little Women, her student also performed the same piece. This is something that seems very odd. I’m sure that it is not unheard of to audition with a song from the show you are trying for, but it just seems weird to me.
Which brings us to you know who. I chose to sing the last 16 measures of “Any Dream Will Do” from Joseph… I chose it because I felt that it really shows my vocal range and I have practiced it a time or two; but it has been a while since I have been able to rehears it with an accompanist. I did take a bit of liberty with the last measure by taking it up an octave.. it just seemed right. Apparently, the director thought so, too because he said: “Good choice.”
The rest of the tryout was basically finding where our vocal range is. On the audition form, it had a space marked “Vocal Part.” I put tenor/baritone. The accompanist remarked that I sound more tenorish. I agreed so we labeled me a tenobear. It has been a while since I have gone through and actually determined where I fall. I have about an octave and a half (low A….which surprised me to a high G then on to falsetto where I almost reached soprano range). After the range game, I was surprised by the amount of writing the pianist did.
All in all, it seemed to be a good audition. The director was very laid back and made all of us feel at ease which is the mark of a good actor’s director. Now all I have to do is WAIT……… which is always the hardest part of any casting process. We were informed that it could be a cast of 15-20 with doubling or a cast of 40. Unless the turnout is better tomorrow afternoon, it may be the 15.