Casting a play

We just cast the spring musical, "High School Musical, Jr." by David Simpatico.  We had two days of auditions, two hours a piece, and we had over fifty students who auditioned.  What I realized through this process is that most kids these days don't know how to audition for a play or a show.  They don't read the directions about how to do it, so they come to the audition completely unprepared.  Well, let me teach you all how to prepare yourself for an audition for a musical.

First of all, check the website, and familiarize yourself with the music and story of the play.  Check out all the characters, and choose some that you think you might want to audition for.  If you can, watch a version of the show on youtube, and listen and study the songs from the show.  Prepare a song that you know will show your voice and will show the directors what you can do, range, emotions, preparation, diction, pitch, and expression.  Make sure you know the song cold before you go into the audition.  If it requires accompaniment, bring the score with you, or bring a karaoke accompaniment.  Study the "sides" if they are offered on-line.  If not, take a moment before you begin to read your part and study what is happening at that point in the play, and what your attitude and emotions need to be.  Smile, and sing confidently, and warm up before you go in, if you can, even in the bathroom for a few moments. 

When you are cast, be grateful that you were chosen among all the other people for that part.  Make a commitment to something bigger than yourself and your ego.  Every year many students are disappointed with the parts they get, and they up and quit before the first rehearsal.  In all the plays and shows I have been in in all these many years, I would never in a million years question the director's choices on casting their shows.  I don't know where this arrogance comes from, but I am unfamiliar with it, and it irks me and truly worries me for the next generation's possibilities for success in the world.  I am hoping someone reads this blog, and learns from this and thinks about the success of the whole production, instead of always about themselves.