Good Foundation: Auditions
Auditions Are Hard
I thank everyone who came out to audition for us in February, 2009. It’s a hard process, no matter what side of the apron you’re on.
As soon as PTP announced Sweeney Todd in its season line-up we started getting a good amount of buzz because
- obviously the show is popular in its own right;
- Tim Burton’s 2007 movie garnered a new generation of enthusiasts (although the movie and the show are definitely different constructions); and
- production team members Brooke Howells, and Jim and Karen “Sweetie” Kleyle come in to this show with strong credentials (and a slew of WATCH awards and nominations between them!) — people actively want to work with them.
And so we expected (hoped) to be booked solid for our auditions, with plenty of talent to invite for callbacks. We weren’t disappointed, with almost sixty auditions spread across fewer than eight hours.
What to Ask For
I like to check an actor’s vocal range during auditions so we can see quickly whether the person is able to match the tessitura for any role. In community theatre we don’t typically have time to work up transpositions across all orchestra parts to accommodate an actor who can’t cover the original keys. (Now-a-days most musical theatre licensing companies do offer packaged transpositions for a fee, but even so it’s generally easier to work with a cast that can cover the score.)
As we were anticipating the large turnout, we agreed the initial auditions would include only 16- to 32-bars singing with vocal range checks, and we’d deal with directed monologues or other acting work during callbacks.
Prepping for Callbacks
On a separate worksheet in the French scene spreadsheet (look for the discussion here), I built the true required vocal range of every sung part so we could later match it up against our candidates. In community theatre I generally assume auditioners aren’t singing regularly and so trust that with regular warmups and rehearsing we can extend each range by a few half steps as needed. We took this in to consideration as we generated the callback list.
From our initial ≈60, we invited 34 actors to callbacks.
Saturday. Callbacks
Thank you very much for coming to our callbacks; I’d ask that starting now you stop listening to any commercial recording of Sweeney Todd. For those of you selected for the cast, I ask that you continue not listening to those recordings for the duration of our production.
<internal monologue>Yeah, I should have found a better way to say that.</internal monologue> As clunky as that (paraphrased) opening speech was, I did mean it. I really like the 2005 John Doyle revival recording; I certainly appreciate the 1979 original Broadway cast album; and I get why people want to listen to Johnny Depp and Ali G singing about swinging the razors. But until I’m working with those people directly, I don’t want their performances intruding on our production. (This goes for any show I’ve music directed.) We want to put on our own production with our own idiosyncrasies and our own breathing and our own pacing and our own inflection and our own crazy pronunciation (?) and … and … our own everything.
For our actors, that should be freeing (and I hope they see it that way) … it’s a chance to put their own stamp on a character. This show is a great opportunity for that because none of the characters are stereotyped. With the right preparation and direction, all of our actors could find their own voice to present, and that is ever so much more satisfying than doing it, say, DiMarzio’s way.
Our initial plan for callbacks proved too ambitious for the amount of time we had in the theatre. For each role, we wanted to teach a solo and a duet passage from the score so we could get a sense of characterization (through the solos) and actor interaction (through the duets). It’s Sondheim so of course some of it is hard to learn (especially during fifteen minutes when you’re still trying to earn the part) and I spent more time than I’d scheduled working on the solo portions. Happily we did get a chance to hear everyone on those, but when it came time for the duets we were up against the clock.
We decided we had enough information from the solos and let most of the actors go, keeping a couple to learn the selected duets between Anthony and Johanna and between Todd and Lovett.
After hearing each of those pairings, we packed up and headed to the Selection Supper, where we made our choices (some easy, some hard) and crossed our fingers that those we selected would be willing to be selected.
Why Are You Here
As I wrote, we had our own reasons for expecting a decent turnout, but part of me really wants to know what drives local talent to come audition for community theatre. If I had the luxury of an extra ninety minutes free from rehearsal, I would sit down with the actors we’re working with now and ask them for their candid thoughts: Why did you want to be in a show? Why this show? What are you bringing to it? What are you getting from it? Are you here because you like the show? the idea of the show? Are you here to hone your craft? If so, are we helping you with that? Are we giving you the level of (vocal, character, dance) instruction you feel you need to improve?
My intent wouldn’t be to judge motivations, but for those who want it, this shouldn’t be just about this show… it should be about improving or practicing the art, and I’d welcome feedback on how well we’re satisfying that. And besides, I’m nosy.
Why Do We Want You Here
Thus far in my music life I’ve been blessed with three mentors. One of them, Dr. Browne, gave me something I’ve carried for almost twenty years. I was accompanying auditions for our school’s touring choir and had just played for someone who had auditioned for this group for three previous years and never earned a spot. As this was his senior year, it was his fourth and last chance to make the group, and this year, he got in. I had seen how the audition went, felt there were others more qualified, but Dr. Browne explained there can be different reasons to choose someone. He didn’t elaborate on why he chose this person in this case, but over the years I’ve applied my sense of his philosophy and generally felt it has guided me well.
Some times it isn’t simply singing (or dancing or acting) ability that jumps out at us. Maybe it’s your stellar backstage attitude, or the way you work with others. Or maybe you have a unique skill we really want to include in the show. Maybe we want the chance to try to draw something more out of you.
Or maybe you were absolutely the best choice and we counted our lucky stars you came out for our show.
Peace…
jdw
