A Working Actor's Lament (Chapter 74)
It Only Rains When Urinetown
Project - Musical Theater "Urinetown"
Location - Morgan Wixson Theater
Role - Lockstock
Aquired - Facebook
Yesterday was the day that my wife had been waiting for...the auditions for "Urinetown - The Musical". She has been wanting to play Little Sally, and knowing the show, she would be great for it.
I have seen the show and am a fan. After my wife's audition yesterday, I decided that the character of Lockstock was something that might be fun. I came home, found two contrasting songs (one comedic and one sentimental) and felt good enough about how they sounded (or how I sounded singing them) that we would return today. Let's see if I could book my second musical theater show.
After leaving the we traveled west on I-10 through the rain-soaked freeway to Morgan Wixson Theater. Unfortunately, it was only 2:30 PM and we were about 2 hours early so we drove into Santa Monica and past the Third Street Promenade. As we passed the pedestrians who were without umbrellas, it crossed my mind that these people will have the H1N1 virus in no time.
We turned the car around and got back to the theater by 4:00 PM. There was only one more hour before the auditions, so we sat in the car and played Yahtzee on her iPhone. She lost. I thought to myself, "Maybe we should head in now".
Entering the theater, we were the first one's to arrive. I signed in (#41, which means 40 auditioners yesterday...good turn out) and paced back and forth as more people showed up and signed in.
5 PM turned into 5:05, then 5:10, then 5:15. We were told the pianist was late and he was stuck on the 405. Finally, at 5:20 I heard my name and walked through the curtain. There, in the audience, were four ladies sitting behind the table...the director, the musical director, the choreographer and someone else, no less important though. I greeted them all, walked on-stage and handed my music to the pianist.
After explaining that my first song changed tempo halfway through , giving him the new tempo and acknowledging his acknowledgement, I walked back to center stage and started to sing. It started out smoothly, then we got to the tempo change...
Where was it? Didn't I tell him to go a little faster? Maybe he was and I had an inner ear infection that caused everything to go in slow motion. As I dragged myself through the rest of the song to a beat that would put anyone to sleep, I did my best to do everything I had practiced the night before...look at my watch, twitch my eye, laugh a little here...why was it taking so long?
When the end of my song had crawled it's way to finality, I heard a little chuckle from the table. A little chuckle is good, I thought. At least someone stayed awake.
YAY, my comedic song was over, now for the ballad. I walked back to the pianist with a smile on my face and gave him the tempo for the second song, thanking the Gods above that there was no change in the speed of the song.
Back to center stage and away I went...as well as my focus. My eyes were jetting back and forth, left and right on the back wall. In the song, I am singing to my wife who, I can only assume to the women at the table, looked like she was running to and fro in the back row looking for a way out of the theater and my audition.
I collected my music, thanked the lovely ladies and exited through the curtain back into the lobby. There were not that many additions of auditioners from when I went in, but the rain was coming down pretty steady now, so I assume the serious actors were already here. I was not told about callbacks (when they were or if I even had one), but I know they are tomorrow. It is now 12:13 AM tomorrow as I type this line and there is not a message in my inbox or one on my phone as of yet. I would not be surprised if nothing has changed when I awake in the morning.
What did I learn:
Project - Musical Theater "Urinetown"
Location - Morgan Wixson Theater
Role - Lockstock
Aquired - Facebook
Yesterday was the day that my wife had been waiting for...the auditions for "Urinetown - The Musical". She has been wanting to play Little Sally, and knowing the show, she would be great for it.
I have seen the show and am a fan. After my wife's audition yesterday, I decided that the character of Lockstock was something that might be fun. I came home, found two contrasting songs (one comedic and one sentimental) and felt good enough about how they sounded (or how I sounded singing them) that we would return today. Let's see if I could book my second musical theater show.
After leaving the we traveled west on I-10 through the rain-soaked freeway to Morgan Wixson Theater. Unfortunately, it was only 2:30 PM and we were about 2 hours early so we drove into Santa Monica and past the Third Street Promenade. As we passed the pedestrians who were without umbrellas, it crossed my mind that these people will have the H1N1 virus in no time.We turned the car around and got back to the theater by 4:00 PM. There was only one more hour before the auditions, so we sat in the car and played Yahtzee on her iPhone. She lost. I thought to myself, "Maybe we should head in now".
Entering the theater, we were the first one's to arrive. I signed in (#41, which means 40 auditioners yesterday...good turn out) and paced back and forth as more people showed up and signed in.
5 PM turned into 5:05, then 5:10, then 5:15. We were told the pianist was late and he was stuck on the 405. Finally, at 5:20 I heard my name and walked through the curtain. There, in the audience, were four ladies sitting behind the table...the director, the musical director, the choreographer and someone else, no less important though. I greeted them all, walked on-stage and handed my music to the pianist.
After explaining that my first song changed tempo halfway through , giving him the new tempo and acknowledging his acknowledgement, I walked back to center stage and started to sing. It started out smoothly, then we got to the tempo change...
Where was it? Didn't I tell him to go a little faster? Maybe he was and I had an inner ear infection that caused everything to go in slow motion. As I dragged myself through the rest of the song to a beat that would put anyone to sleep, I did my best to do everything I had practiced the night before...look at my watch, twitch my eye, laugh a little here...why was it taking so long?
When the end of my song had crawled it's way to finality, I heard a little chuckle from the table. A little chuckle is good, I thought. At least someone stayed awake.
YAY, my comedic song was over, now for the ballad. I walked back to the pianist with a smile on my face and gave him the tempo for the second song, thanking the Gods above that there was no change in the speed of the song.
Back to center stage and away I went...as well as my focus. My eyes were jetting back and forth, left and right on the back wall. In the song, I am singing to my wife who, I can only assume to the women at the table, looked like she was running to and fro in the back row looking for a way out of the theater and my audition.
I collected my music, thanked the lovely ladies and exited through the curtain back into the lobby. There were not that many additions of auditioners from when I went in, but the rain was coming down pretty steady now, so I assume the serious actors were already here. I was not told about callbacks (when they were or if I even had one), but I know they are tomorrow. It is now 12:13 AM tomorrow as I type this line and there is not a message in my inbox or one on my phone as of yet. I would not be surprised if nothing has changed when I awake in the morning.
What did I learn:
- I need to decide to either start taking singing lessons or stop auditioning for musicals.
- I need to really plan my time better and not arrive to auditions TOO early.
- Find ways to cope with the unpredictability in auditions better.
- Carry an umbrella if the forecast is for rain.
Labels: Audition, H1N1, Morgan-Wixson, Urinetown
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