Going from lead roles to extras

[OneSongGlory90]

Posted: 10/17/08 at 10:53am

how do you guys deal?

[SamanthaisFierce]

Posted: 10/17/08 at 1:13pm

You mean lead roles to ensemble?

It's easy. You say, oh I'm not right for this part, accept it, take in the experience as ensemble, audition for everything you can, and trust that directors will cast you in roles you're right for. tadaaa

[SarahBeth]

Posted: 10/17/08 at 5:37pm

Right. You gotta realize that you're not right for EVERY leading role but may be perfect for a bit role. I'd rather be in a role that was the right fit for me than struggle through a role that I have no business in.

[KathyGriffinLovesYou]

Posted: 10/17/08 at 6:06pm

You can't have perfect auditions everytime. You just get over it, rehearse, and there you go. Seriously I had the worst audition I've EVER done EVER a week ago and I haven't thought about it for over a minute until your thread reminded me about it.

[SamanthaisFierce]

Posted: 10/17/08 at 6:35pm

Also sometimes the shows you get cast in as ensemble are the best experiences you'll ever have
Updated On: 10/18/08 at 06:35 PM

[typecastme22]

Posted: 10/17/08 at 8:25pm

Tell yourself that they missed out on something great.

But also don't go in with a bad attitude. You can learn SO much more by being in the ensemble and you also tend to have a better time....Just go in and be happy that you were cast!

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 10/18/08 at 10:00am

Watch the people who got the leading roles and use what you learn in future auditions. (Unless they're really bad and cast for their looks, in which case, rant about it here on BWW!) Think about all of the great Broadway performers who started out as ensemble members or understudies.

I have to admit I didn't always have the best attitude toward this... I used to always get principle roles-- not the leads, but the comic relief roles-- in the shows I did, and then I moved to a much more competitive sphere of theatre, and I started getting ensemble roles. I was still getting leads in all the plays, but I was getting chorus parts in the musicals, and after a year or two, I managed to convince myself that I couldn't sing and went around telling everyone that I was 'tone deaf.' (Note: You can't be cast in a musical at all if you're 'tone deaf.' You've got to have potential.) It wasn't until this year when I got a principle role again in a production of "Guys and Dolls" with my own song that I realized I shouldn't have given up.

Try doing some non-musical theatre as well-- it'll make you a better actor, and then you'll do even better in musical theatre in the future.

Updated On: 10/18/08 at 10:00 AM

[VonTussleGirl]

Posted: 10/18/08 at 12:41pm

I actually love theatres that mix up their casting decisions like this. One of my best friends works primarily at a theatre where she's played Peter Pan and a few plum dramatic roles in straight plays, but in her current show (Aladdin) she's playing a villager with a humpback and a unibrow.

The theatres that tend to cast the same five or six people in leads can get mad boring.

[Juliash]

Posted: 10/18/08 at 12:53pm

I actually really like trying to alternate being in the ensemble and being a lead. There's so much more downtime and you get to know everyone better slash its so nice to observe other people...

[blondebaby589]

Posted: 10/20/08 at 9:47am

Agreed Samantha. In some productions I've actually learned more as an ensemble member. And in some shows the ensemble does more than the leads do. For example, Rocky Horror. I'm a currently a phantom and the four of us are literally in every single scene.

[EmieMarie]

Posted: 10/20/08 at 12:07pm

I never think that thatere is anything wrong with being in the ensemble, its a great experience, and all of my musical theater roles have been in ensemble, with the most, 2 lines,

i agree with the statement, you are never right for every lead role, something to really take to mind

[SamanthaisFierce]

Posted: 10/20/08 at 9:47pm

That's so funny. I'm a phantom in Rocky Horror right now too! haha We get to stay on stage, sex everything and dance the entire show. So awesome.

[skb2010]

Posted: 10/21/08 at 12:24am

Well,

I had the lead in the H2$ last year, and thought I was a shoe in for Laurie this year in "Oklahoma!".

Not so much. I think I handled it well because one of my best friends got the lead, and now I'm playing like 8 different parts. And it's awesome.

[blondebaby589]

Posted: 10/21/08 at 12:07pm

That is funny Samantha! But since pretty much every other theater is doing it, this coincidence was bound to happen eventually haha. Where is yours anyway?

[SamanthaisFierce]

Posted: 10/21/08 at 5:26pm

Mine is at The Boston Conservatory. It's a benefit show from Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, howabout yours?

[sleepyguy1717]

Posted: 10/21/08 at 5:42pm

I dodn't mind being in the ensemble, as long as I'm being challenged. In some shows, the ensemble dances are to easy, or nobody learns parts, and I don't feel the point of doing it if I'm not personally driven.

"Unless they're really bad and cast for their looks, in which case, rant about it here on BWW!"

Agreed! After I auditioned for Jack in Into the Woods, and the director called me to tell me I got it, she posted the cast list and I was not listed as Jack. She gave my part a way to the son of a very influencial man in our community. And lets just say, he A LOT of people to sleep. He took Giants in the Sky the tempo of a ballad. Blegh!

[blondebaby589]

Posted: 10/22/08 at 10:06am

It's through BackPocket Productions at the Scottish Rite Theater of Collingswood, NJ, which is about 10 minutes outside Philly. Break a leg!