Audition Advice - What can I do to ensure getting the part???

[Musicaldudepeter]

Posted: 4/23/11 at 8:36pm

I know this is an old topic, and a standard question, but I gotta ask!

[By the way, this is for community/amateur theater!]

If I'm auditioning for a part in a local musical, how can I really do my best in the audition to blow the production team members away to ensure I get the part; especially if there are some really good people up for the part? Any good, sound advice for auditions?

[dramarama3]

Posted: 4/23/11 at 8:37pm

Screw the casting director.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/23/11 at 8:40pm

You can never be guaranteed of doing that. EVER. You could do your absolute best and still not be what the director is looking for.

And community theater will seldom cast newbies...you need to establish yourself with them as reliable.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 4/23/11 at 8:51pm

Show some skin...
You Gotta Have a Gimmick...

[BwayTday]

Posted: 4/23/11 at 9:03pm

Do not be so consumed with the WANTING of the part. Or WANTING to do well. Naturally you will feel these things, but try to not to focus on them. Because if you do you will be more in the want and less in the performance. This will lead to you not doing as well as you could. Look as it as a chance to perform. Strut your stuff. Show them what you can do. Focus on your character and on your performance. Remember they are judging from the second you walk in.

Then there is the obvious choose an appropriate song/monologue and such. Make sure your song is range/style/character appropriate. Break a leg!

Posted: 4/23/11 at 9:08pm

You said it yourself: "Do your best in the audition to blow the production team."

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 4/23/11 at 9:09pm

Please STAND OUT. I do some work for community theatre (it's a county theatre) and we sometimes get 100+ auditioning. That makes for a long day auditions and although I'm not the casting director, I work on the casting team. If this is a role that a lot of people are trying out for, standing out is important. Don't be afraid to show some emotion, depth, and yes, even humor. The absolute worst for me, when I watch auditions, is the endless stream of people with mediocre voices who sing with no emotion.

[Taryn]

Posted: 4/23/11 at 9:35pm

Be nice to everyone, ESPECIALLY the monitor, who is the person more likely to see impatience or pettiness from actors. I have been in the position multiple times where a production team has specifically asked me to tell them who was a bitch and who was really nice while waiting, because nobody wants to work with someone nasty.

Be warm and friendly. People are more likely to remember you if they like you.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 4/24/11 at 1:57am

So true, Taryn. I can't tell you how many times my reports on somebody's behavior outside of the room waiting in the hallway have played a part in which pile their headshots go.

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

Posted: 4/24/11 at 11:34am

Peter...pay no attention to the snarky comments. It might help to choose a song that is recognizable, but not one that "everyone" is using. Be prepared with your material. Best of luck to you. RC in Austin, Texas

Posted: 4/24/11 at 12:10pm

Um. Don't try so hard to be any other thing than YOURSELF.
If they don't like it- tough for them. Their loss. move on.
No one should ever over think an audition. if you're prepared, ready, and they like you---you can still get pushed aside for political, familiar or other casting reasons.

don't sweat it and do your best.

The best thing to think about after an audition is NEXT!

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 4/24/11 at 1:56pm

Audition with no pants on.

[Kad]

Posted: 4/24/11 at 2:02pm

The biggest piece of advice is to see an audition as another chance to do the work. So many people make the audition about impressing- the auditors and themselves.

It's just another chance to perform, that's all.

[ggersten]

Posted: 4/24/11 at 2:23pm

Following up Taryn, I cast one show, and one fairly talented person did not get a lead role in part because of how she treated the accompanist. And did we ever hear it from the accompanist!

Other general tips: don't apologize or explain or ask to start over. As others have said, the audition is a performance. Treat it that way and you will shine. Energy and enthusiasm go a long way. Understanding the song you're singing is so so crucial. And if you are given a short reading ahead of time - if you can memorize it - GREAT! But do go over the reading a few times.

Have some familiarity with the show and roles so you pick a good song that shows you could do the role. Some directors do not want to hear a song from the show that you're auditioning for - some do. The audition notice should indicate.

But you can't insure anything - because you have no control over who else is auditioning. You can only sell "you". Sometimes "you" is not right for a part - even if you're incredibly talented. I know of a recent community theatre show where a person - who's had several leads and is very talented - did not get cast, because there was no role for that person's "you" in terms of age and vocal range.

Updated On: 4/24/11 at 02:23 PM

[BwayTday]

Posted: 4/24/11 at 2:35pm

Oh, and don't look at the casting panel (in their eyes) when your singing your song.
Updated On: 4/24/11 at 02:35 PM

[Rudy2]

Posted: 4/24/11 at 7:03pm

I agree about worrying less about "wanting" the part and focusing more on simply providing the best characterization (and, in a musical, vocalization) you can.

Also, if you are not cast, remember not to take it personally. Just because someone is a director does not mean he or she is smart about who is a better actor / has sound judgment.

In my single year of working in community theatre, I have performed in three shows and am currently rehearsing two. I have learned / experienced these things...

- Sometimes you won't get cast not because you can't act the part, but because you look too young or too old next to previously cast actors.

- Sometimes a director will put his or her own perspective into a production of a play, going against the playwright's wishes, which can render all the preparing you did before the audition virtually worthless. To avoid this happening, ask a few carefully worded questions of the director via e-mail if you can get in touch prior to auditions.

- A lot of actors will be cast instead of you or in better parts than you not because of talent, but because of their look, demeanor or previous affiliation with the director.

To give an example of the last one, I ended up not being chosen for a part I was more appropriate for that was larger than what I ended up playing. This was a production of "As Bees In Honey Drown" by Douglas Carter Beane. I eventually learned that the (female) director not only was friends with the lead actor, who was not particularly talented, but that in her shows she typically casts men in terms of how good they look. Apparently, she grew up with low self-esteem / weight issues and has a fondness for being superficial with men now that she is in good shape in her 40s.

It was a beautiful production, not because of her thin directing, but because of a marvelous lead actress who I had the pleasure to share two scenes with. After the final performance of the play - the theme of which is that we live in a culture that celebrates surface, not content - my boyfriend overheard our director insisting on pre-casting an audience member, who told her he was not an actor, in her next play; she told him she thought he had "the perfect look."

He was, admittedly, quite handsome. But what I realized right there was that the theme of the play she had just directed was something that had not mattered to / been detected by her.

I also found out, one night before we opened, essential character details for one scene in the play by researching the play online. I found a whole new dimension to one of my characters - I found out I was not playing an inane clothing salesman, but one who was nefarious and accepting bribes. That my director did not communicate this / know it at all proved to me that the little details did not matter to her.

I should say I have nothing against this woman personally. She was otherwise delightful and a fun person to spend time with out of the theatre. In fact, I had a car accident one hour prior to curtain for the final performance, when I had the first line of the show (!), and her first concern was the safety and comfort of me and my boyfriend, who had been in the car with me, when we arrived - after the audience had already been seated. However, to me, she represents a lot of what is wrong in the arts today, and if you enter the world of community theatre you are likely to find traces of her in people you meet. Perhaps they think the little details and actual content don't matter because they believe audiences don't notice those things. I disagree; how can an audience notice those things, or the lack of them, if they are not present in our work to begin with?


If you want to be in theatre for the right reasons, put in the hard work anyway. Interact with people like the director I just described if you need to in order to perform in substantial work and then, when the production is over, move on. Seek out people who are in the theatre for the right reasons and make them your friends and colleagues.

It also will surely strengthen your spirit to read Marian Seldes' "The Bright Lights." It's a beautiful book written by a restless creative spirit who has been in the theatre for the right reasons for over 60 years.

The theatre desperately needs people in it who will raise the creative bar, not lower it. Otherwise community theatre will be nothing but "Cinderella" and "The Sound of Music" in 15 years; a slight exaggeration, but you know what I mean.

[Wishing Only Wounds]

Posted: 4/24/11 at 7:13pm

Well, someone already gave my advice.

Shtoop the casting direct.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 4/24/11 at 9:40pm

Don't bring the Yiddish unless you know how to use it. You meant "schtup". I don't think shtoop is a word in any language.

There's a lot of good advice in this thread. Be prepared, do your best, and be nice to everyone.
Updated On: 4/24/11 at 09:40 PM

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 4/24/11 at 9:55pm

What's Yuddish?

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 4/24/11 at 10:18pm

A typo, since corrected, silly.

[Wishing Only Wounds]

Posted: 4/25/11 at 12:56am

I know Yiddish, and did not bring it in. To shtoop has since become a modern (slang) term.
Shtoop

[Wishing Only Wounds]

Posted: 4/25/11 at 12:59am

You got me curious...

Even if I was typing in Yiddish, I wouldn't have been wrong; I just wasn't using the romanized spelling.

Updated On: 4/25/11 at 12:59 AM

[goldenboy]

Posted: 4/30/11 at 2:08pm

Just think the three p's and an F

Pray, Practice, and Party (after the audition by buying yourself a drink or present.)
un.

You have no control over what they think of you...
only over your performance at the audition.

Most importantly... have fun.