Audition Anxiety

So many worsts. Not a whole lot of bests. At our school they almost always pick songs for us to sing that have a low alto range (we don't get to choose our own songs to sing...grrrr). I'm a soprano one so I have a tough time with it... still some have ended up going better than I expected. For best, I always get extremely nervous for auditions, but one time I only got slightly nervous and actually had a lot of fun during the audition (it was for a play, not a musical) so I guess that would be the best...

I sang "Purpose" from Q for my Seussical audition and I got Sour Kangaroo :)..so that was a great audition..my callback for it was AWFUL though, but I guess they liked my first audition enough :)

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just remember , whether it be High School , Community Theater or Professional auditions.. you don't need them as much as THEY NEED YOU. They WANT you to do well. These people are rooting for you behind the table. There is no reason to be nervous because in the end , they are just um.. people... Just think of an audition as a voice lesson.. or singing for fun. Forget about the outcome even though you want the job or the college so badly because if you think , it WILL mess you up. I learned a lot early on in middle school / high school.. literally, I was SO obsessed with RENT @ 13 & 14 at my community and HS auditions I'd pretend my drama teacher / director was Bernard Telsey... and that he was auditioning me for Maureen.. then years later, when I actually auditioned for Bernard Telsey for Maureen lol I was on cloud 9 to be sickly nervous..just total excitement.

I ALWAYS get TERRIBLE audition anxiety, so much show that unless I think I'm going to be comfortable with the place it's taking place I don't bother anymore. The worse for me was probably college auditions, just because so much is riding on them. I only had three I had to audition for, and only two were very competitive. I auditioned my junior or senior year at SUNY Purchase for acting, but I wasn't prepared at that point and forgot my monologues pretty much entirely after a certain point. I was shaking and almost crying it was so bad. I was almost not going to audition but I did anyway.

My other audition was at Emerson my first year in college (I wanted to transfer) I was prepared this time, but still as I went to the building and felt the nerves rise up that I was going to bomb. I came with a monologue from the Woolgatherer (which I since learned is a no-no, but I was attached to it) and was prepared to sing "Till There Was You" from The Music Man. The gentleman auditioning me seemed nice enough, but I froze. I sang without any focus or really any acting at all. My throat was closed, by vibrato rapid and stiflied. I tried not to cringe at my own singing, but I couldn't stop, even through pre-audition breathing exercises what was happening to me. Then came the monologue. Boy...not too hot. All I had prepared went out the window. Then I basically word-vomited my interview and that was the end of that. I knew I wasn't getting in. I got into the school but not the department.

On the other hand, I also auditioned at SUNY New Paltz for their much less competitive musical theater program. It seemed like a very lax audition, and while I can't say I did my best ever, my singing went well and my acting, well it wasn't great but it could have been worse. I was nervous for this one, but not nearly as much as I had been, both because of the atmopshere and because it was less competitive. I ended up hearing a week later that I got in. I didn't end up going, but it was nice to get in to something for musical theater.

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My worst was when I was in high school and auditioned for Into the Woods. I didn't think that my song went very well, but then the director had everyone sing a song from the show, except for me. I have rarely been so embarrassed.
The best was in college, I was auditioning for Pirates of Penzance and on the way to the audition I was talking to my sister about how I always get nervous when I'm auditioning and can't get the breath support that I need. She suggested that I let her breath for me when I sang. And, I know it sounds cheezy but, it worked!

I'm big into the whole method thing while I'm acting at least physically . .. I can let it go mentally pretty easily but physically I hold onto some of my baseline characteristics. Anyway, in college once, I was just finishing up laying Joe in "The Shadow Box" and was auditioning for "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and couldn't lose the dying middle aged man character i was playing. It was embarassingly bad.

Also, when I returned to acting after taking an extended break, my first couple of auditions were awful... reaching its nadir when I couldn't get in an large cast ensemble piece like "Our Town."

Another audition frustration for me is being of a certain weight and not being the tallest man, I don't always get considered for leading man roles. It deflates you, especially after a kick-butt audition.

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Worst auditions...there were so many.
Best audition: Avenue Q audition. I went to a Chorus call/EPA and changed my song choice very last minute. Walked in, had fun and got called back about 5 or 6 times after that, including a final callback with the whole gang (producers, writers etc). Everyone was so very nice that it made the atmosphere pleasant and made the work very easy. Something I'll never forget. I learned so much too...

I fell on my face while walking up to the stage at an audition for Animal Crackers. But since it was a slapstick musical, and i bounced up really quickly and said 'I'm okay!' the director loved it.

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Theatreboy-

I haven't met anyone who has made the show at a call back or otherwise. I barely saw anyone else there at any of the call backs except for one or two other guys. Usually, none of us were up for the same parts either. Is this what you're asking? Or are you asking more about meeting Rick Lyon or Peter Linz?