dramamama611 said: "It could mean many things, but it most likely means you are no luck get being considered for major roles. You might have been placed in a smaller role, chorus, or not cast."
"MY callbacks are usually about being "good enough", but determining if one is RIGHT enough. I have never cast a MAJOR role to someone that did not get a call back... even if I'm fairly certain on a part....they also need to be seen with other actors to be sure the fit is right."
Way back when I was in High School I had done professional regional and stock shows and was always under the impression that if you didn't get a callback you weren't cast in the show at all. Whether it was for a lead or chorus and when doing school shows I assumed it was the same.
I had a pretty big ego being young and naive and My freshman and Sophomore year in HS I was cast as pretty major supporting characters in my school show. Being a [male] dancer though, I knew I would always get a dance role even if I fought for or was right for a lead. So when my junior year rolled around and my school was doing a big dance heavy show I assumed I would absolutely get the role I wanted and had practiced the song for callbacks for weeks before the audition. The callback list came out and my name wasn't on the list at all and I was devastated, pissed, and stunned.
I stayed at school the day off callbacks and as soon as they ended I went and talked to the director and music director to calmly and nicely ask why I wasn't called back. Turns out they didn't call me back because they figured they were just going to offer me that role and didn't need to see me at callbacks. However, during the callback process they realized there was a senior they could use in that role and it didn't have to be a dance heavy role and another supporting character needed to be a dancer. So they offered him the role and gave me the other role..... The show was 42nd street and the role I wanted was Billy, but ended up getting Andy the choreographer.
I guess my point is that sometimes you can be considered the right person for a role and the creative team decide they don't need to see you at callbacks. But in my case, not getting the callback didn't allow me the chance to read and sing for the role and prove I was the right person. If they had called me back and I still was offered Andy-- that is another story. Or even if they chose to lie to me and tell me they already knew I was going to be cast as Andy I would have accepted that.
So it does happen..... However, as a director even if I think I know who is going to be a specific role and that I don't need callbacks for that person, I absolutely will still call them back because of that experience in HS. Haha