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Audition
Questions:
How
should I find and prepare my song ?
How
Should I Sing My Song?
What
more important: Singing, Dancing, or Acting?
How
do I know if I made call-back or got a part?
How
do you feel turning down kids who try their hardest?
I had
a great audition, why didn’t I get a part?
What
if I didn’t get a part, but I really want to be involved somehow?
Theater Policy
Questions:
Can I
Bring Toddlers/Babies/Strollers?
Do
You Have A Place for Children Under 8 Years Old in Your Productions?
How
should I find and prepare my song ?
You usually only
get to sing about 16 measures (bars) of the song, so you really should be able
to memorize that part. You can hold a sheet with the lyrics if you want, but if
you're holding it, you'll probably look at it, and it won't give a very good
impression.
You also need to
put a lot of spirit, energy and emotion into your song (sing it like you feel
it), which is hard to do if you are trying to read it from a page. Just choose a
song with simple lyrics, or one you know well so you can easily memorize the few
lines you'll sing.
An up-tempo song
is usually best, it's sometimes hard to pull off a ballad unless you have a lot
of vocal training. Most kids do show tunes from musicals that are often done by
children's theaters. Libraries or music stores usually have big paperback books
with sheets music from all the popular Broadway shows. Songs from Annie Get Your
Gun, Charlie Brown, Oliver, Cinderella, Bye Bye Birdie, and many others are all
good. The only song you might avoid is "Tomorrow" from Annie - its done
so often most directors cringe when they hear it.
Karaoke CD's are
often available at music stores that have sheet music or special Karaoke stores.
These usually have the song with vocals one side and without vocals on the
other. Its best if you practice with the non-vocal side after you learn the words
and bring the CD, or a tape made from the CD, to audition.
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How
Should I Sing My Song?
I asked the
musical director of our present show what she looked for in the last auditions,
and she gave me these hints;
Smile and look at
the musical director while you're singing - look like your having a good time.
It's amazing how many kids learn their song beautifully and then look at the
ground, or look miserable while they sing.
Get right to the
good part of the song. Don't bother singing all the introduction to get to the
part that you really want to sing. If you have the sheet music, just show the
piano player where to start, and he (or she) will be able to work with you.
Don't move around
and try to make dramatic motions to go with the song. At this point, you are
just showing off your voice, the acting comes later.
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What
more important: Singing, Dancing, or Acting?
This might be
different with other theaters, but we always do musicals and singing is very
important. You should spend time preparing your song carefully, since that is
the first thing you will do for the director and musical director. There are
some non-singing parts, but not many ,and it seems to be harder for many kids to
learn to sing than to act or dance. You don't need perfect pitch, but it helps a
lot if you can sing mostly on key.
Dancing is almost
as important as singing because it shows that you can follow simple directions
and not get too flustered just because you are on a stage. It lets you show how
much energy you can show the choreographer, even if your not doing the right
steps. Usually being a really great dancer is not required, unless you want a
part with a dance solo.
Acting is
important for the lead roles, but there are usually ensemble and supporting
roles where you don't need to be a star actor. One of the reasons we exist is to
teach kids who want to learn to act, so the director might take a chance on
teaching you what you need to know in six weeks of rehearsals.
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How
do I know if I made call-back or got a part?
Announcing
callbacks depends on what the director prefers. The normal procedure is that on
the night you come for the first audition, after everyone has auditioned, you
are handed a sealed envelope that you can open privately after you leave. Inside
will be a form telling you if you are called back or not.
After auditions
and any call-backs are over, the director, choreographer, and vocal director
usually go have a meeting for an hour or two and decide which people they want
in which parts. The producer then records a message on our phone machine
offering parts to various actors. Actors call the machine and listen to this
message and either accept or decline their roles. The cast is not official until everyone
has accepted their role (or not). Sometimes people turn down a role they don’t
want, so the parts may get shuffled slightly, or a second choice person might be
called. This is why it often takes a day or two to announce the final cast list.
Once it is official, its posted on our web site.
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How do
you feel turning down kids who try their hardest?
Very badly – in
fact it’s the worst part about producing children’s theater. We wish we
could give a part to everyone who auditions, but we have 90 kids try out for
some shows, when there are only 28 parts in the play. If we tried to put 90 kids
on our stage, it wouldn’t be a real play anymore, it would be a kid
parade/costume pageant. There are children’s theaters that do this, but we don’t
think its a good way to teach acting or stagecraft, so we choose to stick to the
script.
It doesn’t seem
fair that you do your best, try the hardest you can, and yet don’t make it. We
try very hard to make announcements several times during the auditions to remind
parents and kids that there are not enough parts for everyone, but that doesn’t
keep everyone from hoping. The volunteers that have taken turns running Broadway
On Tour over the years all have kids that want to be in plays, and we have all
brought them home more than once in tears from an audition for our theater, or
another one, when they didn’t get a part.
Not getting a part
can happen for a lot of reasons, and you shouldn’t feel that we rejected you
personally, or that you failed. The things you should remember are that it is
scary to audition, whether its your first time or your fiftieth, and you can be
proud that you had the guts to try. If your going to get parts in our theater,
or any other one that has open auditions, you have to remember that it isn’t
personal, you can’t win ‘em all, and you have to practice and KEEP TRYING.
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I had
a great audition, why didn’t I get a part?
There can be lots
of reasons besides your ability, even though that may not seem fair. One big
reason that kids often forget about is conflicts. Everyone who auditions fills
out a form listing their schedule for other stuff (soccer, baseball, school
performances) going on at the same time as the play. If two kids have equal
auditions, and one has conflict dates for rehearsals or a performance, the part
goes to the one without conflicts.
Another reason
might be the mix of kids that comes to a given audition and get other parts. If
a sixteen year old girl has a great audition for the part of Peter Pan, but all
the other girls are only 12 or 13 years old, then you would have a problem since
Peter Pan would be taller and older than Wendy, Tiger Lilly, and the rest. In
some shows, this kind of thing doesn’t matter, but sometimes it would make the
characters unbelievable to the audience so parts have to be given according to
who is available.
A last thing to
remember is that you are auditioning from the time you walk in until you leave.
Sometimes kids will give a great audition in front of the director, but show
unwillingness to follow instructions or pay attention during dance instruction,
or generally don't behave like good guests in the waiting area. The
choreographer and other production staff might take this as a sign that someone
might be a little hard to work with, and lean toward giving someone else the
part. Its OK to be excited, make some noise, talk with the other kids, and move
around BUT - pay attention and quiet down when someone needs to work with you.
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What
if I didn’t get a part, but I really want to be involved somehow?
We have lots of
jobs in every show that aren’t on stage. For the big shows we need spotlight
operators, set movers, curtain pullers, and prop people. These jobs are usually
done by kids who just want to volunteer, have brothers or sisters in the show,
whatever. They hang around with the cast, go for pizza after, find out how a
play works, and generally have a good time.
If you want to be
involved even if your not in the cast, make a note on your audition form. You
can even call our theater number (714) 542-6939 anytime and just leave you name
and say you want to volunteer. We can always use light and sound people for the
one hour shows, and most high schools that require community service hours will
accept time working for a non-profit children’s theater.
You might try
taking our workshop , or one offered by other theaters on our link page, to
build audition and acting skills. You might also consider trying out for the
smaller productions, like our year ‘round one hour musicals. These don’t
sound as interesting sometimes as the "big name" shows, but they are
much easier to get parts in and one of the main reasons we do them is to give
inexperienced actors a place to learn.
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Can I
Bring Toddlers/Babies/Strollers?
When confirming
reservations, our phone volunteer is often asked "Can I bring along the
baby?", or "My daughter is three, will she be able to enjoy the
play?" The answer is usually another question : Can your child sit through
a movie? This is a pretty good gauge of whether they will enjoy our plays. We
specifically do one hour musicals that are fast paced to try and keep their
attention, but some kids can’t sit still nearly that long, regardless of age.
We welcome you to
bring the toddlers or babies along if you want. Strollers have to be parked
outside the theater in the hall or in the adjoining banquet room but you can
hold the baby on your lap. All we ask is that if they start to get noisy
or squirmy enough that it begins to wreck the show for the rest of the audience,
you take them for a break outside the theater in the hallway for a while until they
are more "composed".
You can leave your
older ones sitting inside to see the rest of the show and stand just outside the
doors until you hear the clapping for curtain call, and then come back in.
This sort of thing happens pretty regularly.
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Do
You Have A Place for Children Under 8 Years Old in Your Productions?
We very rarely
have roles for kids under 9 years old. Once in a while, we use Munchkins as
young as 8, but most parts require too much memorization, stage presence, and
concentration for kids that young. You may want to try Orange County Children's
Theater, Idea Entertainment in Brea, or Orange County Performing Arts Academy (see our Theater
Links page). They
have some programs for younger children which can prepare them for youth theater
participation when they get older.
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