My friend Toni called me and asked me for my help. She has been taking vocal lessons and singing in choirs for years, but she wanted to try something different: she wanted to audition for a play.
As we know, I have no small experience in auditioning, but when she asked me to watch her sing and give her pointers on "emoting" convincingly it made me nervous. Nevertheless, I met her at her house last Tuesday and watched her sing her song about 10 times.
It was fun! First of all, Toni has a gorgeous voice and picked a great song. She choose to sing "How Could I Ever Know" from the Secret Garden musical. I had never really heard her sing like that and about fell on the floor during the first runthrough. Second, she has the perfect look for Savior of the World. I told Toni that it was very likely the director would be rooting for her as soon as she walked in the door; all she had to do was seal the deal. I felt that the play she had chosen was a good fit for her vocally, physically, and would be a good "first" show. She was honest enough to say she wanted a lead, but would be thrilled in any role. More importantly, she just wanted a good first audition experience. The dear woman was terrified.
I enjoyed my role as an "audition coach." I drew on suggestions given to me by my own experienced directors and coaches and taught her things like to choose a point at the wall above the center person's head as the main focal point, but don't feel like you have to stare at it the whole time, either commit to using her arms or leave them relaxed at her side, and try not to move her feet too much. I wanted her to mostly focus on the words of the song and sing as though she is really apologizing to someone that she can't be there for them. It's possible I gave her too much information and overwhelmed her, but she kept asking for more, and I did see a lot of progress during each runthrough.
I am pretty sure I did give her too much information about the actual audition process, especially since I haven't auditioned for Savior for years so I didn't really know what to expect there. I could only give Toni some general info, like what to expect when you walk in the room, and that there would be an audition form for her to fill out with her experience and conflicts.
Toni did make me perform the song a few times to give her a better idea of what she should be doing. I couldn't look at her while I did it, and I felt really weird having her mimick me. Plus, I was painfully aware that my voice is not as trained as hers :P But, it felt good to sing the song, to feel the emotions, and pretend that I was auditioning. I may believe myself to be a better actress than I am a singer, but I felt I did a good job (to be fair, I did play this character recently, even if it wasn't a musical version of the story). I made sure to use all of the techniques I'd been giving to Toni. Didn't want to wash out my own advice!
She called me after the audition on Wednesday and reported that she didn't think it had gone very well. Her voice hadn't sounded the way she expected it to and she was so nervous she was sweating. Then the director had Toni sing it a second time and tried to direct her a bit which really freaked her out. She didn't get a callback and left feeling really discouraged. As far as I know she hasn't heard anything yet, but I don't know how long the casting and decision process usually takes for this show. Toni is still hoping for a part in the ensemble and I hope she gets one. I tried to reassure her and told her I thought it was fantastic she did something out of her comfort zone. I remember my first audition and it was a huge mess. Then again, I've gotten some of my favorite roles after what I thought were bad auditions.
The whole experience made me want to audition for a play. I don't know that I'm really ready yet to jump into another one -- I'm enjoying my freedom -- but I'd like to audition for a couple versions of A Christmas Carol and a show at the Childrens' Theatre. Let's face it: I could definitely use the practice. I usually do okay at callbacks, but getting there is often a challenge. It's just so easy at an audition to be intimidated by a production team and my competition. It's so easy to beat myself up because I sound inexplicably different at the audition than at home. It's so easy to focus on the potential outcome rather than just enjoying the opportunity to perform (my own current albatross).
Why subject myself to that stress? So I can overcome my insecurities and get better at it so that some day it isn't stressful anymore. To remind myself that talented and capable people sometimes aren't cast, even if they are willing to be any part at all, because of something that is completely out of their control. Also, because I never know what someone's looking for. Like I said, I've been cast after some pretty lousy auditions. And, finally, because I love to perform and I should take advantage of more opportunities to sing.
So, I'll start auditioning again here pretty quickly. Wish me luck -- I mean, "Break a leg!"
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