So, I used to live in NJ. You think I’d go to New York all the time for auditions, right? Sadly, that was not the case. I think I went to 4 auditions total in the city. I went so seldom that when I would go, I’d psych myself out and usually have an awful audition. Seriously awful.
Well…you always want what you can’t have. After moving to Hawaii, New Hampshire and North Carolina, I greatly regretted not going as often as I could when I lived closer. In September, I decided to spend a month or so up there. My Husband was incredibly supportive and all these pieces seemed to fall together as if the Universe was screaming, “it’s your time! Go now!” (So much back story…I can tell I have a lot of blogs to write).
My husband and I went up to NJ for our 10-year HS reunion. (Am I that old?!) I took the car and headed north to my Grandparents-in-law’s house. The plan was to visit for a few hours, keep my car in their driveway and then stay for a while with a friend who lived on Long Island. Well, that fell through and I was left commuting from NJ to NY EVERY day (thanks to my Husband’s Aunt and her Husband for letting me sleep in their son’s room!!!)! The trip was now more expensive than planned, but I had these crazy high hopes that I was going to land a job, so it was ok.
I went to a few auditions in the beginning of the week (Cinderella Asia Tour, Disney Cruise Line, Jean Ann Ryan cruise and Drowsy Chaperone). I experienced my first “typing out.” The casting director, music director and director line you up in a room, look at your headshots and resumes for 2 seconds and decide right then and there if you even look the part before you sing. It’s nice because it saves everyone time, but it can still be a little disappointing. On Wednesday, I got to meet with a New York Agent who represents those for musical and film/TV. He was very nice and said kind things about me and my talent, however he couldn’t represent me because I didn’t live in NY *and* I wasn’t in any union (SAG, AFTRA or Equity). Understandable. I was just excited to have an appointment!
The rest of my week was spent back in South Jersey with my parents and in-laws. I even auditioned for a show down there. Why not? I was up north to get a job! What I learned at that audition is that I sing pretty but maybe I should not audition for dance heavy shows (42nd Street). Amazingly, they did call me back, but I couldn’t make it.
Damn. This is gonna be long. Sorry!
Ok…back to the city! Stayed with an actor friend from a million years earlier in my life. Nice of him to let me stay but never got more than 5 1/2 hours of sleep each night…bad for a singer! That week I got to see another agent (told me the same things as the last), auditioned for Oliver in PA and a Christmas Carol (my first equity audition)! I waited around the Equity building to try and audition for Fiddler on the Roof. Didn’t get seen.
Got sick. Not good at not sleeping. Spent the weekend recovering. Oh and wasting my LIFE trying to audition for Grease. If you put that you’re gonna cast the WHOLE show on your breakdown, 500 people *will* show up. And they did. After they finally realized that it was time to Type out, they kept like 10 girls. They were looking for 2 girls for the cast. Neither of which looks like me. I would have stayed home and slept! Lots of angry people that day.
Next week: Auditioned for Bye Bye Birdie (they had us dance first. Epic Fail), Babes in Toyland, some country show, South Pacific and the Sesame Street Live tour. Typed out of the Palace Theatre season auditions (They were just casting Wedding Singer. I was the only one there who was even alive in the 80’s!!) and lots of waiting around for no reason to try and audition for thing called Encores! A crazy week, but ending with Sesame Street was awesome. I nailed that audition. No, I would not be a muppet. The same week, I signed up with Central Casting to do some extra work and got to see my best friend sing and play at the Bitter End.
Ok final week! Yay! I thought about auditioning for the Addam’s Family musical. It’s new. It’s by Andrew Lippa (love). I put my name down on the list but had a feeling it was going to happen. I seriously hate equity. Finally got to try and audition for the Fiddler on the Roof tour (I thought I had a Debra Messing thing going on…). Got typed out. Oh well. Auditioned for a fun cruise ship company, Stiletto Entertainment. What an amazing tour that would have been. I kinda sucked. They were nice, though and complimented me on my hair. Um…ok. The same week, I auditioned for Prather Family Entertainment. They have a few theatres all over the country and tend to have the same seasons at each. Had a great audition singing “Something to Talk About” by Bonnie Raitt. They called me back in and wanted me to sing something country (I thought I just did?) but I didn’t have any more sheet music. Wound up singing “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” in a country twang. Hilarious. They seemed to like it and my ability to play guitar. Apparently they were casting the Ring of Fire musical. I felt pretty certain I had nailed the role. Never got a call. Oh well.
So I went home to Charlotte, NC. No roles. No grand jobs. I came home with much more, though. I learned how to rock an audition. I learned how to shrug off a crappy audition. I learned how not to take not being cast personally. I don’t feel like I suck and I have no regrets. I made new friends and reconnected with friends from the past. I even received new familial relationships and bonded broken ones. All-in-all it was a wonderful trip. I can’t wait to go back and audition more. As taxing and tiring daily auditioning can be, I miss every second of it. BUT I am very happy to be home with my husband, my kitty cat in my pretty house.
Next blog: the show that almost was 🙂