I've now finished all my November auditioning. I'm in the chorus of the 1st show I auditioned for this month and am waiting to hear from 2 companies about their respective productions of Into The Woods. Company #2 is having their callbacks Monday night; if I haven't heard anything from them by tomorrow night, I guess I'll assume I'm not cast. Which is OK, because there are lots of other May & June shows to audition for.
I don't envy the directors of either company. From what I saw on Sunday night and the latter half of Monday night, company #1 could easily cast the show 3 or 4 times over in some roles. Company #2 could do an entire under-20 cast, or do one cast each with Broadway- and classical-style voices, or .... Before I left company #2's auditions Tuesday night, I wished the director a happy Thanksgiving, wished her luck with the casting and told her I didn't envy her the process.
Very interesting to see what kinds of auditioners two different companies got for the same show. #1 got a wide range of ages, from children who looked as young as 6 or 7, through teens and 20s, straight through to a few who might have been in their 60s or even 70. I was interested to note that the youngest auditioners sang their pieces a capella and the few who forgot their words didn't get flustered or upset, just started over, or la-la-la'ed until they got back on track. One of the youngest auditioners looked young enough that I wondered if she'd be able to read some of the bigger words in the monologue everyone had to read, but I guess she'd heard it often enough from others by the time her turn came around that she didn't seem to have any trouble.
Perhaps because so very many people turned out, they took auditioners in groups of 10: each would sing his or her audition piece till all 10 in the group had sung, then each of the 10 would read the monologue, then all 10 would get up on the "stage" (platform about 4" above the floor) to do the movement combination. In one or two cases when someone auditioned a capella, the MD would ask them to sing Happy Birthday w/ accompaniment, and in nearly all cases the MD asked for a scale starting at F. After each group finished these 3 events, the 2 directors would put their heads together and ask a few to stay on. That was when the directors would have different combinations of people read the same scene or two.
By contrast, most of the auditioners for company #2, at least the night I auditioned, seemed to be high school or college age. As I was filling out my paperwork, I heard them tell one hopeful that there were no children in this show. (#1 is apparently creating things for a chorus and children to do, while #2 is doing it with the casting pretty much as written.) One young man (middle school age?) did audition, but he's already had a few major roles with the company, so perhaps they're letting him try for Jack.
These auditions went much more quickly - they heard 45 or 50 people in a little over 2 hours, so that we were all dismissed by about 9:15. But then, these were run differently: the MD let most people get through only the first chunk of their audition piece (in a few cases, he warned the singer that he'd be starting somewhere in the middle because the first section didn't show off enough range). He then asked for a scale, then a top, bottom, and middle note, not necessarily in that order. After all of us had sung for the MD, we were herded onto the stage (yes, all of us at once!) to learn the movement combo. This one was closer to choreography than what company #1 asked for, but still not terribly complicated. After the choreographer had us all go through it a few times, she then had half of us do it, then told off 8 names at a time so she could watch us do it "for real". And that was it - no one read; presumably that will happen at callbacks.
It was interesting to see what kinds of songs the younger auditioners picked. One girl picked a song much too low for her voice; the MD had her do a couple of different scales and lectured her gently on choosing a piece better suited to her voice. (He can be dictatorial but is generous with advice and nurturing young talent.) I think a lot of them just pick something they like and know well. Company #2 got a much higher percentage of male auditioners, too (most of them in that under-20 group), at least the night I was there, and I've already mentioned the difference in the ages of the auditioners. And while both companies wanted to see how well we moved, only #2, which has presented some impressive production numbers in previous musicals, has enlisted a choreographer in addition to the stage & music directors.
Before I left for #2's auditions, TW asked me how many of the folks would be there who'd also auditioned for #1. I told him I wouldn't know until I got there. I did see a few familiar faces, but not all that many; I guess the 2 companies are just far enough apart that there isn't that much overlap in their audition pools.
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