The latest audition

I went to another audition Thursday night.  I almost didn't go, for several reasons:

• This company tends to cast young and I'm well over 30;
• I'm neither a hoofer nor a belter;
• I didn't really have an audition  piece ready.

The audition piece was the biggest problem because my voice has been in transition since I've been working with my latest teacher.  That's not a bad thing, but it means that right now none of the audition pieces I've used before feels comfortable and I haven't yet worked up anything new.  I ended up using something I've used (unsuccessfully) before, but about a fourth lower so that it sits squarely in my chest voice.  Naturally, "Last-minute Linda" here didn't really start working the song in the new, lower key until a couple of nights before the audition.  As a result, as late as dinnertime Thursday I was debating whether to go.  I did go, though, and a good thing, too.  A friend was there ahead of me in the order and stayed until I finished.  He told me I sang my piece with better resonance than when I did Carruthers, which was encouraging.

But the really encouraging thing was when they called me Friday to say I was being called back for the ensemble so the choreographer could put us through our paces.  Unlike the disaster that was my last dance audition, this one was fun and funny, and I remembered all of it.  The demographics were typical for community theater - 3 men and 11 women.  They didn't say how many ensemble members they're looking for.  ("How many people does he need?  How many boys, how many girls?")  I imagine it will depend in part on how their music is scored and therefore how many people they'll need to cover all the parts.

My friend was called back too, for one of the principals.  There are 4 possible outcomes: he gets cast and I don't; I get cast and he doesn't; we both get cast; neither one of us gets cast.  They promised we'd hear one way or the other by Wednesday night.  Now I just have to distract myself with my sewing and my voice lesson "homework" while I wait.