as i was sitting in the garage’s office this morning, waiting for my car to be fixed, i was leafing through my audition binder and pondering the options i had for an upcoming audition.
see, you want to show the director that you can sing, and then you need a monologue to show that you’re a creative and compelling actor. but sometimes you’re in an audition where you’re just singing and so you have to pick a song that shows both.
i can haz job?
but you only have so many bars to do it in.
noooooooooooooooooooooooo!
how on earth are you supposed to go on an emotional journey in 16 bars? every song takes you from one place to another and the story is read on your face, in every sustain and decay. but a 16 bar audition has no journey, which is why it sucks to audition.
you’d think 32 bars would be better, but in my case, i have some constraints to consider.
nope.
the show i’m auditioning for is a sondheim musical and if i have a sondheim piece prepared, they’d like to hear it. i have two, but one is from the actual musical, and the other has no great place to cut out 32 bars.
the thing about sondheim is that his roles and his music demand that the performer be utterly truthful, faults and all. there may not be the final, high note, but the emotional high note is always important. there are so many words (so many) and they’re all pretty critical to telling the story, so if you cut some of them, you’re not telling the whole story anymore.
can you just calm down a second, stevie?
in the end, you just have to show up and do your best. and here’s why auditions are fun: you get five whole minutes to just perform. i’ve spent much of my life being shushed, being told singing in public was inappropriate or rude or embarrassing… isn’t it wonderful that there are so many people out there posting invitations on mnplaylist.com to show up and perform for them?
get after it.
who cares if you don’t get called back or cast?* i just needed to sing today, loudly, and without shame.
well… except a job.
a very wise and talented individual once gave me this advice: “if you need to take a moment to feel sorry for yourself, that’s fine. don’t make a career out of it.”
–jmac
p.s. this post turned into a bernadette peters gif dump. you’re welcome.
*literally everyone.
Quoth The Raven, "Oh Geez." 
Wow! I have always hated auditions, and for so many years now have tried to think about them as just a chance to perform, but it has never worked for me. That, or I wasn’t really believing the thought… but the way you have articulated it here really strikes a chord.
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i’m glad! sometimes i pretend i’m in an animated movie and that it’s totally normal for me to be singing in front of strangers: “maybe they don’t notice i’m here…”
can’t judge me if i’m the queen of agrabah!
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