It is done

Today was the day I prepared for all week.  Audition day.  The shortest audition ever, but that was to be expected- I suppose if they do any sort of callbacks it will be for the individual show at its appointed time.  You see, I auditioned for the entire season, making these auditions sort of a cattle call.  I had three minutes to impress them and I hope I did.  I sang from “Race you to the Top of the Morning” from The Secret Garden (see post from a couple of days ago to a link to a video of someone’s performance of this song) and ended up doing a character monologue from my church drama from a couple of years ago- an absent-minded scientist named Dr. Quack.  I think I did a pretty good job, but I won’t know if I got a part in any show for a while I’m sure, maybe not until the time of the show.  I should have asked- oh, well.  I didn’t make the best exit either, with a simple “take care” as I exited, though I did remember to thank them for hearing me.  It is time to, as I read somewhere, set this audition aside and prepare for the next.  Incidentally I did finally find a website that shows several community theatre groups unlike the one where I found out about these auditions which is 95% professional theatre.   The site is Green Room Online and covers the greater Chicago area, including eastern Indiana.  Note- the information on the main page is outdated, but the links at the top bring up pages with more current information

.

The biggest concern I had about this audition was the cold I naturally came down with a few days ago, but God was merciful and allowed me to be able to sing and do my monologue without trouble today.  I started coughing again tonight, but I don’t mind.  Another concern earlier this week was that I have no piano, and no ability if I did to play the accompaniment.  The last time I sang this song with accompaniment was when I auditioned for Les Mis some years back.  The solution was to find software that could scan the music and become the accompaniment.  After a few tries, I found Finale PrintMusic 2010 which works nicely despite a couple of annoying bugs.  The demo was unlimited too, though expires after 30 days so it can no longer save.  No big deal for now.  Maybe I will scan in some other songs while I can.  Of course, you already know about the third concern- a monologue.  I had also read that a monologue should be from an actual show, so that’s where I started.  I checked out a couple of books from the library including a book of Neil Simon monologues.  Unfortunately comedic monologues to contrast with my choice of songs were few and far between.  I did like one from California Suite, but it was over three minutes!  I talked with a former professional actor at church last weekend and he assured me that an original monologue would actually be better to avoid comparison to other actors they have seen performing the role/monologue, so I chose one that he had written, and I performed already a couple of years before, the one described above.  The plus side to that was I already had it mostly memorized since I performed it no less than a dozen or two times- it was the intro spoken every week, slightly modified.

.

So, as I already mentioned, it is over- all I can do is wait.  The next big event for me now?  Just look at my countdown timer- less than eight days to go as of this writing. 🙂

Derek