Changes
Having been unemployed since April, I was forced to lower my expectations, and eventually (about three weeks ago) got a job as a cashier at a grocery store. I've always been good at customer service, and in the time I've been there, I've managed to impress every manager I've got.
Last night, I auditioned for a musical. The last time I sang an audition was a good five years ago, and the last time I sang a successful audition was about twice that, but I think this one went well. Of course, it didn't hurt that I've known the two people I was auditioning for since I was about 8 years old! One was a girl I used to dance with, back in the day, at the Edmonton School of Ballet (which I dropped when I blew out a knee in grade 7), and the other was her mother!
For my audition piece I decided to sing "You're Not Alone" from Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, a show I've had a bit of a love affair with since I saw a Fringe production of it early in my first degree. I posted on Facebook that I would be fine, so long as I could remember what order the words went in. This, of course, prompted a bit of joking, but I'm not even kidding.
Brel was a Belgian musician who wrote most of his music in French, and although the translations used in the musical are very good, there are still problems inherent in poetic translation. Also, Brel himself was something of an eccentric lyricist and composer. Every stanza except two starts with the same words, the stanzas themselves are of varying lengths, and although the song is made up of about 8 individual stanzas, the music is written in only two verses of four stanzas each.
I was looking for a reasonable YouTube video to include with this post (because there's a lot of crap ones!) and I found this gem, where they turned it into an ensemble piece. Glorious!
In the time it took me to write this post, I received my callback email, so obviously yesterday went well. :)
Apparently the callbacks are going to be mostly movement, so that will be interesting. My friend The Maestro also auditioned and also got a callback. Here's hoping we get to work together on this!
Last night, I auditioned for a musical. The last time I sang an audition was a good five years ago, and the last time I sang a successful audition was about twice that, but I think this one went well. Of course, it didn't hurt that I've known the two people I was auditioning for since I was about 8 years old! One was a girl I used to dance with, back in the day, at the Edmonton School of Ballet (which I dropped when I blew out a knee in grade 7), and the other was her mother!
For my audition piece I decided to sing "You're Not Alone" from Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, a show I've had a bit of a love affair with since I saw a Fringe production of it early in my first degree. I posted on Facebook that I would be fine, so long as I could remember what order the words went in. This, of course, prompted a bit of joking, but I'm not even kidding.
Brel was a Belgian musician who wrote most of his music in French, and although the translations used in the musical are very good, there are still problems inherent in poetic translation. Also, Brel himself was something of an eccentric lyricist and composer. Every stanza except two starts with the same words, the stanzas themselves are of varying lengths, and although the song is made up of about 8 individual stanzas, the music is written in only two verses of four stanzas each.
I was looking for a reasonable YouTube video to include with this post (because there's a lot of crap ones!) and I found this gem, where they turned it into an ensemble piece. Glorious!
Click to viewIn the time it took me to write this post, I received my callback email, so obviously yesterday went well. :)
Apparently the callbacks are going to be mostly movement, so that will be interesting. My friend The Maestro also auditioned and also got a callback. Here's hoping we get to work together on this!