FinTownian Idol
Auditions were last night. It can be summed up thusly:
Aw, sh!t - great - good - WTF!?! - AWESOME! - notsogood.
Aw, sh!t - I was getting ready to leave school and stopped in to get a last minute pep talk from Peg, the coworker who encouraged this whole thing in the first place. She mentioned to another teacher in the room what I was going to be doing. The other teacher replied, "Oh? Is that the same one that X is auditioning for?" Much to my chagrin, it was. X is a new teacher in my building who annoys me more than kids behaving badly. I had thoughts of backing out upon learning this news because the idea of spending the ENTIRE summer listening to her. Never mind the fact that I would be putting my talent (or lack thereof) in front of her.
I decided that I would go anyway and just hope she didn't show. But, she did. :P So did 30 high school students and 8 other grown-ups. That was annoying. Don't you high school kids have your own plays to be in????
Great! - First off, dance audition. It was a partner dance, and the lack of males meant I had to partner with a girl. That also meant another person to make sure I was going left when I should've been. The dance was a lot of fun. It culminated in my leapfrogging over the back of my partner! (The pain in my ankles today from an hour of leapfrogs must be comparable to the one in her back from my vaulting.) Our audition was great.
Good. - Next, singing. The musical director picked a song that I felt pretty confident I could pull off. After Saturday's experience, I was bound and determined to show him that I could do this, do it well, and do it LOW. So I sang the song in my normal range, all the while staring him confidently in the eye (with a bit of defiance mixed in). He enjoyed it, then asked me to sing it again up high. That was okay. When I was done, he smiled and nudged the director in the ribs (Was I the subject of an earlier discussion????).
WTF!?! - I was feeling really great by now. Singing was out of the way. While there were many people better than me, no one ran from the room with bleeding ears. The only thing left to do was read. For me, this would be a piece of cake. I mean, I only read all day long and can hold the attention of 30 eight year olds for thirty minutes at a stretch using only my voice.
The director began reading people for various parts. All of the males read multiple times to accommodate the endless stream of females. A few of the females were asked to read a second part. I sat patiently waiting for my turn. The hour was growing very late and the director announced that she thought she had read everyone who wanted to read for a part. I raised my hand and said that she missed me and that I wanted to read for the lead.
She allowed me to come up. And to play my romantic interest, she asked a 14 year old (Peter Brady from my last entry) to come read. As soon as she said his name, I panicked. How can I, at 30, play a scene where I'm flirting with a little kid??? I did my best, all the while cursing in the part of my brain that I don't need for reading. And that was that.
I went back to my seat heartbroken. While I knew that there were people who would've fit any of the roles better than I could, I wasn't given a fair shot. I got a pity read, in my opinion.
AWESOME! - Auditions then ended. I was mopingly packing up my dance shoes and water bottles when the music director approached. "Take a walk with me," he said. He went on to tell me how his was not the only decision that mattered in the casting of the show, but he hoped that, even if I wasn't given a role, I would take a chorus part. I told him that I didn't care how I was involved in the show, so long as I was involved. He continued our chat by telling me how impressed he was with how I had done and that, even since Saturday, I had shown tremendous growth. He even said that he had called several of his colleagues on Saturday to tell them about what had happened at my workshop audition.
Needless to say, I was beaming. Unfortunately, I think I ruined it.
Notsogood - After thanking him profusely for his kind words, I said "You know, I'm really disappointed. I kind of feel that I got shafted on the reading part. That was the one thing I knew I could do and she put me with a 14 year old!?! Had I read with anyone else, I could've really shown what I can do."
Even as the words were coming out of my mouth, I could see that mind-self running in slow motion with a stop sign warning me to quit. But I said all of that. And now, I could kick myself. I know that I can't compete with those people who have been singing and dancing for years. Being in the chorus would be GREAT for me. But, I came off sounding like a whiner.
The music director said he would do what he could. I thanked him, gave a handshake, and headed for the door.
Call backs are tomorrow. I don't expect (nor do I think I want) to be called back. I'm hoping that I'll get that chorus part and spend my summer singing with a bunch of teenieboppers and a few older people desperately clinging to their youth. Hopefully, I know whether or not any of this will happen by the end of the week.
Aw, sh!t - great - good - WTF!?! - AWESOME! - notsogood.
Aw, sh!t - I was getting ready to leave school and stopped in to get a last minute pep talk from Peg, the coworker who encouraged this whole thing in the first place. She mentioned to another teacher in the room what I was going to be doing. The other teacher replied, "Oh? Is that the same one that X is auditioning for?" Much to my chagrin, it was. X is a new teacher in my building who annoys me more than kids behaving badly. I had thoughts of backing out upon learning this news because the idea of spending the ENTIRE summer listening to her. Never mind the fact that I would be putting my talent (or lack thereof) in front of her.
I decided that I would go anyway and just hope she didn't show. But, she did. :P So did 30 high school students and 8 other grown-ups. That was annoying. Don't you high school kids have your own plays to be in????
Great! - First off, dance audition. It was a partner dance, and the lack of males meant I had to partner with a girl. That also meant another person to make sure I was going left when I should've been. The dance was a lot of fun. It culminated in my leapfrogging over the back of my partner! (The pain in my ankles today from an hour of leapfrogs must be comparable to the one in her back from my vaulting.) Our audition was great.
Good. - Next, singing. The musical director picked a song that I felt pretty confident I could pull off. After Saturday's experience, I was bound and determined to show him that I could do this, do it well, and do it LOW. So I sang the song in my normal range, all the while staring him confidently in the eye (with a bit of defiance mixed in). He enjoyed it, then asked me to sing it again up high. That was okay. When I was done, he smiled and nudged the director in the ribs (Was I the subject of an earlier discussion????).
WTF!?! - I was feeling really great by now. Singing was out of the way. While there were many people better than me, no one ran from the room with bleeding ears. The only thing left to do was read. For me, this would be a piece of cake. I mean, I only read all day long and can hold the attention of 30 eight year olds for thirty minutes at a stretch using only my voice.
The director began reading people for various parts. All of the males read multiple times to accommodate the endless stream of females. A few of the females were asked to read a second part. I sat patiently waiting for my turn. The hour was growing very late and the director announced that she thought she had read everyone who wanted to read for a part. I raised my hand and said that she missed me and that I wanted to read for the lead.
She allowed me to come up. And to play my romantic interest, she asked a 14 year old (Peter Brady from my last entry) to come read. As soon as she said his name, I panicked. How can I, at 30, play a scene where I'm flirting with a little kid??? I did my best, all the while cursing in the part of my brain that I don't need for reading. And that was that.
I went back to my seat heartbroken. While I knew that there were people who would've fit any of the roles better than I could, I wasn't given a fair shot. I got a pity read, in my opinion.
AWESOME! - Auditions then ended. I was mopingly packing up my dance shoes and water bottles when the music director approached. "Take a walk with me," he said. He went on to tell me how his was not the only decision that mattered in the casting of the show, but he hoped that, even if I wasn't given a role, I would take a chorus part. I told him that I didn't care how I was involved in the show, so long as I was involved. He continued our chat by telling me how impressed he was with how I had done and that, even since Saturday, I had shown tremendous growth. He even said that he had called several of his colleagues on Saturday to tell them about what had happened at my workshop audition.
Needless to say, I was beaming. Unfortunately, I think I ruined it.
Notsogood - After thanking him profusely for his kind words, I said "You know, I'm really disappointed. I kind of feel that I got shafted on the reading part. That was the one thing I knew I could do and she put me with a 14 year old!?! Had I read with anyone else, I could've really shown what I can do."
Even as the words were coming out of my mouth, I could see that mind-self running in slow motion with a stop sign warning me to quit. But I said all of that. And now, I could kick myself. I know that I can't compete with those people who have been singing and dancing for years. Being in the chorus would be GREAT for me. But, I came off sounding like a whiner.
The music director said he would do what he could. I thanked him, gave a handshake, and headed for the door.
Call backs are tomorrow. I don't expect (nor do I think I want) to be called back. I'm hoping that I'll get that chorus part and spend my summer singing with a bunch of teenieboppers and a few older people desperately clinging to their youth. Hopefully, I know whether or not any of this will happen by the end of the week.