Is it NY or Vegas that's known as "the city that never sleeps"?
Regardless, I've never been to Vegas, but I know that NY should definitely get that title. Considering that I don't think anyone actually sleeps in NY. I know I didn't.
So I went to NY to audition for the musical 'Spring Awakening.' I've never auditioned for a Broadway show before and I will never take back the experience, but it went as follows:
Friday night, in Orlando, we (as in my roommates and I) prepare for our big audition in the city. The ones auditioning were myself and my roommate Chris. Nikki came along to enjoy some NY love and watch some shows. I decided last minute to change my song to "Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia (hello 90's!) and we stayed up for a (long) while to get our crap together for the flight. Fell asleep at 2 a.m., had to be out the door by 6 a.m. for our 7:35 a.m. flight...
Landed at 10:30 a.m. to one of the warmest days I've ever felt in NY. Chris and Nikki went and saw a matinee performance of 'Cry Baby the Musical.' I didn't want to wander the city alone for 2 hours so I ran and grabbed the last $30 balcony ticket for the matinee performance of 'Mary Poppins.' OMG! Most amazing show on the planet! If you're ever in NY and want to catch a spectacular show, that is most definitely up there. I can't stress how beautiful this show was. I couldn't stop crying... then again, I'm a little bitch.
Afterwards we ran over to 'Spring Awakening' to acquire some tickets for that night's performance. I mean, Chris and I were auditioning for this show, the least we could do is watch it to see what we're getting ourselves into. I've heard the soundtrack a few times and it's, honestly, a soundtrack you have to get used to. I grew to actually really like it, but of course, a soundtrack isn't a show so we got ready to go to the 8 p.m. performance.
Sweet Jesus, what the fuck did I watch?!
There are few words to describe the intensity of this show. All I can say is that... it was fucking incredible...! I don't want to give it away, but the moment that show began, you really cannot take your eyes off of it. As Nikki describes, "It's a fucking female orgasm on stage." Female, because there was tons of foreplay, crescendo of stimulation, ending in pure delight then a bit of after-orgasm mood downer... okay, not a "bit", more like, cry a til your eyes can't cry no more because if you don't, you have no soul. Nikki cried a bunch, then again, she's a little bitch, too.
We stayed for autographs and all I wanted to do was toss my damn panties to that Jonathan Groff and he held me pretty close in the picture... I still think he's gay, though =/
For all those 'Lost' fans, Carl was in the show as well.. and he kicked major ass/balls.
Our hotel was really close to the audition site. As we walked back from the theater, we grabbed some White Castle and took a gander at the dance studio the auditions were at. There were people already waiting in line! Mind you, the auditions didn't actually begin until like 9 a.m.
Chris and I basically took a nap for 4 hours, got ready at 5 a.m to sit in line for the audition. By the time we got there, there was nearly 200 people already in line, all bundled up in thermal blankets and sleeping bags.... oh yeah... it was like 40 degrees outside at this point! As we waited, we made some friends with some fabulous people who were waiting with us. That's when we learned that there was going to be a Type-cut before any actual auditioning was to happen. After about.. oh... 5 hours of waiting on the cold-ass sidewalk.. (!) We were all dreading the chance that we paid nearly $600 for this trip only to be cut immediately because we didn't have the look the producers were looking for -- the first dose of auditioning-in-NY reality I've ever had.
Exhausted and freezing, we finally made our way into the building we got so comfortable with the outside walls of and got some stickers with our numbers on them. In about 20+ people at time, we were taken to a dance rehearsal room where a woman lined us in two lines and looked over our headshot and at us while we stood all trying to pretend that we didn't all kinda want to vomit from nerves. The lady was really cool, but she was pretty honest with a lot of people in line. She even told one girl to disassemble her braids because it looked like she was trying too hard...
We then went into some other room where there was some guy who told us to go to him to receive a new number and make a new line. Chris and I got new numbers, but a few people didn't. One of them was a girl we stood in line with forever and had gotten to know a bit... we then realized that she had been typed out... sad, but... that meant we were going to audition! In our group, like 4 people were cut. If you think about how many people were in line and the ratio they were cutting people, that means that about a third or more were cut based on look alone..!
Chris went before me into the audition room, with his "Happiness is a Warm Gun" sheet music. He came out a bit disappointed, but I personally believe he sounded pretty fantastic. I walked in after him, kinda nervous, kinda not.. I mean, honestly... I was just happy to be there. I went in, said hello to some casting dude and gave my sheet music to the accompanist and started mah song. The moment I began, the casting dude was bobbing his head to it and started writing some stuff on my headshot. I thought it could be a bad thing, but I then noticed he was smiling a lot and was genuinely jamming out to my song. I'm not gonna lie, it was a good feeling. He said thank you and I walked out. It was about 12:30 at this point. That means we were waiting about 7 1/2 hours for about 20 seconds of face time!
Since we walked out earlier than we thought, we had time to watch one more show before we had to make our way to the airport. Nikki had already bought a TKTS ticket for 'A Chorus Line' so Chris and I went and snabbed some student rush tickets next to her. We grabbed some lunch at Juniors and went to the theater...
As I was on the phone with my mom in line for the show, I noticed some guy at the stage door asking me to move over a bit so he could open the door completely, I moved over but didn't really pay much attention to the guy he let in. Little did I notice it was fucking Terrance Howard and his family! Nikki nearly had an epileptic attack as she tried to tell me who it was.
The show was really really good... or at least the parts I stayed awake to watch were great. Chris and I battled to keep our eyes open. It got so bad, I started to think I wasn't in a theater at all, but was watching a giant television. After the infamous golden outfit finale, Zach, the director character in the show, came out in tears and started talking about Broadway Cares. For him to cry was a bit much, I thought at the time, until I noticed the whole cast was crying in the wings. Turns out it was 542th show and this show was his FINAL PERFORMANCE!.... yes... I'm a big asshole. Thank God we watched it when we did, it seems that Mario Lopez is going to take over his role... yeah... A.C Slater..
After we went back to hotel to pick up our bags we took a ride to the airport and waited forever to get on the plane. Once there, we were delayed for like an hour in this smelly ass plane with crying children and semi-retarded flight attendants. At this point we were so exhausted, we were looking forward to sleeping on the plane, which didn't really happen... but we did have satellite radio. Thank you, JetBlue...
At the end of it all, we were in the apartment by 2 a.m... defeated, exhausted and in the same clothes we've been wearing since like 4 a.m...
So that's that. There's the culmination of my first audition in NYC. As painful as the cold was and as robotic we became from lack of sleep, it was a remarkable experience I'll never take back. I mean, fuck... I saw fucking Mary Poppins!
Now all there is to do is wait for a call that will hopefully tell me that I am amazingly amazing and must return to NY for a callback... trust me.. my phone will be on... although the chances will remain slim until I hear from them.. if I hear anything at all =/