(no subject)
So today I played auditions for Sesame Street. Apparently the co-arranger of "In The Heights" is now the music director for Sesame Street and the Electric Company. I played some auditions for a workshop he was doing last year, and I don't know if he remembered me or if the MD for Heights gave him my info, but a few weeks ago he reached out to me and this was the result!
Sesame Workshop is on Broadway and 63rd right across from Lincoln Center. As I was waiting in the building lobby, I noticed an older woman passing me with her friend; who else but Maria.
One of the really cool things about the Sesame lobby is all these screens with picture frames around them, that have pictures of the Muppets in them and occasionally they do things and interact with each other.
I hung out in the green room for a while, before being invited into the production studio, which had a big huge green screen draped, a L-shaped tabled filled with bigwigs (all women except for two men) basically hidden behind a big TV which the camera was feeding into.
Lo and behold, Elmo was there! And of course Kevin, Elmo's muppeteer, who is, as apparently everybody knows, a large black man.
Apparently Sesame Street is looking for a new young Latino character, who's going to speak in Spanish a lot.
They brought people in one at a time and they'd chat with Elmo for a bit (no, seriously), do a scene, ad lib with Elmo, and then sing a song with the piano. All the while Elmo would be giving them notes on where to stand, where to look, whether to zoom in or out with the camera. All sorts of good stuff. He was really cool.
I did an okay job I guess. I wasn't sure how loud to play, whether to tell people to use longer cuts. Nobody really seemed to pay much attention to me, and my guy wasn't even their because his wife was due to give birth tomorrow. At one point this guy didn't bring in music. He told me he needed just like a simple reggae beat. Gamely, I asked what key he wanted, he said "Uhhh, my own."
He sang a little big of the song for me, I picked out the notes, and I just MADE UP AN ACCOMPANIMENT TO THIS RANDOM SONG. When he was finished, Elmo commended him, and he told Elmo that it was a song he just made up. After that, I wanted to be like 'UH, DID ANYBODY NOTICE HOW I JUST MADE UP THAT SONG?' But nobody said anything, and neither did I.
Two amazing things: after a few auditioners, Elmo learned my name and would point people over to "Daniel the piano man." Amazing. Second, Elmo was being having a real hard time with the names "Enrique" and "Alessandro," and being a cut-up about it. He caught me laughing at him and told me to shut up (teasingly)! It was priceless.
Lastly, muppets are bigger than you'd think! About the size of a 10 year old. I hope I get to do it again some day!