Tuesday Travel Tip: Assemble a Team of Experts

{The sign outside Nola Studios in New York City}

For the first round of auditions for musical theater, the first step is often to sing part of a song. While we are permitted to sing whatever we choose, we generally try to sing something in the style of the show. If things go well at one of my musical theater auditions and an artistic staff thinks I might match what they need, I am given a callback to do a particular scene and song from the show for the director, choreographer, and producer. Thus begins another series of events. For a callback, I develop a character, learn the scene, and learn the song.

Sometimes, it’s a lot.

Almost always, it all has to happen overnight.

I have two or three experts I can call on short notice. They serve as my vocal coach, voice teacher and acting coach. I collaborate with them on how to interpret my scene or song. They encourage me to make stronger choices and allow me to take risks, which is always the goal of an actor. When I rehearse alone, I don't seem to take things to the most creative place the way I do under the direction of my team of experts. They tell me what's funny, what needs to improve, and sometimes even teach me a better way to act or sing a particular section.

Without my team of experts, I would not be as successful in my callbacks. It takes an outside set of highly trained eyes and ears to help me achieve as much as possible in a short amount of time.

Although my years of training and experience are important, I can’t just depend on what I learned in the past to carry me through each new callback. I need to constantly improve in order to stay competitive. My team of experts pushes me to reach new levels that I wasn’t sure I had.

There are so many factors at play in the world of auditioning for musical theater. We sing, dance, and act all at the same time. To be chosen for a particular production, we have to have the right resume, right union status, right vocal range, be the right size to fit the costume, look like we fit into the family or group of friends that is onstage, and a dozen other factors. Among all of these aspects that I can’t control, I control the things that are within my reach. By working with a team who pushes me to be better, I’m ready when the producer wants a 5’5” Caucasian woman in her 30s for a quirky mezzo-soprano role.

Who is on your team of experts when you need to achieve something new?

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Expand your team of experts through one-on-one coaching by telephone or email.

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