Masterclass and Auditions

We had a few weeks off after Sweet Charity. We were feeling edgy. We had itchy feet.

The thing about being in a musical is that after it is over, there is such a sense of loss that you do everything you can to cling to it. In a lot of cases, this was texting each other lines from the show on a daily basis, bursting into song in the office or, quite frankly, bursting into tears.

But it was time to move on. The City Academy Panto auditions were about to begin and the songs had been uploaded to the Dropbox (a marvellous invention which allows us to share tracks with each other). Then the decision process began. Who did we want to audition for? We could pick two characters. I genuinely think the most stressful part of the lead-up to auditions was actually deciding who to go for. The  ugly stepsisters? The Prince? Cinderella? The Wicked Stepmother? Dandini? Fairy Godmother? Baron Hardup?

The first week back was a dance technique session. Still crutch-bound, I could but watch as the group re-remembered corner work and our amazing choreographer Rebecca Wicking did the brilliant warm up we all have come to love. As an observer, I can truly say that at the end of the warm up, people looked so much happier than they did when they walked into the room. After a long Monday afternoon, everyone was full of energy and ready for the second half of the class when we looked at some ugly sister scenes.

Week two was a masterclass. We all had to pick a song of our choice and sing to the class. Pippa O’Brien (director extraordinaire) and Rebecca (paused for the week from choreographer extraordinaire to also be director extraordinaire) would then give us direction and then we sang the song again. The song choices were diverse, from ‘Just you wait’ from My Fair Lady to ‘Gethsemane’ from Jesus Christ Superstar; from’Electricity’ from Billy Elliot to ‘Master of the House’ from Les Mis. Pippa and Rebecca then gave each person an exercise to improve their performance, tailored to their needs. Whether it was singing to a group of people as if telling a story, pulling the song away from the context of the musical and making it about another situation or feeling instead of thinking, we learnt a lot about the audition process.  It was so good to see people sing by themselves and perform in a way none of us had seen before.

I sang ‘Tell Me It’s Not True’ from Blood Brothers. And I sang it as if I was Mrs Johnstone in Blood Brothers. I was asked to remove that context and imagine that somebody had rung me up and told me something awful that I didn’t want to believe. Also, one comment was that I was almost too aware of the audience and so was performing too much. I needed to make this song private and I suppose to feel it as opposed to acting it. It was hard to find a balance between thinking about something that was so raw  that it would upset me too much and something that I could think about and which I could channel whilst singing. It was really valuable advice as wasn’t something I had really ever considered and I have enjoyed working on it since.

Monday = D-Day. Or at least that was the sentiment of the kind text I woke up to from Dom Conte (Daddy Brubeck, Sweet Charity, Shaw Theatre, June 2012). I must admit, I was feeling incredibly nervous. It is so bizarre, because as soon as I have an audience and in fact, as soon as I start singing, my fear evaporates and I feel completely confident and comfortable. But the lead-up was terrifying – twitchy legs and sweaty palms (an attractive combination).  It is very silly that I felt nervous at all, because the wonderful thing about our group is that everyone is so supportive of each other. It is good to be a little bit nervous anyway because it turns into adrenaline and gives you a real boost.

All the performances I saw on Monday were brilliant. Everyone had a different interpretation of the characters which made each performance so refreshing and exciting. The ugly sisters caused much hilarity and it was fascinating to see how well all the men walked in heels!  Recalls on Monday and it’s all we’re talking about.

I, for one, cannot wait for 15th December.

PEN it into your diaries now.