Before I kicked myself out of the professional musical theater world, I back staged for a lot of the biggies. Les Miserables, Phantom, Miss Saigon. Mostly it was pretty cool, though the pay was horrific. I much preferred working smaller shows, but the pay there makes the pay for the big musicals look positively luxurious.
Eventually realized I was having way more fun at the amateur level, and got out.
For most horrific experience ever, I got trapped in a horrible horrible touring production of Aspects of Love. I would stand offstage, waiting to give cues and trying to imagine ways of arranging the accidental deaths everyone on stage. I would award myself bonus points if my plan had a chance of killing the six or seven suckers in the audience who showed up to watch. You see, it was important that there be no witnesses to my shame.
It was that bad.
I would never imagine that this would be the case. I can see professional actors being dicks but not the pay rate being so different.
When I'm an old retired man I'm going to live in New York and volunteer to usher broadway shows and give blowjobs in the bathroom because that is the gayest life plan I have
Equity pay rate was indexed to the size of the theater. An Equity stage manager in 1 thousand seat theater made a lot more than one in a 100 seat theater.
My dad always said it was important to have a retirement plan.
Zacharde on
"For future reference, I was sort of hoping for a suggestion that didn't sound like it came from that Bolshevik Muppet with all the dynamite."
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JimothyNot in front of the foxhe's with the owlRegistered Userregular
I once had a girl come in and sing... some song from some American Idol winner.
She sang along with her iPod.
She didn't remember how the song went.
People who are singing well-known songs with no sheet music? Pff that's nothing. A lot of times I still can accompany them, since so many people audition on specific songs.
Of course my personal favorite remains the people who can't sing, mess up the song awfully, and blame me for it. Also the subset of people there who don't bring music or want me to play because they assume I'll mess them up. Like, I understand the horror of actually having a bad accompanist, but first of all, unless you're the first audition and this is a completely blind gig I've gotten, the people giving the audition have heard me play for a bunch of other auditions, and they probably have figured out that I'm good and it's not my fault. Also if you're singing Still Hurting they may have heard me play that exact song and not have any problems. Secondly, if you're a good vocalist, it doesn't matter what I do anyways. As one of my favoritest grad students said to her students at one point preparing for an audition: "If he messes up, you keep going. If he walks out and sits on the piano, you keep going. At my audition for grad school my accompanist probably would've been better if he sat on the piano. Just sing, let them keep up with you". Like really, it doesn't make you sound better if you turn to someone who clearly isn't the problem and blame them for something that even if true you should be able to deal with.
Also Yaya find her voice teacher and beat them up several times for being awful at their job
So around February or March I was holding auditions for the musical I was directing at university.
This kid walks in, tells us what song he's going to sing (something I wasn't familiar with) and starts singing it. A few bars go by, and then it suddenly starts sounding familiar:
So around February or March I was holding auditions for the musical I was directing at university.
This kid walks in, tells us what song he's going to sing (something I wasn't familiar with) and starts singing it. A few bars go by, and then it suddenly starts sounding familiar:
So around February or March I was holding auditions for the musical I was directing at university.
This kid walks in, tells us what song he's going to sing (something I wasn't familiar with) and starts singing it. A few bars go by, and then it suddenly starts sounding familiar:
"We're no strangers to love..."
Yep, the dude Rick-rolled us in his audition.
How was he?
Did he get the part?
If not, get the fuck out of here.
I really really wanna catch Wicked when it's down in Miami next year. If I'm still in FL, that is.
I saw the original cast of Wicked
So good
Have either of you read the book? It's definitely way different than the play, but just curious what you thought of it. Also, if you've read Son of a Witch and a Lion Among Men?
It was a stage adaptation of Dr. Horrible. Easily the most awesomely geeky cast I've ever worked with. And yeah, we cast the rickroll guy.
Directing advice? Respect your actors and respect their input. It sounds obvious, but I think that's the most important thing. If you create an environment where your cast feels like they can experiment and try new things and really explore their characters, they will do fucking awesome work and you'll feel like you're doing nothing at all. I'm not saying you shouldn't plan things out ahead of time and have a very clear idea of what you want your production to be, but the actual creative process should be a give-and-take between you and your actors where you're not afraid to try something different. Note that you can't be quite as off-the-cuff if you're working on a large production, but if you've never directed anything before I'd hope you're planning on doing something small.
If you want some reading material, I'd pick up books on improv comedy (Keith Johnstone's "Impro" is a personal fave). I haven't found any directing books that particularly inspire me, but having a solid background in improv is worth its weight in gold both for the artistic and the leadership aspects of directing.
Lost Salientblink twiceif you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered Userregular
edited June 2009
I liked the book! Although I didn't particularly care for any of Maguire's other stuff. I haven't seen the musical onstage, either, so I don't really have anything to compare it with.
Prawn, your directing advice reminds me of probably my favourite stage experience, when myself and two others were cast in Reduced Shakespeare for a yearly dinner theatre venue. None of us were particularly experienced, but our director let us improv and experiment to get comfortable and it turned out great. People back home still quote it when I run into them.
Lost Salient on
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
I liked the book! Although I didn't particularly care for any of Maguire's other stuff. I haven't seen the musical onstage, either, so I don't really have anything to compare it with.
I saw the show first before I read the book, so it made the book a little easier to get through.
Though, the play doesn't have the copious amounts of infidelity as the book has.
Also, characters are completely different and Elphaba doesn't even bother going to Kiamo Ko.
Now I'm just debating whether to read his other 2 books
Seriously dudes, this is one motherfucker of a composer.
Also, 3 more performances of the show I'm currently in before I go back to my real jobs and head pitward again. I'm pretty ready for the show to be over.
Seriously dudes, this is one motherfucker of a composer.
Also, 3 more performances of the show I'm currently in before I go back to my real jobs and head pitward again. I'm pretty ready for the show to be over.
What really pisses me off is that William Goldman being a cock means we'll never get to hear Guettel's Princess Bride score.
I am so upset about Princess Bride I cannot even tell you.
Though the one thing that keeps me sane is the fact that Adam Guettel cannot to save his life write comedic music. Like, not only does he have no sense of timing, but his music just goes down in quality by a good order of magnitude or so when he tries. Pegasus is pretty good, but man Sysiphous, for instance, is the worst song in Myths and Hymns with almost no question(Come to Jesus is pretty bad too).
Eh, I like Sisyphus. Yeah, it's weaker than most of Guettel's stuff, but that doesn't mean I dislike it.
I've been studying a lot of Weill stuff lately, and it's pretty awesome, but what it's really been doing is making me remember just how fucking brilliant Urinetown is.
Lost Salientblink twiceif you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered Userregular
edited June 2009
I had no idea that Adam Guettel had worked on a Princess Bride score and then William Goldman douched out about it. That's simultaneously awesome and awful. I lost my copy of Myths and Hymns a few years ago and I haven't been able to replace it since, but I love it and Floyd Collins insanely. Hero and Leander is one of my favourite songs, because I'm secretly a giant soppy romantic.
Posts
Equity pay rate was indexed to the size of the theater. An Equity stage manager in 1 thousand seat theater made a lot more than one in a 100 seat theater.
My dad always said it was important to have a retirement plan.
Dwarves are very upsetting!
What do you want, a cookie!?
(no seriously, h5)
I feel like I know this song, but I cannot remember from what
a friend of mine who I did a show with is now going to audition for one of the most high-quality amateur companies in the state
she's 14 and has never done a proper amateur show before, nor is she a terribly good singer
or a proper audition
it's tomorrow and she doesn't have fucking sheet music
she also has a cold and asked me if instead of "Any Dream Will Do" from Joseph she should do "On My Own."
I have no idea what's possessed her to think this is a good idea
I just wish I could be at the audition
I picture Simon Cowell tearing her apart with a single glance
Before she introduces herself
she just asked me, quote:
"sheet music.. thats 4 piano right?"
I don't know whether to laugh, cry or throw up
my god, she just said her singing teacher just teaches popular voice and doesn't know anything about musical theatre
why is she
how does
wha
errrrkkkkk
I think I may have convinced her it's a bad idea, but
ergh
It will build her character or something
any dream
any dream will
any dream
any dream will dooooo
any dreeeeaaamm
any dream will
any dream
anny dream will dooooooooooooooooooooooo
That's why the only lead I have ever gotten was the narattor
But at least I do a good job of making the chorus look full
I once had a girl come in and sing... some song from some American Idol winner.
She sang along with her iPod.
She didn't remember how the song went.
People who are singing well-known songs with no sheet music? Pff that's nothing. A lot of times I still can accompany them, since so many people audition on specific songs.
Of course my personal favorite remains the people who can't sing, mess up the song awfully, and blame me for it. Also the subset of people there who don't bring music or want me to play because they assume I'll mess them up. Like, I understand the horror of actually having a bad accompanist, but first of all, unless you're the first audition and this is a completely blind gig I've gotten, the people giving the audition have heard me play for a bunch of other auditions, and they probably have figured out that I'm good and it's not my fault. Also if you're singing Still Hurting they may have heard me play that exact song and not have any problems. Secondly, if you're a good vocalist, it doesn't matter what I do anyways. As one of my favoritest grad students said to her students at one point preparing for an audition: "If he messes up, you keep going. If he walks out and sits on the piano, you keep going. At my audition for grad school my accompanist probably would've been better if he sat on the piano. Just sing, let them keep up with you". Like really, it doesn't make you sound better if you turn to someone who clearly isn't the problem and blame them for something that even if true you should be able to deal with.
Also Yaya find her voice teacher and beat them up several times for being awful at their job
This kid walks in, tells us what song he's going to sing (something I wasn't familiar with) and starts singing it. A few bars go by, and then it suddenly starts sounding familiar:
"We're no strangers to love..."
Yep, the dude Rick-rolled us in his audition.
How was he?
3DS Friend Code: 2165-6448-8348 www.Twitch.TV/cooljammer00
Battle.Net: JohnDarc#1203 Origin/UPlay: CoolJammer00
Did he get the part?
If not, get the fuck out of here.
So I end up being that guy who does sound for shows.
I did enjoy the fuck out of doing it for midsummer's nights dream
I'm hoping to direct my first show in June next year and could use some advice
Have either of you read the book? It's definitely way different than the play, but just curious what you thought of it. Also, if you've read Son of a Witch and a Lion Among Men?
Coran Attack!
Directing advice? Respect your actors and respect their input. It sounds obvious, but I think that's the most important thing. If you create an environment where your cast feels like they can experiment and try new things and really explore their characters, they will do fucking awesome work and you'll feel like you're doing nothing at all. I'm not saying you shouldn't plan things out ahead of time and have a very clear idea of what you want your production to be, but the actual creative process should be a give-and-take between you and your actors where you're not afraid to try something different. Note that you can't be quite as off-the-cuff if you're working on a large production, but if you've never directed anything before I'd hope you're planning on doing something small.
If you want some reading material, I'd pick up books on improv comedy (Keith Johnstone's "Impro" is a personal fave). I haven't found any directing books that particularly inspire me, but having a solid background in improv is worth its weight in gold both for the artistic and the leadership aspects of directing.
also I fucking hated Wicked the book
Prawn, your directing advice reminds me of probably my favourite stage experience, when myself and two others were cast in Reduced Shakespeare for a yearly dinner theatre venue. None of us were particularly experienced, but our director let us improv and experiment to get comfortable and it turned out great. People back home still quote it when I run into them.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv1HX80u5x4
Critical Failures - Havenhold Campaign • August St. Cloud (Human Ranger)
I saw the show first before I read the book, so it made the book a little easier to get through.
Though, the play doesn't have the copious amounts of infidelity as the book has.
Also, characters are completely different and Elphaba doesn't even bother going to Kiamo Ko.
Now I'm just debating whether to read his other 2 books
Coran Attack!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRhE_fs2lys
Seriously dudes, this is one motherfucker of a composer.
Also, 3 more performances of the show I'm currently in before I go back to my real jobs and head pitward again. I'm pretty ready for the show to be over.
Critical Failures - Havenhold Campaign • August St. Cloud (Human Ranger)
What really pisses me off is that William Goldman being a cock means we'll never get to hear Guettel's Princess Bride score.
Though the one thing that keeps me sane is the fact that Adam Guettel cannot to save his life write comedic music. Like, not only does he have no sense of timing, but his music just goes down in quality by a good order of magnitude or so when he tries. Pegasus is pretty good, but man Sysiphous, for instance, is the worst song in Myths and Hymns with almost no question(Come to Jesus is pretty bad too).
I've been studying a lot of Weill stuff lately, and it's pretty awesome, but what it's really been doing is making me remember just how fucking brilliant Urinetown is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZV431zhXA4
soppy sop sop
Like I said. And Ben Vereen doing some dancing in tight, tight pants, to offset it:
This Musical Rated PG-13
Incidentally, did anyone else think that "The Sadder But Wiser Girl" was "The Sadder Budweiser Girl" when they were a kid?
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
I'm auditioning for Rent in three weeks
anybody have any tips
like, even for you
I meant to type "100% yes," but I think 199% really conveys how strongly I support your tactics.
What type of show is it? I mean, I know it's Rent, but is it like, a touring show, a local theatre, the great white way..?
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN