How To Run A Callback Badly
1) Don't run any dialogue
2) Don't run any choreography
3) Hand out music that some people know religiously and others have never heard before in their lives
4) Base your entire casting decision on one single performance of said music
That was my experience last night.
Seriously, singing ability and looks have NO bearing on how good an actor is. If that were the case, then any singer who hosted SNL in the past 30 years would be automatically up for an Emmy Award. Well, almost any... yet to this director it seems to be all that matters.
Not that I sung badly, or anything, its just that, like I said above, there are people who listen to Sondheim twice a day, can sing this music in their sleep. And then there's people like me who have never heard it before, and are expected to take some incredibly difficult music and be able to sing it after only a few group runs. Its an extremely unfair disadvantage and at the same time doesn't show how the actor is going to be for the other 90% of the show. It doesn't show if they can emote, or enunciate, or find a character. And it also doesn't show if the person has a snowball's chance in hell of learning choreography in 4 weeks without stepping on their partner's feet.
Yet another thing that's going into my mental tally of "What Not To Do If I Direct Someday."
Anyway, the 3-day Memorial Weekend is nearly upon us. Hopefully my boss cuts us a little slack and lets us out early. Wouldn't do me much good either way, but it'd still be nice to get out of here early. But if not, eh, I have rehearsal tonight, set construction on Saturday and/or Sunday, and otherwise hanging out, doing laundry, and cooking. Oh, I live a thrilling thrilling life sometimes.
Oh, and sleeping, must not forget sleeping.
And video games, many video games. I started up Final Fantasy VI last night, we'll see how long I can focus on that one, plus I'm hanging out with Jenn a bit this weekend so I'll probably be watching/helping on my share of Kingdom Hearts.
Huh... dont know why I started this blog, I'm not exactly hunting Pygmies or anything, am I?
2) Don't run any choreography
3) Hand out music that some people know religiously and others have never heard before in their lives
4) Base your entire casting decision on one single performance of said music
That was my experience last night.
Seriously, singing ability and looks have NO bearing on how good an actor is. If that were the case, then any singer who hosted SNL in the past 30 years would be automatically up for an Emmy Award. Well, almost any... yet to this director it seems to be all that matters.
Not that I sung badly, or anything, its just that, like I said above, there are people who listen to Sondheim twice a day, can sing this music in their sleep. And then there's people like me who have never heard it before, and are expected to take some incredibly difficult music and be able to sing it after only a few group runs. Its an extremely unfair disadvantage and at the same time doesn't show how the actor is going to be for the other 90% of the show. It doesn't show if they can emote, or enunciate, or find a character. And it also doesn't show if the person has a snowball's chance in hell of learning choreography in 4 weeks without stepping on their partner's feet.
Yet another thing that's going into my mental tally of "What Not To Do If I Direct Someday."
Anyway, the 3-day Memorial Weekend is nearly upon us. Hopefully my boss cuts us a little slack and lets us out early. Wouldn't do me much good either way, but it'd still be nice to get out of here early. But if not, eh, I have rehearsal tonight, set construction on Saturday and/or Sunday, and otherwise hanging out, doing laundry, and cooking. Oh, I live a thrilling thrilling life sometimes.
Oh, and sleeping, must not forget sleeping.
And video games, many video games. I started up Final Fantasy VI last night, we'll see how long I can focus on that one, plus I'm hanging out with Jenn a bit this weekend so I'll probably be watching/helping on my share of Kingdom Hearts.
Huh... dont know why I started this blog, I'm not exactly hunting Pygmies or anything, am I?
posted by Bill at 8:16 AM
1 Comments:
God, that's an AWFUL way to audition people.
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