The Audition “Book”

At age 9 Zack had been performing locally for three years, four if you count the seasonal Nutcracker performances. He was having fun and had many opportunities, but was already starting to find audition announcements online and would leave them up on the computer for us to “find”. These auditions were in NYC! I literally laughed out loud! He must be joking! I dreaded driving even to Boston to find our way to the auditions there that had been arranged by his agent.

A friend who had children “in the business” had seen Zack in action and had offered to manage him. When I tell you this woman should be submitted for a nationally recognized patience award I am not exaggerating. She slowly chipped away at my anxieties even submitting him or helping us to submit him for a few projects. Two of these submissions brought Zack to NYC for work. We made it there and back and even lived to tell about it. Ok, maybe NYC was an option, but what does a professional theater audition entail? I knew we were not yet prepared for that performance level.

One day, over Christmas break, I received a notice about a group called Broadway Kids Auditions coming to Marblehead , MA for a one day workshop. This was sent to me not by one, or two, but by three different friends all on the same morning. BKA’s mission statement read “Developing confident and extraordinary kids inside and outside of the audition room”. What’s not to like about that? How could I go wrong with a one day workshop so close to home? A good friend of Zack’s was also taking the workshop so we registered him that day.

I had no idea at the time how this one day would so positively alter our path. We arrived that cold, snowy, February morning with 8 other kids. I quickly noticed that all of the other kids had binders, many with head shots on the cover, and the inside appeared to contain sheet music all in page protectors. Zack had a newly acquired binder and in it the sheet music for the one song that he had been assigned by BKA for the workshop, unprotected. Zack had a wonderful experience during that workshop. He left armed with new skills and bits and pieces of an incredible amount of information about the audition process. In another blog entry I’ll talk more about coaching. Kurt Domoney and Julianne Katz, the co-founders of BKA , will be a big part of that entry. That dynamic duo , and the rest of their team, took on this talented kid and his completely clueless parents and taught us all auditioning 101. The biggest surprise to me from the workshop and future lessons was the “book”. How could Zack have been doing theater all this time and we didn’t know anything about the “book”?

If your child is feeling ready to head out to a professional audition make sure he/she has his/her book AND has prepared the material in the book very well. He/She should be able to handle any direction the team in the audition room may throw out to him/her without losing focus– and the material needs to be memorized! What is in “the book” you ask?? Great question! Ready…here it is the first inclusion:

You need sheet music for at least two songs in the key your child would sing. One of these should be a “standard” song. A standard is something pre 1960’s. Think Rogers and Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music” or Lionel Bart’s “Oliver”. At college auditions they will be particularly strict about this. Make sure you have a true standard and not a “Thoroughly Modern Millie” that is the style of a standard but written as a contemporary. Your other song should be a contemporary song or from a show post 1960’s. Think “Seussical the Musical” or “Shrek”. Girls can further their book by making sure they have a song that show cases their head voice as well as their chest (or belter) voice. In each of these songs your child should be prepared to present either a 16 bar or 32 bar cut for the folks in the audition room. He/she should be prepared to approach the accompanist in the room and confidently open his/her book, show the accompanist where to begin and end, and offer them the tempo he/she would like. Sounds impossible , right? Believe me, no one could have been more surprised than I to watch Zack walk right up to the accompanist at the end of the workshop and do just this! Give these kids what they need and teach them and it’s amazing what they can do.

This is the bare minimum for songs for the book. Considering the shows currently on Broadway casting children, the coaches are also encouraging the kids to have a current pop/rock song, a 70’s rock song, a Disney song, and then a song that the child just feel best represents him/her. These songs will change as your child grows and his/her voices mature, but this is a great starting point. It will be imperative that the songs in his/her book are ones that fit well in his/her voice i.e. range and tone, and are songs that your child can connect with and deliver a heartfelt performance. This is the song he/she will sing to make his/her first impression to the audition team. It’s generally at call backs that kids will need to sing music from the show for which they are auditioning, although it can happen in the initial audition, the team almost always asks for the kids’ song from their own book first.

Here are a couple of tips about song choice. If you are auditioning for the “Sound of Music” do not sing a song from that show in your initial audition. Sing a standard or song of “similar” style to the “Sound of Music”. The team will give your child plenty of opportunity to sing songs from the show in call backs. In the initial audition you need to give them something different, but not too different. “Sound of Music” auditions is not where you should choose to sing your Beatles song :-). The second tip is choose the songs that you have in your book carefully. Try not to pick the song that is everyone’s favorite. It may also be your child’s favorite, and he/she may sound great singing it, but you can literally be sitting at an open call and hear “Tomorrow” from Annie three times while you’re waiting. Can you imagine being on that audition team and sitting in that room for 8 hours and hearing “Tomorrow” sung two dozen times? Be original and you’ll get the team’s attention and they’ll remember you. They SO appreciate originality! The final tip is make sure your child chooses a song that is age appropriate. It may seem cute and funny to hear a ten year old sing about getting revenge on a lost love, but, trust me, it’s just awkward and uncomfortable, and that’s NOT how you want to be remembered.

The other big piece of the “book” is the monologue. Your child should have at least one great monologue but two would be even better. The monologue , like the song, should be one that your child can connect with. It’s great to have a more serious and direct monologue as well as one that’s more whimsical or humorous that allows your child to show some versatility. Once again you don’t want to be reading your monologue and have it be the fourth time the team has heard it that day. It doesn’t matter how good you are, they’ve heard it. It’s also a confidence-shattering experience to be sitting outside the room and hear the auditioner in front of you slaying the same material! Talk about a tough act to follow! It will happen at some point, but if you are creative you can minimize the risk. The monologue also needs to be memorized.

Ok, that’s the basics on the “book”. Next time we’ll talk a little more about coaching and audition etiquette for both the child and the parent and also in the near future head shots and resumes and how they should be presented.

As always if you have questions, comments, or suggestions, please feel free to leave them here or send them to me privately.