BWW Blog: Caroline Meredith - The Beginning of an (Almost!) All-Female Production of Guys and Dolls

Hello Broadway World readers! I'm Caroline Meredith, a new student blogger here at BWW. I am a student at the Orange County School of the Arts, in Orange County, California (yep, as in Laguna Beach and The OC). The Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA) is a public arts high school that offers conservatory programs in fields like Musical Theatre, Instrumental Music, Creative Writing, and many, many more!

Students at OCSA attend a regular school day from 8 am to 2 pm, then have classes in their art field from 2:30 to 5. In addition, many students have rehearsal after school ends, sometimes until 10 pm. To top it off, most students commute at least 30 minutes to OCSA, meaning some students get home at 10:30 the majority of weeknights. Then it's time for homework!

This schedule can be a bit crazy, but as a Musical Theatre performer, there is no place I'd rather be. When alumni include Matthew Morrison, Krysta Rodriguez, Lindsay Mendez, and Vanessa Hudgens (and that's just from the Musical Theatre Conservatory), it's easy to think about the bright future you'll have if you endure the grueling hours of OCSA.

Anyways, summer has just ended, and I am going into my fifth year at OCSA. Junior year, baby! Before I could even open my SAT Study Book, it was audition time for the musical. Due to the Musical Theatre Conservatory's size, there is one show for the freshman/sophomores and one show for the juniors/seniors. This is a good way to make sure more students have the opportunity to be in the show, and it ensures that freshman won't have to compete with seniors for roles. Last spring, it was announced that the junior/senior show would be Thoroughly Modern Millie. Some people were excited about this tap-centric show, but many students found the show to be racially-insensitive, especially the subplot with Mrs. Meers, Bun Foo, and Ching Ho. During the summer, a surprise email was sent out notifying the students of Musical Theatre that they decided to give Millie the boot, and that the new show would be.....Guys and Dolls! As a huge fan of the Golden Age of Musical Theatre, I was thrilled that they decided to pick a show that many consider the greatest musical-comedy of all time. Sorry Sutton, but I have a soft-spot in my heart for Frank Loesser tunes!

However, the choice to produce Guys and Dolls presented a problem many high school theatre departments tend to face. You see, Guys and Dolls is about, you guessed it, guys and dolls. This suggests that there should be an equal amount of males and females. Like many high school theatre programs, our female population majorly outweighs our male population, exacerbated by the fact that the overall population of OCSA is mostly female. The creative team of Guys and Dolls knew that the only way to handle this problem would be to cast girls in guy roles. The concept of the trouser role (when a female plays a male role) is hardly new, and is most popular in operas, operettas, and high-school musicals. So, going into the auditions, the ladies knew that they had to show variety to be considered for all of the roles they were eligible for.

On August 29, about 50 juniors and seniors shuffled into the dance building to learn combos for both "Luck Be a Lady" and, just for the girls, "A Bushel and a Peck." It was a fun challenge to switch from a tough gangster in the first dance to a ditzy stripper in the second. The next day it was time for the vocal auditions. Our faculty likes to treat the program professionally, so we had to prepare two contrasting 32-bar songs in the style of the show. It can be nerve-wracking, but we perform one at a time in groups of ten, so there is relief in going through it alongside your friends. The night ended, and it was officially time to wait for the callbacks to be posted. I stressed out all night and day until the official callback list was posted just hours before the callbacks were to be held. I was called back for Adelaide, General Cartwright, and a gambler. So, that night, I trekked back to the dance building for another long night. I ran from room to room performing a dance for the gamblers, then a song for Adelaide, then improv for General Cartwright, then sides for the gangsters then more singing and acting and dancing and so on and so on. That night, I dove into bed and soon enjoyed nightmares about the cast list.

Finally, after a full day of excruciating waiting, the cast list was posted. I was driving to school when I got a text from my friend Alexa that simply said, "HELL YES CAROLINE!" I pulled over, then anxiously glossed over the photo of the cast list that she sent me to see that I was cast as Rusty Charlie the gambler! I was filled with excitement and relief all at once, then realized that I still had to finish my drive to school.

All in all, this week of auditions at OCSA have been exhausting and fun. For an arts high school with no sports teams, the school musical really is the biggest promoter of building camaraderie and lifelong friendships, and that became evident this week as I joked around with my friends, some of whom were even called back for the same parts as me. In the end, we all supported each other in hopes of creating the best show possible.

I can't wait to take on the challenges of playing a trouser role, and share the journey of putting on a high school musical on this blog!