BWW Blog: Christopher Castanho - The Key To A Great Audition

The hallway is buzzing with excitement and anticipation. Fidgeting fingers shuffle through plastic page protectors as the final button is heard from the piano in the next room. A stern-faced monitor steps out from behind a long white table and addresses the community of nervous individuals:

"Okay, can we have the 1:30 group line up against this wall here? Thank you."

A young man dressed in a teal button-down, a grey vest and dark jeans smoothly exits the room with his white binder in hand. "How are they?", "Were they nice?", and other questions are echoed from the queue of anxious attendees. He nonchalantly responds "It's pretty cold in there." Several scoffs are heard and eyes roll as he glides back into the holding room.

As many performers and creatives know: auditioning can be stressful, no matter what kind of environment you're in. But why not allow your 32 bars...or 16 bars...or 8 bars (Are you kidding? I get you're running behind but--) to be a fun performance opportunity?

I am fortunate enough to be working on my BFA in Musical Theatre at Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, VA, and this week we just completed our fall audition process. This autumn, Shenandoah will be producing the musical: Spring Awakening, and following plays: Blue Stockings, The Typists and The Root of Chaos

Audition Notice:

Spring Awakening

"Please prepare a 1 minute monologue PLUS a 32 bar selection from either a contemporary musical theatre or pop song."

Ugh, great, a monologue. Which one should I do? Gah, monologues are the worst, can't I just sing? I wonder what song I'm going to do for Spring Awakening...It's gotta be angsty. God, I am literally the most anti-angsty person, this is going to be interesting...

I have been lucky enough to learn all about the audition process at Shenandoah, from picking material to how you interact with people in the audition room. Jonathan Flom, a Musical Theatre educator and mentor of mine, wrote an excellent book that I find very helpful called Get The Callback: The Art of Auditioning for Musical Theatre advising on what to wear, where to get headshots done, and even gives tips on how to build your repertoire book. It has very current information regarding demands of the theatre business and interviews with industry moguls, like casting director Joy Dewing.

Entering my fourth and final year of my collegiate training, as a performer, I went into my auditions feeling comfortable and confident. I have had lots of practice, both with my material and with the whole process that is auditioning. Having this calm attitude is something that I adopted after having this revelation:

Auditioning is an opportunity to perform.

I think that as actors, who are so eager to work, we tend to tend to disassociate a 'performance' with 'an audition' because there's no microphones, lights, or contract. But by singing your 32 bars you are PERFORMING. Fill that minute with everything you've got: that is your time to shine.

And you want to know something awesome? The people sitting behind that table actually want to hear you sing, how cool is that? It's a dream come true for ten year old me, I would hold my family hostage in my grandparent's basements to watch my brother, cousin, and I perform in the musicals I'd star in.

The key to having a great audition is having a great attitude.

Once you're confident with the material, don't let your nerves get the best of you. Rock out (if your song allows it, if not then just be fiercely stoic- for examples Google search: Bernadette Peters) and have fun. Even if you don't book the gig, just remember that you still got to perform for those people and that my friends is awesome.

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