Auditioning for Musicals: The Cattle Call

Here's the first of three articles I wrote on the process of auditioning for a West End or Broadway show.

If you want to audition for Musicals on Broadway or in the West End, and you don't have an agent, you need to go to the open call, known as the Cattle Call. This article describes the cattle call, what you need to take and what you need to do to succeed.

Auditioning For Musicals: The Cattle Call

There are new musicals being written every year, and long-running shows being recast regularly. But there are thousands of actor singer dancers seeking work in musical theater. You want to be heard for roles in these shows but you don't have an agent. Where do you start?

Every year, production companies run open calls. They are particularly useful if the show is new or in an unusual genre (grunge/folk/rock or Tuvan throat singing), if there is a serious lack of actors with the relevant casting requirements (ethnic casting or tightrope juggling), or if the casting directors simply want to know what's out there at the moment. Open calls are usually advertised in the theatre press (The Stage newspaper in the UK is an example). The open call can be quite a demoralising process (not for nothing are they called "cattle calls"), so this article will help you prepare for them.

The first thing you'll see when you arrive is a long queue. Depending on how popular the show is, the queue could be three times round the block, or just a small crowd. Be prepared to stand in the queue for several hours. Even 15 years ago, professional singer friends of mine were kept waiting for 7 hours on the auditions for nuns in The Sound of Music.

What should you carry with you? Your resume or CV and a photograph are essential. If the photograph is not attached, make sure that both the resume and photograph have your name and contact details on. Photographs and CV details often get separated, and it would be horrible if the panel remembered your face but then couldn't find your contact details on the photo. A bottle of water is vital, and either a book or an mp3 player is useful to while away the hours.

You will give your name to the auditions usher or stage door manager, and the audition begins. If you're lucky, you'll have about 2 minutes to get on stage, introduce yourself and do your audition. If you're unlucky, you'll have 16 bars. If you're really unlucky, they will ask you for your best single phrase. How do you deal with this?

Remember that the purpose of this audition is NOT to get the job! If you're up against 1,000 people or more, nothing you can do will make you stand out enough to be offered the job on the spot. Your mission is to get asked back to the first call (the first invited call, as opposed to the cattle call). Therefore your task is to appear professional, calm and focused. That's it.

If you look professional (dress appropriately, perform to a good standard, interact well with the panel) you will be noticed. If you seem calm you will score points too - cattle calls are difficult situations with a lot of "unknowns" - like not know what time you're actually going to perform, and a vast number of people breathing down your neck! If you are focused, you'll be able to sing your piece to the best of your ability, and lock into the character immediately. Being focused really "reads" well on a theater stage, so the panel will notice very quickly how well you do.

When I'm coaching for the 16bar audition, the key is practise EVERYTHING. The walk in, the hello, the piece announcement, giving the pianist the music (or the backing track), the getting into focus, the 16 bars (decided beforehand, please!), and the exit. Everything matters, including the way you talk to the auditions usher. I work to help you choose song extracts that show your best (and it's not necessarily your loudest or highest), and to sing those extracts to the best of your ability.

Notice I haven't said what you should sing! Ultimately, in a cattle call your choice of song is less important than how you sing it. I have been on cattle calls where actors singing the weirdest songs have been called back for the next audition, simply because they sang it really well. In a situation like this you want to stack the dice in your favour as much as possible. Take a piece you know really well - that way if nerves strike, and you will still feel secure in your song.

Panels find cattle calls just as horrible as you do, and believe me, they breathe a sigh of relief when someone professional, calm and focused turns up. There usually are three piles in front of a cattle call casting panel. Yes, No, Maybe. The only pile you want to be in is the Yes pile.

And if you give a clear, focused, professional performance and follow the rules in this article, you're much more likely to get to sing in the next round and stay in the Yes pile.

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Jeremy Fisher trains singers and performers to find and maintain their best. He's the author of Successful Singing Auditions, and creator of the Voicebox Videos - featured on the BBC and broadcast to 44,000,000 people. He was commissioned by the DANA Centre at London's Science Museum to create a video on singing with a camera down his throat. Jeremy is fascinated by bringing technology and innate skill together. http://www.vocalprocess.co.uk/


[You are welcome to reproduce the article on your website or blog provided you include the author name, biog details and website link at the end of the article.]

Visit http://www.vocalprocess.co.uk/ for the latest downloads:
the Vocal Process eZINE (free electronic magazine)
86 things you never hear a singer say (free ebook)
The Voicebox Videos DVD website tells you all about the Looking At A Voice endoscopy video series
The Vocal Process website has a series of free articles on vocal technique and style, memorising and different musical genres.

The story of my West End debut

I wrote in an earlier blog about my early experiences in the West End.

I had an email a couple of days ago from a fellow pianist wanting to know how I got into the West End business in the first place. I'll be copying you in on my response a little later, but in the meanwhile, here's the story of my West End debut.

My very first job was 8 months understudying on The Sneeze, a series of 8 Chekhov plays with a cast headed by Rowan Atkinson and Timothy West. I was covering the performances and doing the understudy rehearsals every week.

I had told the producers very early on that they simply weren't paying me enough money to sit in the theatre every night waiting to see if the pianist turned up. Instead, I would ring the theatre at 6.45 each evening (and 1.45 on matinee days) to see if I was needed.

Well, the eight months came and went, and nothing happened. In the last week of the run, we had our end-of-run party on the thursday night after the show in a posh West End club. It was Russian-themed with vodka and Russian food and was very exciting to someone newly arrived in London.

The next day I was actually in the local sauna, and at 6.45 I thought I'd better get out and ring the theatre. "Yes, you're on tonight, Michael's got food poisoning". At first I thought they were joking (it was April Fool's day after all) but they were deadly serious, so I threw on my clothes and ran to the theatre.

Of course the tubes were crowded and I arrived late, but they had held the curtain for me and made an announcement to the audience. So I ran across the stage, into the box and started playing the show, too frazzled to be nervous. Apparently Timothy West said "Oh, he's rather good isn't he?" After all, he had never heard me play!

All went well until the play The Sneeze, which is a silent play to Russian-style ballet music. I love playing this music, and I did extremely well until the last two pages. Apparently, I took the music rather faster than Michael played it, and everyone on the side of the stage watched as Rowan had to fairly throw himself around the stage to fit in all the business.

I'm glad to say that I got a big ovation at the end. In fact, some of the cast thought it was a set-up between me and Michael to give me a chance to play the show before it ended, but as I pointed out to them, if I'd known I was to play that night, I wouldn't have been in the sauna!


Visit http://www.vocalprocess.co.uk/ for the latest downloads:
the Vocal Process eZINE (free electronic magazine)
86 things you never hear a singer say (free ebook)
The Voicebox Videos DVD website tells you all about the Looking At A Voice endoscopy video series
The Vocal Process website has a series of free articles on vocal technique and style, memorising and different musical genres.