Sami doesn’t care what anyone else says; psyching herself out COMPLETELY helps the nerves.
There is something incredibly freeing about “not standing a chance” at a show so you might as well just have fun.
I just left a musical theatre callback. Yay! Singing and dancing auditions – my FAVORITE!
Are you picking up on the sarcasm? Good.
The Bruce and I were both called back for a brand new musical being presented by one of the musical theatres in Seattle. The Bruce was called back for one of the leads (of course) and I was just called back for Ensemble (oh thank GOD). We go in and look around and one fact strikes me immediately. Everyone else there is about 25 and younger. And then there’s me and The Bruce.
Awww. We’re the token ‘old people.’ When did THAT happen??
The second thing I noticed is how TERRIFIED most of them looked. This meant so much to them and the amount of angst in the room was palpable. I had decided before even getting there that odds were against my getting cast. I am not a dancer (I have dancing ISSUES – long story there) and my fear of solo singing is well documented and I still have The Plague, so why make myself all crazy with worry. I just wanted to go in and have a good time and limber up the muscles some and watch my man be brilliant.
Seeing how scared all the little girls were, I decided to say “Screw It. Let’s have some fun.” I had nothing to lose. I adopted my best “Shelia” (from Chorus Line) stance and proceeded to ‘attitude’ my way through the callback.
I didn’t worry about each and every step – I just did the dance.
I didn’t fret about every note – I just sang the damned song.
And when I was done, I left. Confidently.
And you know what? Two things happened.
- I did not spend the next 15 hours obsessing about how I did. I asked The Bruce if he heard me and was I in key. He assured me “yes” to both.
- I got cast. With a named character. A MINOR one but a named character nonetheless.
How about that? Not too shabby for a show I had “no shot in hell” at.
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