<p>Hey everyone. So the cast list for my school musical just got posted and I'm in the chorus. This really angers me for several reasons. First, my director decides to pick a show that has only three male leads and all of them are tenor. Second, this is my third year in the drama club and I have not gotten out of the chorus (well, I haven't gotten a lead and every other guy in my grade in the drama club has). And third, I think he takes me for granted because I think he means to put in the chorus just because there has to be some good singers and dancers in the chorus, and I wouldn't mind if it was for one show. But when it happens time and time again, I just feel like he's not taking me seriously (not to mention I am the only guy in my drama club that has taken dance and the musical is really heavy on dance numbers and some leads need to dance). I've particpated in a community theatre production where the whole show got rewritten for me because the director liked my voice. I don't expect that, but I just wish he would at least give me a decent part sometime during high school. I almost feel like dropping just to show him that I'm not his doormat and that nobody deserves treatment like this. If this were the professional world, I would turn the other shoulder and say maybe next time. But since this is a high school, leads should be shared and everyone given an opportunity at some point. I feel disrepected. Would it be worth it to just not participate in shows next year to avoid this treatement? Should I look elsewhere for theatrical experience? Thank you for listening to my little rant!</p>
<p>There is a fairly recent thread on this subject:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1160639-what-do-about-high-school-casting.html?highlight=high+school+casting[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1160639-what-do-about-high-school-casting.html?highlight=high+school+casting</a></p>
<p>Unfortunately, this is the world of performance and casting.</p>
<p>If you can’t deal with not being cast, this may not be the field for you…
Instead of quitting, see if you if you can work tech for the show. It will help you grow as a performer and give you a new skill set. Do they need an ASM?</p>
<p>The thing is that I can deal with rejection, but this goes beyond the rejection. And also, if I was put in the chorus in the professional world, I would be delighted.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about high school shows. Get out into the community. Play parts that are suitable for your age and type as you are now. High school is a weird place where hardly anybody plays roles that are right for them. And no, casting usually doesn’t happen based on “whose turn” it is, sorry to say…just don’t burn any bridges.</p>
<p>I work as a musical director with a high school drama department, and every year there are students who rant just like Yoshi did. I don’t know the situation at his high school, but I can tell you that in our case, students are cast because we want the show to be as good as possible, not because it’s someone’s “turn”. Sometimes that means that an upperclassman who has worked hard has to take a back seat to someone younger who fits the part better. To the actor who feels short-changed, that may not seem fair. But who ever told you life is fair? </p>
<p>Yoshi, if you are going to continue to be angry and resentful about this, maybe it would be better if you do drop the show so you don’t make everyone else in the cast uncomfortable. Personally, I would suggest that you suck it up and try to get as much as you can out of the experience. And you might even consider asking your director – pleasantly, of course – what you can do to improve your skills so that you might get a better role next time. </p>
<p>If you don’t feel you can do that, or if you get a negative response from your director, then you might try looking around for other performing opportunities. Perhaps there are community or summer theaters in your area?</p>
<p>Well said, onstage! You can see this from both sides, so that’s a big help.</p>
<p>Yoshi, it does NOT improve in college. While you may be wonderful, you might find yourself in the chorus, or not even cast, for four years-especially if you go straight VP (roles go, as they should, to the graduate and artist diploma students). There are no guarantees and it can be very political. If you want fair, take up ski racing or swimming- there’s a clock and you know where you stand relative to everyone else. Performance is subjective and you need to learn from that and see where you fit in.
One director may love your type while another may just not care for you no matter how hard you try. A director has a vision and maybe you didn’t fit in with the “couples” he was putting together, height or coloring may not have blended well, you just never know. You also need to be very careful that you don’t project a negative attitude, which you may be doing without being aware of it; that can really destroy any hopes of getting a good role.
In the long run, no one cares what roles you had in high school, but if you’re really unhappy then the time to back out is now, before rehearsals get underway. Remember though, the true “triple threats” on Broadway are in the chorus, because those kids have to have acting chops and be able to carry off any dance combinations all while singing wonderfully too!</p>
<p>If I may weigh in as a relative newbie to this board…</p>
<p>Yoshi, you’re clearly a junior or a senior in hs, from what you say. If you are looking for parts in the future, you may want to think twice before you quit the show. At my kids’ high school, kids have to sign a pre-audition form stating whether they’d be willing to accept any role. If they say yes, and then quit the show, they will never be cast in any other show for the duration of their time in school. This forces kids to be honest with themselves and with the drama/music teachers, and minimizes diva behavior.</p>
<p>My son just went through this – he said he’d take any role, then didn’t get the role he wanted in the fall musical. He was very upset, thought about quitting. Then he sucked up his attitude, took his spot in the chorus, had a wonderful time, was supportive of the guy who got the role he had wanted, and moved on to the spring play, where he got exactly the role he wanted.</p>
<p>I would also encourage you to speak to the director very honestly and openly and ask why you haven’t gotten the parts you wanted. That’s a tough and brave thing to do, and you will probably learn a lot, if you listen. And it’s an opportunity you will <em>only</em> get in school. Once you’re out in the professional world, if you choose to go in that direction, you will never get the chance to learn why you didn’t get a role, so take advantage of the opportunity now while you’re in a student-teacher relationship!</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Ok, so my first post was probably just initial reaction and blowing off steam.I’ve kind of cooled down now. I’m not projecting a negative attitude, and I would never think about quitting the show (although it would be interesting to see how the show went anyway). And I think I’m going to talk to the director, but not in a condescending I’m so good why didn’t I get the part type of way. I feel he doesn’t realize that I feel like I’m his doormat right now.</p>
<p>That sounds good, Yoshi. And if your director is willing to discuss it with you, you may find that there are all sorts of factors that are involved in casting that you weren’t aware of.</p>
<p>Let us know what he or she says, Yoshi. But seriously, this is just the beginning. Casting is very subjective and is often (always?) based on things that are not in your control, such as (as suggested above) the director’s unique vision for the part(s) and how certain actors fit and look together. Your view of who is “best” or most talented for the part may not always or even often line up with who that director thinks is best for the part. They don’t say that acting and musical theater is 99% rejection for the heck of it: they say it because it’s true. I am the parent of a performer, so I have had a front row seat to this kind of thing, and I know how painful it can be. But I also know how it can help a person develop the kind of strength and resilience that can really hold that person in good stead later in life. So if this is something you really want and you really believe in yourself, keep going.</p>
<p>No matter what you decide to do with your high school’s drama program, you may as well look for other opportunities in your community. Schools only do so many shows a year. (Around here, typically one drama and one huge-cast musical.) </p>
<p>My daughter was doggedly putting in her time, making a name for herself as a reliable ensemble player, doing whatever she thought the director wanted of her, in the hope that eventually, in her junior or senior year, he’d consider her for a principal role. Her junior year, he didn’t even call her back. At that point, she went to speak with him and he told her he just didn’t think she was very good. He also sent out an email denigrating people who question casting or who get their feelings hurt when they aren’t cast. '</p>
<p>Those two things together soured her so much on the school’s drama program that she decided not to do the musical after all. It was a very difficult decision, but wound up freeing up a lot of time that she managed to put to much more productive use. She was able to take up another foreign language instead.</p>
<p>yOSHI2.</p>
<p>I respect the fact that you are putting on your big boy pants and going directly to the director. It demonstrates security, sincerity, poise, respect and courage. Hopefully you get the answers you feel you deserve.</p>
<p>Don’t know your school situation but it is typical for roles to go to the upper classman regardless of the talent.</p>