<p>My soph (MT) D, who is also an officer in the Catholic Student Union at OCU, organized a Tsunami Relief Concert thru the Wanda Bass School of Music. The event was last night and she said it was wonderful....18 acts, mainly music students, some faculty....and they raised nearly $1,000. 100% of the money will go to the Catholic Relief Services for use in their efforts to assist those in need due to the tsunami. Additionally, she was just 'promoted' to Senior Correspondent for the school newspaper and has been offered a position with the Light Opera of Oklahoma for the summer. What a great week she has had! I'm very proud of her.</p>
<p>lexasmomkbj, yes, i remember. and yes, lauren has decided to go to ocu. we really like it and it's the only "biggie" close to texas. she's auditioning again with a different slant. hope it will make the difference. thanks for the encouragement and we'll definitely see you in the fall. jamie</p>
<p>My two D'd (freshman and Senior) were recently cast in the HS's production of GREASE! Senior D getting "Sandy" was not a great big surprise although we were a bit concerned of an unexpected twist (About 10 girls were in the running and some have seriously improved and were blonde.) Luckily this didn't happen. The BIG surprise was freshman D getting "Marty", one of the pink ladies. There were so many girls trying out and she beat out all upperclassmen for the part. Only one other freshman was cast in the entire show, and she got a chorus part. Come to think of it, every lead except my D is a Senior! I didn't realize some of this until just now. My older daughter has overshadowed the younger one for so long, that I am just so happy for my younger one coming into her own that I have tears in my eyes right now! OK I'm done now.:)</p>
<p>Just returned home from S's "MALE SALE", the student clubs set up a date auction to raise money for Tsunami relief. Some of the faculty objected to the set up which only fueled the kids more. They put together date packages from area merchants and then auctioned the date with 29 high school guys that were selected by essay answers to a questionaire. It was very fun! Tons of laughs and they raised over $7,000. S's date package was dinner and theatre tickets to "Anything Goes". In two weeks he'll competing in a "Mr......" contest that's also a fun raiser for Tsunami relief with another group. He goes to a huge high school, but it really amazed me how much money they were able to raise. I have to admit though the biggest bids were for the jocks who had tickets for professional sporting events. I guess that is always the way it is.</p>
<p>Congratulations to your 2 daughters! How fun they'll be working together! I have 2 daughters, too, about the same age difference. My younger d doesn't sing, but is a pretty decent actress, so I know how you feel. I thought I'd share something funny with you re: high school. My older d, a senior, was accepted to CAP 21, has done about 25 leads in both off-broadway and regional/community theater, yet has NEVER gotten a lead in her high school show! Yes, she's tried out every year. Isn't that funny???</p>
<p>Rossji - my daughter performed on Broadway for almost a year and did a national tour when she was younger and...also never got a lead in her HS show! Hmmm...I know we have broached the subject of egotistical, maniacal HS directors before and this isn't the thread for it, but....seems there's quite a few of them out there!</p>
<p>rossji and bdwaymom,</p>
<p>So glad to hear that others were in the same position. My daughter, currently a Tisch student, couldn't even get a callback from her high school drama teacher when they did Shakespeare. That is after she trained with equity actors and had a prepared monologue. (The lead got the part because during a theater game during the audition she was "wise" enough to unbutton her blouse, she, apparently, showed wisdom in understanding the role - A Midsummer's Night Dream)</p>
<p>My daughter, too, was cast in regional theaters including opera companies. When she was cast, she was made to sing everyone elses part (off stage of course). In the Sound of Music she was Marta, but sang in the nun's chorus and Lisle's high parts.</p>
<p>My daughter was so hurt because the kids at school thought she must really be awful since the drama teacher didn't pick her. As a sort of therapy, I signed my daughter up for acting classes outside of school and she caught on so well that she was the only kid in the newly formed acting company. She started with company right from the beginning and it now one of the leading theater companies in our area.</p>
<p>To all - I think it is a great idea to share success stories. I don't consider it bragging but more like rewarding yourselves! Being a theater Mom we live through the good and the bad. We deserve to express our joy as well as our dissappointments. My D was recently cast in her first lead role. She will be "Kathy Selden" in "Singing in the Rain". We are all thrilled.</p>
<p>rossji, bdwaymom, and klri-
I truly feel for your kids, because if you read my post on part 38, you will see that our problem was with the choral director. My senior D never got a solo in 3 different choral groups, yet when she quit, the director came and yelled at her and told her she was the STRONGEST soprano she had, and that she wasnt thinking of the group when she quit. Every one of those "weaker" sopranos had gotten solos through the years.
Our musical director for Grease, new this year to our school, is fantastic. The current drama teacher at our school (who doesnt direct shows at the school, just teaches classes and debate) made a huge speech telling the freshman not to try out because they would NOT be cast because it goes by seniority. At the first meeting for the tryouts, a girl asked about casting and seniority and right in the presence of this drama teacher who had come to the meeting, the director said, " I cast according to talent-I dont know how it was done in the past, but this is how I work." ( Glancing at the drama teacher..cough cough) Don't you just love NEW BLOOD?
I also have another theory, maybe your kids would have been too good and would have shown up the others, you know, like a broadway star in a school production can sometimes make the not as talented kids look even less talented! It kinda sounds like it.</p>
<p>I know this is a terrible place to post this, but since the topic has been mentioned several times here, I will plunge ahead. My D too is one of those kids who never had a lead in a H.S. production. In her 4 years at her performing arts high school, she auditioned for 7 musicals. She was cast in all of them, but was in the ensemble in all but one. She played the Stepmother in "Cinderella" during her junior year. D enjoyed the role, but was a little disappointed that the character only sings about 3 phrases during the entire show. My D's problem was the woman who directs the musicals. In a nutshell, the woman was not well qualified and seemed intimidated by my D. During D's 1st 2 years at the H.S., we were not surprised that she had nothing but ensemble roles. School politics dictates that only upperclassmen get leads. Unfortunately, it was obvious to me by D's sophomore year that this teacher would never let her do a lead in any of her productions. </p>
<p>D did manage to thwart the teacher's pet female student during her junior year. Each year the juniors compete for a prestigious arts scholarship. The preliminaries are judged by faculty, but the final round is judged by arts professionals. When the finals competition ended the teacher immediately joined her favorite student and her family at the reception. She heaped on the praise. She let her know that she was very pleased with her performance and hinted that she felt sure she would win. The school does not announce the winners on the night of the competition. They make the kids wait 2 weeks and announce it on class day. My D, my husband, and I were standing not more than 10 feet away from the teacher and her favorite's family. After 20 minutes or so of singing her pet's praises, she walked up to my D and gave her a perfunctory, "Good Job". She didn't say a word to me or my husband. Fast forward 2 weeks.... The day before class day, the teachers in each arts area are notified about whether or not one of their students has won a scholarship. The teachers pull the winners aside and let them know in confidence that they will be receiving the award the next day. D says the teacher looked very pained when she told her she had won.
As long as anyone can remember, whenever there has been a scholarship winner in MT, that student has had a lead in the musical during his or her senior year. Some people were a bit surprised that my D was not finally rewarded with a lead role her senior year. It was expected at the school. However, my husband and I were not surprised that, once again, D was placed in the ensemble. </p>
<p>Postscript: The girl who had the lead in that show (guess who) did not get accepted at any of the schools she auditioned for. She's attending a local non-audition program. D was the only kid from her school to get into a top MT program.</p>
<p>Mama02girls,</p>
<p>I can testify that kids can definitely lose roles because they are too good. It happened to my D. The summer before D's junior year she was very excited about auditioning for a well-respected local community theatre's production of "West Side Story". "West Side Story" is her favorite musical. She figured she was a shoo-in for an ensemble role because of her skill as a dancer. After the initial audition she was very surprised to get a callback for the role of Maria. We live in greater Cincinnati. There's a lot of talent here and we knew there would be many accomplished singers auditioning for the show. D was flattered to get the callback, but we figured she didn't have any real chance of getting the part. At the callback audition, we discovered that only 2 other people had been called back for Maria: a 28 year old Hispanic woman who had a M.M. in voice from CCM and worked as a voice teacher, and a 25 year old woman who'd just returned from a year at Tokyo Disney. I heard the auditions. No question, and no surprise, that the 28 year old voice teacher outsang my high-schooler. I think D sounded better than the 25 year old though. The role of Maria went to the voice teacher. D was just flattered to have been asked to compete. </p>
<p>About an hour after she finished her Maria callback, she went to the ensemble callback, which was a dance audition. (The other 2 Maria candidates had not been asked to do the ensemble callback.) D said that throughout the dance call the choreographer told the group that they had to look like an ensemble; no one could stand out. She said that the 1st time he said it, he was looking directly at her. She figured the comment was directed at her, so she toned down her dancing, using less energy. A while later, the comment was made again. Just as the 1st time, D said the choreographer was looking directly at her when he made the statement. She again reduced her energy level. She said that there were no real dancers in the room. She knew some of the people at the audition. They included a couple of young teenage boys who'd had only about one year of dance training. The choreographer's comments about blending in continued throughout the audition. D says she toned down her dancing until she was barely marking the steps. Even that did not seem to satisfy. She says the only thing she could have done beyond barely moving was to actually execute the dance steps incorrectly. She said her sense of pride as a dancer would not allow her to do that. She says that given the fact that there weren't any good dancers in the room besides herself, there was a lot of faking going on. Yet the choreographer acted pleased with the group. Despite the choreographer's comments to D at the audition, she felt sure that the director would cast her in the show. After all, he liked her well enough to consider her for the lead! Of course, she received a "Sorry we can't use your talents in our show" letter a couple of weeks later. I think that was the only time D has actually been angry about not being cast in a show. </p>
<p>The young teenage boys who'd been dancing for only a year were cast. Other teenagers D knows who do not dance well were cast. At 1st, D's teachers were shocked that she was not cast. When she described the dance call to them, they all agreed that she was not cast in the show because she would have made the rest of the ensemble look bad. That confirmed what my husband and I had told her. </p>
<p>D's private tap teacher is on the board of directors of that community theatre. When she heard about D's experience, she was not surprised. She had urged the group not to do "West Side Story" because she knew they would not be able to find enough competent male dancers in the area to do the show justice. At the planning meeting during which shows were chosen for the season, the choreographer stated that he believed he wouldn't have a problem. He made it clear that he planned to have very watered-down dancing in the show. D's tap teacher strenuously objected to that. She voted against doing "West Side Story", but she got out-voted. We, of course, felt considerably enlightened after hearing the back story. </p>
<p>D no longer feels angry about not being in the show. She's actually glad she didn't have to be in it. She would have been disappointed to have to dance babyish choreography. D can now laugh about the experience. She tells people that this was the 1st role she lost because she was too good.</p>
<p>Surprisingly, the show got good reviews. The reviewer for the local arts weekly did make reference to the "simplicity" of the choreography and the inexperience of many of the dancers in the ensemble. He glossed over the fact that this big dance show didn't have any dancers. He gave the theatre company credit for doing the best they could with what they had.</p>
<p>Djoiner...
Congrats to your daughter on the successes of the week. When you mention OCU, my ears perk up. My D has been accepted to the MT program at OCU for next year. It's a heavy contender for her...though she is continuing her audition process. Any chance you could drop me an email so I might ask you some specific questions about OCU? I notice you don't have your email info available. If you would rather not, I understand. Thanks!</p>
<p>Dancersmom - A 28 year old Maria and a non dancing ensemble ... SIGN ME UP! That must have been an award winner ... Anbody for a fat middle aged Tony with a bad back? Mr. Guffman is snowed in ... haha!</p>
<p>Notarebel,</p>
<p>Tony and Maria were both about the same age. The woman who played Maria looked right for the part. She had a dark tan, and was very pretty and young-looking. Tony was a handsome blond. Funny you should mention awards - I believe the production won an award at the Ohio Community Theatre Association festival. D's tap teacher was aghast.</p>
<p>dancersmom-
It's comforting when I find that other talented kids have experienced this stuff. As a matter of fact, I just had my daughter read your post because her experiences were NOTHING compared to your D's. Proof that there is always someone somewhere that has it worse! Congrats to your D for getting into MT! She'll most definitely have a head start on the whole rejection thing having gone through it already. Keep us posted-I'm sure her first lead is in the near future!</p>
<p>My S is a sophomore at Emerson and loving every minute of it. Emerson's theater dept philosophy has been to audition for everything you can. They can fine tune in class, but the real education comes from doing. So this month he and a bunch of his MT friends auditioned for the Harvard plays. There was an open call for their season of 25 plays. He audiitoned for 10, got 5 callbacks, and was cast in 2 plays to be performed on one of the Harvard stages. He was cast as Cyril in Gilbert & Sullivan's Princess Ida, and as Hysterium in Forum. Performances are 1 month apart. Two of his friends were cast with him. He is thrilled with his directors, casts and crews, and will most likely make a whole new set of contacts. </p>
<p>So not only is there ample opportunity to perform at Emerson (he was involved in 4 productions his first year), but there seems to be ample opportunity at neighboring colleges and universities as well.</p>
<p>Congrats to your S, Laurenz! Sounds like great new experiences ahead for him.</p>
<p>I'll add my own "brag." D competed in a local voice competition over the weekend. She took 1st place in the high school portion. (They also have a post-high school portion.) She sang something from Puccini and a second selection from Schubert. The prize was $750 toward her future vocal studies. It was a good boost for her during this difficult audition process. One of the college students came up to her after she sang to tell her they were all discussing that there was "no way" she could be in high school, her sound was so mature. Flattering. But mainly just a great opportunity to get out there and perform some classical literature in front of an audience again. Since she wants to study MT and Opera, it was a good experience for her. (And the $$ doesn't hurt either!)</p>
<p>musicalthtrmom and laurenz-
Congratulations to both your rising stars! Laurenz, how close do you live, and will you get to see any of his performances? musicalthtrmom, how long has your D taken voice lessons? She sounds wonderful. Again, congrats to both!</p>
<p>mama02girlz...
thanks for the kind words. D has been studying private voice for 4 years.</p>
<p>Congratulations to all you talented kids (and to the parents who support them)!</p>
<p>Small brag...</p>
<p>My d just found out last night that she was cast in a leading role in "The Foreigner" in one of our local community theatres. She is so excited because this is a straight acting role and is a departure from the musicals that she usually is cast in. She doesn't have nearly the confidence in her acting abilities as she does in her singing/dancing, so I hope this helps her realize that she has some acting talent as well.</p>