<p>hey i was just wondering if anybody else out there auditioned? i got a CALLBACK for maryjane! that was so exciting! i was wondering if anybody wanted to share stories...</p>
<p>Congratulations to you. </p>
<p>My D and her friend wanted to go to the open call in LA last weekend, but they had rehearsals all day on Saturday and couldn’t make it up there.</p>
<p>My daughter may audition in Chicago in May, but I’m not sure it’s a good idea. First of all, I thought that role was cast. I had heard that Evan Rachel Wood had the part. Did you hear anything about that? Maybe they are looking for understudies. Also, my daughter is going to start college in the fall. Would you leave school for a Broadway show? Part of me would be afraid that if she got on Broadway now that she would be sidetracked and wouldn’t finish college. That’s why I didn’t let her go to the recent Bye Bye Birdie open call in NY. (A good friend of hers just got called back for Ursula, and she may know something tomorrow!) I know it’s a huge deal to be on Broadway, but I really want my daughter to finish school before she goes off to NY. What are your thoughts on this? (Believe me, I’m not saying that my daughter would get the lead in Spiderman…that is one in a million…but an ensemble role in Bye Bye Birdie might have been possible.)</p>
<p>Littlemermaid~ I forgot to congratulate you on your callback! That is HUGE! You must be so excited! Where did you audition? Can you share your experience?</p>
<p>I know of someone else who was also called-back, and has another call-back scheduled. So they are obviously still looking, maybe for future replacements or understudies.</p>
<p>Evan Rachel Wood and Jim Sturgess have workshopped this with Julie. As far as she’s concerned, they have indeed been cast. From what I’ve heard, there have been an extraordinarily large number of callbacks for Spidey auditions. First callbacks for Broadway shows generally tend to be a large number, but apparently it’s even larger for this show. Probably because of the huge amount investors are putting into this show.</p>
<p>RE: Spidey…
Congrats to LittleMermaid…that is awesome…wowee girl…it is a great affirmation. They seem to be looking widely in many cities and many open calls. My D did not try out for this musical. But I know someone on second callbacks for MaryJane too. I also have read elsewhere what AlwaysAMom posted. These things tend to be a mystery but one thing is for certain, a callback is really great for a Broadway show and you were seen by casting. Be happy! </p>
<p>Tina…it is really a personal decision about whether to audition while in college for shows that would require a student to leave college if cast. My D, who is about to graduate college, made a conscious decision to not audition for anything while in college that would ever take her out of school. She REALLY wanted the training first and valued it. She also wanted her education and loved every minute of going to college. She felt there was plenty of time to audition after college. Also, it is hard to even attend auditions during college as it requires missing classes for callbacks and so forth and they are not allowed to miss hardly any classes. She opted out of ALL auditions of this sort. </p>
<p>However, she has had friends and classmates who have auditioned during college and have left college…as they were cast on Broadway or on National or International Tours or Off Broadway. Some just took a leave and returned and others have not returned. Remember that if you wait until after college, you are only 22 and also have lots more training and also will have a degree for down the line if needed that might be hard to go back and do later. In my D’s case, she is just 20 upon graduation and feels she has her whole life to audition for professional theater. One can do professional theater during the summers in college too. Some audition while in college to just see what would happen. My D said she did not want to do that as she knew if she ever was cast in anything, slim as it would be, she would not want to have the pull to even have to think about leaving college. But that is just one person’s choice and it is not the right choice for everyone. She felt she could wait until after graduation to make the rounds…and even better, with an agent and not non-Equity cattle calls.</p>
<p>thanks for the support guys!! i don’t at ALL think i have a chance…i’m definitely not a “rockstar”(O: however it was definitely a good experience, and a fun thing to happen at my first real audition! tinamay-my experience was great…they were really nice (i was expecting these horrible all powerful monsters behind the desk). it was like any other audition i’ve ever been to, which is just high school and community theatre stuff. good luck to everybody!!!</p>
<p>tinamay…i don’t think i would want to leave college for a broadway show, that is my personal opinion. i am a junior in high school though, so it would be a little different for me. about evan rachel wood…i heard that too, but i’m not really sure what is going on. why would they spend all that money on a casting search if it was already cast? it’s confusing (O:</p>
<p>Congratulations littlemermaid13 - that’s quite an accomplishment, especially because you’re only in high school!!! You should be very proud, but do understand that in the end they will go with 18TPY for so many reasons. However, Telsey now has you on their radar and that is a big deal as well, especially for the future.</p>
<p>Regarding Evan Rachel Wood - until the curtain rises everything can change (and sometimes even after the curtain rises). They have been denying her involvement but that could be because she’s not signed her contract yet so this could be pressure. There’s never any way to tell in this business.</p>
<p>Most seniors (which I assume LittleMermaid will be next year) are 18, so you are certainly still in the running, LittleMermaid. You go girl!</p>
<p>that’s funny anne…they asked me about my age, i’m actually ALMOST seventeen. so i might be a little young (i’m keeping my fingers crossed(O:)</p>
<p>Did they specifically say 18 and over? If not, I don’t see why you couldn’t be cast at 17. Plenty of Spring Awakening cast members have been and the current Natalie in Next to Normal is.</p>
<p>While I agree with amtc that in many shows, they prefer to go 18+ (for many reasons), some musicals have had breakdowns for casting younger than 18. The audition notices, for example, for Spiderman and for Bye Bye Birdie did include an age range under 18 too. In fact, people have been called back for these shows who are under 18 and so they are willing to consider under 18 for these particular shows. That doesn’t mean that they do for all shows as there are advantages to casting actors over 18. (yes, jake, Spring Awakening did cast under 18 for the Broadway production but not for their tour)</p>
<p>jake - the difference between Spring Awakening and Spiderman is the number of under 18’s in the cast. Legally they need to supply on site tutors for I think 3 hours during rehearsals because they are usually during the school day and there is a limit as to how many hours a child can work. If there are more kids in a show it’s cheaper than if there is only one school aged kid in a show. They don’t always say it, although often they do, but you will find out in the end that that is how they went, it’s cheaper.</p>
<p>Yes, they did take the high school girl for Next to Normal but she was in on it from the beginning. You just never know but it’s a pretty safe bet to keep that in the back of your mind if you’re under 18 and/or still in school. </p>
<p>If you have a child actor you know this - it’s why they call the high school years the “dead zone” for most. Unless your child is particularly young looking (under 5’, not yet developed) and can play 10-12 it is unusual for a production to hire an actor over 18 who can play a high school kid. It happens, of course, just not all that often. </p>
<p>Again, littlemermaid, getting this far is amazing and says a lot about your talent and abilities. Telsey will definitely be looking positively at you for a long time to come!</p>
<p>amtc everything you wrote is absolutely true and I very much agree with it (inc. the dead zone part). </p>
<p>Just saying that the breakdown for these two shows included under 18 and they were willing to callback those under 18 as well and so who knows how it will turn out but what you are saying is generally true overall.</p>
<p>I appreciate all that amtc is saying, but, rightly or wrongly, I am envisioning “Littlemermaid” as having a mane of naturally red hair and thus the perfect look for MJ in addition to her talent! The cost of a single tutor, if required, is de minimus in the budget of a multi-million dollar show for someone who is otherwise the total package. Go, Littlemermaid!</p>
<p>It’s a very nice accomplishment to garner a callback for a Broadway show and all who do so should be very proud. However, it truly is best not to get too, too excited and invested in the outcome. This is true of every audition, obviously, but particularly for these open calls for large Broadway productions, the chances are still very small for actually booking the job. I don’t say this to put a damper on anyone’s excitement. As I said, be proud, be happy, celebrate the experience! But I’ve seen too many kids set themselves up for huge disappointment with expectations that are not realistic. Enjoy your auditions, and your callbacks, and then move on to the next.</p>
<p>alwaysamom is right, even though this is such an exciting thing and you should be so proud of yourself. A close friend of mine went to an open call for Spring Awakening in Miami and received 5 call backs, and then never booked it. Another friend who lives in the city and attended Manhattan School of Music, had 4 call-backs for Wendla in SA, 3 separate times where she received 3 final call backs for Glinda in Wicked and it always came down to her and one other girl, and this same girl has had numerous call backs for Christine in Phantom where it has also come down to her and one other girl. She also made it to final callbacks for Forbidden BroadwayShe has been disappointed but never got her hopes up and has felt accomplished about even getting that far. And the person casting Wicked told her it was only a matter of time and to just keep auditioning for them (she was still in college and they encouraged her to finish out her degree). But it’s so great to get your headshot out there and see what happens, they could always save your info and contact you for something else, and the people at Telsey are so nice!</p>
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<p>I cannot emphasize what AlwaysAMom said enough!!! It is indeed a nice affirmation to get a callback at this level and it is surely very good to be seen by the casting agency and have them like you because if you are not right for this show or part, they may remember you for another. But the way anyone should go about it at this level is that it is another audition, with extremely low odds of booking it. And it is not worth getting too wrapped up in any one particular audition (not saying anyone here is doing that). It is not worth thinking about too much. Just keep auditioning and don’t get too vested in any one particular audition given the odds. My D is about to begin the audition circuit post graduation and has told me this is her attitude with it. She can’t worry too much about any particular audition’s outcome and knows it could take many auditions to ever book something. Getting a callback is an affirmation of talent. She figures once you get to that point, everyone in the callback has some talent to be considered, but after that, so much will come down to type and looks and the director and casting directors’ visions for the part, which you cannot control. It is not like a talent contest but is very specific to their image for the part. At this level, they can afford to be extremely picky about that since they have the pick of the litter so to speak. Also, as AlwaysAMom wrote, the odds of being cast from an open call are slimmer but it does happen sometimes (depending on the show). Given the very low odds, it is best to stay realistic and not get too caught up on any one certain audition or callback and just go with the flow and move onto the next audition. It is very different than casting experiences in community, regional, college, or summer stock theater. The odds are far slimmer and the talent pool far greater. The picking by exact type can be very specific and out of your hands. So, keep going and going and also feel good if you are at least getting to the callback stage of the game. Hopefully, at some point, you’ll get to the actual stage! :D</p>