<p>This is a great, quick sound byte that all MT hopefuls should listen to: [The</a> ‘Glee’ Factor / Academic & Pulse / Audio - Inside Higher Ed](<a href=“http://www.insidehighered.com/audio/academic_pulse/the_glee_factor]The”>http://www.insidehighered.com/audio/academic_pulse/the_glee_factor)</p>
<p>Yep! It’s one of the HUGE frustrations for those students who have been working HARD basically all their lives; attending classes, lessons, workshops and constantly honing their craft that they now have to compete for a spot in college against a billion kids who watch Glee and think, “Hey, I can do that!” And maybe some of them can. But a lot of them just make the audition pool that much murkier for those who have a passion for performing and who have known since they could walk (dance), talk (sing), and cry (act) that this was what they were born to do.</p>
<p>But the bottom line is, if you have it, SOMEONE is going to recognize that fact and you will end up where you’re supposed to end up! (At least that’s what we keep telling ourselves!!)</p>
<p>Amen to THAT, Tracy! :)</p>
<p>It’s not a zero-sum game. More interest means more future ticket purchasers, which means more jobs for MTers. It should be a virtuous cycle: competition makes everyone better, thereby creating better products, which result in more interest, which creates a bigger market…I am sure the MT schools will come up with more use of online submitals for screening if it becomes a real problem (it sure would save parents and kids lots of money if all schools went to an online prescreen process). In the meantime, I keep rooting for things like "Wicked, " “High School Musical” and “Glee” (think “bigger pie” not “less pieces for me”). Broadway must keep reversing the trend of “blue-haired audiences” which was future until recently. Currently 6% of theatre goers purchase 31% of the tickets on Broadway. This is not so great. If you are an MTer, better root for those “Glee kids” (by the way, I think its not just “Glee” but a “Perfect Storm” of the big 3: “Wicked,” “High School Musical,” and “Glee” - my D’s generation has now grown up with a succession of musicals that have dominated her popular culture - thank goodness). Besides, my D likes the “Glee” kids at her auditions, it helps her confidence when she gets to follow one :)</p>
<p>EmsDad I kind of agree. It is shows like Wicked and others that have primed the pump so to speak and made the touring production boom we are now experiencing. It is also helping regional theaters to some degree—more people are considering actually going to the theater and not just movie theaters. The more MT kids that are auditioning, the more audience is created as well. Yes, my D felt the same way about the “glee” kids and felt confident when she went in to sing for auditions. Training still does count.
Loved you “blue-haired audiences” comment. IN fact, I went to a few productions at UCLA last year–part of the Reprise theater series that Jason Alexander of Seinfeld fame artistically directs. He made the comment that they were losing audience each year due to ‘death’ Seriously, it is an issue—if Glee and Wicked and HS Musical and the like draw in new audiences that can’t be all bad.</p>
<p>I can’t disagree with the idea that the popularity of these shows (I might add “Legally Blonde” and “Hairspray” to that list, and maybe “In the Heights,”) is creating new audiences, which is a great thing!</p>
<p>It will be even better if the demand for trained performers increases to the point that programs are expanded and/or new programs are started to accommodate the demand! But yes, training does count, so I don’t expect that there will be a lot of talented, trained kids displaced from programs, but the process will just be more difficult as the panelists have so many more candidates to wade through. </p>
<p>I LOVE the idea of prescreening. I wish more schools did that now!</p>