This whole "type" thing confuses me

College Majors Musical Theater Major
1

<p>What are different types of "types"? What, in your opinion, is the most common "type" of those who do musical theater or who audition for MT college programs? I know this is completely subjective and there are no correct answers, but I want your opinion.</p>

<p>I am a 6 foot tall, dirty blonde, curly hair, fairly attractive, skinny, white boy baritone: is there a name for my "type"? In accordance to my "type" can you think songs/monologues that are performed by my "type"? They can be really common pieces that one should never use for an audition, I just want an idea. Thanks!</p>

<p>-knarfy</p>

2

<p>I don't know if there are really alot of "names" for the types, perhaps engenue, supporting, character, comedic, mature. Most directors have an idea of the type or look they want when they cast and of course vocal type does come in to play ex: young leading male types are often tenors. What types of roles have you been cast in in the past? Do you tend to get cast in dramatic roles (the Beast in B&B) or would you be cast in a comedic role (as in Lumier or Cogsworth in B&B)? As far as maturity would you be cast as Enjouras (sp?) or as Javert in Les Miz? This may help you to understand where you are most likely to be cast. Also some young baritones mature into tenors. My S was almost always cast in baritone roles untill his senior year, when he began to get tenor roles. Now in college he is a full fledged tenor. As far as what colleges are looking for, they need all types, short/tall, leading men and ladies, character/comdedic, mature/young.....most colleges basically are putting together ensembles and they need all physical and vocal types to cast.</p>

3

<p>It sounds like you and I share the same type, and people who told me my type say that I'm a "leading man" type. They generally classify that as a tall, athletic, masculine, attractive baritone or baritenor (in my case). I won't refer you to something that would be possible to audition with, just so that you can do your own research, but a couple ideas about songs/characters might be:</p>

<p>Dancing Through Life- Wicked
Jekyll and Hyde
Aida as Rademes
Chess as Anatoli
The Last 5 Years as Jamie</p>

<p>Again, I would not suggest any of those for an audition, but that gives you something to go off of. Stay away from anything with a gay subtext (ie: Role of a Lifetime- Bare) or songs/monologues in which the character is nervous or isn't sure of himself (ie: She Loves Me- She Loves Me). Best way is to stay with a kinda masculine-ish character.</p>

<p>Hope that helped</p>

4

<p>To the original poster: what kind of parts do you get in musicals and plays? Tell us some of the roles you have played and we can more accurately gauge how you are perceived.</p>

5

<p>I haven't had many principle parts because most of my shows are with my highschool and only seniors get leads in musicals. Recently I played Ellard Simms in Larry Shue's "The Foreigner" at my high school, I seem to play young well. I have a young looking face (no facial hair yet) so I would say I've been typically cast young. Also, I am a strong dancer, so far in my high school career I've been a dancer in "Fiddler..", "Hello, Dolly!", and "42nd Street" (all big male dancer shows.) I guess this is why I'm not able to identify my type. Hopefully it will be easier after I have a few more principle roles this year.</p>

6

<p>knarfydna, can you also perhaps talk to your high school drama teacher about this type thing, with an eye to getting some guidance about song and monologue selection? It's totally fine to try to get advice here, but it's difficult for folks who have never seen you or seen you perform to make suggestions that are valid. In addition, people are not always so great at recognizing their own type, which can lead to problems. A wonderful drama teacher of my D's said that she went all the way through high school believing she was the ingenue/Cinderella/Maria-in-West-Side-Story type, and was frustrated when she never seem to get the parts she thought she was suited for. She eventually figured out that she was really more a character actress and not an ingenue, and as soon as she figured that out and choose appropriate material, she began getting work professionally. So it's important to get some outside opinions on your type and then you can work with whatever that happens to be. (Which is not to say that you can never be cast against type: people certainly are. But knowing your type is an important starting point in choosing material.) Best of luck! It sounds as if you are very talented.</p>

7

<p>I will definately talk to them about my "type." One of my directors is going to be helping me soon with monologue selections etc so I'm sure she will choose according to what she perceives as my type. Thanks for the info and opinions!</p>

8

<p>It is a bit hard to judge for yourself what your "type" is. Here is a good post by Prof. Himmelheber on the subject from sometime back ...
[quote]
Well...a little bit about "type" </p>

<hr>

<p>I beg to differ on the point that we are actors; hence, as long as the age of the character is appropriate, we should consider ourselves capable of playing ANY role. While that may be true in different settings (especially once you have already been accepted to a school, company, tour, etc.), I haven't found that to be the case in university (and professional) auditions. I deal with this in my classroom ALL THE TIME, believe me. I tell the students to find out who others perceive them to be on first meeting - NOT who they ARE, but who others THINK them to be (sometimes a very different thing altogether).</p>

<p>For this purpose, I use a rudimentary hierarchy of "character types" or "sterotypes" that most people clearly fall into via the actor's "center." The "center" corrolates to a dominant physical energy center that leads all other movement - either head, chest or pelvis (see below). So first, you have to ask others (especially those who will be HONEST with you, and those whom you have just recently been introduced) which category you most closely fall into, followed by a second and third center, and thus you will come up with a hierarchy of qualities for your signature "type" - a trusty barometer for helping you choose appropriate characters (those that won't challenge the auditors' suspension of disbelief too much):</p>

<p>Head centered = intellect. The brain/nerd, usually quiet OR spouting off witty, clever and/or intelligent statements. Can be the romantic lead, but not the traditional one. Think of Doody or Eugene in Grease, Marian Paroo in The Music Man, Babe in Pajama Game, Matt in The Fantasticks, Linus or Schroeder in Charlie Brown, etc.</p>

<p>Chest centered = emotion/sensuality. This is the stereotypical ingenue. The love interest, usually their worst problem is that their boyfriend/girlfriend doesn't love them anymore. Think of Sandy in Grease, Maria or Tony in West Side Story, Luisa in The Fantasticks, Laurie in Oklahoma, Raul in Phantom of the Opera, Marius and Cosette in Les Mis, Arthur in Camelot, Kim and Chris in Miss Saigon, etc.</p>

<p>Hip/Pelvis centered = sexuality/dominance. This is the stereotypical floosy, womanizer, or carnal-minded aggressive character. Not a shrinking violet! Gutsy, the best-friend with a sassy mouth, the hooker with a heart of gold, the bad boy who loves 'em and leaves 'em, are all under this type. Think Rizzo, Marty, Sonny, Kenicke and Vince Fontaine in Grease; Jigger, Billy and Carrie in Carousel; Ado Annie and Ali Hakim in Oklahoma!; El Gallo in The Fantasticks; Fantine in Les Mis; etc.</p>

<p>First, find what your primary center is, then choose roles appropriate for that "type." If your secondary center is nearly equal to the primary, then you have a little latitude for cross-over between types. But playing the temptress when your type is obviously the good girl, or the macho guy when you are more suited to the nerd, you will give the auditors distraction thinking "why did they ever choose this piece?!?"</p>

<p>I tell my students to pick something that they could play PROFESSIONALLY (like on Broadway) TODAY. Not one, two or five years from now...today! If this show were being cast today, would you be called in/back? If not, don't use it in your audition.</p>

<p>You see, auditors have very little imagination (we are wearing blinders of sorts) in the high pressure environment and cram-packed schedule that auditions mandate. And when you as an actor are in such heavy competition as auditions for the most competitive programs in the nation, why give us anything to think about except for how great you are, and "Gee, I could cast them in this role, or that role, or that other role, and..." On and on.</p>

<p>Show us nothing but potential (and limit as much as possible your liabilities). You see? </p>

<p>Honestly, if someone who is not an ingenue comes in with a prepared ingenue piece (whether singing OR acting), I think that the student has no self-awareness of their physical type and how I would likely cast them. And, if I do accept them or call them back, at some inevitable point I (as an educator) will be forced into the terribly uncomfortable for me (and potentially damaging for their self-esteem) position of telling them, "Darling. You are not an ingenue. What are you thinking?" Either that, or I am thinking that their ego is WAY overblown - and they haven't accepted the gifts that they DO possess. Either way it's detrimental to the audition - meaning, I'm not seeing you in the best possible light.</p>

<p>Take it from me - who have spent half my life looking like Laurie in Oklahoma!, and singing like Jud! It is hard to find the "perfect piece," and it takes a lot of research (reading, researching, going to the theatre, buying CDs, etc.). But that is the industry you have CHOSEN in which to make a career. It won't change for you; so step up to the plate and realize how it works (so you can capitalize on it).

[/quote]
Here's a link to the post <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1097165-post39.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1097165-post39.html&lt;/a> and that whole thread if you want to read the surrounding posts ... <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/80600-audition-songs-monologues-3.html?highlight=type#post1097165%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/80600-audition-songs-monologues-3.html?highlight=type#post1097165&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Here are some quotes from an article someone here posted awhile back about it how to tell ...
[quote]
BizBuzz: When I was in acting school, “type” was a very nefarious, mysterious thing. Can you shed any light on what you’ve figured out about understanding your “type”? </p>

<p>Cooper: Actually, type for me is a real, and very helpful thing. And it’s not too difficult to suss out. If you think back over the roles you’ve done really well and really enjoyed, and you make a list of recurring adjectives that describe common traits in all the characters (ie. young, upper class, smart, cute, quirky, angry, cunning) you’ll get a pretty good idea of your type. Or put it this way: think about what you have to contribute, what you do best, what you’d like to give to the world, then get good and excited about it, and then go and give ‘em what you’ve got. I also think a common trap of young, trained actors is that we think we can play anything and everything we set our minds to. And while this hopefully is true (and perhaps we did play the 60 year-old Russian drunk in school), often in an effort to show how multi-dimensional and flexible we are, we end up confusing the industry. My point: say I’m shopping for a pink cardigan, and I find one that changes from blue to pink to green to purple. Chances are, I’ll probably pass it up for the plain old pink sweater right beside it. Not saying that means I lack imagination, but there you have it! Much less confusing.</p>

<p>Chris: I think it’s important to know your type, but also know that ultimately your type is irrelevant to your craft. I know how important specificity is in this business, but I also know how smothering and constricting boxes are and it is pure death for an actor to be in one. So I think every actor should be aware of it, but not let them keep them in a tiny cage where their freedom to create is completely inhibited. It’s more important for agents and managers to understand, but not everyone has the luxury of those resources so they hould know what to submit themselves for.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Here's a link to the whole article ... BizBuzz</a> Blog Archive The post-college rush: building a career from the ground up</p>

<p>I'm not sure what Chris is doing, but I know who Cooper is and she is now out in LA and has been making a nice career for herself. She has at least one national ad running right now plus she has been in some TV pilots and films.</p>

9

<p><a href="http://www.musicaltheatreaudition.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.musicaltheatreaudition.com&lt;/a> lists types of characters in musicals, quite a useful read.</p>

10

<p>I'm always cast as characters named Sarah. What does that say about my type? =P</p>

11

<p>^^^chellybelly....that's so funny! It reminds me that my D has played three roles played by Chita Rivera. She even has metal screws in her hip like Chita does. She should only have a tenth of success as Chita has!</p>

12

<p>Too funny! (Chita and chelly^^) </p>

<p>My S is a very dark, muscular athlete, and is always cast as the villain, or as he remarked in 7th grade, he's always the guy in the leather jacket. At one of his auditions, he was asked, more or less, what he thought his type was, and he said as much. So, they handed him a light comedic part for his cold reading, just to see how versatile he could be! (He got in....) </p>

<p>So, I would say, in my opinion don't worry too much about your type, it will find you. Choose monologues and songs that you feel speak to you!</p>

13

<p>JIJane - What a helpful site! Thanks for posting the link. I'm just gobbling up all the helpful information :)</p>