<p>I guess I see your point about it not mattering as far as the resume goes, but it matters 100% for my son, because it is his senior year, and he has been looking forward to his senior show since he was a freshman! It is a natural progression to go from a smaller role in 9th grade, to a lead in 12th grade, but you just never know with our drama department. The whole experience of being with friends, and being on his high school stage for the last time will mean a lot to him. So I think he would miss it terribly if he couldn’t do it for some reason.</p>
<p>"…but it matters 100% for my son, because it is his senior year…"</p>
<p>This is also it exactly, although k transferred last year, so it hasn’t been since ninth grade. But k is a senior now, worked hard and did well last year and has put in countless hours of training in all the triple threat skills outside of school, and this is what happened. And that k is not right for any of the roles in the very last musical…it is heartbreaking. We assumed this role would be it, and k would have been very happy and satisfied.</p>
<p>I hope it turns out well for your son. I really hope so.</p>
<p>Ok, I’m jumping in. It matters SOOO much! These kids live in the moment. They will remember NOT getting the lead. I die for all these kids. Ok- my son has the lead. And he had the lead for the last 2 shows. But these others kid are like my own. The moms are texting fast and furious and I see their pain. It may make them stronger. It may make them bitter. I hug them tight and let them vent and tell them I’m sorry. I tell them about the 2 kids that got hardly any leads and are in great MT programs now. I tell them about past leads who are not pursuing it. It will not affect your future success but it will hurt. </p>
<p>Our second male lead (big part!) went to a sophomore, female leads to a junior and sophomore. We are lucky because we do a second musical in the fall but there are a lot of hurt kids right now. By the opening night they will all be having a great time but I don’t diminish their disappointment. I will not tell them it is not fair- the kids they picked are better. But they are better for these parts- not better than you forever in everything you try out for. Some kids develop later. Some never get better than they are now. High school will not determine your success but it can really suck.</p>
<p>Theatremomma - I propose this for a tee shirt: “High school will not determine your success but it can really suck.”</p>
<p>ha ha ha ha</p>
<p>very funny… but oh so true</p>
<p>Thanks for that…it is true. And it’s getting worse, time for parental involvement…</p>
<p>I’d urge caution. You need to think about the big picture. I totally agree that high school productions matter enormously in the moment and for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with what lies beyond but there is one wrinkle: You still need recommendations and right about now is the time they will be written. You need to tread carefully. </p>
<p>Your kids have a lot more to gain by taking their disappointments like champs especially if they demonstrate that they can still be engaged members of the productrion whatever role they are assigned to and even if they are not cast. It makes for much better college recommendations and often if they can muster the courage to put on a good front, they may find they will be used in the production more than they expected. I know that is a LOT to ask of a disappointed HS senior, but I urge you to take a breath before you send an email or make a call and think about it.</p>
<p>^^ agreed. That being said, I can hardly WAIT to get all up in the principal’s face this spring and tell her what I think about her hiring someone who is NOT a drama teacher to replace our former teacher (graduated from CCM). She totally through these kids under the bus. I really think the kids are just going to have to take over the musical if they want to have one, otherwise it won’t happen.</p>
<p>Well, Walker1194, I think you should show all the kids those good old Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland movies, where all they needed was a barn - and, man, did they put on a show!</p>
<p>I just read theatremomma’s post and now I feel a little bad, since she talked about all the kids who don’t get big roles. My S had a pretty good part freshman year, then had one of the leads both sophomore and junior years, so I guess I’m greedy to want him to have the lead his senior year, too. But I can’t help it . . . . senior year!!!</p>
<p>Walker1194 I hate to be a wet blanket but you know what will likely happen if you get up in the principal’s face this spring? Nothing other than you’ll earn a few notches on your psycho parent belt which by then you may not care about because your kid is practically out the door. Despite all the drama about drama, theatre injustices rarely gets the attention in a high school setting that say a sports injustice would. (And casting injustices after all are often subjective and hard to defend). The economics of theatre don’t garner the same attention and thus don’t get the same respect. College is so much cooler because you can pick a school that respects your discipline. Hold on.</p>
<p>Marbleheader, WANT it for him. I wanted it for mine REALLY BAD. (Yeah! Sky Masterson!) And the best will continue to get the leads. But we all have to be there for the rest. Many are just a hair from getting the lead and never get there in high school. Luckily my kid is a really nice, humble kid so we have not encountered too much jealousy. I am grateful to be at a program that casts by talent/type and not seniority. We all knew that coming in. But many of these kids are really confused and questioning themselves (as we are for college!). Love the lead! Praise the ensemble!</p>
<p>My statement that what happens in high school doesn’t matter I think requires clarification on my part. My intent was to indicate I think it has no long range effect for the kids who are intending to go on and do MT in college and beyond. But clearly it affects kids in the moment. My daughter is going through it again this week. There were auditions for the fall play this week. The director specifically put up a notice before call backs indicating that it is a large cast, and that there will be some cast that were not called back, and that some called back will not be cast, that he was calling back only a few people to look at some specific parts. </p>
<p>So my daughter is now worried because she was not called back, and some others were. My interpretation is that the director knows what part he sees her in, but if she is not cast she will be devastated. If she isn’t cast, I would find that almost impossible to believe, since she was one of only two junior girls cast in last year’s fall play, and she won the best actress award from the directors and her peers last year for her performance. </p>
<p>Last night she expressed how she expected her senior year to be great, that she would be moving into lead roles. But as I posted above she’s been in a slump over the past few productions she’s auditioned for, and it’s getting to her. What really affected me yesterday, and has kept me up all night, is that she said she’s tired of feeling sad, and that she is losing confidence in herself. As the dad who always wants to protect his child, that really hit me hard. Really, really hard. </p>
<p>So while the rational side of me knows that she will probably get cast, that she has a very good chance of being the soloist in some of the upcoming choir productions as well as the musical in the spring, and that, again, everyone I know that knows her and has worked in the business says she has what it takes, to watch her go through this stuff in what should be one of the most enjoyable times in her life is getting to me. So I hope for the best on Friday when the list comes out, but if it’s bad news I’ll be very concerned for her, and most frustrating to me is I don’t know what I can do to help her feel better about herself. So keep good thoughts for us.</p>
<p>Jeff, I totally understand what you are saying because the high school casting won’t matter on the resume, for college admissions or for career. But it means something to the kids in the present moment. All I can say is that as a parent, it is very hard when very disappointing things happen to your own kid, but you will see as they get older and you can’t control this stuff for them and particularly this career field, this is going to happen a lot. So, if it doesn’t go your D’s way, and once she has time to sulk a little bit, talk about how this is going to happen from time to time in this career field and in life and that it has happened to the most talented and successful people. The truly successful types are the ones who were able to pick themselves up and not consider it a commentary on their talent and press on and know that this goes with the territory of casting. </p>
<p>At our school, the middle school (grades 7/8) is attached to the high school. Middle school kids were allowed to audition for the HS play and musical, though the MS had their own musical. When my D was in middle school, she did not try out for the MS productions but just did the HS ones. Our school does not cast based on seniority. In both 7th and 8th grades, my D was the lead in the HIGH SCHOOL plays. When she got to ninth grade, and auditioned for the play, she was not cast AT ALL (the cast was small with just 9 actors). What a contrast! I know it wasn’t because of her audition which went well and the director was fond of my D in fact. She was an English teacher in the HS and had invited my D as an 8th grader to take an English class on Shakespeare with 12th graders and she did go to the HS for that. After that, my D never tried out for the fall plays again (but did fall adult productions in our region instead). My D was the lead in the HS musicals while both in middle and high school (different director, who doesn’t teach at the school otherwise).</p>
<p>Here’s the thing that is frustrating - it is not always the case that the best get the leads, as theatremomma purports. It is the best fit for the part, according only to that particular director (if I knew how to bold and highlight I would do that), sometimes despite the talent. As we have discussed before, it could be range, type, and talent, which can be understood by those not cast. However, there are all sorts of reasons directors cast one person over another. It could be as simple as an actor will not be able to fit the costume already rented, or that actor’s mother will never volunteer to design the playbill unless her child gets a big part. That is the frustrating part, and you will never know the true reason. The kids who aren’t cast or who get cast in the ensemble often take it as a statement of their lack of talent. It is compounded by the leads and their parents who take the casting as a testament to their superior talent. </p>
<p>Remember we need lows in order to value the highs.</p>
<p>classicalbk - Let us know where to buy tose t-shirts!</p>
<p>jeffandann - Keep us posted!</p>
<p>Walker1194 - Absolutely complain to the Principal and the Board of Ed about them hiring a teacher who is not experienced in the field of theater to direct the plays. Maybe there is a professional around they could hire not as a teacher but as a director? I suggest a formal letter rather than getting in the Principal’s face.</p>
<p>Shaun and soozie, I appreciate the sentiments and kind advice. I really hope for my daughter’s sake everything goes well tomorrow. If not, I know somehow she’ll cope and move on. But the one thing I keep emphasizing to her is that she is at the age where she needs to go after her dream. She has plenty of time to figure out if she’s chasing a mirage.</p>
<p>jeffandann - I totally know how you feel as we are in the same boat - I just want it to be Saturday, with the whole Friday cast list posting over and done with. S said he was so uncomfortable because the other kids were all saying not to bother trying out for the lead, since it’ll go to S, and they said it in front of the director. S knows that that could be bad for him because the director is fussy, and could pick someone else just to make a point.</p>
<p>I will say this for the kids, too - non-theatre people around them can make it so much worse! Last year S tried out for Trevor in Thoroughly Modern Millie. It was a perfect part for him - he is a bass and loves to scene-steal with his comedic timing. He was so happy! I can’t tell you how many people came up to him and said they were sorry he didn’t get the lead (Jimmy), but he was good anyway. Others were mad and told him he should have gotten the lead - he tried to explain that he wasn’t a tenor, but they don’t understand. I don’t think S saw that coming and only wanted to do a good job with his part. He got the biggest ovation during curtain call - I know that meant a lot to him, not that he took his bow last!</p>
<p>Fingers crossed for all the kids!</p>
<p>Fingers crossed jeffandann! The waiting is definitely the hardest part. I think high school is in some ways harder than the real world - in a lot of places it’s the only game in town for teen actors, so getting or not getting a particular part is so important. It seems that when you leave school and get into the real world, if things go well you audition for a lot of different things all the time. Obviously there are some roles/jobs you care about more than others, but I think it is easier to get over a bad audition or not getting cast in something when you can just move on to the next audition a day or two later and put the bad or frustrating one behind you. In high school there may not be another audition for 4 or 5 more months, making a not so stellar audition or a director who doesn’t know what they are doing much harder to get over. The good news is, high school doesn’t last forever!!</p>
<p>The economics of casting is that demand for lead roles usually exceeds the supply (especially true for the girls). If you’ve been waiting for your turn and now it is your last shot - senior year the anxiety it produces can be crushing. Been there and it is awful. You all have my sympathy and best wishes. Fingers crossed.</p>
<p>I would like to point out the other side of this story though. Often overlooked are the feelings of the person that everyone naturally assumes is going to get the coveted lead role and does (or doesn’t). I’ve seen some truly thoughtless behavior and attempts to undermine the fairness of the audition process from both parents and students that started the second the show was announced and people did the quick math about the number of lead roles. </p>
<p>It is hard to be the student that everyone is gunning for especially if you carry yourself graciously, give 100 percent and are genuinely supportive of others. Though you are made to feel like the enemy, the only thing you’re actually guilty of is being talented. You have the same anxiety about casting as anyone else and no, early speculation doesn’t mean that a part is yours for the taking. You still have to earn it just like everyone else.</p>
<p>My daughter was that person. Although she was cast in the musical every year of high school (though not all of the plays) sometimes featured in some way and had a very good supporting role her junior year, she never got the lead until senior year. She was no different than anyone else in that respect: entering senior year where it is your last shot, number of lead roles = zero. But for a few tense weeks while casting was going on she was anxious like everyone else she had a little extra to worry about because she was treated as if she had done something wrong. I just wanted to remind everyone that it can be tough to be the kid who gets the lead in the middle of all that tension.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>