NEWSFLASH!

Audition

Last weekend I had an audition for the part of Susan in A White Christmas. I have been in a show before for 9 months! However, this was a while ago so I was looking forward to the chance to go through the audition process again.

When we arrived we had to queue up for ages! Maybe an hour or more. We were all given a number on a sticker - I was 82. I think there were about 110 girls auditioning; all between the ages of 8 and 12. I was auditioning with my younger sister's best friend. My sister hadn't wanted to audition as she doesn't like doing an American accent! The company needed three girls to play the part on rotation. It was really exciting!

For the first round, they took girls in groups of ten into the auditioning room. They started with numbers 1-10, and went all the way up to numbers 100-110. I had to wait ages before I could go in, and my sister's friend had to wait even longer. When my number was eventually called, we went into a room and had to stand in front of a group of people sitting at a desk. I was a little bit nervous to start with, but the nerves soon went. All we had to do was sing 'Happy Birthday' in a group and then individually. Then we went back into the waiting room.

Once everyone had had there chance to sing, the company made a cut. Well over half the auditionees were told to go home. Once the cut was over there was only 36 of us left. 

We were then split into two groups. Luckily my sister's friend and I were in the same group; so we could chat when the first group were auditioning. After a nerve wracking wait, we were called in. This round tested our singing - we learned a song from the show. Fortunately, I had gone through the song a bit before the audition, so I kind of knew it before we had to sing it. That's always a good thing to do before a singing audition. Just look up songs your character sings and go through them - even if they say you don't need to. It's likely that you will have to sing it and it helps if you know it beforehand.

After we had been through the song as a group and individually, we were told to go back into the waiting room. After a few minutes, they made yet another cut. They brought the number down to just 15. Unfortunately, my sister's friend was knocked out - I was convinced she'd get further than me. She was so good about it when I got through though. That's the only bad thing about auditioning with friends - it is hard when only one gets through.  

We were now down to just one group and we went in for the acting round. This is probably the scariest round for most people. We got given two short scripts from the show and had a read through them. We had to perform them in an American accent - this was specified on the email we were sent so I wasn't surprised. In one of the scripts we had to act sad and worried and in one, happy. There was quite a long wait while all of us went through them. It is important if you are waiting around in an audition room not to talk or look bored. If you got the part, there would probably be loads and loads of waiting around! I tried not to be too nervous when my turn came - I had listened to everyone else' feedback and tried to take that on board before my go. Once I had finished they said 'well done' and I sat back down. Once we had all finished we went outside the audition room but not back to where my Mum was waiting.

They made another cut and I was down to the final 7! It was really exciting. We had to put a dance to the song we had learned earlier. It really wasn't that difficult but because I was nervous it made it harder. We performed it in threes. The further along you get, the closer you get to the other girls, and the more you want the part. Once it was over we went back to the waiting room, and were told we would find out on Monday whether we had the part or not.

Unfortunately, I didn't get in, but the audition experience was amazing. If you do modelling, doing auditions are brilliant as they are great for your confidence. They help you to learn to cope with rejection and are a great thing to be part of. I don't mind too much because the shows were over the Christmas period so it would have been tricky. I would have missed a holiday too. Still, I'm sure I will audition for something again soon.