Audition process for Wizard Of Oz!

 My audition process for Wizard Of Oz

The day we went to Whitby, we all were given a printed out script of our Christmas Show of The Wizard Of Oz. Upon our reading of it in class, I was looking to go for either The Witch Of The North, or Glinda. In the back of my head, I fancied going for Dorothy but personally with the amount of amazing actors also going for the role, I was a bit self-doubtful of myself and thought to stick with my gut and go for the character I was feeling confident with. A message was sent out on teams, about the audition information, like the scenes we'd have to learn, when it would be and how we would have to portray our character's emotions. The auditions would be on the following Monday, so I spent Friday, Saturday and the night of Sunday, going through my audition scene so that I was even more confident and ready for the real thing. On Monday, a timetable was put outside of the dance studio, which told us all when our audition time was which for me was at 11:25, so I knew I had plenty of time to go over any last lines I felt I could improve on. Myself and Adam were practising on the stairs next to the Dance Studio, making sure to be quiet and respectful of others. It's always going to be a nerve-wracking feeling walking into the audition, with people watching you whilst you try to remember words, as well as all the additional drama techniques you added to it, so being kind and supportive to others makes the situation, for me at least, less stressful and I know there are people outside feeling the same. 

When the time came, I walked in and the first thing Kelly said was that she wished I had wanted to go for Dorothy. It weirdly felt like a relief that she said that as I knew that my feelings about going for Dorothy were right, and that for someone like Kelly to say that, meant a whole lot to me as I'm not the biggest believer of myself, and the things I do. I hold myself back on a lot of things since I already tell myself that I haven't gotten it, and that since someone in my head better than me is going for it, why bother. In that moment, when Kelly and Kane were both saying that I had the ability and acting strengths to go for it, it was like a light turned on in my head, and I didn't feel that I was not good enough to go for it. Kane asked as well if the lines were an issue with me, but since I had already performed quite a big role earlier this year as Wendy in Peter Pan, I said no since I feel like learning lines is an enjoyable thing since I always remind myself of the outcome once I'm confident with them, and know them. So, I read in for Glinda, and Kelly said that it was perfect and she envision me in a floaty pink dress, and Kane straight away asked me if I thought that was easy for me? The deeper meaning to his question, I felt anyway, was that he could sense that I could do that scene over and over, and that it wasn't stretching my abilities, which I could definitely feel. Before I left, they said that they wanted to see me perform the following day as Dorothy, which I said yes too and thanked them before leaving. I felt so amazing that the audition not just went great, but better than I expected. I straight away told Adam, and he kept saying how proud of me he was, and I obviously told my mum and dad and they too were saying how proud they were.

 The following day, I had learnt the specific paragraphs for Dorothy and felt confident with the way I had practised the lines. When we walked in, Kane told us about groups that have been formed to perform chemistry reads to Kelly. I had been coupled with Charley, Harley, Pheebs and myself as Dorothy. They are such talented actors so I was over the moon with my group. We didn't have a performer acting as Tin-Man, but it didn't affect our scene too much since they only had 2 lines anyway. During a rehearsal of our scene, Kane shouted me over to perform my audition piece for him, since he wouldn't be able to come and watch me as he was busy. I was feeling nervous as Millie had just performed to him, and she was a person that I felt would definitely get Dorothy, so my self-doubt was trickling back in. Anyway, after my audition, Kane said that it was perfect, and when I asked him for any advice when performing in front of Kelly, he said that he wasn't allowed to since Kelly wanted to see the real thing as it was, raw and how I practised it.  Soon, Kelly came back and it was time to perform our chemistry reads. Millie and Latoya were the first to go, and I was blown away, since they both performed amazing as Dorothy, and because it was a double cast, I felt why was there any point as it was clear who would get Dorothy.  However, our chemistry read went really good, and I was feeling quite confident with myself, which was strange as I was having such doubtful feelings earlier on. I love the thrill of performing so I think all I needed to do was get back into my comfort zone. After them all, Kelly and Kane never said anything which I think to all of us was quite stressful as we weren't getting any validation or feeling confident about our read-throughs. The day ended and we knew that it wouldn't be long till we found out about the cast list, which to my surprise would be the following day. 

When we all arrived, Kelly and Kane were doing last minute decisions and auditioned people one last time for roles they hadn't gone for but they believed could do, and whilst that was happening we were all nervously awaiting who had gotten what. Kane had the list in his hand and Kelly was going to stay but left, understandably as if I was in her shoes I wouldn't want to see someone disappointed if they hadn't gotten who they wanted. We first were told that the cast had been split into 3, meaning it was a triple cast production which I couldn't believe. The Wizard Of Oz's were read out first and that was given to Harley, Morgan and Callum and next was Dorothy. Since I had told myself that I would be over the moon with even a Munchkin, I didn't have any real thought about what would happen if I did get Dorothy and since it was a last minute decision to go for it, I didn't know how to feel. Soon, I had gotten to the moment and after Millie Trodden was read out as Cast 1, my name was read out. I AM DOROTHY FOR CAST 2! After the whole cast list was read out, I straight away thanked Kelly since if she hadn't spoken her thought's about me being Dorothy in that audition room, I perhaps would have settled for a part I was confident yet comfortable with because I believed I wasn't as good as those going for it. It honestly meant a lot more to me than she'll probably ever know. 

It's quite the deep audition process but I feel as though it's important as when I look back at these blogs in about 5 years time, I hope I'll be a much more confident person who believes all the good, people are telling me I am.