Little Star Audition

[Walda Caesar]

My6.5 year old loves singing and performing, and she wants to audition for a local high school's production of The Sound of Music (her favorite!). She has sung solos at church and in our co-op's music program, but this would be her first audition of this sort... I'm wondering what song she should sing? Would something like Happy Birthday or Twinkle, Little Star be too basic for this? Any other tips to offer?

At this age, *what* she sings is going to be far less important than that she demonstrates her ability to sing on pitch and have the volume to be heard. I *would* want to know if they expect children to sing a cappella or if they will provide an accompanist or a CD player. Since it's a high school production, and because she's so young, a cappella is *probably* fine -- but you may want to call and check to see if they expect her to sing with a CD...

I'd also prepare her to speak on stage and be ready to answer any simple questions with a big voice and a smile. She might be given a line to repeat back (again showing an ability to articulate and have volume), or she may simply be asked some questions about herself (almost anything -- perhaps "where do you go to school?", "do you have any brothers or sisters?", "what's your favorite thing to play?", "can you tell me about a favorite book or movie?"). They might or might not give her a line from the play. They just want to know that she can take direction, have poise on stage, and be heard.

Thanks, Abbey! That is just the sort of thing I wanted to know. The article said to bring sheet music that the accompanist will play during the auditions. Yep, smiling and speaking loudly will be key, thanks for mentioning that.

You know, now that I think of it, I really don't think she knows any of those songs by heart! She knows bits and pieces, of course, but not enough to sing confidently. Otherwise that would have been a great choice. I wish she knew My Favorite Things better, that would have been really cute. But I don't think I want to push her to learn a song at this point, that would make this audition into a bit bigger deal than it needs to be right now. Thank you for the suggestion!

She may also have to go to the audition alone - as in, you may or may not be allowed to go in with her. You might want to check into their policies on that, and whether they stick to them for every candidate (even one so young), just so you and she know what to expect.

Usually directors actually do not want to hear music from the exact show in a first audition. The reason for the request of the sheet music is to see if she can follow the music However, it does not need to be anything intricate. I would also imagine that at 6.5, she would not be turned away without sheet music either but be prepared for many of the auditionees to be VERY prepared. I have been to many auditions with children that are far scarier than my own auditions. I hope she has a great time and I hope she gets the part.

I would encourage her to be animated as she sings. Make eye contact with the directing team, show some personality. For instance, if she sings Happy Birthday, point to a different person every time she sings 'to you', and smile during the song. After seeing 50 kids standing still and singing, that little bit of personality might snag them.

The shows we do only allow kids 8 and up, but those kids have one minute to audition and it's so clear who is prepared and who isn't. Even practicing her introduction is so helpful. Hi, I'm Suzy and I'm in 1st grade. I'm going to be singing Happy Birthday.

Just for the record, Happy Birthday is the song that was always used at auditions for Broadway's Annie. The highest note in the song was the highest note that the child would have to hit in the show. Plus, it's a song that most everyone knows, so there's comfort level there. Also, believe it or not, it's a good showcase for vocal range, so that would be a good choice for your dd to sing!

Is anyone familiar with the stage production of The Sound of Music? I'm wondering how much is required of the littlest girl? Just want to make this wouldn't be too much for dd to handle if she would get the part. How much speaking is there, for example?

I've played in the pit orchestra for this production a few times. The main thing to keep in mind is that it is long show. Really long, with rehearsals and performances going until late in the evening -- 9-10pm. The children are on stage almost non-stop and they are in the final scenes of the show. There are several scenes without the children, but they don't get much of a break. Gretel doesn't have lots of lines, but she is in all the big songs and has to know the words and the choreography. All in all, it requires lots of stamina, especially during that final week of nightly dress rehearsals.

Also realize that there will be lots of little girls auditioning. Keep an attitude that auditioning is just for fun so that both of you can handle possible disappointments. My son has been doing theater for about 8 years now, and auditions can be so emotionally wrenching for both of us!

As someone else said, though, it's a long show. Depending on how long the rehearsal schedule is (how many weeks they have) and how organized the director is, the individual rehearsal periods could be quite long. When my son did it, they had only two weeks to rehearse and did several full eight-hour days.

And the show, itself, is long. The kids are in the show intermittently from beginning to end, so have to be backstage for the whole time. When you account for call time, as much as an hour in advance, and getting out of costume and cleaning up after, the whole evening can be four hours or more.

The good thing about this show is that there's a whole crew of kids, which means there is often a person assigned to "wrangle" them. It's harder, sometimes, when there are only one or two kids in a large cast, and the atmosphere is more adult oriented. My daughter did a community theatre production of Fiddler on the Roof, for example, and she was one of the younger daughters, meaning she was the youngest of the "principals." She and the other younger girl spent a lot of time at rehearsals being told to shush and wait in the corner. They did okay, because they knew each other from other shows and were fine just hanging out and playing hangman and writing notes and stuff. But they were older than your daughter.

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