Last week, the Frederick High Performing Arts department held auditions for their new and upcoming fall musical A Chorus Line. The musical is about seventeen actors who are all auditioning for an upcoming Broadway show. It portrays the ups and downs of their everyday lives and, in the end, eight dancers are chosen and granted a spot in the chorus line.
The auditions for A Chorus Line spanned over three days. The first day of auditions, August 16th, was an audition all about dancing. The student actors that were auditioning were taught a dance routine in 20 minutes and then given five minutes to practice it.
“I really liked the way the dance auditions worked,” claimed junior Zoe Wittler, “The choreographer did a good job at demanding attention and explained the choreography really well.”
After the 25 minutes went by, the actors performed the dance cut for the directors in groups of three. “I’ve done quite a few dance auditions over the past few years, and performing in small groups is probably my favorite way to do the audition,” said senior Isabel Howell, “It’s sort of easier to do in small groups as opposed to having a larger group onstage because you get more room to go all out for the dance and add your own personality to it.”
The second day, August 17th, was the monologue portion of auditions. Each actor was told to prepare a one-minute monologue to perform to the directors, along with their peers. “The monologue audition was lots of fun for me because I really enjoyed getting to see everyone step into their characters,” senior Rissa Engdahl quotes.
The third and final day of auditions, August 18th, focused on vocal and tech auditions. For vocal auditions, each actor was told to prepare two minutes of a song in the style of the show. With tech auditions, each candidate met with Mrs. Kendle Butterworth, Frederick’s new theater teacher, and Mr. Christopher Parr, the production’s Assistant Director.
With two months until the show, the entire cast is excited and ready to prepare to start rehearsals. “I am extremely excited for opening night,” says sophomore Joe Summers. “The anticipation of getting to perform is almost overwhelming; I’m practically counting down the days.”
Frederick Theatre will perform A Chorus Line on Thurs., Oct. 19 at 7 PM; Fri., Oct. 20 at 7 PM, and Sat., Oct. 21 at 2 PM and 7 PM.
