Picking up from last time –
I brought in the actual sheet music book (that you buy from the store) from The Last Five Years. Aye, aye, aye. I know, right? I look like such a newb! I don’t have my great binder with the plastic page protectors holding copies of songs I’m comfortable and happy with.
But no one really seemed to care (as far as I could tell).
The pianist totally knew the song. Granted, it’s a bit of an overdone song, so I guess everybody knows it. It didn’t dawn on me until after the audition (when I saw something online) that this was recently made into a movie! The Last Five Years was already way overdone when I was in high school. (There were always at least a couple of us at every college audition, local production audition, and so on singing at least one song from the show.)
So, really, (as I’ve said) I need to get new songs. I love that show. There are some nice moments to feel good about showing off from that show. But other shows exist in the world, and I need to start doing songs from them. I don’t want people to be oh so sick of my song when I sing it.
Aaaaaanyway, the pianist said, “like this?” and hummed a couple of bars. I said, “Yep! Exactly.” I also said I liked his sweater (‘cause it was a beautiful color). But then in my head I wondered, “Eeesh, am I being one of those [*strong, affected accent*] actors? …One of those people constantly complimenting people just to BS them? [*Sigh*] Life!
So, then I stood up there and sang.
I had this terrifying moment of “Oh my goodness. Look in their eyes, or look above their heads? I hear conflicting things. We didn’t always love it on America’s Got Talent when people locked eyes with us. Sometimes it was uncomfortable… But sometimes when the person was really charming and talented, it was a nice way to show her confidence and connect with us.
I’d looked the auditioner right in the eye when I tried out for the American Idol Experience at Walt Disney World. And she liked that. She put me on stage after that. But! Musical theater isn’t some lame reality show. It’s a beautiful, fabulous art form all to itself and I need to follow the rules of that… Not television rules I’ve seen since, right?
Aye, aye, aye.
As far as the actual singing went, I started off fine. It wasn’t impressive enough to write home about, but I don’t think it was really bad… Basically, I think I warmed up into it a little (though I know you don’t always have the luxury of taking a couple of bars to settle in – as a performer, you should be able to perform, bam!).
Did I get it together? Let’s talk about that next time.