2010 Festival Audition Information
Wednesday
January 13, 2010
Esber Recital Hall • 7-11 pm
Audition material: 32 bar contemporary solo vocal and tell a joke…
The Shows
ALL FALL DOWN
by Selda Sahin and Greg Turner
Directed by Robert Schneider
This new musical examines golden boy Ben Little as he heads off to college. But his family’s perfect world falls apart when he inexplicably jumps from the window of his sixth story dorm room. Astonishingly surviving the fall, Ben returns home where nobody will talk about what happened, afraid to ask the questions that could tear apart their routine lives. All Fall Down is a journey that weaves past, present, fantasy and reality in comedic and heartrending episodes as Ben’s story unfolds and the Littles try to find their way back to the family they once were.
2 men and 2 women will be cast to play multiple roles.
STEAM
Music and Lyrics by Helle Hansen
Book by Nielsen and Pederson
Original Idea by Tim Zimmerman
Steam is a retelling of Midsummer Night’s Dream set in early, 1960’s Brooklyn. It is filled with comic-book gangsters who in the midst of one of New York’s worst heat waves are planning a great wedding of the don and his enforced bride. The music is bright, loud, energized pop rock.
Characters
The Lovers
Adria: young, beautiful, self-centered but with a good heart. She is rebellious, passionate and romantic. She has been forced to be engaged to Dino, but is deeply in love with Luigi. [mezzo belter]
Elena: Adria’s best friend, beautiful, very dramatic if not overly intellectual. She is desperately in love with Dino who, of course, won’t give her the time of day. [belter]
Luigi: Pretty boy, slick and charming; a bit self-obsessed, but genuinely in love with Adria [pop tenor]
Dino: a badass, girls fall for him not because of his looks, but because of his rough demeanor. Would fight Luigi as a matter of street respect. His parents have arranged an engagement with Adria [baritone]
The Fairies
Oberon: King of the fairies; real alpha male married to Titania; proud, jealous, and totally in love with Titania [bass/baritone]
Titania: Queen of the fairies, a big mama who yearns for power with loads of ‘tude. Toys with Oberon, but really does love him [early Aretha Franklin]
Puck: A lowlife only interested in where his next drink or sexual conquest will come from; talks and acts before he thinks. [baritone, club style singer]
Mechanics (Jersey Boys style of quartet)
Quincy: Leader of the pack, runs the auto shop and organizes the quartet’s gigs [bass]
Bob: Lead singer, a mama’s boy who still hasn’t moved out of her apartment [must have strong falsetto]
Sam: Works as an auto mechanic, member of the quartet
Lew: Works as an auto mechanic, member of the quartet
THE SCOTTISH MUSICAL
Lyrics by Mark Waldrop
Music by Sam Davis
Book by Darin De Paul
Dramatis Personae
The Men
Shakespeare: A charmer and expert storyteller with an ego the size of England. A combination of the wit of Eddie Izzard, the bravado of Rik Mayal as Lord Flasheart in “Blackadder” and Ricky Gervais in his stand-up and awards show persona. In many ways, a British Stephen Colbert. He also plays the hungover Porter, who would be at home played by Matt Lucas or David Walliams on “Little Britain”. He has an air of the grotesque.
MacBeth (also Edgar Allen Poe): The sane one who gets caught up in all the craziness of the show. He is a true leading man, an epic warrior in the style of Russell Crowe, Daniel Craig and his idol, Sean Connery. He also appears as Edgar Allen Poe in the opening. Poe has a touch of the macabre about him – a bit of Bill Hader doing Vincent Price on Saturday Night Live.
Banquo (also Mark Twain, Guard #1, Sweeney Todd, Macduff): Banquo is the ultimate best friend. Positive and upbeat to a fault. Think John C. Reilly as Cal Naughton Jr in “Talledega Nights”. He also appears as Mark Twain, who is somewhat like Dave Koechner as Champ Kind in “Anchorman” or Foghorn Leghorn from the Warner Brothers cartoons; Guard #1, think Neil Flynn as the Janitor in “Scrubs” or any of the cops on “Reno 911”; Sweeney Todd who is Sweeney Todd-ish; And Macduff, a heroic, no-nonsense military man, sort of like John Cleese as Lancelot in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”.
Donalbain (also Oscar Wilde, Chad, Weird Sister #1, Uncle Larry, Lincoln): Donalbain is an odd man-child child who never loses his positive look on life. Kind of Steve Carrell as Brick Tamland in “Anchorman” or Chris Griffin on “Family Guy”. But when he sings he morphs into something straight out of “Spring Awakening”. He also plays Oscar Wilde who has a touch of Stewie from “Family Guy” about him; Chad who we see as both a big man on campus type guy and as his later warrior self; Weird Sister #1, who is something out of a horror movie, spooky, if a zombie from “Shawn of the Dead” could talk; Uncle Larry, who is a typical Jewish relative, and Abraham Lincoln, the well known dead president. If Lincoln were on Saturday Night Live he would be played by Jason Sudeikis.
Duncan (also Dickens, Ross, Groundling, Davenant): Duncan is the happiest man in Happytown. A sweet, lovely old man who happens to be King of all Scotland. He is a softer version of Stephen Fry’s General Melchett on “Blackadder Goes Forth”. He also appears as Charles Dickens. Dickens acts as host to the opening and is affable an upper class British. If this was a Python episode, Michael Palin would play Dickens. Ross who is a nervous and unsure messenger. If he was a Python character he would be played by Eric Idle. Groundling – a puppet with a falsetto voice that probably escaped from Elizabethan Sesame Street. He is a confidant and irratant to Shakespeare – kind of like Baldrick in the “Blackadder” series. And William Davenant who wraps up the show. Think Matt Berry as Douglas Reynholm from Seasons 2 & 3 of “The I.T. Crowd”. A self-important, upper class idiot.
The Women
Lady MacBeth (also Ernest Hemingway): The original Desperate Housewife. A driven, aggresssive woman with a quick mind and a quicker tongue. You don’t mess with her. She can scare you, but she is very funny. Think Christa Miller from “Scrubs” and “Cougar Town”. She also appears as the famous author and angry alchoholic Ernest Hemingway in the opening number.
Emily Dickinson: Also a driven woman, but softer than Lady Macbeth. Quirkier and more neurotic. Think Kristen Schaal from “Flight of the Conchords”.
Jo (also Jane Austen, Weird Sister #2, Cheerleader, Guard #2, Lupe the Housekeeper): Jo is “Harry Potter” author, J.K. Rowling. She is wise, loving and gentle in a Julie Andrews kind of way. She has a glow of warmth about her like Cate Blanchett in “Lord of the Rings”. She also appears as Jane Austen is the most sensible of the famous Authors. Think Emma Thompson. Weird Sister #2 is the most aggressive of the Witches, but still with that otherworldly, walking dead feel. Reference the Folger Shakespeare’s DVD of the “Macbeth” directed by Teller and Aaron Posner. Guard #2 is a serious military type with an underlying anger-management problem and an unsettling stare. Think Zach Galafinakis. Lupe the Housekeeper is a domwstic of unknown origins. A female version of Manuel from “Fawlty Towers”.
Malcolm (also Sylvia Plath, Weird Sister #3, Cheerleader, Dagger, UPS Guy, Thane of Brigadoon/Lorna Doone/Sandy Dune/Jimmy Doohan): Malcolm is a girl who plays a boy. The idea comes from a line in the actual “Macbeth” where Malcolm asks “What is amiss” and Macduff replies “You are, but do not know it”. Malcolm is also a pretty sensible person caught up in weird circumstances. Malcolm has a typical brother relationship with Donalbain. If this were the office, Malcom would be Pam. She also plays Sylvia Plath is weird and etheral. She has a twisted view of life. She tries to fight her crushing depression with a ready. Think Rachel Dracht. Weird Sister #3 has a bit of a Gollum from “Lord of the Rings” feel to her. The Dagger is a French seductress in the mode of Edith Piaf. The UPS Guy is … a guy who works for UPS. The Thanes are done in rapid succession by altering voice, pose and a costume piece. Brigadoon can reference a character from the musical, Lorna Doone could be Julia Child or an upbeat housewife from any upbeat housewife commercial, Sandy Dune is out of a Beach Party movie, and Jimmy Doohan is Scotty from “Star Trek”.
