My friend Jon told me about the EPA they were holding June 9. We didn’t really think they were casting from them, and our former director, Michael Legg, knew the casting associate, Adam Caldwell, who was running the auditions. We thought, hey, this is great, it’s gonna be so low key, no pressure. But I really wasn’t feeling prepared the night before the audition, and instead of going in there and bombing I decided to just sit the whole thing out. Luckily, Jon talked me out of that idea and into singing an old standby piece. Why so lucky?

We arrived at the Equity building at 7:30 a.m. and waited in line for an hour and some change. I was the fourth EMC on the list, but you know how auditions go, the Equity people get to pick the time they want to audition and the EMCs just fill in the gaps. To my surprise I got in the room around 11:30 and I sang “Those Magic Changes” from GREASE!

Ok, hold up. I just have to take a moment right now to give mad props to the accompanist — he was fantastic. I’ve never heard the music played that way (I have never heard that song before) and no one has every followed me more musically/lyrically/artistically than him (but if I don’t hear it anymore). The moment he started playing the pretense of “auditioning” melted away (it’s still familiar to me). All of a sudden I was performing (sends a thrill right through me). And if you know me, you know how much I love to perform. And I nailed it. I nailed that audition. Too bad they weren’t casting for anything, right?

As it turns out, Cindy Tolan Casting, the people running the EPA, were casting for the national tour of Avenue Q. The male auditions were June 18. Ladies, you can still audition June 22. A few days after the EPA I got a call from Cindy Tolan Casting. They set me up with an appointment audition for the tour and they wanted me to look at the part of Gary Coleman. They emailed me “Schadenfreude” and three sides. For those of you who don’t know, that’s huge! Because I had an appointment I didn’t have to go to the cattle call. Remember, I’m just EMC, and there is a good chance I won’t get seen at cattle calls if a bunch of Equity people show up. Avenue Q is a hot show. You know people are gonna show up in droves. In fact, reports from my friend Jon said they were typing people out of the audition, turning them away before they even signed up. So here I was with a guaranteed-to-be-seen card, and, just like before, it was gonna be me, the awesome accompanist, and Adam.

Alright. Now’s probably a good time to mention my uncanny ability to get inside my own head and freak myself out when it comes to auditions. I know they’re a regular part of the job and that everybody does them, but somehow, sometimes I still psyche myself out. This time around I adopted a new approach. I was invited to audition, right? And Adam made sure that I had an appointment, right? He wanted to see me before the show was cast, right? So all I really had to do was not suck.

So I didn’t suck. I mean I was really good at not sucking. My not sucking could kick your not sucking’s ass any day. Next Friday? 3:00 o’clock. Playground. Be there.

Seriously, the atmosphere in the room was easy like Sunday morning. We had a great time. We laughed, we talked, and somewhere in there we held an audition. A few hours later I got another call from Cindy Tolan Casting. They were calling me back, but this time they wanted me to look at Gary Coleman and Princeton. They sent me two more songs and four more sides. The callback is scheduled for Tuesday. I have a lot of prep to do in the meantime. Maybe it’s actually a good thing that I STILL DON’T HAVE A JOB (that’s another post entirely..). If you’re around and would like to help me run lines or listen to the music then I’d love to hear from you. I’ll take all the help I can get.