Last night was call backs for "Aida".
I got called back for general chorus and Pharaoh, which is a non-singing role - but everyone in the show who's not a major character will be chorus.
Anyway, it was a really long audition - everyone was in the room through the whole thing. Everyone had to dance alone in front of everyone else, and then sing.
I figured I'd sing the bad guy's song, w hich is called "Build Another Pyramid". I wasn't called back for him, but it's a damn cool, eeeevil, villainous song, and it's in my range.
None of the people who were called back for Zoser particualrly nailed it, and when I ran through the song out in the hallway - I was actually sounding pretty good. The director is notorious for liking over-the-top emoting more than anything else, and I could certainly throw a little sinister in the song. I figured there was a decent chance she might actually pick me for bad-guy-ness, which would be pretty cool since it would actually mean learning fewer songs and dances than being in the chorus.
Well anyway, I have no idea what happened, but when I got up to sing, I was totally off-key. Not flat or anything - just off key. Of all the things I can actually do on stage, always being key is one of them that I'm solid on. I mean, maybe i don't have a ton of volume, maybe I'm not terribly good at acting - other than hamming it up - and I dance in a desultory fashion. But dammit, i'm always on key. And all that sinister-evil-bad I was throwing in there? Nope, i was nervous and just sang it straight. Finally the musical director (who did Thumbelina, and knows me...) cut me off and said, "Run me some scales so I can get your upper range." This was, at least, a blessing because then I was on key, with good volume - and ran up the scales higher than any of the other tenors had done without a lot of effort. My grandfather would be proud - tenor is, according to him, "The money voice". The director stopped wincing and said, "Gary, did you hear that? That was on key." - the inference being, nothing else had been. D'oh!
The competition was really strong and there are only a few parts. I am not being modest when I say I doubt I'll get cast - but choking and singing off-key aside, there's no shame in it - based on the talent that showed up to audition, this is going to be a really, really strong show. No room for a dilettante like me!