"The strongest person in any room is the person who's telling the truth." Brad Hampton
“So, what do you get for free?”
ME: “Ummm....I don’t know... what you mean?”
He was referring to the qualities we have that are just there; we don’t work at it, it just happens. Skinny Jeans and I talked about it for a while and decided that I got funny and likeable (with a dash of high status) in my free bag of tricks.
Great.
I’m a shoe in.
That’s what everyone says about CARMEN, isn’t it?
“Oh that Carmen, she’s just so gosh darned likeable and funny!
Especially in the card scene when she foretells her DEATH.”
I’m screwed.
I had already looked at a lot of clips of singers playing the role to see how I could connect to some common thread. Turns out, not a single portrayal was the same. The elements that these singers got for free stood out just as much as mine, but they all seemed to make it work .... well .... except for a few who fought against their free gifts .... needless to say, theirs didn’t end well.
When all was said and done, I was really happy with the end result. I didn’t resist or suppress what I naturally brought to the table. The elements that I thought were going to hold me back ended up enhancing the many sides of a very complex character.
WHAT DO YOU GET FOR FREE?
Do you show who you really are,
or give only what you think they want to see?
- If you are naturally engaging, and then try too hard to charm them in the audition, do you cancel out your greatest asset? I know I did for many years.
- What do you do when your voice doesn’t seem to equate with what you want to be, or your idea of success? I’ve seen singers miss out on potentially fantastic ($$$) careers because they were hell bent on being the romantic lead, when their true colours may have established them as brilliant (and steadily working) character players. It happens with every voice type. I’m certainly guilty of keeping my eye on the wrong prize. Human nature, I suppose...the grass is always greener....
- The category of “you don’t LOOK like what you SOUND like” is also a tough one. If you look “cute, petite, and bubbly” but, you sound like Azucena, it may take a little more convincing at the table that you can actually pull that off in a production. Sometimes our free qualities just need to find their polar opposite in the subtext which, by the way, is much more accessible than putting on a facade. Take it from one who knows; it’s a very long haul when you aren’t honest about who you really ARE, and how much you’re willing to GIVE.
- Lastly (and maybe it’s just me) the arias that we have to present don’t always equate to the roles we will actually sing; what we get for free goes out the window. My fellow comprimario players will understand that: 3rd lady, Goro, Dancairo, and 4th tree from the left do not have arias so, we have to come as close as we can....though it doesn’t always work.
THEM: “....you know that we’re casting for Mercedes, not Carmen, right?
ME: Yes, and if Mercedes had an aria, I’d sing it, man!
Ommmmmmmmm........
KNOW what you get for FREE.
Know that that is the one thing that will make you stand out;
Your inexplicable star quality that no one else can bring to the stage.
TRUST that it’s ENOUGH.
Putting your shoulders down and just BEing;
Bringing your unique experiences to the table and instilling the fact that
the free stuff is worth its weight in gold.
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*aside* yes, I realize that ACTing is about going outside of yourself and creating more than what you get for free. Skinny Jeans’ light bulb moment for me, however, meant that I knew what was already included in the package before I paid the price of redundant add ons. (not my best metaphor, but...you get what I’m saying...)
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