A Beautiful Learning Experience

So, I went to an audition last week for Beauty and the Beast on Broadway. It was my first venture into the world of Equity auditions...not being an Equity member, myself. It was in the Actor's Equity Building in Times Square, which is highly intimidating. They have a lounge specifically for Equity members, and then this hallway with benches for us plebian non-Eq actors. From what I understand, the luxurious Equity lounge has a few more benches and some carpet.

I signed up on the non-Equity list, number 60, and took my spot on the bench to wait. About 15 minutes later the monitor came out to give us an update. Ok, the monitor is basically the person who acts as the go-between for the auditioners and the people doing the casting. He or she controls the sign-up list, organizes the actors, and runs all the admin stuff. This guy came out to the hallway (Kevin would call it "steerage"), to let us know that there were about 120 Equity sign-ups that they had to get through before they would even touch the non-Eq list. He said they were getting through about 40 people an hour...which means it would be 3 hours before they even looked at our list. He said it was still possible, but wanted us to have a realistic picture of our chances of being seen. We all settled in for the wait.

About 20 minutes later Monitor Man came back out with another shot of reality. He explained that there was no way they were going to get to us at all. This is a reality you have to be prepared for at any Equity audition you attend as a non-member. He also explained that this particular audition was a required replenishment chorus call. You see, shows under certain contracts with the union (which include most if not all Broadway shows), are required to hold these replenishment auditions every 6 months. They may not have any open spots, but they have to hold these auditions and then file the headshots and resumes they receive. He told us that they have been holding these auditions every 6 months since the show opened...11 years ago! So let's say they have 120 people at every audition...and at this point have had 22 rounds of replenishment auditions...this is a file of well over 2500 people! Hmmm...

Needless to say, we all left. He did say that if we believed we were really right for this show, to forward our headshot and resume to the casting director. So there you go...my first Equity experience. I can hardly call it an audition...but it was definitely a valuable experience.