In the spring, the group votes on which show to perform the following year. We try to choose a show that will sell tickets, that will be a good "fit" for the demographics of the group when it comes to casting, and that fits our abilities and budget.
Towards the end of the summer, the script is made available to us [by license and on line only! No copyrights have been harmed during the writing of this blog!] and people start deciding if they want to audition, and if so, for what role.
Insert Here: MONTAGE of people working on their auditions. Play the sound track from
"Rocky". Include voice coaches, harried spouses, and an occasional bored cat. Hey,
someone has to serve as an audience.
A first round of auditions is held, and then (sometimes) a second round, referred to as "callbacks". After the directorial (dictatorial? nah.....) team has made all of their decisions, phone calls are made to each cast member telling them what part, if any, they have been given.
At this stage, a few people will be Very Happy; they got the big parts that they had hoped for.
There are others who will be Content; they were given good roles, or perhaps the smaller role that they had craved all along.
Some folks will be Apathetic. Maybe they didn't care that much, or just auditioned for the heck of it without expectations.
Now, this might be a good time to point out that people want to be in LOGON for lots of different reasons. It's fun, it's good company, it gets us out of the house and keeps us (mostly) out of trouble..... But we are all willing to perform, all interested in performing, and that's because we all have - are you sitting down? - egos. And not getting the role you wanted is a big fat ugly blow to said ego. And it hurts.
You feel humiliated. Rejected. Inadequate. Slighted. Insulted. "Disappointed" is not strong enough; deflated, perhaps? Discouraged, dejected, despondent, devastated, desolate, depressed, d'fuka. What's with all the D words, anyway? But it hurts. Not only for yourself, either; for your friends and colleagues who didn't get what they wanted, too.
AND THEN COMES THE HARD PART!!!
You have to get over it. You remind yourself that it's the good of the production that really matters, not your personal gratification; that as long as the best people got the roles, all is right with the world. No matter how jealous you feel, how wounded, you are going to show up at the read-through and smile until your cheeks hurt, congratulate the people that beat you out, tell everyone how delighted you are with your role [even if you are merely a fork], and get down to the business of doing the best you can with what you've got.
Because being in LOGON is being part of a team. Remembering that, right after auditions, can be hard. Not everyone can hack it, and there are those who take their marbles and go home because they didn't get what they wanted. Sorry, that's just not part of the LOGON spirit.
By next week we'll be over it. In another month we'll be glad we didn't get that role, who needs all that aggravation, and all those extra rehearsals? And besides, we love the role we got, or the laid-back feeling of being in the chorus, and wouldn't want it any other way.
On with the show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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