Just when you think you have it all figured out... and know what your plan is, even if the plan is not fully formulated... Life throws you a wickedly wonderful curve ball. For those of you who are not friends with me on FB yet, or just haven't been able to pay attention... I'll expound...

Back in February, I auditioned for a show via video submission in San Diego called MixTape. I made it through to callbacks, but was not cast. But, like I've said, auditions are about making connections. So back at the beginning of April, I saw a casting notice that a theatre out in Los Angeles, (Costa Mesa actually) was having auditions for a show called "Boomers - A Musical Review of a Generation." that was written and was being directed by the same director as MixTape. It's a show that's gotten great reviews when it was done before and they were recasting 1 singing role. As you may guess, it's music and events from the Baby Boomer era... (50's 60's and 70's) I emailed the Artistic Director as the audition date neared to ask if she would accept a video audition for this show. I also told her I had previously auditioned for the director in hopes that that fact would work in my favor as well and that I could post the video on my website for her. She emailed back and said that if would get her the link, she would watch it on the day of the auditions.

This was right before I was given the task of editing my clips for my Reel for La Jolla Playhouse. So even thinking about this audition had to wait until that was over. Once it was over, I looked and saw that not only were they having auditions for "Boomers" but they were also casting a show called "Shadowlands" about C.S. Lewis. (It was also a 1993 movie starring Anthony Hopkins.)

I decided to concentrate on Boomers first and then when I submitted, ask if she would like to see a monologue for Shadowlands as well. I researched Boomers... watched a few online clips... and read some reviews to see what songs were in there. I decided to learn and record a couple of verses from the Barry McGuire song... "Eve of Destruction." I had heard the song before, but certainly didn't know it... So... I spent a couple of days listening to it and deciding what parts I was going to sing and learning it on the guitar. When I actually started playing... I decided to add bits of two other songs at the end to show my range and a bit of a different vocal quality in the audition. Watch the clip below to see how it turned out...

I set up the web page and tested all my links and sent it to her the morning of the day before the audition. She had said that she would look at it on the day of auditions and I wanted to make sure she had it earlier.

A little after 1pm the same day, I got a voicemail from the artistic director. She loved my voice for the role of Bob in Boomers and wanted to see a 2 minute dramatic monologue in a RP British Dialect to consider me for roles in Shadowlands and because Bob has a dramatic monologue regarding the Viet Nam War.

She also wanted directorial and work references so that they could consider hiring from out of state. So I had my work cut out for me... The only "dialect" monologues that I had in my repertoire were either Shakespeare or comedic. I found a great monologue from Man vs. Superman by George Bernard Shaw. I worked on the dialect and after the show Tuesday night, rather than go out for wing night with the cast, I went home to work my monologue. I was more concerned with the acting and the dialect than I was memorization, so decided to use a teleprompter program. So in my room, I set up my video on it's tripod, set the computer up behind it and tried a few different configurations before I found the one I liked the best. By the time I got around to shooting the take I was going to keep and cutting down the monologue to two minutes, I was pretty well memorized but it was nice having the screen if I needed it. I edited it, added it to the same web page, emailed the artistic director my references and went to sleep... it was about 4:45 am when I finally rolled into bed. (But only 1:45 West Coast Time!)

Here's the clip...

The Boomers audition page had 18 hits on it the first day, and after posting the second audition to it there were an additional 15. And they were the only ones with the link. So as my loving Dressing Room 4 mates pointed out... they either liked it or were passing it around to everyone to laugh at.

(I was hoping for the Former)

And I waited... On Thursday morning... I emailed my thank you emails and then tried to put it out of my head. But at 1pm that afternoon, I got an email... she was offering me the roles of Bob in Boomers and Professor Christopher Riley in Shadowlands.

I feel this is a great opportunity and well worth delaying NYC for.

The details are as follows. I will close 42nd Street in Jacksonville on April 25 and come back to Tallahassee to pack, clean and have a massive Garage Sale. Kendall will get her Master's Degree on the 30th and I will fly West on the 3rd or 4th... (thanks Minerva) and rehearsals for Boomers start on the 5th. The show opens on 6/6 and runs through July 18th. From that, we go straight into Shadowlands rehearsals for three weeks and open on August 8th and run through August 29th.

I'm searching for places to stay out there and will be getting a day job when I get there. I'm looking forward to seeing all my West Coast friends while I'm out there and taking advantage of everything that LA and San Diego have to offer...

And as always...
Thanks for reading...
More news when it happens...

Jef