[ConverseSneaker]

Once Upon a Mattress. Although it is a great show, I was kinda hoping for a non-fairytale musical. Ah well. I'm already preparing for auditions in December and have a copy of the script. I would like advice and ideas and suggestions for scenes and parts and whatnot.

I'm a sophmore, but I'm also among the most talented and the most experienced. We have 1 senior this year who will take anything because her first show last year as a Silly Girl was so much fun, but I don't expect her to be getting the leads, possibly supporting or cameo though. However we also have 2 juniors who will be tough, one extrememly talented girl. She looks more like a Larken, but Winnifred's been a dream role for her since she was a baby like Belle was mine. The other girl is typecast as the dramatic role because that what's she good at and I suspect the Queen would be a good fit for her.

I'm pale and petite, brunette, mezzo-soprano with a low belt and can go to a High G. I could probably pull off either Winnifred or Larken so I'm looking into auditioning for them both. No idea what the audition songs or scenes will be, so advice or ideas for anything they are in would be helpful.

Update: Auditions songs are Shy: Winnifred, In a Little While:Larken and Harry(duet! now I've got to find a Harry...), Sensitivity: Queen

[Tenalto]

What's your vocal range? And when you say low belt, how high can you go with it? Fred belts to a B or C, and the role doesn't go much lower than a B below middle C. Larken is the closest thing to an ingenue in the show, and I know she goes to at least a G, possibly an A.

The thing to remember with Fred is that she's completely out there. She pretty much says what she thinks and feels, and isn't necessarily the most tactful or perceptive. She's a bit rough around the edges, but she has a good heart and a LOT of energy. She's a bit wacky; I always saw her as a puppy who wanted to know what was going on with everyone all the time and wanted everyone to like her and didn't understand when they didn't.

I don't have as much of an opinion about Larken -- mostly because I didn't play her. Sorry! I know that there are a bunch of people here who have played Larken, though, so they should have some useful insights.

[Beagle On Stage]

You can get the exacts about vocal range in the sticky at the top of the forum. Good luck!

[ConverseSneaker]

After repeatedly reading the script, Audition, and listening to the songs, I think I've got a good grasp of Larken. Tell me, right, totally off track or a brilliant new idea?

Lady Larken dreams of her happily ever after fairy tale with Sir Harry. When Sir Harry promises to marry her and he goes to find a princess, at first she's happier than ever. When he takes forever, she begins to think maybe he left her and the castle, so he couldn't take responsibility for thier baby. When he does come back, she's thrilled. It seems that all her dreams are going to come true. She's lived an extremely sheltered life, perhaps as a ward of the royal family, and if horrorfied by snakes, spiders and Fred, a princess down on her knees dressed as a maid doing the chores. Then Harry defends Fred and insults her, she feels betrayed, like he doesn't love her anymore, and maybe he would rather have a girl like Fred, as different as Larken as possible and not pregnant. So, she decides to leave. The Minstrel convinces her to leave for Normandy with him, and she starts to imagine a future with him, where she and her baby will be safe. Of course, during act 2, they get caught and now seeing Harry with Mabelle, she is even more furious, thinking this is the kind of girl he thinks she is. Of course then, Fred tells her otherwise and everything works out ok.

I'm trying to really get her character, why she might do this or think that, because I really want her. Plus I like giving depth to characters, so Larken is not a typically stereotyped innocent little blonde in true love, your typically fairy-tale heroine. What do you think? I'll take all negative and postive thoughts and comments!

[ConverseSneaker]

[PappyCat]

I think that one of the most important things about Larken is that she foils Fred. She needs to be everything that Fred is not, which underlines how unladylike Fred is.

[ConverseSneaker]

Pappy! Just the person I wanted to ask a question today!


Did you have any ideas how to make Shy as funny and comical, Fred-like? I don't have a problem being as out-there and crazy as possible, but I need ideas how to bring humor out into it.

[PappyCat]

In an audition or if other people are around? A lot of it is people's reactions to you.

[LaurelDP]

The best way, IMO, to do Shy is to desperately let everyone know that you ARE Shy. Because Winnifred really does believe she is Shy.

Don't focus so much on being "crazy and out there". Focus on being Winnifred and letting everyone know how damn "Shy" you are.

[ConverseSneaker]

[Beagle On Stage]

I think Laurel hit it on the head.

[ConverseSneaker]

Auditions: I'm not quite sure what to think other than I want Larken so badly. I had one surprise contender, not for Larken, but for the Queen and Fred. She would make the perfect queen, but I'm afraid she'll get Fred and then the biggest contender for Fred will get Larken and leave me without a good part. I read for Fred, Larken and the Queen once for each, but I don't think there is any clear answer to who will get what part this year.

As for singing, I think it could have been better. I thought I was fine for In a Little While, but I was cut off and didn't get to sing verse two. I'm not sure if it meant they didn't need to hear me, they didn't want to, or they were rushing through to keep going because they were behind. Shy, I had no trouble belting, but I kept going flat I think. Yet when I was singing my songs later, they both sounded perfect. Ah well. Pray for me, I really want Larken, I want a role where people can be stunned by how far I've come from chorus girl and funny supporting character.

[PappyCat]

I'll keep my fingers crossed extra tight for you!

[ConverseSneaker]

Ugh. Highly disapointed, but still hopeful.


I was cast as a Lady in Waiting. I'm in the chorus. And no, not a special chorus that only some people are in, but my school is so small that no one can get cut from anything, not chorus, not the show, not sports. If you show up at your audition, you are in the show. So I was talking to one of my directors afterwards and I got an explanation, so I would know what to avoid doing for next year, thinking I had messed up on my audition even worse than I thought. No, I quote "Well, with all the new younger students in the chorus, I need someone to help be a leader to them, who knows what to do and can guide them" which is entirely true. I'm not mad, I can understand thier reasoning, and she even admitted she really wanted to cast me in a role the most, but it didn't work out. I'm disapointed. And frustrated to get symphathy from those who did and smug gloating from those who also got chorus, thinking that I'm just as bad as them.

But I do have one last possible hope left. They um, forgot to cast Lady Mabelle, so I'm praying like mad to get her. And to be a Spanish Panic dancer and the Many Moons Ago pantomimers ballet dancing.