Today I auditioned for a musical

Several months back I learned that the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County was planning a production of Children of Eden. It's a musical by Stephen Schwartz based on the first six chapters of the Book of Genesis: from the Garden of Eden on through the story of Noah and the Ark. I've loved this show ever since first seeing it performed at Elon when I was a student there. I bought the 2-disc soundtrack CD some years ago, and I've tried to catch a performance of every production that's been done around here since.

From the first time that I've seen Children of Eden I've wanted to take part in a production. Auditions were last night and today for this one. So this afternoon I went out and tried out for it.

Now, please understand something: I know that I can't sing! Every time I play Karaoke Revolution, I get booed off the stage. Lisa will definitely be the first to tell you that I can't carry a tune. Whenever we're in the car and "Bohemian Rhapsody" comes on the radio, the poor girl must endure my attempt to imitate Freddie Mercury (in song anyway). My singing is so bad that whenever we're in a church I don't sing the hymns: I whistle 'em.

But I wanted to give Children of Eden a shot all the same. At least I would be able to say that I gave it my best. There's never any shame in that.

Auditions were at the Advanced Technologies Building at Rockingham Community College. I arrived at 1, filled out some release paperwork, was assigned a number and had my photo taken. When it was my turn to perform I got up on stage and sang the first part of "Let There Be", which is the first song from the show. The one that Father (AKA God) does as he's creating the world. Hey, you have to at least say that a guy admitting on stage that he had no voice training and then proceeds to try out for the part of God has guts, right?

I'm pretty sure that I was off a bit. One of the producers asked me to try to project my voice as if the auditorium was five times larger, and toward the back of the place. So I did that too. And I still probably bombed the tryout!

But even though I might never receive a singing part with that audition, right now I'm a very happy guy for having done this. I'll never have any regrets about having the opportunity and not taking it. As one of the people there told me, "You never know, you might get a callback." Even for someone who couldn't belt out a tune to save his life, there's always hope. And if I never go in front of an audience in this, Children of Eden is such a neat story that I told the producers that even if they just need someone to work backstage, that I'd love to do that much. It takes a lot of different people to put on a show, especially one with such a large cast and crew as Children of Eden. Believe me: having made a few films now, I can attest that it's just as fun being behind a camera as it is being in front of one.

So that was my little adventure for today. We'll see what happens next. Children of Eden is set to run on June 20-22 and then on June 27-29.

I'm absolutely planning to see this, whether it's on stage, behind the stage or as a paying audience member :-)

Categories: children of eden, musicals, personal reflection, rockingham county, theatre guild of rockingham county