What’s the deal? Why are they so stressful? If you’re into musical theater like me, you must know the trials and tribulations of auditioning. It’s different in some places, either they make you sing in front of everyone else auditioning or you can just audition in front of the director, the music director, and sometimes the choreographer. 

Obviously, it’s scarier to audition in front of all your peers. But why is that? I asked some people auditioning for Footloose why they’re stressed about it. Sophomore Ryan Rollo said “I think auditioning is scary because your one audition decides your fate for the whole show. It’s nerve-wracking because you don’t want to mess up in front of people.” 

He’s right. The audition decides who you are in the show. Let’s say you have a bad day and your voice isn’t at its best. The directors are stuck seeing only what you can do at an audition. Another sophomore, Lily Harris, said, “Especially when it’s in front of a bunch of people it’s basically your first impression and everyone is judging you, maybe even hoping you mess up for their benefit. If you accidentally mess up that’s it, and then for the rest of your life you are stuck wondering what would have happened if you didn’t mess up.” I asked some more people during auditions, freshman Chloe Kruse said, “It controls the fate of the musical and the experience, and if you mess up or don’t do as well as you hope, you risk the chance of getting the role you want and in some cases even if you get in the show or not. Also, you have to do it in front of all your peers.” 

What she said goes back to it being a first impression. I’ve seen great people mess up at an audition, and I’ve even done it myself. I asked senior Ryan Mayne why he thought auditioning was so scary and he said, “You never know what the outcome is going to be. Even if you go in prepared or even not prepared sometimes the brain shuts off, but to help with that you kinda just have to go with the flow.” Great advice that you should really use if you ever audition. 

Lastly, I asked junior Abby Cenotti what she thought, “It’s just because you’re being judged and you’re not prepared and well practiced. In a performance, generally, the audience doesn’t know much about the music and the show, but the people you’re auditioning for do know the music, and sometimes they know it better than you.” I thought all of their opinions and advice were very insightful and good, and if you ever think of auditioning for a show know that everyone else is just as nervous as you.