Well, auditions for another show are done.  I saw 28 students for the fall musical (Seussical), and I didn't want to cast more than 30, so that's perfect.  Last year's show only ended up with 16 cast members and about 20 auditionees, so we're moving forward.

I always hate the audition process... I'm always afraid of hurting kids' feelings, especially those who are actually good actors (they usually end up anywhere but the lead).  But now my cast is set (hopefully) and I'll post tomorrow right before going home for the weekend.

One of the particular advantages of doing theatre in a high school is that you generally know what kids you'll have to work with.  This proves an immense advantage when picking shows (for example, I have already picked our 2013 show, knowing that I have extremely strong freshman and sophomore classes that will be juniors and seniors then), but can sometimes be a challenge.  You don't want to precast the show, but again, when you know the kids, you get a pretty good sense of where they'll fit.  It went pretty well how I expected when I picked the show.

This time around I had two girls who I expected to audition and didn't.  Luckily, a couple of other girls who I hadn't considered stepped up and will fit perfectly into the scheme.  I ended up with 11 guys, almost all solid singers (which is WAY up from last year, when I struggled to fill my three male leads).

Now the only thing to see is how many of them stick.  Last year, 3 or 4 of my chorus members dropped out over the course of the production, which seems okay until you realize I only had seven or eight to begin with.  I think my chorus is safe this year- some of them actually asked to be in the chorus- but I do have a freshman and a junior who might be disappointed.  Oh well, what can you do?

Monday is the read-through, and then we're off on an 11 week journey through Dr. Seuss!

Congrats!