I spent a little over five hours this afternoon at the Racine Theater Guild with director Doug Instenes and choreographer Kate Zavada listening to callback auditions for “Guys and Dolls.” Two and a half weeks ago, the sign up sheet for auditions was quite sparse and it looked doubtful that we could do the show at all – let alone do it well. But as usual, the time slots filled up at the last minute (we never seem to remember that from show to show) and we ended up with exactly the opposite problem. . . with TONS of talented people auditioning and not nearly enough slots for them all. As problems go, it’s about as splendid a problem as one could have. It was especially gratifying to have so many excellent men auditioning- 25 or so, and most of them excellent – and of course many terrific women.
One thing that is very different from the first couple of shows I did at the RTG is that almost all of the auditions are pretty good- very very few are downright disastrous. (A few years ago, it was not all that uncommon to have someone get up there and audition without any discernible talent for singing, acting, or anything related to the stage. . . complete monotones who could scarcely read the English language. But something evidently drew them to the auditions and we would certainly courteously listen to whoever had the inclination to audition for us – and I have to compliment Doug for so believably saying “thank you!” even after hearing a song savagely butchered. To judge from Doug’s demeanor, every single person who has ever sung for us has been just fine. And thankfully, those auditions which are almost ludicrously terrible are extremely rare now- and especially this time around, we heard one great audition after another. And when it was all done, it was up to Doug – in consultation with Kate and me – to assemble a cast list. It is so hard, first of all, because you might hear four different people who are all wonderful in a given role and to choose a single top choice can be tough. And along with weighing their actual abilities, vocal and theatrical, there’s also the sticky matter of whether or not to favor people from Racine versus gifted people who might come from other nearby communities or even Milwaukee. And although it’s really exciting to welcome new talent to the RTG stage, there is something to be said for casting familiar, known commodities in major roles. (It’s hard to know whether or not a brand new person is going to be dependable or cooperative.) In this particular show, there is also the matter of most of the principals being paired with someone of the opposite sex, and it’s crucial that Sky Masteron and Sarah be a plausible and engaging couple – and likewise Adelaide and Nathan Detroit. (You can’t have a wonderful 17-year-old Sky paired with a wonderful 48-year-old Sarah; that just doesn’t make it.) And there’s also the tricky matter of someone who might be a superb singer but a so-so actor- or someone who might have a wonderful voice but who might be a very shaky musician – (a rather crucial matter with a show like this which has some very tricky music.) So the weighing of all that is tremendously tricky and challenging, and I have to hand it to Doug for doing a wonderful job of thinking about all of those things and weighing them wisely and humanely. And it impresses me that Doug is soft-hearted enough to really feel some anguish over this. Someone colder and completely objective would just pick the best people without a hint of regret, but Doug sincerely hates to have to disappoint people who might have their hearts set on a particular role. (You could not pay me enough to have to do what he does. . . namely to call every single person who auditioned and tell them how they did, for good or for ill. I would rather stick knitting needles up my nose than have to call people on the phone and tell them that they aren’t going to be cast in the show. I get hives just thinking about it.) Anyway, it feels good to be part of this excellent team- and there is some comfort in knowing that three smart people have wrestled with the question of who should be in the cast of “Guys and Dolls” and assembled a cast that almost certainly will do the RTG and composer Frank Loesser proud. Of course, we’ll really know that for sure on May 16th- opening night.