That Tall Blonde at the Callback — Monologues Part 2

Susan Tonkin
Sep 7, 2018 · 4 min read

So last week I wrote about the rarity of being asked for a monologue when auditioning for a musical, and how it scares off some folks because they are just not used to being asked for one. I was surprised at some of the comments from actors who don’t do musicals. Several of them were shocked that we don’t regularly perform monologues — WHAT KIND OF ACTOR DOESN’T HAVE A MONOLOGUE??? Musical ones, LOL! So the topic seemed to merit a follow up in a couple of key areas highlighted below.

How rarely are monologues asked for at musical auditions? In 37 recent auditions for musicals, I have done a monologue 3 times. That is only 8% of the auditions. It could have been slightly higher in a few cases, where the audition asked for EITHER a song & a monologue or two contrasting songs. Given that choice I almost always opt for the two songs, because I think it shows my particular strengths best. But even if I had done a monologue in a few of those cases, we still are looking at less than 15% of auditions max. Where I usually see them is an audition (sometimes, but not always a general*) for a theatre who does BOTH plays and musicals. This data and experience is from local, community, non-Equity theatre primarily, so I asked my friend, a New York-based Equity actress/singer/dancer how often she gets asked for one at professional auditions. She tells me they usually say to have one ready, but she has performed it “not very often”. So this doesn’t appear to be a phenomenon just on the community end. Even on Broadway, I think it’s fair to say that when auditioning for a musical, they want to see you sing and dance first, and check the acting chops later.

Should I still have one? Yes!!! There is certainly a grain a truth to the shocked reactions from our non-musical theatre brethren. An actor does need a monologue in the tool bag. I provided some tips on what to do if you are caught by surprise and don’t feel you have anything ready, but the best advice is GET SOMETHING READY ahead of time, so you don’t feel that pressure last minute. Yes, you can just avoid the 8% that ask for one, but why pass on these great opportunities? And certainly, if you sometimes feel you aren’t the best singer or dancer in the room, a strong monologue can get you noticed and back in the running for something for which you might otherwise have been passed over.

There a bunch of books like this.

Where do I get one (or two)? Google. If you want to get fancy, you can purchase one of those books of monologues for your type. But really, a quick Google search for something like “comedic monologue for older woman” or “dramatic monologue for teen boy” will get you a bunch of results. A lot of people love Scribd and I’d bet they have tons of them on there. Get a good contrast if you are picking two. Comedic/dramatic is always helpful. Classical/modern can be good, too, if you have plans to do more classical work (which isn’t as common in musicals, of course). Something with an accent, or with a specific character voice is great as well, so that you can show you don’t just sound like “you”. I also highly recommend learning not just the words on the page from the small snippet you found online, but researching the character enough that you know the context of the scene you will present. If you don’t know the play/character, Wikipedia generally has a page on just about every play out there, and you can at least read the synopsis and character descriptions if you don’t have access to the whole play.

So all this has made me want to go brush off my skills a bit more. It’s been a few months since I’ve been to ANY audition, and I’m getting antsy to get back out there (even though I’m going into tech week for the first of two back to back shows!) Spring 2019 auditions are coming up — squee! (Cue the collective groans from my kids and husband — one project a year, Susan!!!)

*General audition — an audition for not just one particular show, but a season of shows for a particular theatre, or even a group of theatres (like the Theatre Bay Area Generals). Multiple directors are on the panel, each looking for talent for their particular project.

Susan Tonkin

Musical Theatre actress. Jazz singer. Product Marketing/Analyst Relations professional. Mom.

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