SCORE THE ROLE!
Every season, after announcing the next Innovative Arts musical, students begin picturing themselves taking on their favourite characters and singing their favourite songs. It’s really a testament to good storytelling when most of our students connect with the lead characters in the show. However, this can be difficult when it comes time for casting, as every musical is a combination of leads, supporting, featured, and ensemble characters.
If “scoring the lead” is a conversation that’s happening in your home, make sure you prepare yourself by reading What Not to Say to a Musical Theatre Kid in tandem with this article. We want all of our students to have the resources they need to do their best, but also to be prepared for the likely possibility that their dream role might not be the right role – at least for right now.
Navigating this world for your theatre kid can feel overwhelming, especially for those who are new to the performing arts or to Innovative. To make things a little easier (and more fun) for our theatre parents, we have decided to share our best tips to support our students using as many sports team analogies that we can!
Here’s what you can do to help Land the Role:
1. Training - Classes and Vocal Lessons
If you want to get six pack abs, it’s probably not enough to only hit the gym once a week. Similarly, if you want to be the lead, you can’t just attend rehearsals. If this is a serious goal that you want to achieve in the next couple of months or weeks, students need to set a serious work-out routine and/or invest in a personal trainer. Taking additional classes, or working with a voice coach is the next step to developing your dramatic six pack! Just like fitness training, you can’t do it just once and expect the results you want! Real lessons, and real training, requires consistency, skill building and developing relationships with your teachers and trainers over long periods of time.
2. Earn Your Spot and Be Dependable
Just like being on the starting line up, your role has to be earned and the same goes for students auditioning for a show! Taking on a leading character can be a big responsibility and requires hard work. A coach is more likely to pick players who are consistent and dependable for their A-team. If your goal is starting line up, show your director that you are making the most of your time on the court by working hard, memorizing your lines and nailing the responsibility you do have. The nice thing about performing in a show is that even with a starting line up of leading characters, no one is on the bench, and even small roles can steal the show and earn MVP!
3. Identify your Strengths
Some people make great goalies! The positions that score the goals get the most praise, but a team would be nothing if it didn’t have all the players to craft exhilarating gameplay. Every team needs a strong player in each position, and we all know that the defense is just as important as the star offensive players. Here at Innovative, we treat ensemble, featured, and supporting roles with just as much respect as leading roles - and encourage students and parents to adopt the same attitude. All players need to identify their strengths so they can best serve the team, and all roles and positions are respected and valued.
Although being the lead role can be exciting and fulfilling, we don’t perform in musical theatre to be the most important character. We perform because we love to express ourselves, connect with our audience and share our passions on stage. So while setting up our students for success to Score the Lead can seem important, instilling a love of the arts, storytelling, and musical theatre will always be the number one goal.
