I was wondering if it was an Equity and/or Equity Candidate call....until I watched a few minutes.
It just makes me remember all those hours of seeing misguided and deluded people even out here in the hinterlands...
The calls for Danny and Sandy were totally "Open Calls". Non-union and union members were allowed to audition. So, we'll see what happens as the show/auditions progress. The hope is that the casting directors - the NBC casting directors and producers - pick a very good final group of Danny's and Sandy's. In a sense, they have to pick a group where anyone would be able to open the show on Broadway. They would have to take some of the "chance" out of the public vote. -At least that's what I hope they're doing. Otherwise, the show could end up with two mediocre leads.
*And there have been people I've played for at the agent calls who also went in for the Danny and Sandy open calls. It's good to know that some people are in the "possible understudy file" file already.