...And I really did have quite a wonderful time. And I was less nervous than I thought I would be. -Although, I've found that in situations like this, I've learned to keep my nerves at bay in order not to add to any nerves that those auditioning may be bringing in the room with them. In any case...
It was a great set of callbacks. Mr. Prince was, well, a prince. He made sure to make each of the actors and actresses feel comfortable, and he gave advice/direction to them for the next time they perform the material - whether or not it would be in front of him again. We had an amazingly talented slate of people to choose from, and I believe they were able to make their choices from the people we saw today.
It was just a thrill to hear him comment on each person - what each person's strengths and weaknesses were in his eyes. Who really seemed to be right for Evita. Whom he could see growing into an Evita. Etc., etc., etc.
We actually ended up running ahead of schedule most of the time, so there was plenty of opportunity to chat. We all just got to relax a bit and share some stories for a while. It got a little surreal when Mr. Prince brought up the subject of the upcoming revival of
Sweeney Todd - I realized that here I was talking with the original director and the original choreographer of
Sweeney Todd... and
Evita... and a host of other projects. -Oh, and, of course, the cast of the revival - including Patti LuPone - was rehearsing just down the hall.
Somewhere along the way, Mr. Fuller brought up the fact that I had played for the Sondheim Celebration at the Kennedy Center - I was very flattered he remembered that from our brief conversation on Tuesday. Well, Mr. Prince mentioned that he was not able to attend any of the productions that summer, but he had some questions about the casting, and wondered what I thought of them. And when I mentioned that I had done
Sweeney and
Night Music, he made some comment along the lines of, "Well, at least you covered the ones we [Mr. Fuller and himself] did originally."
After we had heard everyone, both Hal Prince and Larry Fuller thanked me for being there today, and said that they were very glad to have me. No job offer, but I can live off the compliments for a while. Nothing like a good stroke of the ego every now and then.
