This was another "WOW" night. Next Step Prep was honored to host Jason Robert Brown as a guest instructor for three days. Jason has an impressive resume (click here to read it) and had a lot of honest, straightforward feeback to the students. As an outside observer, I would have to say the students were in awe.
What's with the gingerbread house, you ask? MCT was staging a production of Hansel and Gretel that week, so the students rehearsed on the set.
Greg picked Jason up at the airport at 5:30 pm, got him quick bite to eat and a quick check-in at the hotel, then off to a rehearsal in the theater at 7:30. Talk about stamina!
Jason has a great way of interacting with the students. A lot of laughs were shared...
I wish my camera had video on it...Jason was all over the stage, keeping time with hands, feet and vocals. I believe he was doing a little beat-boxing at this moment...
Jason was auditioning students for solo parts in the piece, writing down everyone's name and laughing at the number of unconventionally-spelled names...like Sofi...Wynston...Alyx...Petrea...he thought this was pretty funny...
Each student then sang a solo of "Happy Birthday" to Jason, and he rated their abilities based on these performances. He was happy with the vocals of the group overall.
Here, the boys prepare to sing. Since there are only six boys compared to nineteen girls, Jason suggested they take a moment to regroup themselves. This was referred to as the "testosterone huddle". Pretty entertaining...
Following these mini-auditions, Jason took a quick break to talk to the students about the reality of auditions. He gave fantastic feedback that all the students did very well, but in reality, the people behind the casting table are often looking for specific qualities for a specific part (so, for example, if they wanted a tall, blonde woman who could belt out her vocals, anyone who was a brunette was out of the running, but not based on talent alone...). It was good feedback for the students to hear, especially at this stage of their lives where so many things during an audition could be taken so personally. He even told the students that despite this advice tonight, the students would probably forget what he'd told them and would personlize this rejection anyway, so I made a point to include it here, just so they can remember long after Next Step Prep has shuttered its doors this summer.
What a spectacular opportunity for these kids!
And a special THANKS to Lizzie Webb for being such a spectacular accompianist!
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