Thank You Very Much: The Little Guide to Auditioning for the Musical Theater

by Stuart Ostrow, Stuart Oslow

This get-to-the-point guide is an attempt to distill all the printed audition detritus and focus on the central objective, how do you get me to hire you? The source for this epigrammatic book was a seminar I taught at the University of Houston, entitled "Auditioning for the Theater" wherein the students, actors, singers, and dancers were challenged to meet the professional standards I made use of for forty years on Broadway. Although there are mighty tomes written about the agony of auditioning, nothing can compare with the real thing - facing a producer. The purpose of this book is to give the professional actor, singer, and dancer a practicing producer's point of view from the other side of the lights. Why did I choose to hire John Lithgow, rather than Brian Dennehy or Kevin Spacy to play Gallimard in M. Butterfly? The composers, lyricists, book writer, director, choreographer, and casting directors all have specialized priorities, and our struggle to reach a consensus on who gets the job is the heretofore undisclosed backstage stuff and substance of this esoteric confession." - Stuart Ostrow

75 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2002

Reviews

[Nichola · Rating 4 out of 5]

SO much fun here! Good advice very straightforward about being professional in your approach to work and auditions. I really enjoy when someone spares your feelings and anticipates your excuses and tells it like it is, especially in book form. Sadly, I think the whole second half of the book where an extensive catalog of songs it laid out to facilitate matching your choices to the part, show and your specific strengths is very outdated (fair enough it's 20 years old), BUT the message at the end about acting still made it worth flipping all the way thru.

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

very helpful,
but most of it was directed at real actors, and therefor did not apply to me.


i really liked the section in the back with suggestions for songs to try out with.

[Nicole]

Definitely geared toward the professional actor. Great resource for choosing audition songs.