anyone auditioning for annie kids natl tour? it is such a bitter sweet thing when you have other kids at home! but we are gonna go for it...hey you never know right? I am wondering if you guys think it will be a large turn out because it is a tour...non union. ALso waiting for american girl to come around again as my daughters manager is not interested because it doesnt pay alot but to us it is not about the money. Your thoughts????

Expect a HUGE turnout for the Annie auditions. Martin Charnin loves open calls and is very fair about giving everyone a chance. So, no matter how many kids show up, your dd will have an opportunity to audition. Get there very early. If they say they will start seeing kids at 11am, get there at 8am. Last year they auditioned kids in other cities and then had the national call backs all together in NYC the day after the NYC open call. This year they are only auditioning in NYC, so I suspect kids will be there from all over the country.

We are in a similar boat. Our manager and agents do not want us auditioning for a tour or b-way. They don't want our dd off the market for the length of a theatrical commitment since dd's career is TV- and film- focused. The other, unmentioned reason, I do not doubt, is that b-way and tours mean less money for them I understand that, though since they are putting themselves out there for my kids and, at some point, they would like to see a return on their investments. It is not about money for us either, but we certainly do not want to alienate our manager and agent. They've been there for us and we respect their judgement regarding the kids' careers.

My 6 year old sister is auditioning for Annie too..My mom hates the whole missing school thing though..

I'm auditioning. I'm 19 - but tiny. =P

just a suggestion....from many past experiences get there very early.

For the Annie audition, they put the littlr girls in groups and have them sing "Tomorrow", Its kind of difficlut to get little kids to concentrate though.

you would think that they would do it a little differently as they will be so young at the auditions. but i guess it is worth a shot. agian you would think that because it is for a tour you wouldnt get such a large turnout. but it is the only audition they are doing with cbs the next day(which is my dd bday!)Gyspsy tour didnt have alot of kids so i was hoping this would be the same but I guess annie is annie is annie no matter how you look at it
Does anyone know how many they will cast for each part? or since it is non union will they only cast one for each? that would be crazy as they are so young. But they are also audtitioning adults under 4 10 which i dont think is fair. but thats show biz

heidi why was it a waste of time? was it as political as the last grinch audition..as they already knew who they were casting in that and we were there for about 6 hours with all the callbacks and got measured for a costume and not even the decency of a call to the agent that sent her?????

When/where is the audition? Kerry Lea had it in her newsletter, but I deleted it after I read it and now a friend is wanting to know. Thanks!

that is what i am trying to find out when the audition is for the grinch it will be in NYC coming up soon as my dd auditioned for it last year.

i am sorry mom2astart are you asking about annie or the grinch

I was asking about Annie. Grinch is June 15 at 12:00 for non-equity child dancers/10:00 for equity (could be asked to stay and sing also) at Chelsea Studios (at Chelsea Piers). Equity principals June 8 (at Chelsea), the 13th and 14th at Telsey & Co.

mom2astar, Here's the Annie audition info (came from an e-mail I received from the casting director):

Saturday June 2nd 10:00 AM.
Chelsea Studios 151 W 26th Street 6th Floor NYC

Please bring a photo/resume or snapshot to the audition. In the event that we need to see more of your child, plan to be available until 6:00 PM on Sunday June 3rd. Parents, plan to be with us awhile and due to limited space, please make other arrangements for younger children who are not auditioning.

Girls must be 6 years or older by September 18, and not over 4’10” tall. All must sing and dance very well. We will not see any girls taller than 4’10”. Girls will be auditioned in groups, and all will sing the song “Tomorrow” from the show. Clothing and shoes should be comfortable and easy to dance in. Acrobatic abilities a plus for Molly, the youngest orphan. We are looking for natural, honest performers. No costumes, wigs or makeup please.

This is a non-union national tour. It is our intention to cast Annie and all the orphans from this New York Audition. There are no auditions scheduled outside of New York City.

Rehearsals begin for the girls on August 20th in New York. The tour opens on Sept 18th and is currently booked through May ’08. All roles are paid. On Location Education provides tutoring on tour. All children must be chaperoned by a family member or parent of other child actor from tour. Route, salary, per diem and other information will be posted later.

We have attempted to list all pertinent information above. Any inquiries that were not addressed above should be directed to TinaL@Networkstours.com

Absolutely no phone calls to Chelsea Studios.

Thanks Kipmil! That was the same info that I had but deleted. I'll pass it on. Does anyone know if the audition last year only consisted of singing/dancing?

quote:

Originally posted by Heidi:
Hi!
kipmil--What is your defination of a HUGE turnout? 500? 1000? When I took my daughter to Lion king there were about 800 and it was a mad house and they didnt give the kids a chance. It was basically a joke and a huge wast of time in my opinion. We are thinking of coming from Cincinnati to try one more time against my better judgement. Thanks so much and I so much enjoy this board!!

Hi Heidi,
Glad you enjoy the board. We're just a nice group of people who try to share what we know about the biz.

I know what you mean about the Lion King auditions. They were a total madhouse. They were not the most positive example of a theatrical open call for kids. Plus, the subzero wind chill did not help!

There will be many girls at the Annie audtion. Last year there were something like 600 girls. But, I think the experience will be very different from Lion King. Martin Charnin, the director, is an advocate of open calls and he really attempts to give each kid and equal opportunity to be seen. In fact, he personally watched every audition last year, from the very first kid to the final call back.

It's anybody's guess as to how many kids might show up. Last year, auditions were help in major cities before the NYC auditions, although all call backs were in NYC, the day after the NYC auditions. This year, auditions are only taking place in NYC. So, it is possible the turnout could be even larger than 600.

At Lion King, all of the kids sang in groups and then a few kids were plucked from the group. It was clear the initial round was used to typecast.

At Annie, the rounds are also done in groups, but the they use a round robbin format so that the kids sing in chorus and then every single kid gets to sing alone at least once, and probably more than that. Groups of 20 audition, they choose 10, combine them with another 10 and they move on to the next level. This goes on for several rounds until they have the number they are looking for. Once kids are selected from the singing audition, they move on to the dance auditions and the same "weeding" process continues until they select kids for the final call backs which take place the next day. The girls who are left at the end of the call backs are notified within a few days. I believe they will cast 2 kids for each role.

Hope this info helps with your decision!

GL. Let us know if you plan to come out for the audition.