CALLBACKS! CALLBACKS!

Audition/Application Information

Audition Prep/Informational Session (optional)
Wednesday, January 6 @ 3:05 pm in the orchestra room (by the Leonard Auditorium)
This is an opportunity to learn more about the show, practice your audition piece and get copies of sides for characters you are interested in auditioning for. It is entirely optional. Just show up!

* * If you are unable to attend, please review the Auditions Tips & Reminders further down on this page. * *
General Auditions
Thursday, January 7 @ 3 pm in the choir room (by the Leonard Auditorium)
Once you have completed your audition, you are free to leave. A list of students called back to sing and/or read will be posted later that evening on this website and/or via Twitter (@HSEDrama).

Callbacks
Friday, January 8 @ 3 pm in the Leonard Auditorium
This is only for those called back to read/sing.

Rehearsals start the following week!

Audition Tips & Reminders

AUDITIONING PROCESS:
You MUST have sheet music for your audition song. It should be in the correct key for your voice and include the piano part. 
​If you don't have music, see if your friends do. Libraries also have some sheet music. Book stores (like Half Price Books, Barnes & Noble, etc.) carry some songbooks. Online sources like MusicNotes.com or SheetMusicPlus allow you to buy sheet music to print out. (It is not free, so talk to your parents first!)
SONG SELECTION REMINDERS
- Your song should be in the style of the show for which you are auditioning. Please do NOT sing a song from the show you are auditioning for.
- Pick something that shows off your vocal ability.
- Pick a song you enjoy singing; let your enthusiasm feed your confidence!
DO NOT FORGET TO PRINT AND COMPLETELY FILL OUT (with signatures) YOUR AUDITION FORMS.
AUDITION DAY:
The actual pages of music should be in a binder or displayable in a way that makes it easy for the accompanist.
If it's in a book, make a copy of only the pages you need (go to the Media Center, if you do not have access to a copier elsewhere). You should be prepared to sing approximately 16-32 measures of the song.

Please clearly mark in the music where the selection starts and where it ends.

Dress comfortably but appropriately.

Practice your introduction when you practice your song. It should go something like this:
"Hello my name is [YOUR NAME]. I am a [YOUR GRADE] and today I will be singing a selection from [YOUR SONG TITLE] from [TITLE OF THE SHOW IT IS FROM]."

Show Information

From the composing team behind Mamma Mia! and the lyricist of The Lion King comes the story of love, deceit and patriotism at the height of the Cold War. With personal relationships and US-Soviet relations in the balance at the world chess championship, “Everybody’s playing the game, but nobody’s rules are the same.” 

Character Info
Descriptions and Vocal Ranges
CALLBACK MUSIC
SOURCE: Samuel French

FLORENCE - strong belt voice (to E). Mid-thirties. Born in Hungary (so musn’t look like an “All-American Girl”); has been brought up in America since 1956. She is clever, theatrical, touching, vivacious, volatile. Frederick’s chess “second.”

FREDDIE - Rock tenor (to C). Mid-thirties. An American chess champion. A cross between Bobby Fisher and John McEnroe. Arrogant and temperamental, but a genius; his chess playing revolutionary. We need to see his artistry along with his danger and his obsessiveness.

ANATOLY - Baritone (to G sharp). Early forties. A Russian chess champion. Unexpectedly charming. He doesn’t seem a romantic hero at first, but becomes one through his personality. An intelligent, feeling, passionate man.

MOLOKOV - Bass (down to F sharp). Fifties. Not a fake, comic, stage Russian. Intellectually formidable. Seemingly a father figure to Florence. Anatoly’s chess “second.” An actor who sings well.

SVETLANA - strong belt voice. Late thirties. Anatoly’s wife. Domestic, wholesome, homey. A dramatic contrast to Florence - not a contemporary cosmopolitan woman.

WALTER - Bass-Baritone (down to G sharp). Fifties. A marketing agent. Seemingly respectable, substantial, trustworthy. An actor who sings well.

​ARBITER* - rock high baritone (up to A). Thirty to early forties. International businessman. Smooth, but with a quick temper.
*MAY BE CAST AS EITHER MALE OR FEMALE*

ADDITIONAL SUPPORTING/MINOR ROLES

​ENSEMBLE (featured throughout, with multiple soloists)