Big Auditions – Part 3
Interview Prep
I landed an interview for the ‘We Will Rock You’ gig, so I’ve spent the past few days carrying out research in order could go in confident…
I think this year I’ve started to figure out the fine line between confident and arrogant/cocky. To be confident is to come across as genuinely knowing what you’re talking about without feeling the need to prove anything. It doesn’t mean you have to know everything, but it does mean that you are so sure about the depth and limits of your knowledge that you are able to carry out the given task calmly and efficiently. Furthermore, you are not flustered, threatened or thrown off by having to explain what you are doing or why you are doing it. In fact, you’re happy to share what you know, and I feel that you only ‘know’ or understand something as well as you can explain it. Confidence comes from an awareness of your understanding and a belief in your ability, and coming across as genuine comes stems this kind of confidence. Arrogance and inefficiency on the other hand come from a lack of confidence – the failure to prepare, the need to ‘blag it’, or the inability to explain your methods.
In my interview, well, also in life, I wanted to come across as genuinely confident in my knowledge and ability. Not to fake my way through the interview, but simply to present the best version of myself. So I did some homework in a few areas to set me up for a genuine confidence…
Knowing The Show
The most important aspect was to know the show. I watched the bootleg video (London 2003) again and formed some opinions about it. Before that though, I should know when the show opened (2002 – Dominion) and how long it ran for (12 years – closed in 2014).
Story – Lets be fair, the story here is weak, but nobody goes to see a jukebox musical because of the gripping storyline, they go to hear the great music that they are familiar with. It’s about nostalgia, energy, just having a good time. That being said, I’d be an idiot to not have something else to say about the story, and so something that stuck me was the amount of song lyrics and pop culture references sprinkled throughout the script. Many of them seemed a bit out of date – references to Slim Shady, the Spice Girls and the character called Britney Spears for example. I wonder if these references get updated as newer productions are put up. Moreover, do the English references translate to a European audience or do they need to be altered to that effect too?
Music – Obviously the Queen score is a selection of well-known pop/rock, and they are pretty close to the originals for the most part, with some transposition maybe or some added MT harmonies. I might be interested to know what the band lineup is for the show and how much of it is on track.
Casting/Vocals – As a European tour, do the production company hire a British cast or a German cast? Is the show in German? What about the songs, and all the song title/lyric references? What about blending the character voices to get the Queen harmonies? Britney for instance has a distinct character voice, does he sing ensemble parts ‘in character’?
Researching Source Material
I wanted to know some stuff about Queen. I know a lot of their more famous repertoire, and I can still play a couple of Queen songs from back in my Cruise Ships days. I wanted to have a bit more of a background knowledge of the band and their work…
Formed in 1970, I know a little about the story of the band’s conception from the movie Bohemian Rhapsody. Of course you should know the band members, a good amount of their repertoire and probably be familiar with one or two of their albums…
This took some research, I mean how listens to albums these days? Anyway I decided that my favourite Queen album is their 1975 studio album ‘A Night At The Opera’. It’s got some really innovative ideas on in terms of utilising BVs (24-track tape) in effective ways, as well as some unusual instruments and an inherently ‘British’ feel. Seaside Rendezvous is a particular favourite of mine, featuring all of the above mentioned ideas.
Knowing Your Panel
I knew who was going to be present at the interview, so I considered it important to know a little about them prior to meeting them..
Live Nation Germany (Robert & Christine – Producers) – Live Nation are a world leading entertainment and eCommerce company. They produce over 20,000 shows annually for more than 2000 artists globally.
Cornelius Baltus (Director) – recently directed WWRY at the New Theatre in Oxford. Finalising corrections on the English version of his ‘3 Fairytales’ book. Worked on The Lion King for 16 years. Big on diversity in casting and theatre.
Zach Flis (MD of WWRY UK Tour) – RCS grad. He’s done bits of work with/for Stuart Morley as his resume shows Only Fools & Horses, as well as a few Production credits from various London Arts schools.
Stuart Morley (WWRY Music Supervisor) – Seasoned MD and arranger/orchestrator.
Knowing The Gig
The tour covers arenas and theatres around Germany, Switzerland and Austria between December 2021 and July 2022. I know that rehearsals are due to begin in Berlin in around November, so my only questions here might be about how tour visas work now or the types of accommodation that are fixed on tours like this.
My interview was this morning…
Post-Interview
Well it was pretty informal, and I was asked questions about what I think of the music of Queen and the idea of living/working in Germany for a while. Of course I’d be an idiot to give an answer other than “Yes, I love Queen!” and “Yes, I love Germany”, but in this case both of those answers were genuine, and I was also able to talk a little about having seen parts of Germany during my cruising days.
Have I ever MD’d before? I explained my journey through cruise ships and the sort of work/gigs that it involved. I hope this was enough.
How would I deal with big personalities/singers? I suggested that for me this is about empowering your team to be able to just do what they do, and I try to take an approach that comes from a place of genuine respect and confidence. For me it’s important to make sure that the whole cast/team feel like they’re fighting the same battle.
How would I help keep the cast/band from getting bored playing the same show over and over? I said some stuff about the regular change of venue creating a variation in the diet of the performers, and also about allowing the band the freedom to stay creative as long as it’s within the parameters of the ‘Queen’ sound…and the click track.
Do I speak any other languages? I mentioned my secondary school German studies and suggested that I can ask for directions and order a meal.
In honesty I have absolutely no idea how I came across to the panel. I loved Cornelius’ dry sense of humour and ‘knowing’ honesty, but the rest of the guys kept mostly quiet, except for Stuart who helped the interview flow.
UPDATE: The Result
I didn’t get the gig. Stuart gave me a call this afternoon to let me know that although there was a lot of positivity about me from my interview they’ve decided on someone who has a little more touring experience than me. He said that I came across really well though and I think I’ll be on his radar still when I get to London. For now I am little disappointed and I need a day or two to feel sad, but I can at least take some pride in the fact that I know I did my best.