#11: Some Rides Are Rough
Monday 7/15/24
HELLO FROM THE OUTER BANKS! Surprise! I’m on a vacation :) But I’m still here and will be uploading.
We have a LOT to talk about.
Performers…. Are you afraid to get dirty? Are you afraid to be ugly?
I ask because it is the start of a new week. How are you putting yourself out there in your work? Are you pristine and perfect? That’s good and has it’s place. But, even in an audition, I want to challenge you to find the DIRT.
I bring this up because this weekend I was working on a cut of SHOW ME from My Fair Lady with someone. First off, I love this song. I love this WHOLE DAMN SHOW. And SHOW ME is, for sure, the unexpected choice of song from this show. And i LOVE that. I love that this choice makes people sit up a bit in their chair - oh, and guess what? It is the same final high note as “I Could’ve Danced All Night”.
Back to the dirt.
The first line of this cut is “Words! Words! Words! I’m so sick of words!”. What an amazing start to a cut! And wow does this student have a gorgeous voice. Buttttt it was almost TOO pretty. Too clean. Too accurate on pitches. And while that is nice, the lyrics literally say I’M SO SICK.
Is sick pretty? Is it something to envy? Is it someone at their best? NO.
Say it out loud. Go ahead… even if you don’t know the melody that’s ok. Right now wherever you are say “I’M SO SICK OF WORDS”. Now, I’m not a “speak your song as a monologue” type of acting coach. But i AM about speaking lines the way you may say them IRL sometimes. I wanted her to dirty up the word SICK. Just that word. Not the whole song, not the whole phrase, not even the words before or after it. JUST THAT WORD. SICK.
Shout it, scream it, laugh through it, choke on it. JUST DON’T SING it perfectly.
You cannot be sick if you are executing it flawlessly.
Be sick. Be gross. Be on the verge of puking.
SHE GOT IT. And even through zoom it was electric. At the end of the song she even got so dirty with it that she growled out of the final high G and it was SO GOOD. Now, I won’t have her do that for her auditions, but I loved that the new energy in the song made her go to that place. She was connected the whole time. She shedded the “perfection” of it all and still delivered a strong vocal performance with more urgency & intensity. There was something brewing beneath the surface. It meant something. And, more importantly, she was telling the truth.
If you are afraid to be “dirty” or ugly… you may be getting in your own way. You may be sound great and look great. But you may never “get there”. Try it. Go to the lyric. What does it SAY? Let that inform your performance.
Dreams Don’t Die
Julie