Andrew Gerle, a classical pianist who studied music at Yale University before becoming a professional accompanist, has a unique perspective when it comes to casting for musical theater. As the dedicated ivory-tickler who helps performers sound their best during auditions, the New York-based musician and composer has witnessed every audition mistake known to the show business world.
In his new book, The Enraged Accompanist’s Guide to the Perfect Audition (Applause, 2011), Gearle draws upon his 15 years of experience to demystify musical theater auditions. With no-nonsense advice and humorous asides, he takes an accessible tough-love approach as he guides performers through each step of the audition process.
What are some of the most common mistakes you see during an audition?
I find many singers don’t take complete control of their audition. This can be anything from not organizing their book so they can quickly find any song they need, to not knowing how to give the right tempo to the accompanist, to rushing through the call in hopes of getting it over with. Other mistakes are made at a deeper level, such as trying to figure out what the director wants and then “putting on” that kind of performance, instead of being true to themselves. You never know what the director is looking for, but you should know what you do best.
What are some things performers can do to communicate better with the accompanist during an audition?
Knowing how to give a clear tempo is very important. Marking your music with any tempo changes, pauses, repeats, cuts, etc., is also key — just make sure you really do what’s marked. If you’re doing cuts, make sure the piano part has a good beginning and a satisfying end — no “whiplash” abrupt stops, please.
Is your book the only how-to audition book written from the accompanist’s perspective?
I believe it is. After playing auditions for years, and watching countless singers making the same mistakes, I knew that they simply weren’t being told some basic techniques that could make their auditions go better and be a lot less nerve-racking. So much of giving a great audition is being in the right frame of mind, and I knew I could offer a unique, fly-on-the-wall perspective about how an audition really works, how the people behind the table think, and what makes someone memorable at the end of the day.
As a self-professed enraged accompanist, can you share with us one horror story of an actor who made you enraged during an audition?
The truly unprepared horror stories are fairly few. Most people are somewhere in the ballpark. Occasionally actors come in who are not primarily singers and who haven’t prepared any music — or they have music in completely the wrong key and don’t know what key they want. Actors who attempt elaborate choreography are usually memorable, though not in a good way. As I say in the book, what really makes me enraged is the large number of singers who could do so much better if they felt more confident and prepared and had truly done the detailed musical and dramatic work necessary to make a performance come alive. Most singers have a lot more to give than they know.
