The butterflies in your stomach continue to build the closer and closer the time nears for you to perform a monologue and song for an audition for the school musical. So much practice and time has been put into this, all for this one chance to prove yourself on stage. For any newcomer, this experience can be nerve wracking, but for junior Jaylin Brown, these auditions aren’t anything new. 

Brown has been a part of the theatre department since freshman year, and the auditions for the spring musical, “Spongebob the Musical,” is just one of many auditions that she has done before. 

“I’ve been in ‘Gothic Ghost Stories,’ ‘Aida’ and ‘Chicago,’” Brown said. 

The Monarch Theatre department brings so many stories and musicals to life, and having the right person for each role is crucial.

Auditions for musicals are different from an audition for a play at PLHS. Aside from performing a monologue, students are asked to prepare a song selected by Ms. Molly Grasso and Mr. Tyler Buglewicz and perform a dance sequence taught at auditions.

Whatever monologue is performed will convey to the directors that you can act well in front of an audience and memorize lines quickly.

“You definitely have to find something that fits the role, but you also have to find something that goes with who you are as a person,” Brown said

After finding a monologue, the hardest part comes with memorizing it. Then applying facial expressions and blocking out movements. Each person can have their own different way of memorizing. 

“I go through line by line, memorizing one line, saying it, and keep on going with the next line until the whole thing is memorized,” Brown said.

Once the monologue is memorized, the next portion of the audition is the singing portion. Brown picked up the sheet music from the choir room to practice at home. 

“I take a video of [the pianist] playing my voice part and then I just run it over and over again any opportunity I get to practice it,” Brown said.

The last part of the audition is the dance audition. Students were able to learn from a choreographer the dance moves for a certain song in the musical, and then perform it as a group to see who can pick up dance moves the fastest. 

“It goes very fast because so many people are learning this dance and [the choreographer] wants to see if you can pick up on the steps and keep up with other people,” Brown said.

In the end, every single moment of the audition comes down to the cast list for the musical being posted, with the final decisions of who will play each part.

“Waiting for the cast list is exciting and nerve wracking at the same time, but whatever happens I will accept it and be happy knowing that I did my best,” Brown said.

After giving it your all, it all comes down to the directors and what they think is best for the musical. But whatever happens, the end result will be a great cast putting on the performance of their high school careers.