By Sami DeSocio
As performers, we all have dreams, wishes, and a bucket list of people we’d like to perform in front of before we die. I was fortunate enough to not only cross one off of my list, but also to learn something in the process when I took a master class with Anthony Rapp.
It was a small class, only about eleven of us, the accompianist for the class, the host of the class, Joy, and of course Anthony. He started by asking all of us about nerves, do we get nervous before auditions and what happens when we do. I found it odd, because of course as performers we all get nervous before an audition, but I had never been asked what physically happens when I do. I was more than surprised that a lot of our answers matched (shaking hands or legs, sweaty hands, tightening in the chest or stomach). He told us it was normal to be ‘tweaked’ during an audition, and when we are, we should use the energy instead of trying to fight it, he said the more you fight, the more the feeling will push and win and then it comes out in the audition. He reminded us that casting directors are on our side, telling us “they want you to succeed. When I’m at the casting table, I know that I have a problem, and everyone I see that day can help me to solve that problem. Casting directors are on your side, they hope that you solve their problem!” I don’t think any of us had ever thought of an audition like that before, and I know I”ll never look at an audition the same way again.
Another thing he brought up, is that he was not going to promise a “polished” product after the class. He said too polished of a performance looks so robotic, and while some casting directors want that, most don’t. They want to see you breathe life into the audition you’re giving so it shouldn’t look so rehearsed that it looks fake.
When it came time for all of us to perform for him, he would stop us whenever he needed to in order to give us notes, help us through nerves (he would stop us, and ask “where do you feel them?”), and even teach a bit more. One woman in the class had to stop singing due to beginning to cry when her song got to be too much for her. He went over to her, assured her it was okay, and when we asked ‘what happens if we end up crying onstage? How do we keep going?’, he told us we needed to find a way to keep singing. He said it can be done, he assured us that it can be done and still sound good! He said that the night Jonathan Larson died, and the original cast of RENT had to perform ‘Seasons of Love’ that night, he said to this day he honestly doesn’t know how they all did it. He said he guessed it was because they were ‘open’ to the experience and just let it happen.
After our performances were over, he opened it up to questions and gave more tips. Something that stuck out to me was when he told us that we should not audition with a song we don’t enjoy singing. Clearly, we’ll have more fun and be able to be more alive with a song we enjoy singing, not just one that we can sing!
He also put a myth to rest that I had heard back in college from a friend. The myth was that Jonathan Larson did not write his music to be auditioned with, just performed within the context of the show. That his music was too hard to audition with. When I mentioned that, even the look Anthony gave me told me the idea was crazy! He told me whoever told me that was wrong, that if I felt comfortable with the song, and it met up with what I was auditioning with, I could absolutely use his music!
I feel like after the class, we all walked away with what he called a ‘crack’. A small idea, a break in our performances, that something had sunk in that would change the way we perform going forward. I know that I experienced it myself, and I know everyone else in the room did too.
I couldn’t have asked for a better class.
Have you ever taken a master class before? If so, with whom?