Every year, the Kochi prefecture JETs put on a musical known as the Genki Musical. It's written by the CIRs (Coordinators for International Relations) in Tosaben, the local dialect. The script, props, costumes, and sets are all made by Kochi JETs, and each year's play is original. The play is put on in April, but things are gearing up already, starting with auditions. I've always loved musicals and thought it would be fun to be in one, so I decided to try out.
The auditions were held at the Kochi International Association. I had thought I would be auditioning in front of maybe two people (two of the CIRs), but it turned out that there was a panel of six or seven people. Some were CIRs, others were Japanese people involved in the production. I was kind of startled and a little nervous, but not too much so.
For the audition, we were asked to sing a song of our choice and read a small section of the script in English and Japanese. The Japanese portion of the script was written in hiragana. I was able to read it, but a little slowly and with a few errors. Still, after the reading portion of the audition, they told me that I seemed to be pretty competent with hiragana, so that was good. I was a little embarrassed holding the paper to read off of because my hands were twitching, partly from nervousness and partly from my tremor. After that, I sang my song. I had chosen "Arrietty's Song" because it's a song I like, and because it showed that I could memorize at least a few things in Japanese. Unfortunately, I don't think I sang very well. My voice was kind of quavery and the higher notes came out sounding very thin. I was less in tune than usual, partly because my voice was shaking. It might have been smarter to pick something in a slightly lower range, but oh well. I'm not all that worried about it.
After the singing, the panel asked me a few questions about what kind of role I wanted and whether I could make the time commitments that are necessary for participating in the musical. It tends to eat up your weekends. As for the role I'm interested in, I told them that I would like to do backup singing and dancing. I'd be happy to have a few spoken lines, but not a major part since I probably can't memorize enough Japanese for that.
In a previous meeting, Steven (a CIR) apparently got the idea in his head that I would do the choreography. I had mentioned that I wanted to be one of the dancers, and when he heard how much ballet and various other things I had done, he decided that I should be the choreographer. I can see why he might think I'd be qualified to do it, but from my perspective, I'm not. I can learn choreography pretty quickly, but I can't put steps together myself. Even if I try to make something up, I forget what it was within a few minutes. I certainly couldn't hold an idea in my head long enough to come up with an entire dance sequence. What's more, I'm not interested in doing the choreography. It's more responsibility than I want to take on. So, at the audition, I took the opportunity to tell them that I was not interested in being the choreographer. Steven wasn't there and I'm not sure what he'll think of it, but I'm glad I finally said something. I would've been pretty unhappy if I had felt I was coerced into doing it, and I doubt I (or anyone else) would've been satisfied with the end result.
In any case, the audition is done with. I should find out the results in a week or two. I'm excited for the musical to start up, and looking forward to being part of it. Though I can be shy in real life, I do like performing. This will also be a fun way to learn some Tosaben.
A funny side note: While walking down Obiyamachi (a covered shopping arcade) after the audition, I ran into a group of my junior high school students. They completely freaked out, which made me laugh because they are some of the school's "tough guys". I guess they were surprised that I exist outside of the classroom. Or maybe they were startled by what I was wearing; I had on high heels and a fairly short skirt. In any case, I got a good laugh out of scaring them.
No comments:
Post a Comment