I was sitting in my musical theater class the other day, taking notes while listening to my talented classmates. We not only practice the art of storytelling through song, but also examine what is needed to deliver a truly electrifying audition. This day was like every other Tuesday, with each student more talented than the next, and encouragement abound. But something struck me suddenly and deeply as I looked at the talent around me:
To survive in this business, we need to be experts.
One of the men in my class had a big callback for the Broadway tour of “Million Dollar Quartet.” For the callback, he was asked to prepare a Jerry Lee Lewis piano tune and an Elvis guitar tune, and be prepared to sing from his book. This actor is a fabulous singer with some mad piano playing skills, but there was one problem: He had never picked up a guitar in his life.
When the actor came into class that day, with the callback the next morning, we noticed that his fingers were taped up. Turns out, in the 3 weeks between the initial audition and his callback, this actor taught himself to play the guitar. And playing the guitar for three weeks straight can cut your fingers up pretty good. He did what experts do. He said to himself,
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