Muppet Auditions: Los Angeles

[BEAR]

Has anyone who auditioned yesterday got any stories or news to tell? Eager to hear about it. I am so sorry I missed it.

 

[Boober_Gorg]

It probably wouldn't be a good idea to do that just yet. They may or may not be allowed to say anything. We'll find out.

 

[Melonpool]

I got as far as round two... Basically, I passed the lipsynching section, but got elimated on the monitor round. Of the ten people in my group, seven were puppeteers on the Playhouse Disney version of "Bear in the Big Blue House." I believe that all of them made it on to Round three.

It was a cool experience, but I'm kicking myself for not practicing with a monitor at all in the last three years. I never was great at it, but going in completely cold on it was something that will bother me for awhile. If you're planning to audition in Toronto be sure you're prepared. Don't think that because your Miss Piggy or Kermit voice is so great that your weak puppetry skills won't be an issue. They won't even listen to your vocal skills unless you can pass the other two phases of the audition process.

All in all, I had a good time and am looking forward to hanging out with all the puppeteers at dinner tonight... but still, I'm going to kick myself for not being better-prepared.

Steve

 

[MrsPepper]

Has anyone who auditioned yesterday got any stories or news to tell? Eager to hear about it. I am so sorry I missed it.

Bear, you didn't go?

 

[ScrapsFlippy]

"The Candyman" by Sammy Davis Jr. was replaced with "Hey Ya" by Outkast. Just a heads-up to you Toronto goers.

I got cut after the monitor portion as well. I know a few folks who made it to the voices section, and I know one guy who made the callbacks.

I'm local, so I feel rather fortunate to have only been a 30 minute drive from the audition. But I have to say that I have the deepest respect and admiration for those of you who made the trip to L.A. for this thing. I know that if I were still living in St. Louis, I probably wouldn't have made the trip. Some excuse would come up, some "out" that I could use to avoid confronting the audition. And I would be kicking myself for not making the trip. Those of you who made the trip - the guy from Seattle, the kid from Kansas, and all those others I didn't meet - you guys rock!

-- Scraps

 

[DrGoshposh]

Who was there conducting the auditions? Any big name Muppeteers? Kevin Clash and Martin Baker were in New York, were they in LA too?

 

[Melonpool]

Kevin was there at this one, too. I can't remember who the other people were -- but they were with Disney and The Muppet Holding Company -- not puppeteers.

What number were you? I was 25.

Steve

 

[ScrapsFlippy]

The auditioners were Kevin Clash, Martin Baker and Jeff Conover. Kevin we all know. Martin said he had produced Muppet projects.

Jeff is the Puppet Master down in Florida, and was the chief auditioner for Playhouse Disney at DCA when I auditioned. He also ran us through a puppetry workshop (sort of a crash course in "muppetry").

They were all very kind and warm, the exact kind of people you want to audition for. Halfway through the lip-sync, Kevin stopped the music and had us rest our arms. They are interested in seeing the absolute best you can bring. That's what I took away from the process.

One thing I need to add about the whole thing -- this isn't the last Muppet audition we'll be seeing. When I was cut, I was told "Well, now you have a better idea of what we're looking for. Work on that and we'll see you next time." Also, the Disney folks had a survey for us ... "how did you find out about this audition" that sort of thing. If this were a one shot affair, why would they care? Nah, they want to know where to invest their advertising beans. So don't despair if you were cut, or didn't make it out. There will be other opportunities.

BTW - Buck Beaver, if you read this: There was a section on the survey that read something like "What website told you about this audition" and the options were "Muppetcentral.com", "Toughpigs.com", "Puppetvision.com" and "Other". That's pretty darn good positioning! To the Disney PR folks who wrote the survey, your blog is on par with Muppet Central and Tough Pigs! Congrats!

-- Scraps

P.S. I was number 12.

 

[OverUnderAround]

For those that attended, any idea how many people showed up to audition in Los Angeles?

(Someone had posted on another thread that about 80 showed up in NY.)


.

 

[OverUnderAround]

Jeff is the Puppet Master down in Florida, and was the chief auditioner for Playhouse Disney at DCA when I auditioned.

In this forum we were told that Sesame Street would also be at these auditions.
In the NY auditions people were told Jeff represented Sesame Street.
Did they mention he was there representing Sesame Street at the Los Angeles audition as well?

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