Today's the day.
I could hardly sleep last night, I was too nervous. I look over at my clock to see that it's 8:30. Sighing, I get out of bed and take a nice, long shower hoping to ease.
After my shower, I head to my closest and put on a pair of jean capris, a floral peplum shirt and gladiator sandals. I wasn't sure at first if I should wear nice clothes or clothes that I could dance in, but Claire assured me that I should wear something nice and comfortable and then change into my dance clothes after.
I let my hair fall in its natural waves and I put some leave in conditioner in it. Then I did my makeup, adding a little more than usual for the audition.
Grabbing my bag with everything I need in it for the audition, I close my door and head downstairs. I somehow make it downstairs without getting lost, but I know I won't remember how I got here, I'm too nervous.
Vince, Parker and Mark are sitting at the table, already eating breakfast.
"Morning" Vince and Mark say to me. Parker just grunts.
I try to say good morning back to them, but I'm so nervous that the only sound that leaves my lips sounds more like a dying cat.
Willow comes in and puts some pancakes in front of me to which I smile at her in appreciation.
I start to eat the pancakes when I feel all three sets of eyes on me. Slowly, I look up to see them all looking at me.
"What?" I ask.
"Nothing" Mark replies. "You just seem a little antsy."
It's true. My leg is shaking, my brows are furrowed and I could hardly get the pancakes to go into my mouth.
"I'm just a little nervous for my audition today" I admit, not making eye contact with any of them.
Looking at my watch, I see that it's 11:30. "Well I should probably go" I say, standing up from my chair. "My audition is at two and I'm walking. I don't want to be late."
"Why are you walking?"
"What?" I ask, turning back around so I can face the boys.
"Why are you walking to the audition?" Vince asks.
"Oh" I reply. "I don't have a car."
"Jess, you could have just said so, I'll take you to the audition." Before I have the chance to tell Vince that I'm fine with walking he's already standing up from the table. "Let me just change. I'll be back down in a couple minutes." Vince jogs out of the dining room and up the stairs.
Mark starts to speak again. "So you're into musical theatre?"
"Yeah, I love it. I love performing and making music" I respond.
"That's really awesome" Mark compliments. "I wish I had musical talent. Trust me, you do not want to hear me sing."
"He's not wrong" Parker mumbles. Mark and I start laughing and a smile forms on Parker's face. That is until he notices that I'm also laughing and his smile is immediately replaced with a scowl. "Whatever" he grumbles. "I'm going back to my room."
As Parker heads upstairs, Vince comes back in the dining room. "Okay, I'm good to go!"
Vince and I say goodbye to Mark and he tells me to break a leg. When we get in Vince's car, Vince starts to question that old saying.
"I mean" he muses "why would you tell someone to break their leg? They kind of need it to finish the production! Also, breaking your leg is really painful. I broke mine once." He shutters. "Never again."
"How did you break your leg?" I ask.
"Oh well, you know. Doing really manly stuff" Vince responds, his voice raises a little bit. I give him a look, telling him that I don't believe him.
"Okay" he confesses. "I might have been playing Just Dance and I may have gotten a little too into the song."
I try really hard to contain the laugh that was so desperately trying to leave my lips, but I couldn't.
Vince was definitely something else.
We make it Born to Perform's building a half hour early and Vince tells me that he's going to be hanging around downtown while he waits for me. He then gives me his number so I can call him after the audition is done.
"You got this, don't break your leg!" Vince yells to me through the window as he drives away from the building.
Mustering up as much confidence as I can, I push open the doors and walk in. I can do this, I can do this.
I can't do this.
Shortly after I sign in and receive my audition number, I am informed go into the waiting with the other people auditioning.
Once I step in the room, I'm met with the noise of a bunch of people singing, stretching and rehearsing the monologues. My nerves were back.
I place my stuff down and start to practice my lines and warm up like everyone else. About ten minutes later a man and woman walks in and the room goes completely silent.
Sebastien Silvestri, owner of Born to Perform.
"Welcome" he acknowledges. "Thank you for coming here today to audition for my production of Into the Woods!" Everyone, including myself begins to clap. "Here to tell you how today is going to work is my assistant Angela."
"Hi everyone" Angela greets us. "So today, one by one you will all audition with your monologue for three of our casting directors. Then, you will go into a room with three of our music casting directors who will hear your vocal audition. Lastly, you will move on to the dancing portion and will be placed in a room with about thirty other dancers so we can see how quickly you pick up choreography and how you blend with a group. Please come up front when you hear you number called."
After about an hour, I hear my number, 63, called. I pick up my bag and head to the table at the front of the room.
"Jessica Anderson?" the male asks.
"That's me" I reply.
"Great" he answers. "You're going to follow the signs and make your way to you monologue audition. Break a leg!"
I exit the room and sure enough there are signs lining the hall to where my monologue audition would be taking place. Outside the door is a young woman holding a clipboard. Once she sees me she smiles and tells me I can leave my bag outside the door and that they're ready for me. I take a deep breath and push open the doors.
Sitting at a table towards the front of the room are two men and one woman, all looking to be in their early thirties. There is also a camera next to the table which is recording all of the auditions.
"Hello, Jessica. How are you?" The woman in the middle asks.
"I'm great, how are you?" I smile, a little surprised that I sound so calm.
"Wonderful, you're auditioning for the role of Cinderella, correct?"
"Yes, I am" I reply with a smile. Seriously, how am I so calm now?
"Great" she smiles back. "Take your time and begin when you're ready." I nod at her shake out my arms and legs, and then get into character.
After my audition, all three of the casting directors thank me and tell me to have a nice day. I thank them for their time and exit the room. Once I'm outside the room, nervous Jess comes back.
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh" I freak out, all of my nerves rushing back. I didn't notice the woman outside the door until she starts to laugh at me, finding my reaction to be very amusing. She then tells me I can follow the signs again so I can get to my vocal audition.
I do as I'm told, and make my way to a set of double doors with a man who looks to be about a couple of years older than me standing in front of the door.
"The vocal casting directors are ready for you." he smiles at me. I thank him as he opens the door for me and I walk into the room.
Like before, there are three people sitting at a table in the front of the room with a camera placed beside them.
"Hello Jess" one of the men say. I say hello all of them and ask them how they are. Again, how am I being so calm when I was completely freaking out less than five minutes ago?
"You're auditioning for the part of Cinderella, yes?" I nod my head. "Great, let's see if you're the one for the part."
The music starts and I sing along to it just like I practiced and the casting directors, like the ones in the monologue audition thank me and tell me to have a nice day.
I leave them room and go back into my nervous mode. The man outside the door laughs at me and compliments me on my performance, telling me that he could hear me through the door. Well that's embarrassing.
He tells me to follow the signs like before and that there is a bathroom by the dance audition room for me to change in. I thank him and start to follow the signs. I make it to the bathroom and change in my dance outfit.
When I exit the bathroom, I notice that there are other people waiting outside the door with me, ready for their dance auditions.
The woman in front of the door tells they're ready for us and one by one we file into the room. I find a spot in the second row and turn to face the judges.
Like the first two auditions, there are three casting directors, but there is also a man in a dance outfit standing in front of all of us.
"Hello everyone" he begins. "I'm Jon and I will be teaching you the choreography for your group audition. Don't forget, this audition is to see that you know how to dance and can pick it up quickly, but also so we can make sure that you can blend with a group. And also, have fun." Jon smiles at us and does a funny dance move, making us laugh. He then begins to teach us the choreography.
After a few run throughs, he steps aside and plays the music so we can do the choreography for ourselves. He walks up and down the sides, calling out commands such as "point your feet" and "make sure you're spotting on your turns." After the audition, the casting directors and Jon thank us. They then tell us that we will know if we got the part by tomorrow night. We thank them and then exit the room.
I text Vince to tell him that I'm done and he tells me that he'll be here in five minutes. I decide against changing out of my dance clothes because I'm just going to change into pajamas later.
Vince pulls up in front of the building and I hop in the car.
"How did it go?" he asks as I pull on my seatbelt as he starts to drive away.
"I'm not sure" I reply. "I think it went well. I'll know by tomorrow if I got in."
Vince talks for the rest of the ride home about his time downtown today and how a girl gave him her phone number. It was good to hear about Vince's day. It took my mind off of the nerves I was feeling about the audition results and let me enjoy spending time with Vince.
When we make it back to the house, Claire jumps up from her seat and questions me about the audition, causing Parker to roll his eyes and head upstairs.
I eat dinner with Claire and Vince, telling them about the audition and then Vince and I head upstairs. We say goodnight to each other and go into our rooms.
After closing my door, I get ready for bed and try not to think about how tomorrow I could be either getting an answer from Born to Perform that will make me so incredibly happy or one that could hurt me so deeply.