Rock the Audition: How to Prepare for and Get Cast in Rock Musicals

By Sheri Sanders and Ezra Menas

Rock musicals are an increasingly dominant force in contemporary musical theatre. Rock the Audition focuses in on this quickly growing area and defines what is required of a performer and their teacher to succeed in the audition room and on stage. With guts, love, and her finger on the pulse, rock musical auditi

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rock the Audition LLC
• Release date: Nov 12, 2019
• ISBN: 9781733403726

Sheri Sanders

Sheri Sanders is an actor, singer, and founder of Rock the Audition. In 2004, Sheri noticed that the radio was changing the climate of musical theatre and created a masterclass in auditioning for rock musicals. The class became a hit in New York City, and Sheri immediately became the world's preeminent popular music repertoire coach. In 2011, she was the first author to publish a book on the new relationship between popular music and musical theatre. The first edition of Rock the Audition brought her to over eighty musical theatre programs in seven years, providing students, teachers, and coaches the skills to successfully research, prepare, and perform all styles of popular music currently represented on Broadway. Four years ago, Sheri took her book and turned it into a new interactive online rock musical theatre training program. This program continues to make it possible for individual professional performers and coaches, entire musical theatre programs, and now teens, to study directly with Sheri from every corner of the world. Sheri's performance techniques have led her students to the Broadway, touring, and regional productions of Mean Girls, Oklahoma! (2019 revival), The Lightning Thief, Jagged Little Pill, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, Hamilton, Waitress, SpongeBob Squarepants, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, A Bronx Tale, Kinky Boots, School of Rock, Spring Awakening (2015 revival), Motown, The Last Ship, Jersey Boys, Diner, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Memphis, Rock of Ages, Sister Act, Mamma Mia!, American Idiot, Wicked, Rent, Hairspray, Legally Blonde, and Regina Spektor's Beauty, among others. Her students have also booked a variety of television shows and television musicals, including Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert, The Wiz Live!, The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again, Grease: Live, Hairspray Live!, The Voice, Empire, The X Factor, American Idol, Glee, and The Glee Project; and most recently, the film West Side Story, directed by Stephen Spielberg. Sheri professionally arranges audition cuts on Musicnotes. She lives in a treehouse in Brooklyn.

Book preview

How to Prepare for and Get Cast in Rock Musicals

Second Revised Edition

Sheri Sanders

Rock the Audition

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK

Praise for Rock the Audition

It’s our job as storytellers to constantly push our craft to the next level—this is what Sheri excels at. If you aren’t actively coaching or singing pop music, you aren’t interested in being hired in the new direction of the American musical theatre. Sheri Sanders for the win, ladies and gentlemen.

—Robert Hartwell, actor and founder of the Broadway Collective

Sheri is an enthusiastic and passionate teaching artist. Her ability to immediately assess a particular student’s roadblock and then, in conjunction, push them out of their comfort zone is a skill at which I marvel. Her knowledge of music and its history ranging from Motown to the hip-hop era is extensive and formidable. But it’s the care with which she inspires her students that makes her a masterful teacher. She is at the same time nurturing and challenging, encouraging mistakes, wonder, and play. I learn so much from her every time we work together. I am a better teacher for studying with her.

—Michele Pawk, Tony Award-winning actress and singer

"Sheri’s passion for performing and music fuels her message and connects her with students in the most unique way. I’m thrilled that she is continuing her exploration of this material while sending out the inclusive call to all performers dreaming of rocking that audition!"

—Gavin Creel, Tony Award-winning actor

Those of us teachers and students who have been fortunate enough to learn from Sheri Sanders have become artists who appreciate more music, understand music better, perform more confidently, make clearer and more compelling interpretive choices, sing more expressively in all styles, and think more creatively. I cannot imagine my life in music and music theatre without Sheri Sanders. She truly is the real deal.

—Toby Yatso, Arizona State University music theatre coordinator and faculty member, Artist-in-Residence at the Phoenix Theatre Company

"Rock the Audition will rock your musical theatre life. Sheri's book is not only terrific, it's a ‘jagged little pill’ (Alanis) that can help turn you into a ‘beautiful mess’ (Jason Mraz). ‘So what’ (Pink) if you're nervous? This book will make you ‘Fearless’! (Taylor Swift)."

—Andrew Lippa, composer, lyricist, and book writer: Big Fish, I Am Harvey Milk, The Addams Family, and The Wild Party

COPYRIGHT PAGE

Copyright © 2019 by Sheri Sanders.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, contact the publisher at the website or email below.

Sheri Sanders/Rock the Audition

www.rock-the-audition.com

[e-mail]

Cover design by Rita Csizmadia

Copy editing and production by Stephanie Gunning

Author photo by Michael Kushner

Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by schools, associations, and others. To place a bulk order, contact the publisher at the website or email above.

Library of Congress Control Number 2019917520

Rock the Audition/Sheri Sanders. —2nd ed.

ISBN 978-1-7334037-2-6 (epub)

DEDICATION

To my students and the teachers I collaborate with—you make me a better artists and person. Thank you.

Contents

Praise for Rock the Audition

Copyright Page

Dedication

Foreword by Ezra Menas

Message to the Reader

Introduction

Part I: What Is Expected of Me?

Chapter 1: The Changing Face of Musical Theatre

Chapter 2: How on Earth Did All This Happen?

Chapter 3: Capturing the Essence of Style, Era, and Vibe

Chapter 4: Your Rock Musical Audition Book

Chapter 5: The Cutting Clinic

Chapter 6: Communicating What You Need to an Accompanist

Part II: Musical Styles and Genres

Chapter 7: Motown: Mid ’50s to Mid ’60s

Chapter 8: ’70’s Folk/Rock: Mid ’60s to Mid ’70s

Chapter 9: Disco: Early ’70s to Late ’80s

Chapter 10: ’80’s Pop/Rock: 1980 to 1989

Chapter 11: Contemporary Pop, R&B, and Rap: 1990 to Now

Chapter 12: Contemporary Rock, Punk, and Emo: 1990 to Now

Chapter 13: Contemporary Pop/Rock: 1990 to Now

Chapter 14: Country: Timeless

Chapter 15: Poetic: Timeless

Final Thoughts

About the Rock the Audition Coalition

Audition Prep Checklist

Glossary of Musical Terms

Acknowledgments

Notes

Resources

About the Author

Foreword by Ezra Menas

I met Sheri Sanders at the University of Oklahoma in my junior year of college. At the time, I was bending to fit the mold that society and the musical theatre industry had created for me, which was that of a femme lesbian. I knew I was gay, but I didn’t have the vocabulary or a role model, for that matter, that would help me explore my gender just yet. The second Sheri started class, I felt seen. Who is this magical human?! I love her already, I thought.

Sheri came to the middle of Oklahoma unapologetically as herself. She was a lesbian who dressed as if she had just stepped out of the ’70s and was unashamed to express all facets of herself, including those that society might deem shame worthy. I loved that about her, and I wanted to harness that authenticity in myself as well as in my work.

I graduated college and kept Sheri in my mind. A national tour and two cruise ships later, I ended up in New York in 2015. I was just on the brink of my gender journey when I heard Sheri was giving a Hamilton class. We reconnected and I approached her with the information that I might be genderqueer and was having trouble figuring out how to navigate gender binary auditions. She immediately took me in, made me feel seen, and asked me to play with my song with a variety of different qualities absent of gender. This was only the beginning. I kept learning more about my own gender identity.

Almost a year later, I jumped at the chance to study with Sheri online. We spent two hours a week for eight weeks working together on a different style of musical performance each week.

Working with Sheri is an absolutely magical experience. She takes you exactly as you are on any given day and uses her special powers to unlock yours. She makes you feel as if you are enough just as you are and that you have the power to harness your own magic. She is open, kind, compassionate, and always willing to learn. She is unafraid to make mistakes and take corrections. She prioritizes folx on the margins so that she may provide the most inclusive training possible. She is truly committed to creating a safe, kind, fun, uplifting, judgment-free experience for every single person in the room.

I am forever grateful that Sheri Sanders walked into my college musical theatre class that day and was unabashedly herself. She has given me the strength and guidance to step into my authentic self, which has created authenticity in my work. Anyone who reads this book will sense her power in the pages, and if you ever get the chance to work with her, whether online or in-person, run. Don’t walk.

Message to the Reader

This book was written with a focus on using inclusive language around gender, ability, race, and more. The Rock the Audition team has worked directly with members of different communities to be as mindful and inclusive as possible. We know that language is always evolving, and some people feel more comfortable using certain language. We have done our best to use the most current and inclusive language available to us. We ourselves are always learning and encourage dialogue around this topic.

If you’d like to get involved in our work around language and inclusion in the theatre, feel free to contact us at [e-mail], or to visit www.rock-the-audition.com/coalition to open up a dialogue and/or join our efforts.

Introduction

I started writing the second edition of Rock the Audition on January 2, 2019, almost eight years after the first edition was published. The years in between were absolutely wild, and so many things happened in my personal life that influenced the way I teach musical theatre auditioning, the kind of space I hold for people today—and why.

For now, I want to tell you what I found out about myself after this book was published. In true Sheri fashion, I’m going to weave my musings into both this chapter and the Final Thoughts section. You’ll know it’s present-day me speaking when the text is boldface. I can’t believe I get to do this. Okay, here we go!

The way my relationship with rock music or, more specifically, with music from off the radio began has everything to do with my mother. When I was fourteen, my mother lost both of her parents within a few months of each other. She is an emotional woman, as am I, and she had a terrible time when her parents were sick because she was an only child and her parents were really old and needed all of her time and attention. She ran them to this doctor and that doctor, back and forth to and from the hospital ... for years.

I was always with her.

We’d be driving along in her Buick Skylark, listening to 106.7 Lite FM, when a song would come on, and she’d scream, Oh my god! ‘I’ve Never Been to Me’! Charlene sang that! It was 1982, your father and I were separated, and I was dating Elliot, the cookie maker. Then she would sing along, off-key, I’ve been to paradise, but I’ve never been to meeeeeeeee, and begin weeping about certain events that took place during her life.

Weeping went on to accompany some of my mother’s favorite songs, which included Whitney Houston’s The Greatest Love of All, Little River Band’s Reminiscing, Barbra Streisand’s Run Wild, You’re a Native New Yorker by Odyssey, Patty Austin and James Ingram’s Baby, Come to Me, Jerry Rafferty’s Baker Street, and Swearin’ to God by the Four Seasons. My mother associated all of her feelings and life experiences with popular music.

While all this was happening in the car, I’d roll my eyes and think, Oh Mommy, you’re so dramatic! But secretly, I grew to really love these songs, and to love the feelings that they evoked in my mother ... and in me.

I now know that experiencing the way my mother’s spirit got turned around when the disco hit Turn the Beat Around came on, the deep pain she felt when a recording artist put words to her emotions, and every feeling in between was not only a privilege, it was also the key to my future career.

Soon I became a young adult and began having my own feelings ... and lots and lots of them. There were great songs on the radio that took me to the heart of my emotions, just like my mother was taken. Oh Me, Oh My would come on, and it was, Oh! That’s Aretha Franklin! Ohhh ... I was nineteen years old, and now I’d be the one weeping at the memory of my first love and the heartache that still remained, even years later. The song meant something to me. It had my emotions in it. It was like a bookmark in my history and my sense of self.

As a musical theatre performer, I decided to audition for rock musicals like Rent, The Full Monty, and Aida, with Oh Me, Oh My. I got called back for many rock musicals and booked acting work like a madwoman for years. The creative teams of these productions responded to me so beautifully when I’d sing that song. They thought I was clever, poetic, funny, honest, and inspired—because at any point I could be one, two, or all these things within a moment of a song.

I always applied this ability to interpret music with my own unique point of view to my traditional musical theatre auditions with the same success. I booked really diverse roles, such as a loony maid in turn-of-the-century England and an Amish girl. I was a puppeteer. I was Golde in Fiddler on the Roof. I starred in an opera based on the murder of Kitty Genovese. I played Little Becky Two Shoes in the national tour of the Broadway musical Urinetown

All these successes came from being a girl who loves to listen to the radio.

Now, the songwriters did not write their songs about my feelings, they wrote about theirs. But I interpreted their lyrics and music through the filter of who I am and how I see things, and I infused them with my history, my feelings. That’s how I sang their music so well.

Alright, I’m gonna start interjecting as current Sheri now. Remember, I’ll use bolded text every time present-day me is speaking about past me, and everything else is classic first edition. Let’s proceed.

In 2005, I started dating Amy Rogers, director of the musical theatre program at Pace University. The first time Amy heard me sing rock music was at a concert I did with a bunch of friends in the basement of the Drama Book Shop. After the concert, she said, Sheri, you need to teach other performers how to do that!

Reflexively, I said, "No way! This technique is mine."

As our relationship progressed, Amy noticed what life was like for me as an actress. When I was working, I felt amazing. When given the opportunity, my acting was groundbreaking. When I was out of work in the theatre and waiting on tables, I felt like I was worthless. All I ever wanted to do, as an actress, was to change people’s lives. When I couldn’t do that, I would become self-destructive. I’d have nowhere to put my feelings. I’d ruin things and subsequently have to do an exceptional amount of damage control. Ever loving, Amy turned to me and said, No, Sheri. You need to teach. You need to focus your emotional energy outwards when you are not onstage.

So. When I wrote all this, I wasn’t sold on it at all, especially this line: When I was out of work in the theatre and waiting on tables, I felt like I was worthless. I couldn’t explain my experience at the time, but I suddenly had to make sense of my struggles for the sake of storytelling, and this is what I came up with.

What I should have said was: As our relationship progressed, Amy noticed what life was really like for me as a human being in the world.

I’m about to get very real. This is your content advisory if you’re uncomfortable reading about issues of assault and mental illness. Skip to the next unbolded paragraph if you’d prefer not to read this section.

As a child, I was sexually assaulted by my babysitter. I was raised in a home with emotionally ill women. I was hit by a car, mugged at gunpoint, and several other unmentionable things. As a result, I was living with undiagnosed and untreated complex post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). And it was bad.

Now, let me tell you that when I was fine and felt safe, my acting was groundbreaking. When something triggered my PTSD, however, a really terrible thing would happen. I would become a car that would stall, and then it would set all the car alarms off, and I had no idea why.

I could feel it happening, and I felt so ashamed because I was busting my ass in therapy and still couldn’t stay present in these exciting, high-risk audition situations. All I ever wanted to do was to change people’s lives as an actress. But when you are a person living with trauma, your nervous system is doing all the acting on your behalf.

Amy turned to me and said, No, Sheri. You need to teach. You can’t sabotage yourself when you focus on other people. She understood this about herself. And I appreciated her guidance.

Because even if I was an incredible actress, it didn’t matter. I would be at a callback for a lead role in a Broadway show and my nervous system was so traumatized that it would confuse my excitement about the opportunity with danger, and I would go into fight-or-flight mode. As I would dissociate from my body (a symptom of post-traumatic stress), it would ruin what I was trying to accomplish, and I immediately would start doing damage control, which actually caused more damage. And no one, I mean no one, was equipped to have a conversation about what was happening. I was very quietly escorted into the margins. And that, my friend, is the truth. Welcome to my second edition.

In an inspired move, Amy set up a class for me at Pace University. Not knowing what it would be like, I walked into the room with a bit of resistance. I didn’t want to be a teacher. I didn’t want to give up acting. I listened to her class of juniors sing their traditional musical theatre audition songs. Then I picked out my favorite pop/rock tunes that I thought would sound good on their voices, and I taught them how to perform them. I picked great songs like Olivia Newton-John’s Have You Never Been Mellow? Stevie Wonder’s Overjoyed, Your Smiling Face by James Taylor, You’re No Good’’ by Linda Ronstadt, and Come Sail Away" by Styx.

Then I taught the students how to feel the music in their souls and share who they really are, as a gift. I was hooked. I realized then that not only should I share my gift of interpretation for my own wellness, but I was now onto something. Not only could I change people’s lives, I could change the face of musical theatre—and this was how.

Rock musicals are dominating musical theatre. This phenomenon has been happening for years, and it will continue to do so.

All rock musical auditions require actors to be able to sing a song that comes off the radio. If you walked in with a musical theatre song, even one drawn from the score of a rock musical, you would appear unprofessional and ill-prepared.

So, here you are, left to ask yourself, But how on earth do I do this? I don’t know any pop/rock songs. I’ve been listening to musical theatre show tunes my whole life. I have no training in pop/rock music whatsoever. No one trained us in school for that!

Oh, hey, Rock the Audition, second edition, hey!

By the end of this book, you will be able to:

Create your own appropriate audition cuts and successfully communicate the feel of your cut versus the tempo.

Have a keen understanding of style and time period and relate that knowledge to how you perform or coach.

Use tools and tricks to nail all the vocal styles and