The Dive Podcast
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Hey, I’m Taylor Scanlan—a Musical Theatre performer with over 10 years of experience, and the creator of The Aligned Performer, a community-led business dedicated to helping emerging artists like you step into the industry with confidence and clarity.
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Whether you’re preparing for auditions, managing self-doubt, or figuring out how to sustain a long-term career, The Dive Podcast is here to guide you.
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🎭 Live Q&A Episodes: Every other week, I’ll answer your questions directly, sharing insights and strategies to help you move forward.
🎤 Industry Expert Interviews: On alternate weeks, I sit down with seasoned professionals who share their journeys, actionable advice, and what they’ve learned about thriving in this industry.
If you’re ready to build confidence, master your mindset, and create a sustainable, fulfilling career in the arts, you’re in the right place.
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The Dive Podcast
40: Answering YOUR Musical Theatre Questions - Part One
In this episode Taylor answers his most common questions from his community!
LIVE inside Instagram & Facebook Group!
In this episode, here is what you can expect:
- What Casting Directors Look For – Insights from Taylor and industry experts on how to stand out.
- Defining Success Beyond Booking a Show – How to create daily habits that align with your goals.
- Sustainable Habits for Performers – Building routines that support longevity in the industry.
- Navigating Post-Show Blues and Homesickness – Tools to thrive during transitions and while on the road.
- Balancing Authenticity in Auditions – Tips for showcasing your individuality while staying true to the material.
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So welcome in. Welcome back to another episode on the Dive Podcast. I'm your host, taylor Scanlon, and I'm a musical theatre performer. I've been a dance captain and swing in musicals for about eight years and before that I was also in the ensemble with some shows for two years. So I've had about ten years exploring the world of musical theatre and today we're going to come on and share with you like a connection with you as the community.
Speaker 1:I speak to so many of you out there in the community and we are now live on Instagram and we are live in our Facebook group community. So if you're not also in our Facebook group community, for anyone that is on our Instagram, we actually run or I actually run a community group on Facebook which is free and this is for musical theatre aspiring musical theatre performers who are looking to grow with their mindset. Specifically, I run I did run a five-day mindset challenge on there which has five industry led community workshops on there on different forms of or different topics on mindset. So we ran that, I think in June or July and all the recordings are still on our Facebook group. So if you want to go on there, just if you're on my Instagram and you want to go check it out, go check it out. But if you're also in the Facebook group right now which you're listening in, hello, hello, hello. So, first and foremost, welcome. It's awesome to have you in.
Speaker 1:If you have any questions along the way, I have a list of questions that I've actually got from the community. I put a poll out a few days ago asking about what you want to speak about, and this episode is completely for you the community to ask your questions, to get them answered in the best way. I know how I, yes, have had a career and still having a career in the theatre, and I always just love sharing. I want to share, and my biggest purpose with this platform is to really just bring us together as a community to help answer the questions that we're all probably asking, but maybe too afraid to ask, or unsure or unclear, and I want to bridge that gap between you having to overthink or having to really not understand things, and for you to just come in and gain crystal clear clarity on exactly where you want to go, gain clarity on the exact steps to best take to go into the industry and to go into the industry in a way that's sustainable. So let's get into it. I'm going to start off with some questions that we got from the community, which is so awesome. When I did a poll the other day, one of the highest things that you guys wanted to learn about was what do casting directors actually look for? Why don't we just start there? But, as always, actually, what I would love to do.
Speaker 1:No matter where you are, if you're watching the recording or you're watching live, let's just take a moment, because it's Monday, it's the start of the week, maybe you've done a bunch of things, or maybe you're having a day off. Wherever you are, if you're listening in, listen into the car, wherever you are, let's just take a moment, breathing in and breathing out. And one more like that breathing in and breathing out. And one more like that, breathing in and breathing out. All right, let's get into some of the knowledge. All right, let's do it.
Speaker 1:What do you actually, casting directors, look for? And I actually reached out to a dear friend of mine, david Spencer, who's an associate resume director currently for A Christmas Carol, and I asked his knowledge, because I have my own idea of what casting directors actually look for, but I wanted to bring as many people and resources in to help give you an understanding of what casting directors look for. So, first of all, in my opinion, what casting directors are looking for is to really connect with you and understand who you are as a performer and as a person, and they're looking to understand how you can gel with the rest of the cast and what your individuality speaks through and the diversity in which you can present yourself with the material, so that they know where to fit you in the casting process. So that's like my idea with a casting director. They either have a very specific idea of what the show and the role that they're needing to fulfill in, but they're also trying to bridge the gap between casting a full company, so not just a one-on-one role or an individual, but also, as at large, what the company they're looking for, if that makes sense. But I'm going to read to you from David what he sent me earlier today. So he says I think cast directors either see someone when they are specifically looking to cast someone and have a very clear idea about a role and wonder if you'd be the right fit In a general call. So if you're going in and you're going into just a general open call, maybe it's for the ensemble.
Speaker 1:They want to know what you're like as a person, which is really cool, which you probably haven't even maybe you've thought that before about a casting director. So they're wanting to know who you are as a person. So what have you done? What are you interested in doing? Whether you're easy to communicate with. I know this a recent audition earlier in the year.
Speaker 1:A casting director would be usually the person that's giving you the entrance to the room. They want to connect with you first. How are you? What are you bringing in today? And then allowing that connection to already happen so they can get an idea of how are you handling this pressure of this crazy audition. Who are you? Because I feel like a lot of our true colors shine when we're exhausted and we're in the audition process. Comment if you feel the same.
Speaker 1:Essentially, that's what they're looking to do. They're looking to see your range and how versatile you can be, and it's always a good idea this is what David Spencer also has recommended it's a good idea to have a couple of really contrasting monologues, especially if you're going in for maybe a lead or a role to show. You show basically the range that you can provide. So in the different styles. But if that's not something that you can do or you can find, just pick a monologue and I say this a lot of the time.
Speaker 1:We'll go into a little bit about auditions and material and what to bring. All in all, the best way and the best thing about auditions and what you really need to keep at the top of your mind is like how comfortable, how genuine, how connected can you feel to a song and then present that, because auditions, especially for first rounds, they're just getting an idea of who are you, what can you do, what are you about, and a lot of that is going to be shown through your personality and the way you're doing stuff. It's not necessarily about what role or how you're fitting into the show itself. It's actually just going right. Who is this Taylor? What is his energy like? How is he going through this experience as an auditionee or auditioner?
Speaker 1:And starting there in saying that, what I meant in a whole is that going with material that you feel comfortable with, going with material that you are excited to actually showcase, because if you go in with something that's maybe brand new or that you feel not really connected to, it's going to be really hard, when we're in that high stakes situation of an audition, to then add the layers of feeling passionate about something, if that makes sense. You almost sometimes especially even more so for ensemble I've been told this and I've done this myself. If it's got, if you, for example, just being given an audition right and you've only got a week or maybe a day or an hour to get to this audition, don't be so hyper-focused on what style or what song or where. Just go in with something that you know you can present well, and if they want to see you for more things, they will give it to you within reason. But I always just say that, like when in doubt, just go with what you know, go with what you're passionate about, because that's what they really want to see. They want to see who is, who are you as an individual and bringing that out. So I hope that kind of first answers the first question of what casting directors are actually looking for. So the panel is split up between a director you've got the choreographer there and the music team too. So then there, from there, the casting director sees the overall thing and who you are as a human and how that's going to gel well with the community and the company, rather, and then you also have the team of the panel that are actually going to assist and find out specifically the vocals and the choreography and the direction of the panel that are actually going to assist and find out specifically the vocals and the choreography and the direction of the piece itself.
Speaker 1:So now let's get into for the next maybe 20 minutes or so, and if you do have any other questions, please feel free to comment on Instagram or on live, whether you're watching the recording or you're watching live, because I'll give you the answer as much as I can. So the first question's going to come in. I'll keep all the names anonymous just for respect out of the community, but I just want to say thank you so much for everyone that sent through questions that you want answered. I'm really keen to get into it. So just know that I'm only just going to share from my experience.
Speaker 1:There may be other people that come on here that will have different experiences, so I just thought I'd say that from the start that any advice that I give do not take it as gospel. I'm just going to give you what I know and the experiences that I've had over the past 10 years of different shows and things in hope that you can take away one thing. So whatever, if it doesn't feel true to you, don't even use it, just throw it away. But if something does resonate, maybe look into that and start to explore that further. So the first question that I got in was I was from a beautiful woman in the community and she asked I'd love to know if you think there are specific things us emerging artists can do to get ourselves up, to set ourselves up for success before booking the show, apart from keeping up the classes, singing lessons and things like that. So yes, there is definitely some things that you can do, especially if you're an emerging artist and you haven't booked a show yet, that can set you up for success before booking the show.
Speaker 1:The first thing that you want to do is you actually need to define what success actually looks like for you, because if you're only tied to success being booking a show, you're never actually going to feel successful until you book a show. So then we need to really just look at okay, what does actually success feel like? What does it feel like in my body? What does it feel like energetically? Maybe it feels oh, my shoulders are relaxing or I breathe a little deeper, and that's where I would basically start. So find out what success actually means for you and then start to see how you can bring more elements of that into your day to day. So this could be an example of okay. Success maybe feels okay if I'm already in a show and I was feeling successful.
Speaker 1:Maybe point out three things that you would feel if you already were booked in a show. How would you feel and so this may be feelings if you feel successful because you're in a show, maybe another feeling you'd be is fulfilled or excited, or it could be happy, whatever it is. So you can just take those three feelings and this is a tool that I start to teach. I've been teaching a lot of students and it's really effective is then what you want to do is just ask yourself okay, what's one thing I can do today that will allow me to feel more happy, fulfilled and excited towards your goal, because then that way you're going to be able to set up a routine that is in line with this future success that you have on the other side of something and that will allow you to not hold on to just having the outcome present itself to get those feelings. You can actually have all those feelings right now, and that's a massive thing.
Speaker 1:That I've recently learned about goal setting is that we never actually really want the goal. We actually want how it will feel when we get there. What I mean by that is when we get there or when it can do with anything material audition, working, getting a job is that when you get there you're going to feel amazing. You're going to feel all these amazing things. But if you're tying your whole success just to that outcome, just to receiving that thing, you're going to burn yourself out. You're going to be questioning yourself all along the way. You're probably not going to even enjoy the journey until you actually get that thing. And then you hold such pressure around for example, an audition or getting into a thing because you're really just adding this pressure onto one moment, which is what we don't need. So you can release the brakes of all of that by just asking yourself what's three things that I would feel if I was already successful and how can I implement or take those success feelings and bring them into my day-to-day? So I hope that makes sense.
Speaker 1:She's also asked I'm personally focusing on building healthy habits right now, so that when I book a show, my body and mind is ready. I love this. You know, what I love this is because this is when we go into sustainability right, and that's actually what we want. We want sustainability. We don't want I don't know about you, but I don't want to be building and being burnt out and not having any time. But by working on my discipline and going and going to then get into a show, because I tell you what, when you get in, you won't relax Because if, whatever you build right now, whatever you're building right now with your habits, with your mindset, with your life, you're going to take into the industry when you are there, because you're just consistently showing up in a certain way, so that when you get there, you're not going to all of a sudden be a different way.
Speaker 1:Maybe you'll do it for one day, but then, if you're starting to build these habits of I need to do more, I need to be in every class, I need to rush or I need to oh my gosh, and all of this energy. A, you're going to bring that into an audition, which probably won't help you get a job. And then, b, if you do so happen to get a job, you're going to bring this into your eight shows a week, because this is what I did when I first started out. I had a big case of perfection, perfectionitis, perfectionism when I was first starting out and I yeah, let's just take a story, let's just take a little moment when I was first starting out and I got into Cats the Musical, I was straight out of full-time. So I came straight out of full-time and in full-time I was taught 120% every day, every time, boom, boom. And so when I went into the industry, I was taking all of that, all my habits, all the things that I learned, into 8 Show Weeks and where I actually learned quite a lot of valuable things in immense, amazing, incredible amount of things through full-time.
Speaker 1:But having this perfectionism that I put on myself, what happened is I went into eight show weeks and I could not finish it, like I was off every now and then I ended up getting injured. I was out for three weeks and it was just not a fun time and I was like, wait a second. I just worked so hard, I put in all of my efforts to make this happen and now I'm like not able to enjoy it, because I'm going so fast and I'm going at a speed that is not sustainable. So, yes, it is super important to build these sustainable habits that you can do right now so that when you do book a show or when you go into an audition room, it allows you to, you're allowed to hold yourself. And it's not all about this just one moment. It's actually really about becoming the performer that is sustainable and a performer that you can sustain over a long period of time, because it's my guess that you all want to be working for longer than 12 months or longer than six months. You want to come into the industry and stay there for quite a long time, I hope. Feel free to comment to this live or put an emoji or something. If that's what you want. I'm sure it is, and we can only build that by starting now, step by step, and, yeah, don't get too overwhelmed. Just start and you'll start to see this ripple effect come along.
Speaker 1:Okay, let me try and get through a few more of these things. How do you know what other types of work is worth pursuing that isn't a stage musical related, and when is it the right time to do that and what are the signs that may be telling you it's time to try something else? This is a really interesting question because a lot of the time, we're always told and we're just trained for so long to do one thing, so sometimes the thought of doing anything else can be scary. Does anyone feel that? But sometimes we are not booked, sometimes we have gaps. Right now I'm home, not working, not getting paid, and there's going to be these gaps happening. So how do you know what other types of work out there are actually worth your time and worth pursuing, and what are the signs that are around that this beautiful person in the community and a dear friend of mine is asking what are the signs that you can actually listen to that are maybe telling you to try something else or time to do something else? Okay, great question when it comes to worth pursuing.
Speaker 1:Whenever I hear the words what is worth pursuing, it's all back to energy, like how do you want to feel because, at the end of the day, we didn't just come here to we're not obviously here for that long, but we didn't come here to just slave away and do all these jobs that don't fulfill us? Honestly, I truly believe that, and if you're not feeling good, even if you are in a show and something's not right, that is just feedback. If you're feeling good in something, it's feedback. If you you're feeling good in something, it's feedback. If you're not feeling good in something, it's feedback. And what I mean by that is that everything around you right now is just feedback. And if you're not feeling good, usually I put it like this Right now, think as though you've got like a road maybe like a yellow brick road in front of you oh my gosh, a road, whatever road, it is for you, and it's coming forward. And then, if you go off the road, usually this is when you don't feel good.
Speaker 1:So anytime we steer away from our GPS and I always think whatever brings you the most joy is in alignment with what you're meant to be doing. Does that make sense? So anything that actually feels really good, it's supporting you, you feel energetic, it's you, you feel energetic, it's inspiring, you feel motivated, you want to get up early and go and do it that's in full alignment with your vision and your goal and your destiny. If you believe in that, which I definitely do. And anytime we don't feel good, it usually means that we're just off the tracks. We're over here somewhere. We started this way, but now we're just off the tracks. We're over here somewhere. We started this way, but now we've gone off, and what this is, it's essentially just feedback from your higher self being like okay, wait, this is where you're meant to be going forward, and but we're over here.
Speaker 1:So I'm going to send you some not so good feedback in terms of negative experiences and stuff, so that you can realize that's not meant for you. I hope that makes sense. So that's what I would do is, if you are in a position right now where you're not enjoying and you're not feeling in true alignment with what your purpose is and what you're meant to be doing, go for the good feelings and go. Just allow yourself to trust your gut a little bit more. I feel like, as performers, we spend so much time in training and we spend so much time having other people tell us what to do, having other people validate what we are doing is good or correct or good enough, and so when you're actually becoming a professional artist, we don't have those people really around us 24-7. So then that means that we need to become those authors of our own experiences and really become master reflectors of our own life so that we can actually move forward in a way that supports us. And the best way to do that is just following your intuition and following what brings you the most joy and the most energy. Because, again, we only came here for a short time and I don't know about you, but I want to have a good time, I want to experience all the good things and just know that, yeah it just stay on the track, stay forward and just know that, whatever decision that you do make, don't ever feel like you're lost time, because I truly believe you can learn something in every experience. So maybe you decide something. If it doesn't feel so good, maybe there's a, there's an opportunity for you to leave it and go forward into what you need to do. But if you have to stay there for a little bit, maybe just explore that and be like what can I learn from this part? Or how can I get the most value out of this experience before I can move forward into the direction that I need to go? So I hope that makes sense for the question there.
Speaker 1:Next question comes from another wonderful being in the community, and this is asked about a bit more when you're in a musical. And the question is how do you overcome homesickness when you're traveling with a musical that you're in, and what do you do to help with post-show blues and when you have a gap after the show ends? So I'll answer the first one how do you overcome homesickness when you're traveling in a musical? This is like a big thing and everyone experiences it differently, especially when you're first starting out. You're, you haven't maybe spent quite a long time away from home, so it's just finding what brings you that sense of home without actually being there. So this could be by staying connected to your family, to your loved ones is more regularly, because you're not physically with them. You're probably going to need to up their communication if that's something that brings you a bit more feeling of home. And then, if you are traveling, just take something that reminds you of home.
Speaker 1:There was actually a time when I was performing in South Korea and I was there for, I think, 11 months and I didn't come home once. That when I'm home, I actually never, never, ever listen to the radio or the news ever. But when I was in Korea and I think it was like near the end it was a long time since I'd heard an Australian accent or anything outside the cast and I just tuned into a radio station that was in Melbourne just to to hear like the news, to hear the ads, to hear just some familiarity. Or even I put on Australian nature to hear as I was in, as if I was walking and doing a nature walk at home. So there's all these different things that you can do that can allow you to feel that comfort from when you are home. But just if you're going into a big show and you are worried about feeling homesick, just do those things, take the things with you that will make you feel as though you are home and stay connected to your family and friends and also connected with your cast, because a lot of the people there are going to be going through the same thing as you lean on them and that will help you as well. So I hope that answered that question.
Speaker 1:And other question that you had was what do you do to help with post-show blues and when you have a gap after a show ends? Great question, because this is where I am right now. So right now I am in a gap between a show I'm going to do sunset boulevard, again in february over in singapore, which is nice. So right now I have a break up until then. So right now it's the 2nd of December, is the time of filming this, and so I have quite a big gap. And what I do post-show blues again it depends on the show whether you how long you've been on it.
Speaker 1:Usually, if you've been on a show for a very long time, you build a lot of emotional attachment and experiences to that. One experience I remember when I was overseas again doing Cats. We had to finish really early because we couldn't something about COVID or we couldn't. Something happened where we literally had to say goodbye that day and we wouldn't be coming back the next day. So that was a big shock to the system. So it got to the end of Act 1 and I was an absolute mess. I probably cry more than that, more than a funeral, than any other moment. Anyway, that was just a moment in itself, but that was sprung on me. So I guess that was really hard with other people. They're going through the same thing, so they're going to understand. And although that you've just had this amazing experience, a really good tool to use is to journal about it, speak about the good times, speak about what you loved, and also definitely get a journal and write out what you learned from this experience. What are you going to take from that experience into your next chapter? So that's really helpful. I really like doing that at the end of every show that I do so. At the end of every show I sit down maybe it's the next week grab a coffee or whatever and just write out what was that experience like, what did I enjoy, what did I not enjoy, what did I take from that and how can I take the best things into this next opportunity, the next audition, the next show that I get into.
Speaker 1:Next question we have do you have any practices or healthy habits to keep a healthy relationship with your dancing or your skills? This is fantastic. So, yes, this is really important, and I believe this beautiful person in the community has asked this because we put so much energy and so much time into our skills that sometimes we build unhealthy habits around them or we don't appreciate them as much. We put so much energy into that that we go, oh, not that again right With our question do you have any practices to sustain healthy habits or a healthy relationship with your skills. There's not necessarily a specific practice. I would just always, before doing anything, gain crystal clear clarity on why you were doing it, and that would just allow you to all of a sudden release this pressure of doing it itself, because sometimes when we're in training and we're training a lot and we're doing a lot of the things we actually forget why we're doing it. We're just like told to rock up at this time, doing it this day, doing all these things, so we can actually forget and lose sight of why we are doing it in the first place. So that's what I would do.
Speaker 1:I know it's not a specific practice, but it definitely would help you ask yourself why am I doing this today? And actually ask yourself why a few times. You know the first why that comes up will be, for example, if you want to build a healthier relationship with your dancing. Why do you want to? Because I want to feel better. Don't go just there. Dive into a little bit deeper and keep asking yourself why do you want to build a healthier relationship with dance? And maybe you can even tap into this and say if I had a healthy relationship with dance or your skills, what would that feel like? That's a really good question to ask. What would it feel like if you had a healthy routine or a healthy habit related to your skills? What would that feel like? Because if you can actually ask those questions, then you can reverse, engineer yourself and say, okay, how can I feel more of those feelings with the dancing that I'm doing? How can I feel more relaxed or at ease or passionate again with this next class that I go to? So doing that is going to really actually help you understand the practices and the steps that you can uniquely go forward and do. So I hope that helps.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's get into a few more of the last questions. I didn't want to make it too super long, but I know there was a lot of questions that kind of came through. Let's get into it. Another question we have how do you balance your own choices and bringing your own flair to a character, so in an audition, and what is expected, or what is expected and what's done before? So this question is asking about how do you balance bringing in material and giving it your own style or your own flair, as opposed to showing up what's expected or what's been done before. I actually had this question asked twice. So this is really interesting. Again, I spoke a little bit about auditions earlier in this episode, but, okay, all I want you to do is that the panel are looking for something different. They're looking for something else within you. So if you're going in and doing a carbon copy of what's already been done, they've heard that a million times. So I think going in with your own style is actually more beneficial than going in and doing a repeated, regurgitated version of something else.
Speaker 1:In saying that, when it comes to style, just keep a note of that. If it's a specific style, don't go in and all of a sudden do. If it's a classical style, don't just go and do country because you love country, so still do the style of the show. But just add just ask yourself as you, as an individual individual, how would you do this as bring your personality, how would my? For example, if I was going to sing a show from hairspray, how would I, taylor scanlon as a person, sing that song? What can I connect to in that song where I can be, share my own self? I find that sometimes I can come across obviously cheerful, maybe a little bit cheeky, a little bit fun. So I try to bring those elements, because that's where I'm who I naturally am. So if I can bring those elements into the room, I'm able to connect with the panel on a much deeper level, because I'm not actually trying to be anyone else but myself. There you go, do that, give it a try and see how you go.
Speaker 1:I think there is some comfortability we have when we think, oh, if I just go in and do what's on the recording or what's exactly written down, I'll be safe. That's a lot of the time what happens. But whereas there is time for you to do that, I think you're always gonna be better off by showing your own individuality and giving your own personality twist to the actual material itself. And I think that goes for anything the dance that you're about to do, the song that you're about to do and even the monologue you're about to do. When it comes to monologues, though, I would say that it's much more yes, still again showing your own personality, but really staying true to what the story is trying to convey. They want to know how can you bring their story to life. So staying connected to that Sound good, amazing.
Speaker 1:Let's do two more questions. Let's do two more questions and then other ones I'll save for another week. Question here is when navigating, when we navigate the industry and agents, how or what's the best way to go forward in finding an agent for you who, maybe, if you don't have an agent yet, you haven't had a show under your belt and you're looking for the best way to find an agent? This is a really good question. So if you're someone that is navigating the industry and you're looking for an agent, the best thing that I would recommend personally again, this is my own opinion is that I would think of it as though, if you're looking for an agent, you're looking for a business partner. You're looking to present yourself, to show them that you are worth presenting to the world and to be putting put forward under their agency.
Speaker 1:So you want to collect a portfolio, you want to have your headshots done. You wouldn't mean business. I would mean. That's what I would want to do. I would want to show up, I would want to connect and see what agents are matching my energy and matching my vision, asking for interviews with these different agents to get an understanding of who they are, what can they provide to you, because, at the end of the day, I think a lot of us performers forget that they work for us. Yes, we work together, but when we get into a show, we're paying them. So it's in your best interest to get along with them. It's in your best interest to know what they're about and what they can bring in terms of value to you as well.
Speaker 1:But that's what I would do. Go in there with either a show reel, whatever you have, whether that's collecting the best or the latest. I would say the latest, not the best, because you don't want to hyper-focus on making it your best ever. But, yeah, something vocal. If it's musical theatre, you want a vocal, a singing and an acting. Boom, put it forward and just have that ready. Reach out to agents and I hope that helps. So that's what I would recommend if you're looking for an agent. I've also got a podcast episode about what an agent does for you in musical theatre. So if you don't know what a musical theatre agent can do for you, I'll link in this episode at the bottom of this when I repost it about that episode so you can check out what an agent can do for you. Fantastic, all right, let's get into the final. How are we up to? Yes? Final question we have here. We are final to last two questions and then we're done.
Speaker 1:So this question is when it comes to vocal, the vocal style of a show. I feel like I've answered this already. I'll ask it anyway. When it comes to the vocal style of the show, is it best to bring your own unique style example, adding riffs, adding runs or different interpretations of the music, the show? Is it best to bring your own unique style example, adding riffs, adding runs or different interpretations of the music or is it better to stick to the, say, the original recording of the show in terms of the style and what is done before? I've just answered this kind of before. Yeah, listen back.
Speaker 1:But essentially what I asked, what I answered was when it comes to vocal style, definitely stay true to the style of the show, but it's always going to be so much more important that you showcase you, your talents. If you feel like there is a space in that show that's quite poppy, that does runs and does riffs, add them in, go for it, absolutely. But if you'll say, going for Cats the musical and you're singing a classical or you're singing a version and then you're wanting to bring in something like riffs or runs, you know, maybe not as appropriate, but again, it's all about just showcasing you as a person and your vibe, your energy and your personality with the material that's been given, and adding that and mixing that with showcasing how well you can share the story of the piece itself. It's like a little bit of both. I would always say use the material that's written on paper as like your base. I wouldn't go in there and just do what's been recorded before or what's been on the paper. Like you're as an artist, you are an individual that has all these other capabilities. So take those notes, take the music, take the monologues and stuff off the page and make it come through the lens of who you are as an artist. That's going to just translate so much more than anything else.
Speaker 1:Let's get into the last one. Are casting directors coming in with? I can answer that one. If you want to know what casting directors are looking for, you can listen to the start of this episode. Okay, final one, an easy one to finish with.
Speaker 1:So what type of clothing should you wear to an audition to stand out? Okay, this is interesting because I know a lot of different schools say all wear black and wear this and wear that, Personally, I always go in wearing something A that I feel really comfortable in, that I feel like a million dollars in, or that I feel yes, or that I feel is a real, true representation of the show and this kind of story and the energy that I'm wanting to jump into, does that make sense? So I would, because, again, if you're not feeling comfortable and you're not feeling a million bucks, you're not going to show that right, you're not going to show up as your best self if you're trying to be a carbon copy of someone else because you're like, oh, that's what everyone else is wearing, so I should be wearing that, okay. But in saying that, of course, going in trackies and feeling comfort, we don't. It depends on the show, but you want to marry the feeling comfy with more so in yourself, like what brings you that sense of let's do this. I feel really good in what I'm wearing. Let's go.
Speaker 1:And in terms of standing out, I always love adding a little bit of color, whether it's blues, my color, blues and greens. I would probably wear something like this to even sing. And just again, what's showcasing your personality? If you're a fiery person, where's the red Wear? Some red Wear, some that with the black. I think blacks are really beautiful because it just makes everything quite neat and it's really easy to see everyone when you're on the other side of the panel, which I had the privilege of doing. But you also want to have little pops of color. If you're just all in black, it's just not going to. You're going to wash out with the rest of the people. Maybe this is something in your hair, maybe this is a belt or a shoe or something, but don't go too crazy on the accessories. So there we go.
Speaker 1:We answered a super many questions One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, ten or eleven questions. But if you have any other questions, feel free to comment on the live or the live on our Facebook group or on our live on Instagram. And what I'm doing from now on is that every second week I'm actually going to be coming on live and we're going to be answering the questions from the community, and every other week we're going to have interviewed guests. That I've been usually doing published. So this is going to be more tapping into the stories and the experiences of professional artists in the industries, understanding how they navigated the things that you're navigating right now in terms of mindset, in terms of navigating auditions and the whole experience what it's like to first book a show and how to navigate all of that fun stuff.
Speaker 1:So thank you for joining the Dive podcast. I'm so, so happy that you're here. I hope this kind of question and Q&A has helped you in some sort of way. Please comment in, let me know if you like this form of podcast sessions, and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.
Speaker 1:This is a really exciting time, as we're getting into the end of the year, and I just want to finish with one little note is that remember the goals you set for yourself at the start of the year. You know, maybe you haven't quite got there this year. What I want you to do is that don't just write off December. Don't go oh, it's Christmas and then it's all done and we'll start a new year. There's still time for you to complete your goals and in terms of that, it's like setting up some routines. Reflect on what's gone well, what can you bring into this new year, but also, what can you do to finish this year super strong, feeling super fulfilled. You have 100 control of that. So I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day and I look forward to seeing you all soon. Bye, bye for now.