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Hi there, my dd auditioned for both NYMT and YMT for the first time this year. She made it to the call backs for 13 in London with Jason Robert Brown but wasn't cast , she did, however, have a great time at the audition in Manchester and the call back in London and loved meeting Mr Brown! She auditioned for YMT around the same time and was cast in The Salsa Sisters in Plymouth. The director of the show was Steven Dexter, also director of the current West End production of Loserville. She had been away from home before on school trips for around 4 days or so, this was her first time away for a period of almost 2 weeks and not knowing a single soul She had the most amazing time, she shared a room with two other girls of a similar age (dd turned 13 in the summer), the pastoral staff were fab, she just loved every single minute of it! The days were very long, breakfast at 8am, rehearsals from 9am til around 8pm each day, working towards the three shows at The Barbican at the end of the fortnight. The resulting performances were amazing - such a high standard and an incredibly talented cast. The age range was very mixed from 12 right up to around 20, approx half girls, half boys. My dd would do this all summer if she possibly could! We live in the North of England so it was a very long journey for us to Plymouth, probably couldn't have been cast in a production any further away really! When we went to pick our dd up on the last day she was very teary as were most of the cast, they had just had the most incredible time together, they still keep in touch now. If your dd/ds loves musical theatre and wants to learn, work hard, play hard and have the most wonderful summer - then I can thoroughly recommend it! Happy to answer any questions anyone may have!

Reach for the stars - I echo everything you have said - my dd had exactly the same experience in 'Tess'. She friends of all ages and can't wait to see them all at the reunion "Let it Snow" show in December. She is dying to do it again next year....

Oh thank you changemystory So pleased there was another NAPMer in it and enjoying themselves. I loved the "cockpit" and the dancers. Had your dd done one before? I hope we can make another one but I don't often get a half term off as holiday

She had a fabulous time! It was a first - it's all been about dance, dance and then some more dance up until this year, when it would seem she's also caught the musical theatre bug and could I have some singing lessons please mum?!

Booking is now live and place bagged for 6th Jan
Good luck all, the audition process is a great experience in itself !!!
Go for it !

We're booked in to audition on 6th January too!

Can someone tell me the Audition dates for NYT in London as it doesn't seem to give Audition Dates or Dates of when the production would be and I don't want to book and it collide with audition dates for NYMT and YMT (if we decide to go for them all !

Thank you

Thanks for the encouragement and info reachforthestars and the mumster . If you read this reachforthestars, please could you tell me what age boys they had in salsa sisters and whether the dancers had all done latin before? Ds thinks he wouldn't get in it unless he can already salsa - but I know he would love to learn to salsa...

riverdancefan wrote:Booking is now live and place bagged for 6th Jan
Good luck all, the audition process is a great experience in itself !!!
Go for it !

I'm so pleased you've gone for it riverdancefan

changemystory wrote:We're booked in to audition on 6th January too!

Good luck to your dd changemystory - the singing of some of the other kids on that NYMT course was amazing wasn't it - I can see why your dd wants singing lessons. Hope you can find the time and money for them on top of her dance classes.

We haven't quite got round to applications yet

Hi Hecouldshine, the boys ranged in age from 13 years upwards. I think there were a handful around 13/14 and then i'd say the oldest was late teens. They were a great bunch. And don't worry about the salsa dancing, my dd was heavily involved in the dance side of things - there were 4 main girl and boy dancers ( 8 total ) and I'm pretty sure that none of them had done any salsa before! They were all pretty good dancers though and the choreographer was fantastic. The show may or may not follow the same format as it did this summer as they will have a bigger budget etc and who knows if they may require more dancers or not?! They spent the first day or so deciding who was going to do what and I'd imagine if you show expertise in dance then they may well use you for that, if you play an instrument at around grade 8 level then you may feature more so in that - they're very good at bringing the best out in everyone! If you look on the YMT website, a lot of the photographs used, actually show the cast of The Salsa Sisters! I'm not sure if they will end up doing more shows than the ones advertised online at the moment, as they actually did quite a few this year, around 6 or 7 I think. My dd had so much fun with it and was partnered with a boy for a lot of numbers which she enjoyed as she doesn't often get the chance to dance with boys - so come on boys!! DD will be auditioning again too, hoping that she is lucky once more and can fit everything in to her busy schedule!

The Mumster - my dd was also looking forward to Let It Snow - but she's now got an exciting project on at exactly the same time, so sadly we can't make it, she was really looking forward to meeting up with the others again too, we even had a hotel booked for the 2 nights but this was such a great opportunity for her! Hope your dd enjoys it.

Good luck to your dd changemystory - the singing of some of the other kids on that NYMT course was amazing wasn't it - I can see why your dd wants singing lessons. Hope you can find the time and money for them on top of her dance classes.

There were some lovely voices on the NYMT course - DD sees herself in the ensemble rather than solo. We're very lucky to have an Opera Singer living close by who has taken DD in hand and given her some ad hoc lessons before now prior to her first Musical Theatre audition. What she learnt in an hour about posture, breathing, volume, pulling high notes up from the floor, shoulders relaxed etc was far more than in a whole year of group singing at Saturday school (although that's still great fun) and so definitely worth it and made a huge difference so we'll be squeezing in some more sessions. Ad hoc it has to remain though owing to as you guessed time and money, and siblings! A major motivation for me in looking at a forum like this is in fact to reassure that completely bonkers we may be in what we do for our DCs but we are not alone!

Thanks reachforthestars. That was really helpful. Ds and I have just sat reading your post together and I showed him some yotube clips from the plymouth production

Changemystory I think ad hoc singing lessons are a good compromise - that's what we do, getting them when needed from a local music teacher who already gives ds and dd their piano and violin lessons. I'm glad you've found someone who is flexible Good luck to your dd in the auditions. BTW any hints on how to download a passport style photo please? Do we just take a head and shoulders shot and edit it?

Thanks all, for all the information Good Luck to all auditioning.

BTW any hints on how to download a passport style photo please? Do we just take a head and shoulders shot and edit it?

Hecouldshine, no idea whether it was the right thing to do or not, but when I submitted for DD, I just took a head and shoulders shot we had and put a maximum size on it to upload and that seemed to work ok. I got a message on the website saying thanks your application and payment were successful or words to that effect anyway, and haven't heard anything since to say there was any problem with photo.

Good luck to your DS and all others auditioning

Thanks for that changemystory. We're going to have a go tonight Good Luck We're going to put Newcastle, for the 5th.

Just puzzled to see that one of the 2 new musicals that was listed, "Cautionary Tales", has dissappeared from the list on the NYMT website Looks like they've had to scrap it for some reason??

Hadn't spotted that Hecouldshine. Nosey side of me wants to know why now as well of course! Does anyone know the format for the auditions e.g. workshop style and you just turn up, or whether you need to prepare song & monologue ahead of time? We've just had a confirmation email - you're booked for X date - but no instructions regards the actual day as yet.

changemystory wrote:Hadn't spotted that Hecouldshine. Nosey side of me wants to know why now as well of course! Does anyone know the format for the auditions e.g. workshop style and you just turn up, or whether you need to prepare song & monologue ahead of time? We've just had a confirmation email - you're booked for X date - but no instructions regards the actual day as yet.

you get instructions and format emailed to you nearer the date, I remember it was workshop style as far as the dancing was concerned and you have to prepare a song with sheet music, NYMT send you a list of all those they can provide too, if you get stuck, a big long list to choose from.
you can perform songs from the shows they are presenting...
It shouldn't be long and you will get the info through, they are great workshops.

I can't remember what he did for recalls..I THINK he had to prepare something from the show itself as he did sing "13" - heck it was only this year and I have forgotten and he is in bed so I can't ask him...