Tickle Me Alfie

A couple of fridays ago, I auditioned for Sesame Street Live!
SO, the posting for this one said looking for trained musical theatre dancers, with Ballet and Jazz technique, for full costumed characters. Ok, now I'm thinking they're just saying that so they won't get goofy people who have no idea what they're doing,( which happens, even in Broadway auditions).
SO I show up at the Wachovia Spectrum center here in philly, and realize the audition takes place right on the set and the stage of the show, kind of cool, back stage seeing all the props, and super grover flying, and costume heads. Definitley pretty neat. You definitely don't realize how childish you still are, until you see yourself surrounded by your childhood joys.
So we start learning a combination, it's a fun goofy one, the easy one of the 2 we're going to learn. And we're having a good time, but I'm realizing that in midst of this fun combination, wham there's a kick to the face, and WHam! another one, and then fun marching, big jump, yeah, WHam! jump turn, and another(I forget the Ballet term, sorry). I was like ok, glad I stretched. So I see what they mean about people with dance experience, you had to know your feeting so you could do the extended tricks.
But you could still ham it up. So we start the other combination, mind you without doing the first one for the video, or for a cut, which is what usually happens,(you learn a simple dance, they make a cut, and then you learn the harder) Nope, we went right on, Oh great, now I have to remember that choreography as well, but shove it to the back of my mind. So He starts teaching, and I think I just stood there as he went over the first counts of 8 like a bullet shooting out of a gun. "um, can you show that again?"
We ended up doing this cha cha combination that was fast and furious with all sorts of spanish flair, and by the way this is all technique. Started off with this big spanish pique in attitude, and never stopped from then on. to weired pas de bereaus, to 4 channe turns into of all things a side tilt!!! What the heck!( now I know most of you have no idea what I'm talking about, which is funny for me, but just know it's really difficult.) SO I ask who does all this in the show, and they said everybody, Are you kidding so Ernie, Elmo, and The Count are all tilted sideways with their leg above there face? gees louise!
So anyway, we break up in groups and do the 2 dances. I wasn't worried cause at this audition I was the only real all around dance guy,( there was this great tapper though). I t was kind of crazy cause after we did the 2 combinations, they asked us to do a ballet combination across the floor with a big leap, 2 pirouettes right and left, battema's across the floor, if we could tap a double time step, and a cartwheel right and left. Phew! Gollee gee wiz! What else rub my belly and pat my head. hahaha.
That went well, but then they asked if anybody was going to audition for the live role, the 1 person in the show who is just themselves, ( the girl in the picture), and there were only 4 , 2 guys and 2 girls. I asked if I had to have a monologue, and they were like yeah, besides the 2 songs, so I figured that I was not going to do it. Then I saw the others go, and was thinking to myself," are you kidding", Alfie come on you were born for improv, Oh by the way God has given me a great creative mind for Improv, I've gotten some cool accomplishments thru it. I basically challenged myself, "if you call your self a good actor you should be able to make up one on the spot, so, they called me up, and I knew I had this in the bag. I went on stage slated my name, sang my 2 songs as if the whole arena was full( something the others forgot), and then I introduced my monologue from the play "Alfies Mind" called I love clouds. It was awesome! I never felt so proud of myself, and so on, like I was just meant to perform. Left that audition knowing that I had rocked it. They should call me back in may for a fall tour.