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DAVID CHASE
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David Chase
Broadway - Dance Arranger and Music Supervisor! Currently Musical Director of Billy Elliot on Broadway
DAVID CHASE Broadway (Music Supervisor): Pajama Game, Flower Drum Song, Music Man, Side Show, Little Me, Damn Yankees. Broadway (Dance Arranger): Cry-Baby; Little Mermaid; Curtains; The Wedding Singer; Pajama Game; Thoroughly Modern Millie; Flower Drum Song; Kiss Me, Kate; Seussical; Side Show; and …Forum. London (Dance Arranger): Evita, Guys and Dolls. Also: Boston Pops, Radio City. Musical training: Harvard biology degree. Dedicated to my own Mrs. Wilkinson, Joan Bedinger (1939-2008), Woodson High School drama teacher and friend.
| Q: | How did you get started in the business as a musical director? | | A: | I took piano lessons for 5 years as a kid and hated every minute of
it! I always enjoyed making music, though. I performed onstage
through high school and most of college, and while playing bass for
one season of summer stock right after college, I realized that I
implicitly understood more about the function of music in the theater than the music director, who was a conservatory-trained pianist. I also realized that I was definitely NOT destined for a life on the stage. I returned to Boston and spent four years as the pianist/music director/arranger for Forbidden Broadway, where I learned piles about "Musical Theater" past and present. I also got to see every touring production and pre-Broadway tryout that came through Boston from 1985 to early 1990, and went out of my way to talk to all the people I could about what it meant to do this professionally. I took the New York plunge in January of 1990 and never looked back. |
| Q: | You are so passionate about your music and that passion is contagious to people who work with you. What catches your attention in an audition? | | A: | Self-awareness and the confidence to bare one's soul. I don't like
artifice. I love a great voice but only when it sounds like it comes out of the person who's singing. Conversely, I don't mind if someone doesn't have a great voice if it sounds like it's the way that person would sing. If there's any single piece of advice that trumps all others, it's "Be yourself". As simple as that sounds, it's often
quite difficult, because it requires knowing enough about who you are to know how to present the truth. Never apologize. If you're right for a role or a job, the people on this side of the table will accept your strengths and work around your weaknesses. If you're not right, no amount of preparation will turn you into something you're not. The logical conclusion is that if you've presented yourself as you are, there's nothing gained by beating yourself up over what you think may have been a bad audition. |
 | | David & Kathleen Marshall |
| Q: | Generally dancers are asked to sing 16 bars at auditions. Why only 16 bars? What are you looking for in a short cut of music? | | A: | We learn volumes about you simply by the way you walk into the room. I am rarely surprised by what then comes out of someone's mouth. It depends on the needs of a specific show, but if you are being considered primarily as a dancer, I need you to be able to hold pitch, have good time, and show me an understanding of phrasing.
(Some side notes: there is almost no such thing as being "tone
deaf". Bad pitch is often the result of being lazy-- i.e., not doing
your homework ---, especially in learning the "in-between"
pitches. Bad pitch sometimes comes from the inability to sustain
notes, which is usually caused by a lack of breathing and/or
support. You can start to fix that with a trip or three to a good
voice teacher. You go to dance class, don't you? "Having a good time" is another way of saying "can you keep the beat?". I can't hire you to sing in a chorus if you can't sing the right rhythms. I don't want or expect you to be slavish to the rhythms in the printed music, but I need you to show me an awareness of where the beat is. "An understanding of phrasing" means, essentially, do you understand the words you're singing? Are you making them into musical sentences that have a flow and an arc? Are you breathing where it's appropriate? If it's a swing song, can you "swing"? Devote yourself to learning the details of your songs as intimately as you know the position of your feet or your arms in ballet class, and you will immediately be a better singer.)
I am always thrilled when someone comes to a dance call and shows
they can truly sing --- which, remember, is more about confidence
than anything else. Most importantly, if there's something I don't
hear in your 16 bars, I may ask for another song, or you may go into a callback pile and be asked to sing more at a later time. Usually, sixteen bars is more than enough to tell me all I need to know for the first audition. |
| Q: | How many songs should you have in your book? | | A: | As many as you feel comfortable singing (within reason). One
important thing: don't put a song in your book until you know it ---
if it's in there, I may ask you to do it for me. The key is to only
put songs in that you connect with and that you feel show you well. I'm not a fan of the "look at everything I can do in 16 bars" style of auditioning. It strikes me as desperate. If you have an understanding of period style, have a traditional popular song (i.e. Berlin/Gershwin/Rodgers&Hart/Porter/Kern). Have something intimate that shows you. Many people ask for "pop" or "contemporary", but the definitions are so broad that it's nearly impossible to have an appropriate song for every audition. Again, find something that you connect with. Also, have a "traditional
musical theater" song --- which usually means something from the late 40's through mid-60's (Rodgers & Hammerstein/Bock & Harnick/Kander & Ebb/Styne/Herman/etc.). Your song choices should and will change as your life changes. But if there's only one song that you feel comfortable with, only have that one. If your main calling card is as a dancer --- and you deliver on that front -- I will forgive your lack of musical material. I may make you sing scales or "Happy Birthday" or "Over the Rainbow" or learn a musical phrase from the show. (So if that makes you nervous, learn more songs!) |
| Q: | How important is "acting" your song in an audition? | | A: | Clear and simple answer: There is no such thing as singing without
acting. If you don't understand the words you're singing, get out of
the business. Sounds harsh, I know, but it is simply not possible to
have a successful career in professional musical theater without
having some connection with the story you are telling, whether you're telling it through movement or sound. Learn the words. Connect with the story they tell. Tell your own internal version of that story. Take me on a journey. Can you do that in 16 bars? It's not always easy, but try. |
| Q: | Often casting breakdowns will say, “Sing in the style of the show". What if a performer has nothing in their book that is the appropriate style? | | A: | See #4. An additional thought: I know it's hard to research every show you're auditioning for, and it's expensive to by tickets/get coaching’s/buy sheet music/whatever, so you have to decide how much effort it's worth spending on a specific audition. It certainly helps when someone comes in prepared musically for the world of the show, but ultimately it's my job to worry about whether I feel you can learn what you need to learn. You will help me see your
potential if you're singing something stylistically closer to the world of the show, but ultimately I will judge how much I feel you can learn and adapt.
One thing you can do: make an effort even if the song itself is
inappropriate. For example, if you bring a pop song into a
"traditional" audition, don't wail like a pop star -- try to show me, within the boundaries of the song you have, that you can adjust yourself to the world of the show. On the other hand, there's not
much worse than someone trying to "pop up" a song for a
"contemporary" audition. Show me first and foremost that you are confident and that you connect with what material you have. And don't apologize. |
| Q: | What are your thoughts on listing vocal type and range on your resume? (specifically for dancers who sing) | | A: | If you feel confident in how you define yourself, then by all means,
put the information on. Don't exaggerate your abilities, but don't sell yourself short either. If you claim to have a high "C", be prepared to sing it. Likewise if you claim to belt up to E or F or beyond. Don't assume you're an alto just because you've never sung high. I also like knowing whether you've had any experience learning vocal parts or playing an instrument. |
| Q: | What would be the most important piece of advice that you could give to performers when they are auditioning? | | A: | Be yourself. Believe in yourself. Have confidence and commit wholly
to what you are doing, what you are saying, and what you are communicating. Know that we on this side of the table want you to succeed --- we want you to be the person we're looking for. If you're not, you can't talk us into it. But if you are that perfect person for this role in this show, it's yours for the taking. |
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