The Hit and Myth of Casting.

By JBR

I’ve been thinking.

Right now I would posit that there is not one example of ‘celebrity’ casting in a West End musical and yet I still managed to have the same tired old conversation today about how this malady is ruining musical theatre.

I’m not about to get into the statistics, you can work that out for yourself, but even if there was one celebrity in EVERY West End musical, it would still be a tiny, tiny, tiny percentage. The West End is filled with trained, experienced, qualified performers who have worked hard - they are the majority, the overwhelming majority of the West End, so why are we so sniffy about the 1% of roles that are cast from less 'legitimate' means?

There is an obvious financial draw to having a celebrity. Having a name attached can help sell tickets, and thus provide work for hundreds of performers, creatives, FOH, management, backstage and technical staff (yes, they too are ‘the West End’ and their livelihoods also depend on the continued success of this multimillion pound industry). Much as we’d love to value artistic integrity above pecuniary reward the bald truth is that without the money there wouldn't be a show. So how about we, maybe, get over ourselves a little bit? I say we, but as I'm about to reveal; I'm no longer an actor.

I’ve spent the last year working for one of the West End’s top casting directors stage-managing auditions for her exceptional rosta of West End shows. If you’ve auditioned for a West End musical in the last year, it may well have been me on the door, trying to calm your nerves, perk you up, cuddle you, wipe your tears, chat to your mum, order you a taxi, run your lines, text your boyfriend, chase after you with your rep folder, lend you a fiver, avert my eyes while you undress, look after your baby, feed your dog, teach you English (all these are true), and generally try to make sure that what is a difficult and nerve-wracking experience is as helpful and happy a process as it can be. It has been one of the most enjoyable and insightful jobs I’ve ever had and I have absolutely loved it and been incredibly grateful for the opportunity. l have loved the year I spent working for Pippa Ailion, it taught me so much about myself as an actor. So much, in fact, that it led to me leaving acting to become an agent.

My job saw me in and out of the room, working with and talking to some of the most amazing, creative talented people in this industry. In that time quite a few celebrities have passed through my door. If you cast your mind back across the terrific casts that have graced the West End in the last year, you’ll maybe believe me when I tell you that not only were none of them given an easy ride in the audition process - but none of them got the job either. Now, I’m not privy to the conversations in the room, and even if I were, I certainly wouldn’t be repeating them here, but that’s a pretty telling statistic, wouldn’t you say? This is the truth - 99% of casting is done on merit, and the 1% that isn’t, well, I can promise you that they are put through the wringer just as much as everyone else. No-one gets handed anything on a plate. No-one. Not the international pop star, nor the famous soap actor. They might get a bit of extra cosseting from the panel, maybe they’re handled a little more carefully than everyone else, but in that room only one thing matters; Can they play the part?

So maybe what the problem is, really, we feel more entitled because we trained. We spent a fortune, we saddled ourselves with debt, we immersed ourselves in study for one, two or three years (and don’t even get me started on that particular hierarchy!). We feel better equipped. We feel, sometimes, let’s admit it, like it’s our due. Maybe that’s why we get sniffy about these celebrities coming in here and stealing ‘our’ jobs (someone alert the Daily Mail). Did they throw up five days in a row after a tough dance class? Were their voices criticised? Were they pushed to their limits? To tears? To frustrated anger? Were they marked out of 100 for acting, singing, dancing? No/ Then how dare they leapfrog us? To paraphrase Fanny Brice in Funny Girl “They haven’t suffered enough! It’s all too easy!”

Here’s an odd thing. Money can’t buy talent. Nothing is taught by osmosis. I was a secondary school teacher for a while and that was one of my favourite phrases - nothing is taught by osmosis, it doesn’t just seep in while you’re sat there daydreaming in the classroom. Three years at drama school tells the panel that you spent three years at drama school. It doesn’t tell them anything more than that. You survived. You got through, and we can only hope that some of what you were taught made sense to you and has informed your process.

Drama schools in this country have some of the best teachers in the world. Note that - some of the best teachers. It’s not automatic that great teachers produce great actors. Sure it helps, but actors teach themselves. We learn best from doing. Being taught is not enough, you must also practice it. You can be shown how to open the door of your talent, but no-one can force you through. So here’s a question. If I’m right, and we learn best by doing, then what is the difference between spending two years in a West End show, surrounded by the cream of the cream of the industry and spending two years in a drama school? At the end of those two years, who is in the best condition? I’d suggest they’re on a pretty even par. I might even go so far as to say that the West End performer, celebrity or not, working day in and day out with the best directors, musical directors and choreographers in the industry, nonpareil, might actually have the edge. Maybe not the knowledge, but knowing everything isn’t actually the same as being any good.

And while I’m on this, here’s something else. The Casting Director is seen as the gatekeeper to the hallowed ground of ‘the room’. We flatter them, buy them drinks, shower them with free tickets all in the hope that they’ll call us in. On their shows they are listed as part of the creative team - that's because they have a creative input into the show, their opinion is vital in a whole number of ways, and not just because when you blow out that top note, or are attacked by nerves, or just screw it up in any of a million ways, the Casting Director is the one telling the panel that you need to be called back, you’re much better than that, you deserve a second chance to show what you can do.

So how come, in those rambling, tearful acceptance speeches at the Oliviers, the Tonys, the Oscars - no-one ever says ‘thank you’ to the Casting Director?

Thank you Pippa Ailion, Jim Arnold and Natalie Gallacher. Thank you for the early mornings and the late finishes. Thank you for knowing every single track on every single show you cast. Thank you for sifting through the thousands of applications and emails. Thank you for the texts at 3am when you’re just going to bed and you’ve remembered something we need for five hours time. Thank you for sitting in frequently underheated rooms listening to the hundredth person sing Lost in the Wilderness and keeping that encouraging smile on your face. Thank you for making the effort to get to know every single actor that has come through the door. Thank you for organising open auditions to discover new talent. Thank you for believing in and caring about this industry and the precious talent within it.

And of course, thank you for the music.

@JoshRochford

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