Casting Call: The Job of a Casting Director

Does she have the voice? Is he the right height? Can he dance?  These are all questions a casting director will ask while holding auditions for a musical.  When putting on a musical production there is a creative team and a production team working together to produce a extraordinary show.  The production team consists of a producer, investor, general manager, stage manager, house manager dance captain, casting director, advertising, press representative, and actors.  The creative team consists of the composer, librettist, director, choreographer, set designer, costumer designers, light designer, musical director, sound designer, orchestrator, choreographer, and cast.                  

In my opinion, the casting director in musical theater plays one of the most important roles on the production team.  This is, of course, the individual in charge of selecting talent.  He/she is responsible for filling roles from the principles characters to the chorus.  A casting director (and team) may audition thousands of people over the course of a month.  The first audition is usually an open call.  This audition is open to all actors/actresses that are interested in being cast in the musical.  The casting director will then ask a few hundred people (or less) to return for a callback audition.  This process is very similar to the American Idol auditions that we have seen on television for many years. Sometimes actors that are chosen return for several auditions before they receive the role.  Musical auditions can include singing, dancing, and acting, and can last for several hours.

 Sometimes a director already has a particular actor in mind that he/she would like to cast for a role.  It is the casting director’s responsibility to arrange an audition for this performer or performers. Casting Directors usually work as free agents, casting for a number of productions at one time.  Even though the casting director selects the cast, he/she does not have much creative freedom.  They must choose the cast based off of the director’s vision.  Oftentimes, decisions on race, age, and body type are out of the casting director’s hands.

Many casting directors have a performance background, and have experienced the audition process themselves.  This helps to assist them in casting.  Overall, the casting director’s job is one of the most important, but overlooked portions of production in musical theater.  The cast is what the audience remembers and loves about a musical.  The casting director is responsible for finding that talented cast that is later celebrated with the success of the show. 

Check out the video below.  It gave me a lot of insight on casting directors working in theatre.