NYMT

Hi Aplo. Spotted your DD at drop off on Saturday - was dropping DS for Battle of Boat. Glad your DD is enjoying it. DS is having an amazing time. Did you know the October tickets are already on sale?

I agree EvilTwins, but remember people have paid to audition

If they want to work in the industry, they have a few more years of paying for auditions ahead of them. My 6th form students who are currently applying for courses are shelling out £££££ in audition fees.

Interesting discussion though, Fantine!

To be honest the regional audition fee is not enormous. I think it was £48? It's what you would pay for a day's workshop anywhere with a local performing arts organisation. DS went thinking he was going to get a day's workshop with some excellent people and if anything else came of it, that was a bonus. There was no further charge for the recalls, other than the travel to London. I assume that £48 covers the costs of venue hire, staff time and travel expenses. It won't be making much money for the coffers. I do take your point about the tweet, but I don't think anybody could reasonably infer that NYMT takes your money and then casts exactly who they had always intended to cast anyway! The SA parts are going to be high profile, and a BIG ask of the young people. I think it's reasonable that they would cast mostly from the ranks of the tried and tested, with so much at stake. It's very possible that some fabulous, unknown 17/18 year olds have turned up this year, and been cast in Boat, for example. When they prove their mettle this summer perhaps they'll be considered for the flagship show next year. I don't really see anything wrong with that.

Sorry for the multiple posts. No idea what happened?

I agree EvilTwins, but remember people have paid to audition, so I think NYMT have a duty to be seen to be fair and doing things absolutely correctly.
They appear to pride themselves on being nice, welcoming, encouraging etc. Not sure that this is the reality though.

I think that kids who are serious about working in this industry need to learn to deal with the unfairness of it all.

The boy I teach who was up for Spring Awakening is not upset about this. He knows that getting a recall means he was good enough for the show but that on this occasion he might not look right/fit the director's vision/be too tall/too skinny/too blond etc etc

As a school drama teacher, I make sure no one is ever excluded but with something like NYT/NYMT, they have to make it more real.

You could be right EvilTwins, but I think it was foolish of NYMT to retweet that photo and comment, just hours before the cast list came out. I presume that there were others re called for that part. I wonder how they felt when they saw that tweet[and they will have done] Just seems a bit wrong to me.

You could be right EvilTwins, but I think it was foolish of NYMT to retweet that photo and comment, just hours before the cast list came out. I presume that there were others re called for that part. I wonder how they felt when they saw that tweet[and they will have done] Just seems a bit wrong to me.

You could be right EvilTwins, but I think it was foolish of NYMT to retweet that photo and comment, just hours before the cast list came out. I presume that there were others re called for that part. I wonder how they felt when they saw that tweet[and they will have done] Just seems a bit wrong to me.

You could be right EvilTwins, but I think it was foolish of NYMT to retweet that photo and comment, just hours before the cast list came out. I presume that there were others re called for that part. I wonder how they felt when they saw that tweet[and they will have done] Just seems a bit wrong to me.

You could be right EvilTwins, but I think it was foolish of NYMT to retweet that photo and comment, just hours before the cast list came out. I presume that there were others re called for that part. I wonder how they felt when they saw that tweet[and they will have done] Just seems a bit wrong to me.

You could be right EvilTwins, but I think it was foolish of NYMT to retweet that photo and comment, just hours before the cast list came out. I presume that there were others re called for that part. I wonder how they felt when they saw that tweet[and they will have done] Just seems a bit wrong to me.

Possibly Evil Twins. I still feel that it was naive and foolish of NYMT to re tweet that photo. Presumably there were others up for the part? I wonder how they felt when they saw that tweet[and they will have done], hours before the official cast list came out. Just doesn't seem right to me, especially when everybody speaks so highly of NYMT.
Maybe I'm being too cynical, but I suppose that once they've got your audition fee, they can do what they like!

I don't know FANTINE, there was a lot of publicity the day before about Leicester Curve and NYMT becoming official partners and a launch event at the theatre. It was inevitable that they were going to advertise Spring Awakening at the launch event - presumably it was planned way in advance and since that boy has worked with them on other productions it was an easy option to get him to do a song from the show. I would imagine it was planned well before the recalls last weekend.

I know that your points concerning your DS are valid, Biscuits. I think that the profile thing becomes more of an issue as the kids get older.
I do think, however that NYMT are seriously naive/foolish to re tweet a photo from the Curve of the person who would subsequently be given the male lead singing a song from SA, whilst standing in front of a huge advertisement for the show. All this before the official cast lists had come out.
I may be missing something[and if I am, i apologise], but presumably there were others being considered for the part? Just seems a little wrong to me.
I wonder how the other kids felt on seeing that?

Well my DS, having just got in, has no profile, no agent, and doesn't know anyone involved. And he met people at recalls who had done NYMT before and it looks as if they haven't all got in again. One of the leads in SA had done previous years but didn't get a part in anything last year. I honestly think they cast the kids who best match the parts available once they get to recall stage - they're all talented. If the same names crop up over and over it will just be that they are so very castable. It doesn't prevent newcomers from breaking in though.

I know that they are all super talented, but I too know that there is a clique.
I noticed that a few hours before the cast list came out, the Curve Leicester, [the venue for SA]tweeted a photo of Nathanael on stage, just having finished singing a song from SA!If I was one of the other hopefuls, not sure that would have filled me with confidence!.
However, well done to everyone who did get cast, and I hope you enjoy your experience at NYMT.

The person who was in the x factor ( Nat) was in NYMT West Side story way before their X Factor exposure. D
D has been in NYMT and there is definitely a 'clique' but they are mostly hugely talented and able.

It is disappointing when youngsters are not cast. Recalls etc mean that hopes are raised. Having studied casts over the last few years, a few things do stand out to me.
It would appear that many of the successful kids already have a "profile". Last year the female lead in Sweet Charity had been in a BBC series, and this year, one of the leads in Spring Awakening is an X factor contestant.
This person has featured heavily on NYMT Twitter feed for several weeks now.
At the very least many of the successful cast members already have agents, and are already at schools such as Arts Ed. I think that once you are in you often get cast the following year.
I am in no doubt that these kids are extremely talented, and I believe the production teams when they say that they could cast these roles many times over. However, with a few exceptions, i think that they will always go with the kids who have profile, rather than rather than taking a chance on an unknown/ordinary albeit talented child.

And the director of Boat even tweeted that NYMT turned her down at 16 too - and now they let her run its shows!!
Emma Hatton is seriously talented. Good job she didn't let the rejection stop her pursuing her dream (although I did make a point of showing DS when we saw it that it says in the programme she got an English degree before training as a performer!!).