NYMT-2019

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Just booked DD(14)'s audition, her first year. Very nervous for her and there are three months to go.

She has done well as the big fish in a small pond and had really good NODA reports, comments on Lamda exams and in local competitions. Now it is time for her to put herself out there in the big wide world.
We know the odds are against her and we talk about the experience being good.

We may see you in Bristol then @Lonecatwithkitten ! My DD is much younger (12) so I think this year may just be for experience. Although she also has a shot at musician with both, so double the chance I guess 😊

Auditions open - have done DD’s; maybe see you there Folk!

I expect so @Stringchild - we are auditioning in your neck of the woods!!!

Ps she's booked in for both stage performer and musician auditions! Eek!

Ah we are just musician-ing; let me know when you get your spots and we might even manage coffee at last 😊

We have just signed up for the London BYMT audition in Feb 2020. DD is 11 and we are just using this as a workshop but we've gone for BYMT as they seem a lot more open to newcomers. Does anyone know if they do the show rehearsals during term time?

The rehearsals/shows are between mid July and early September ( last session finished 1/9 this year) it will depend on where in the country you are as to whether they need to miss school. DD finished the 1/9 and had three DC from Aberdeen on her show who all were considered educated off site for the duration of the rehearsals show.
Some shows have casting days in May or June, but these seem to be Saturdays.

@folkmamma after much thought we are not going to do NYMT this year as the Easter rehearsals won't work and with professional training auditions, BYMT and NYT there is not much time left.

@Lonecatwithkitten good luck to your DD with the auditions (and GCSE's!!)

@Lonecatwithkitten thanks so much, that's really helpful. All the best to your DD.

Just letting you all know that I am going to take the plunge and start an NYMT 2020 thread in Extra-curricular activities, so please post if your DC or students are applying!

@malmontar it really isn't true that NYMT aren't as open to newcomers. It's just that they only do 4 shows and limit the cast sizes so NYMT is more difficult to get into. You can be wonderfully talented and just not be right for the parts on offer. Sometimes incredible people have to try several times before they get cast. But please do believe that they are absolutely not a closed book. They're just looking for the very best fit for the roles they need to cast.

@Biscuitsneeded thanks! I don't mean they aren't open to new comers per say, it just seems that you have to have a lot more experience. For example the audition BYMT you don't need to prepare anything yourself and they teach you a song that you than perform. At NYMT you need to prepare a 2 min song and bring sheet music. That's quite daunting for a child that's not having voice lessons and just goes to their local drama club. Their form also asks what type of voice your child has. Again, unless you are heavily invested in musical theatre outside of school or have voice lessons, that's not something you'd know and it would be something that makes a talented but not experienced kid run from a great opportunity. We found the BYMT website a lot more welcoming and it even says they try to place all young people irrespective of experience.
I'm not saying NYMT is bad, I just think it caters to a different child and I think an audition at NYMT could really knock out DDs confidence to the point she doesn't get again. But that's just what I gathered from their website and reading some post audition reactions, I may be completely wrong.

@Dodgeitornot I do agree about the bringing a prepared song and sheet music etc. My DS had never had singing lessons, we can't play piano etc so we managed to find the music to Consider Yourself the first time and he went with that - I am sure he wasn't very polished. But the only year he went to BYMT they said there was nothing to prepare and then a week before decided there was and then he had to learn one of their set songs and a monologue with just a week to go! (I can't comment on BYMT otherwise as he did get offered a show that year but had already committed to NYMT, and he hasn't tried again since.) I think the thought behind bringing your own song as opposed to learning one on the day is that you can pick one that's right for you, but I agree it can seem offputting. But if your child knows any musical theatre songs at all and you can find the sheet music on the internet and get a music teacher or someone just to run through it with them so they know how the accompaniment sounds, that's good enough. They are looking for potential rather than perfection. And the question about voice is also strange if you don't know - we just wrote unbroken, I think! They are very lovely people and I'm sure wouldn't want anyone to be intimidated by the application form.

@Dodgeitornot thats given me a lot of food for thought. There's no unbroken or other options, just soprano, alto etc. She may end up going to BYMT and hating the song they've asked her to sing and she may feel a lot more comfortable doing a song she's rehearsed at home. She's only 11 and really likes performing at school, we have no other experience and some people on these threads make me think we're mad even auditioning. I've told her I've signed her up to a workshop and at the end of the workshop some kids get asked to join a big show. But we're putting a lot more emphasis on the workshop part and it was to help her with an audition for the school musical. I do also think that the fact NYMT has a lot more kids at the audition would make DD a bit more comfortable as you can kind of hide in the crowd if you want. At the moment she's keen on it helping her get a part in the school musical, not that fussed about performing for them although after showing her the website she said it would be cool but scary as the productions look huge. I think it would be a great confidence boost. I think I'll email NYMT and see what they say. We're in London so we could try both.

Woops! @Biscuitsneeded just realised I tagged myself lol.

@Dodgeitornot Just take a guess then about the voice part. She will either be soprano or alto! It won't matter if you guess wrongly. NYMT attracts kids and young people who have had lead roles in West End shows and those who have only ever been in a school show but who are keen to do more and learn in a very professional setting. Your DD will be judged on what she does on the day, not on her CV or lack of. It's also worth knowing that NYMT will divide them all into groups according to age and your DD will spend the day with kids her own age. They do 3 sessions - one acting, one singing and one movement - and the groups rotate so that everyone has done everything by the end of the day. You're absolutely right to think of it as a workshop. We told DS the first time to just treat it as a workshop with some fabulous professional creatives! It would absolutely be good practice for school show auditions. At age 11 your DD would be in the youngest age group and it would be absolutely fine to sing eg a Disney song she knows well - something age appropriate rather than a huge ballad. I hope she has a great time.

Probably too late to this thread but yes, there is, in my experience some truth in what you say about NYMT.
Of course the standard is high, it should be and it is extremely difficult to get in, however NYMT do in the older age group have a tendency to pick kids already known to them, and in particular to pick those who already have some profile, ie an agent/representation. These kids are often already at Performing Arts schools, Italia Conti, Brit School etc.My D tried for 3 years to get in, but never had any luck, despite being recalled.
Each time she found herself in the same recall as people who had been cast previously, and according to her it was very obvious who would be cast.
I know that there are people on here who will not agree with me. My D is now at Drama School, incidentally with two of the leads from one of last year's productions, so no sour grapes.
I do think though that people should perhaps take on board that even though everyone is very welcoming etc etc NYMT know who they ultimately want and in the older age groups, this is rarely an unknown performer.

Not true not true. The lead male in Sunday in the Park had tried for 3 years to get in and then got the lead. One female lead from Parade had tried for 3 years to get in, got ensemble in 2018 and a lead in 2019. The female lead in Anything Goes had got in once when much younger as ensemble but had also had 2 or 3 fruitless attempts and then got Reno. It is way more competitive when you're older and they turn away amazing young people because year on year it is all about the right fit for the parts available. @FANTINE2 it doesn't mean your DD isn't hugely talented - she must be to have got into a great drama school. But I can't let you discourage newbies from trying because despite what you say NYMT needs to replenish its talent stocks every year - the same old names don't hang around forever (in fact many are now in Hamilton, the Boyfriend, &Juliet, Mamma Mia, Six etc) so it's just not true to say the same people get cast every year.

Anyway, less contentiously, any former thread participants' DC/students going again? @EvilTwins @janinlondon @NotEnoughTime?

Hello! Yep - same old for me. My usual (now ex-!) student plus his younger brother who is now with me for 6th form. Both auditioned yesterday in Bristol.

Oooh good luck to them @EvilTwins. Please update, either here or on the 2020 thread.

Hi Biscuits My DS isn't going for it this year as he has got commitments already over the summer.

Best of luck to all those auditioning.

I promise that I will disappear after this post but I would just like to enlarge a little on my comments. Biscuits,the majority of people you quote were /are in full time vocational education when they were cast; The Hammond, MST, Emil Dale, to name but a few.
I am not trying to put people off auditioning. I do accept that NYMT do occasionally cast complete unknowns in their flagship show. However, I do not think that people realise that some really talented teenagers, are missing out to students in full time Drama Schools, ie they are already in training to become professionals. It is very difficult for ordinary students to compete against someone in their second/ third year of professional training. Of course it is about the right fit for parts, but some students are able to "fit" those parts in consecutive shows, whilst others never do!
At the younger age groups this scenario does not really come into play, but i believe it is an issue in the older age groups.
For me it is not so much about talent, but having the opportunity to compete for roles on a level playing field.
Good Luck to everybody auditioning this year.

FANTINE the thing is, the upper age limit allows that, so it’s inevitable. FWIW, the elder of my two students was in Sleepy Hollow when he was at secondary school - he was at a fairly crappy rural secondary and had never done anything other than school plays and our local youth theatre. He’s now at LIPA, but that’s probably the route you would expect a talented and committed performing arts kid to take.