NYMT / BYMT 2025

[doesanybodyhaveamap]

Starting off a new thread for 2025 now that both organisations have opened applications for next season!

Hi @seventwelve25 , and welcome to the thread. Many congrats to your DD on her recall.
It's impossible to answer your question with absolute precision. I think they're auditioning well over 1000 young people this year if you add up all the dates, and I doubt they can physically see more than about a third of those at recalls. What is your DD recalled for? Probably the safest way to look at it is that she has a reasonable chance of being cast in the show or shows for which she has been recalled, but it's far from guaranteed. @Operasingerkath is right that occasionally people end up cast in a show they didn't get recalled for but that doesn't happen often. If your DD isn't cast in the show she is recalled for, I think I'm right in saying it's highly likely she will be offered a place on a new musical workshop..if you scroll back in the thread you will find more info about these, but basically it's a residential (usually - there are some non- residential ones this year but they wouldn't expect you to commute from the far North!😆) where you work as a small company to workshop a new musical with its writers and some creatives. There's a small performance at the end but it's not fully staged in the way the named shows are. However, you can only be cast in these workshops via the audition route and the standard of those participating is therefore high, and people usually really enjoy them and learn a lot. I won't repeat everything that's been said upthread! Break a leg to your DD for her recall - hope she has a great time.

Thanks both! We'll just have to keep our fingers tightly crossed and hope for the best! She has been recalled for Lightning Boy, which sounds really exciting based on their description on the website.
Can anyone shed light on the recall process? Do they go in in groups or is it individual? I assumed they'd be seen in groups of young people going for the same role, but am not so sure now as we were initially given a school day but were able to change without any trouble at all... xx

The recall sessions are specific to a particular show, but within each session there will be people being considered for a range of roles and of course for ensemble (which is still really worth doing, because particularly with the new shows they will make sure there is plenty for everyone to do). So you might have a few older ones, some mid teens and a few younger ones. Its usually around 20 people in a group. The recall material that you will be sent about a week beforehand may include some scenes to read (don't learn them!) and some singing to prepare, so having a range of ages and voices there at the same time is good because they can act and sing together at the recall. There may be a bit of movement too, but don't worry too much about that. Enjoy it and tell a story. There will be several recall sessions for each show, so you can't read anything much into how you feel it goes as you have no idea who has performed how in the other sessions! The best thing is to just go and aim to enjoy it as much as the first round. It's usually a really fun day despite any nerves, and the creatives are very friendly and not scary.

Well done to everyone with recalls, how exciting!

Hello!
Don't worry, it's a very welcoming place - also a proper northerner here, and my kid first did something with NYMT at 11.

The way it seems to work now is that you could get:

• cast in the show you were recalled for
• cast in one of the new musicals workshops (workshopping a new musical being a completely different thing to "doing workshops" to avoid confusion - usually up to a week residential with a little sharing performance to friends and family etc at the end - working with the creatives and a real director and MD, as you would with a show
• offered a skills workshop course
• last year a new show was created, Crescendo which also was an outcome - this year, Crescendo seems to have been recalled for separately. It may or may not turn out to be an outcome for those recalled just for a named show - we'll see!

Having been recalled, you definitely won't be offered nothing at all, whether you take what they offer is up to you. Mine has done a mixture of all of the above over the years and loved it all.

Hope this weekend's auditionees had a good time and are happy. Fingers crossed you hear quickly now!

How quickly have people heard back after auditions please?

For NYMT we heard on the Thursday afternoon following the audition.

Was finally my daughters turn :) She had a fabulous day but I’m trying to keep expectations low as they did a talk to say statistically your chances are slim for a show😂👍🏼 x

Can anyone advise what the format of the call backs would be? It it the same as the initial audition?

@Truetoself if you scroll back to 1st Feb you will see a longish post from me explaining how the recalls work.

Yes, it's probably fair to point that out. Pre-Covid they used to audition comfortably more than a 1000 young people, so chances were indeed pretty slim. People mostly understood that even hugely talented young performers might end up with nothing - and kids who had been leads one year found themselves not cast the following year, and vice versa. Then Covid came along and the numbers auditioning dropped - for all kinds of obvious and perhaps less obvious reasons. It was still very hard to get cast, and there were still disappointments, but there were also some lucky (and of course, talented) individuals who got a place in a show several years running. Now the numbers auditioning are back up to where they were pre-Covid, and possibly higher. It's also true, of course, that there are more new musical workshops on offer than ever before, that will give many great opportunities to those recalled but not cast. But I think it's definitely worth saying now (at the risk of being patronising and with my veteran parent hat on) that not getting a place in a show doesn't mean you don't have the talent, especially if you get recalled - rather that there were just other people who fitted the shows and roles better. By the same token, if you get offered ensemble at 14 even though you had a good part when you were 11 and could play a child, that's still a brilliant outcome for which others would give their eye teeth. My own DS has had a real mix of outcomes over the years but has learnt lots and had a great time on every occasion. And if it's a near miss this time around, don't be dispirited - come back and try again another year!

Hello everyone, I’m looking at booking a BYMT residential this summer for my DD (13) having seen a Facebook ad pop up. I don’t think she’s ready for an audition (esp as the ones near us are this weekend!) but she would love to spend a week immersed in
musical theatre as she loves singing & performing.

Does anyone have any experience of the residential courses? In DD’s head I think she’d love a performing career but this is all new to us (and our idea of hell!). I’m not expecting anything from the course apart from her to enjoy it & maybe learn some new skills.

I did scroll through the thread but couldn’t see anything on the residentials, any experience would be greatly appreciated!

It seems this year there are a lot of NYMT parents on this thread and not so many whose DC have done or want to do BYMT. Maybe @yodaforpresident can help? Her DC did a BYMT show, but I am sure the residential part of of it must be fairly similar...

Thanks @Biscuitsneeded

@SlipperyLizard all I know about BYMT camps is from talking to the lovely lady who was organising everyone at the BYMT audition my DC did. She said they are basically workshopping a new musical. So a lot like the NYMT new musical workshops, but not auditioned and anyone can book a space. She was very positive about them and said the young people get to have lots of input into the creative process and work with the creative team. She said that if you book onto a camp and subsequently gain a place in an auditioned show then you can transfer that deposit to your new project.
The BYMT audition was friendly and laid back so not too much pressure if your DC feels like they would like to give it a go this time around. They do need to be able to learn part of a new song in the room and then stand up and perform it solo.

Thanks @TheOliveSwan thats helpful, I think DD would enjoy that.

The audition near us is on Saturday and it is DH’s birthday weekend, I’m just not sure we have time in our lives for it this year at short notice. There’s also no info I can find on the BYMT website as to when they’d need to be available (and where!) if they were successful (we are away over easter, for instance, and although we haven’t booked our summer holiday yet, we will do soon). Am I missing where it says that?

By comparison the summer camp in York is close enough to home, at a predictable time (and time commitment!), so currently looks quite appealing.

Just seen upthread that for BYMT you need to keep your summer free, which isn’t going to happen!

I’ll make proper preparations for NYMT auditions next time round, now I know it is a thing, and send DD to the BYMT summer course this year.

Hi
I’m new here. Are all the recall casting workshops at Arts Ed this year and which days are fame/carousel? Tia

Yes they are at arts Ed. They are across 4 days 15-18 feb. If you are recalled on a day that you can’t make they will support you to move to another date.

Thank you ☺️
and results are out a Wednesday and Thursday after auditions?

Yes this seems to be the case- did your child audition at the weekend? :)

Yes on the Saturday in Wakefield ! I have a bigger family so planning is always good!

That depends. BYMT tend to send results around March, and many successful applicants will know at that point which show they have and where, and the dates. It's just that it seems a lot of people get put on the waiting list, if these threads are anything to go by, and then it could be several months before you get a confirmed place - if you get one. But you might well be lucky and get a straightforward offer in March. I guess because they are dealing with much higher numbers of participants, they need a pretty sizeable waiting list - but by the same token they must have people decline or drop out in significant numbers too if they are given a location or show or dates they don't want.

With NYMT you know what you are recalled for, so you already have an idea of which dates you would be looking at, and I assume people don't bother to go the recall if they wouldn't be happy to be in that particular named show and on those particular dates. You should then know by the end of February at the very latest whether you have a show or not,and which dates, so you can still plan the family's summer! NYMT do fewer actual shows, so the numbers involved in those are lower, and I don't think the decline/drop-out rate is more than a few individuals each year. NYMT don't have a reserve list. In the event of someone pulling out they would go back to the creative teams and ask them to review their notes from recalls and try to identify a suitable replacement - I have known a couple of people who got a lovely surprise phone call from NYMT several weeks after casting was finished! It seems preferable to keeping people languishing on waiting lists that are pretty unlikely to move. BYMT's waiting list definitely does move, but they are not casting people for specific roles in the same way.

@Biscuitsneeded some BYMT audition outcomes came out today