Other people's plays

I've been thinking about moving to another local amateur theatre group. Not permanently, but just so I can do a musical. I haven't done one since school and I want to do one mainly to see if I can, to change the way that I approach singing. At the moment I do one-off gigs with my band, with a long gap in between so can be a bit careless with the way that I use my voice and I want to see if I've got the stamina to go a few months of singing regularly. There's one local group that I was thinking about as they do the sorts of musicals that I like (the ones where you get to act alongside the singing). I went to see them do a show last night and was a bit put off. The show wasn't that bad, not great, but not bad but it was the details about the way the company worked written in the programme that was the problem. They only do one musical a year that they cast way in advance and casting is done by invitation not audition. So it could take about three years before I'd get the sort of part I want and I'd have to be in the chorus for ages or something. Boring! Okay, I know the whole "no small parts only small actors" thing and I know my ego is probably the problem but I've done chorus parts and shit parts and not being cast for several years and I don't want to get back to that. I think I was being a bit naive in assuming that they work the same way as our company. We're all about democracy and giving new members a chance in quite big parts. Even the most established actors have to audition. Because it isn't just about knowing that someone could do a part, it's knowing that they can do a part the way that the director has imagined and can do a part so that the chemistry of the actors works together.

So I don't agree with the way that this other company works and am unlikely to get a part with them. Back to the drawing board for me, then.