The Hits! The Musical casting team had the pleasure of spending not just one, but TWO audition days in the Big Apple, and we could not have been more impressed. Over 600 performers came to see us at Pearl Studios, and y’all came to play! We saw some of our best talent yet. Our Creative Team also came well-prepared, with almost all members joining our day-to-day casting team to narrow down our first and second rounds of auditions. Director Cynthia Nekvasil flew in for the weekend, and Choreographer Grady Bowman, Music Director Camille Trust, and Casting Director Robin Carus, all NYC natives, cleared their schedules to select the best and brightest out of the hundreds who made their way to see us at Pearl Studios.

Our check-in staff could see the talent in the holding room before our judges even arrived. When our spaces opened at 8am, we already had dedicated auditioners and parents waiting by the door. The holding room quickly filled with vocal warmups, extremely impressive stretching routines, and greetings amongst friends who were clearly used to the process. They chatted and joked as they waited for their group to be called in, reminiscing about their recent gigs, other auditions, and stories from years of conservatory training.

Notably, NYC included our first Featured Dancer auditions! Grady spent his time with the most advanced group of dancers we’ve seen so far, teaching three increasingly complex combinations to our auditioners. Assistant Director Courtney Lopez was stunned by the level of skill in the dance studio. She beamed as she sat in on the Featured Dancers’ callbacks, commenting, “This is just remarkable – I wish I could still do that!” We were once again reminded of the unique abilities that young performers offer to a show like ours.

On a more personal note from our audition staff, we were both impressed by and grateful for the attitude of the auditioners. With the amount of talent in the room, it would be reasonable to expect a certain level of ego and competitiveness from the group. We were pleasantly surprised, however, by the truly humble attitude of these kids. They were incredibly supportive of one another, and they were constantly kind to our check-in staff, offering flexibility and grace as we organized hundreds of people into manageable groups. There was no self-importance, even from very experienced performers. One auditioner with years of professional experience in the city offered us a gorgeous, self-accompanied rendition of Billy Joel’s Piano Man. Then, he responded to a question about his training with “Well, I don’t really know how good I am, but I think I’m pretty okay, I guess.” The tone from this group of kids definitely bodes well for the future of the entertainment industry!

We ended our time in New York with an evening off on Broadway, seeing  the musical Six as a staff. The show was stunning, and we all noted that the talent we had seen during the preceding two days was truly on-par with what we were seeing on a Broadway stage. Executive Producer Bob Gries reflected, “If what we saw today is any indication, our cast will be more than qualified to perform in places just like this!”

Thank you, New York, for your talent, your kindness, and your time. To all those who came out, we know you have bright futures in this industry regardless of our upcoming casting decisions. If you did qualify for the final round of callbacks, you will be notified by mid-July, so keep an eye on your inbox!

If you missed us in the city, don’t worry! We’ll be back on July 19th, and you can register now on the Auditions page of our website. If you can’t make it, we hope you’ll submit a virtual audition through our website by scrolling to the bottom of the Auditions page. We’ve seen some great videos so far, and we’d love to see yours too!

We can’t wait to see what’s in store on the rest of our audition tour. Our next few cities certainly have a lot to live up to, so auditioners, get to prepping! See you soon!

– Hits! The Musical Casting Team