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What do callbacks mean?
What do callbacks mean?
Theatre dweeb
Chorus Member Joined: 10/3/15
#1What do callbacks mean?
Posted: 11/7/15 at 9:01pm
I had an audition for Fame the musical today and felt really confident and thought it was one of my best auditions. I'm really hoping to get Serena, but callbacks are tomorrow and I still haven't heard back. What does this mean?
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
TheGingerBreadMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/7/12
#3What do callbacks mean?
Posted: 11/7/15 at 9:29pm
No.
It means that the director already knows where he/she wants you and does not need to see you again. It could mean you are in an ensemble role, it could mean you have a supporting role, it could mean you got a lead, or it could mean you didn't get cast at all. You can never read too much into these things, it'll only stress you out and make the wait for the cast list more difficult.
#4What do callbacks mean?
Posted: 11/7/15 at 11:31pm
But after a while I caught on... I mean, I saw what they were hiring. I even swiped my dance card after an audition once...
#5What do callbacks mean?
Posted: 11/8/15 at 6:25am
It means better luck next time.
....but the world goes 'round
Dave19
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/23/11
#6What do callbacks mean?
Posted: 11/8/15 at 6:30am
It seems that TheGingerBreadman is the only one who understands life and showbizz. The rest of the reactions are quite bitter and delusional to say the least. The world would be an ugly place if we would all think and act like Phyllis.
So basically yes, it could mean anything. Let us know how it went!
Updated On: 11/8/15 at 06:30 AM
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#7What do callbacks mean?
Posted: 11/8/15 at 7:45am
I'm assuming this was for high school or community theater?
It could mean many things, but it most likely means you are no luck get being considered for major roles. You might have been placed in a smaller role, chorus, or not cast.
Feeling confident in your audition is great, but you might not be what they are looking for for any variety of reasons.
MY callbacks are usually about being "good enough", but determining if one is RIGHT enough. I have never cast a MAJOR role to someone that did not get a call back... even if I'm fairly certain on a part....they also need to be seen with other actors to be sure the fit is right.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
Dave19
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/23/11
#8What do callbacks mean?
Posted: 11/8/15 at 7:50am
I did an audition once and did not get a callback either while my colleagues did. Then, weeks later, I received a call with an invitation to go straight to the finals for a role.
Casting can be a strange process.
#9What do callbacks mean?
Posted: 11/8/15 at 8:49am
Dave19 said: "It seems that TheGingerBreadman is the only one who understands life and showbizz. The rest of the reactions are quite bitter and delusional to say the least. The world would be an ugly place if we would all think and act like Phyllis.
So basically yes, it could mean anything. Let us know how it went!
"
Don't think racism had a hand in all of this Dave?
....but the world goes 'round
Dave19
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/23/11
#10What do callbacks mean?
Posted: 11/8/15 at 8:53am
Why the race card again? There is more to people.
Theatre dweeb
Chorus Member Joined: 10/3/15
#11What do callbacks mean?
Posted: 11/8/15 at 9:59am
dramamama611 said: "I'm assuming this was for high school or community theater?
It is
#12What do callbacks mean?
Posted: 11/8/15 at 10:04am
"It seems that TheGingerBreadman is the only one who understands life and showbizz."
At least you're finally admitting that YOU DON'T.
<-----I'M TOTES ROLLING MY EYES
Hamilton22
Broadway Star Joined: 7/18/15
#13What do callbacks mean?
Posted: 11/8/15 at 10:14am
Phyllis Rogers Stone has never gotten a callback, so he wouldn't know.
#14What do callbacks mean?
Posted: 11/8/15 at 10:56am
Hamilton22 said: "Phyllis Rogers Stone has never gotten a callback, so he wouldn't know.
"
How do you know?
....but the world goes 'round
#15What do callbacks mean?
Posted: 11/8/15 at 11:00am
Hamilton22 said: "Phyllis Rogers Stone has never gotten a callback, so he wouldn't know."
When you're offered the role in the room, you don't need one.
#16What do callbacks mean?
Posted: 11/8/15 at 11:21am
Dave19 said: "I did an audition once and did not get a callback either while my colleagues did. Then, weeks later, I received a call with an invitation to go straight to the finals for a role.
Casting can be a strange process.
"
No offense, but their first choice probably fell through in that instance.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
Hamilton22
Broadway Star Joined: 7/18/15
#18What do callbacks mean?
Posted: 11/8/15 at 11:31am
Hamilton22 said: "^ Daaaang so much shade in this thread."
Like when Hamilton22 said: "Phyllis Rogers Stone has never gotten a callback, so he wouldn't know. ?
#19What do callbacks mean?
Posted: 11/8/15 at 11:31am
Hamilton22 said: "^ Daaaang so much shade in this thread.
"
Some of it posted by you. So why the fake surprise?
....but the world goes 'round
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
Dave19
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/23/11
#21What do callbacks mean?
Posted: 11/8/15 at 5:00pm
AC126748 said: "No offense, but their first choice probably fell through in that instance. "
No offense, but I think you have tunnel vision.
While your scenario could be perfectly possible, it could also be that they just changed direction, or that they wanted me in the final from the start. No matter what's behind it, I still was invited for the finals for the role.
FindingNamo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
#22What do callbacks mean?
Posted: 11/8/15 at 5:15pm
PRS accepts offers only. And gets them.
Twitter @NamoInExile
Instagram none
#23What do callbacks mean?
Posted: 11/8/15 at 10:41pm
Whatever role you wind up getting Dweeb....best of luck to you!
"Noel [Coward] and I were in Paris once. Adjoining rooms, of course. One night, I felt mischievous, so I knocked on Noel's door, and he asked, 'Who is it?' I lowered my voice and said 'Hotel detective. Have you got a gentleman in your room?' He answered, 'Just a minute, I'll ask him.'" (Beatrice Lillie)
#24What do callbacks mean?
Posted: 11/9/15 at 12:06am
dramamama611 said: "It could mean many things, but it most likely means you are no luck get being considered for major roles. You might have been placed in a smaller role, chorus, or not cast."
"MY callbacks are usually about being "good enough", but determining if one is RIGHT enough. I have never cast a MAJOR role to someone that did not get a call back... even if I'm fairly certain on a part....they also need to be seen with other actors to be sure the fit is right."
Way back when I was in High School I had done professional regional and stock shows and was always under the impression that if you didn't get a callback you weren't cast in the show at all. Whether it was for a lead or chorus and when doing school shows I assumed it was the same.
I had a pretty big ego being young and naive and My freshman and Sophomore year in HS I was cast as pretty major supporting characters in my school show. Being a [male] dancer though, I knew I would always get a dance role even if I fought for or was right for a lead. So when my junior year rolled around and my school was doing a big dance heavy show I assumed I would absolutely get the role I wanted and had practiced the song for callbacks for weeks before the audition. The callback list came out and my name wasn't on the list at all and I was devastated, pissed, and stunned.
I stayed at school the day off callbacks and as soon as they ended I went and talked to the director and music director to calmly and nicely ask why I wasn't called back. Turns out they didn't call me back because they figured they were just going to offer me that role and didn't need to see me at callbacks. However, during the callback process they realized there was a senior they could use in that role and it didn't have to be a dance heavy role and another supporting character needed to be a dancer. So they offered him the role and gave me the other role..... The show was 42nd street and the role I wanted was Billy, but ended up getting Andy the choreographer.
I guess my point is that sometimes you can be considered the right person for a role and the creative team decide they don't need to see you at callbacks. But in my case, not getting the callback didn't allow me the chance to read and sing for the role and prove I was the right person. If they had called me back and I still was offered Andy-- that is another story. Or even if they chose to lie to me and tell me they already knew I was going to be cast as Andy I would have accepted that.
So it does happen..... However, as a director even if I think I know who is going to be a specific role and that I don't need callbacks for that person, I absolutely will still call them back because of that experience in HS. Haha