AUDITIONS

FRONT PORCH THEATRICALS Announces Equity and Non-Equity Auditions for

FALSETTOS

and

MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG

Who: Trained Singers/Actors/Dancers – Seeking versatile Equity and Non-Equity performers with strong singing abilities in standard and contemporary musical theater styles, in addition to strong acting, movement and dance capabilities.

Front Porch Theatricals’ 2023 Season at the New Hazlett Theater:

FALSETTOS – Rehearsals start April 24, 2023; Runs May 19 - 28, 2023

Director: Rob James; Music Director: Deana Muro

MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG – Rehearsals start July 24; Runs August 18 - 27, 2023

Director: Daina Michelle Griffith; Music Director: Doug Levine

Where: Morris Bldg. 2nd floor City Theatre Campus 1300 Bingham St. Pittsburgh, PA 15203

When: January 20-24, 2023 ((OPEN CALLS JANUARY 20-22; CALLBACKS JANUARY 23-24)

Friday January 20 5:00PM - 10:00PM; Saturday, January 21 12:00Noon - 6PM; Sunday 12Noon-6PM; Monday 7-10; Tuesday 7-10PM

ALL APPLICANTS MUST REGISTER ONLINE AND CHOOSE AN AUDITION SLOT!

Please complete our online registration at: https://go.oncehub.com/FrontPorch

If unable to access, please email frontporchtheatricals@gmail.com or call Bruce Smith at 412-551-4027 to register.

EQUITY, E.M.C. & NON-EQUITY AUDITION APPOINTMENTS AVAILABLE

Equity, E.M.C. and Non-Equity actors can select a scheduled 5 minute audition slot. If Equity, please bring your Equity card to your audition.

INCLUDE A HEAD SHOT AND RESUME WITH ONLINE REGISTRATION AND BRING TWO SETS TO YOUR AUDITION. If you cannot load your head shot and resume on the form, please send us an email with your head shot and resume.

Video submissions will NOT be accepted. Housing is not provided; there must be a Pittsburgh connection to audition.

Front Porch Theatricals is an inclusive company. Performers of all ethnicities, genders and racial backgrounds are encouraged to attend! FPT operates a harassment free environment and expects each actor to abide by its standards, policies and practices.

AUDITION REQUIREMENTS:

FALSETTOS:

(3 female; 3 male; one boy, early teen)

Character Ages range from 13-47
16 bars contemporary musical theater
Dramatic monologue MAY be required
Head shot and resume

MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG:

(4 female, 3 male, one boy 8-12 plus ensemble – total 18)

Character Ages from 8 to 55
16 bars contemporary musical theater
Dramatic monologue MAY be required
Head shot and resume

An accompanist will be provided. We prefer that you NOT sing a song from the shows.

If you have any questions, please call Bruce Smith at 412-551-4027.

Complete character breakdowns:

Falsettos

MARVIN:
30s – Jewish. A devoted husband and father, smart, funny and charming. Struggles to reconcile his desire for a happy traditional family with his love for WHIZZER. High baritone.

WHIZZER:
20s-30s – Extremely handsome, athletic, and confident. HIV positive. Has a tempestuous relationship with MARVIN. This character can be any ethnicity. Tenor.

TRINA:
30s – Jewish. Wife to Marvin, Mother to Jason. Charmingly neurotic in her effort to understand the conflicting feelings she has in the aftermath of her divorce. She consults Mendel, her husband’s psychiatrist and eventually marries him. Soprano/Belt.

MENDEL
30s-40s Jewish. Marvin’s psychiatrist –who marries Trina and enters into the tumultuous world of her life with her son, her ex and her ex’s lover while struggling with his own feelings. High baritone.

JASON:
10-13 to play 13 Jewish. Marvin’s and Trina’s son – bookish and awkward – Jason’s impending Bar Mitzvah, his parents’ divorce and the entrance of WHIZZER into his life leave him confused, angry and trying to sort it all out. Tenor.

CHARLOTTE:
30s - One of the ‘lesbians from next door’ – Charlotte is a dedicated doctor alarmed by the mysterious illness that is killing her gay male patients. Tough, but extremely nurturing and very much in love with her partner, Cordelia. Alto/Mezzo. This character can be any ethnicity.

CORDELIA:
30s – The other ‘lesbian from next door’ – Cordelia is Dr. Charlotte’s partner – she runs her own kosher catering business, is very keen on making a nice home– but also wants to be useful and valued for her contribution to the world. High belt voice. This character can be any ethnicity.

Merrily We Roll Along:

Character Breakdown

BETH SPENCER A naive and insecure middle-American who is the mother of Frank's son. She arcs from a down-trodden housewife at her wits end to a hopeless romantic at the beginning of her engagement to the man of her dreams. Female, 25-35 yrs old Range: A3 - G5

CHARLEY KRINGAS A stubborn, intense man with average looks. He ranges from a successful lyricist and Frank's longtime friend to a bright-eyed optimist creating his own opportunities in NYC. Male, 25-40 yrs old Range: A#2 - G#4

FRANKLIN SHEPARD His character ranges from an influential songwriter and film producer to an innocent, bright-eyed optimist in NYC. Talented and handsome but misled, tragic, and tormented. Male, 25-40 yrs old Range: A2 - Bb4

GUSSIE CARNEGIE The flamboyant, self-invented actress. Her character begins at the end of her relationship with Frank, but throughout the show we see her grow more and more helplessly in love with him. Greedy and seductive. Female, 25-35 yrs old Range: G3 - C5

JOE JOSEPHSON Big-talking Broadway producer and husband to Gussie. He later becomes pathetic and poor. Male, 35-50 yrs old Range: A2 - F#4

MARY FLYNN A middle-aged theatre critic. Her character arcs to the youthful, gorgeous twenty-something living in NYC -- with best friend Frank. Sardonic, bitter, and witty. Female, 30 45 yrs old Range: G3 Starry-- Gb5

MEG KINCAID Starry-- starry eyed starlet who is naive and ambitious. At the start of the show, she is Frank's newest fling. Female, 18-25 yrs old Range: D4 - Gb5

FRANKLIN SHEPPARD, JR. Son of Franklin Shepard 8-12 yrs. of age.

ENSEMBLE PARTY GUESTS; ARTISTS; STUDENTS:

Tyler, Terry, Scotty, Dora, Ru, Jerrome, KT, Bunker, TV Newsman, TV News Woman, Make-up Artist, Stage Manager, Judge, Photographer,

Mr. Spencer, Mrs, Spencer, Pianist, 1st girl, Guests, Crowd

About the shows:

Falsettos:

Hilarious, heartbreaking and utterly unique, Falsettos is a contemporary musical about family, relationships, bar mitvahs, baseball and AIDS. When Marvin leaves his wife Trina and son Jason to be with his lover Whizzer, tempers flare, problems escalate and everyone learns to grow up.

Merrily We Roll Along:

The show tells the story of how three friends' lives and friendship change over twenty years; it focuses particularly on Franklin Shepard, a talented composer of musicals who, over those twenty years, abandons his friends and songwriting career to become a producer of Hollywood films. Like the play on which it is based, the show's story moves backward in time. It begins in 1976 at the friends' lowest moment, and ends in 1957, at their youthful best.

About Front Porch Theatricals:

FRONT PORCH THEATRICALS is a Pittsburgh-based musical theater company that produced Only Me in 2009, Next to Normal and In the Heights in 2012 and 2013 in association with Carrnivale Theatrics; Parade in 2014; The Last Five Years and The Light in the Piazza in 2015; The Spitfire Grill and Floyd Collins in 2016; Violet and Big Fish in 2017; A New Brain and Grey Gardens in 2018; Bright Star and Fun Home in 2019 and A Man of No Importance and Grand Hotel in 2022. The Company's mission is to provide our region with professional, high-quality musical theater productions featuring Pittsburgh's diverse actor, artistic and technical talent base. Particular emphasis is placed on mentoring youth through our internship program and in hiring local artistic and technical talent to create a high-level professional vehicle for our directors and artists to realize their visions. We emphasize shows addressing serious social, cultural and moral issues. Front Porch Theatricals is committed to utilizing as many local performers as possible.

Performance Dates & Times:

Falsettos (8 performances):

Friday, May 19, 8pm

Saturday, May 20, 8pm

Sunday, May 21, 2pm

Wednesday, May 24, 8PM

Thursday, May 25, 8pm

Friday, May 26, 8pm

Saturday, May 27, 8pm

Sunday, May 28, 2pm

Merrily We Roll Along (8 performances):

Friday, August 18, 8pm

Saturday, August 19, 8pm

Sunday, August 20, 2pm

Wednesday, August 23, 8pm

Thursday, August 24, 8pm

Friday, August 25, 8pm

Saturday, August 26, 8pm

Sunday, August 27, 2pm

Rehearsal schedules are still to be determined and will be available at auditions. Please check back later for updates.