ONCE the 2021 REMOUNT by Arrangement with Music Theatre International (Australasia)
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CASTING BRIEF ONCE THE 2021 REMOUNT By arrangement with Music Theatre International (Australasia). THE PLAY Once is a tender story about two musicians, an Irish Guy and a Czech Girl, who turn each others’ lives on their heads and remind each other how to dream. In 2019 Darlinghurst Theatre Company produced Once, directed by Richard Carroll to huge acclaim and a sold out season. We are now recasting a small number of roles to remount this production for a Sydney Season and five week regional tour. Featuring an outstanding ensemble of performers playing instruments live on stage. Once is a modern-day musical that reminds us of the power of music to connect us all. With songs from the critically-acclaimed film, including the Oscar-winning song Falling Slowly, this spell-binding score will have you holding your breath from beginning to end. "When the violins begin to play – and the accordion and the mandolin and the guitars and the cello – the instruments swell into a collection of distinctive voices melded into a single, universal feeling… Once massages that feeling until it hurts quite exquisitely. - The New York Times Original and unforgettable, Once draws you in from the very first note, grabs you by the heart strings and never lets go. ★★★★★ – New York Daily News 8 Tony Awards including Best Musical 4 Drama Desk Awards including Outstanding Musical Grammy Award for Best Musical Theatre Album Academy Award for Best Original Song THE DATES (See schedule below) REHEARSALS: 10 May - 29 May 2021 TECH WEEK: 31 May - 6 June 2021 DTC SEASON: 7 June - 6 August 2021 REGIONAL TOUR: 7 August - 11 September THE PAY All cast will be employed under the Performer’s Collective Agreement, on $1,119.20 per week, plus superannuation and holiday pay. THE CHARACTERS As we have the majority of the cast returning, we are only taking applicants for the following roles: MC (Cello) Host of an open mic at a Dublin pub. Gender: Any Age: 20 to 50 DA (Guitar) Guy's father. A caring man who loves his son. Gender: Male Age: 50 to 70 BARUSKA (Accordion) Girl's mother. Loving, generous, and idealistic. Gender: Female Age: 45 to 60 SVEC (Drums/ Percussion) Girl's quirky roommate. Plays drums and guitar. Gender: Male Age: 20 to 40 EX - GIRLFRIEND / FEMALE SWING (Violin and Piano) Gender: Female Age: 20 to 35 Vocal range top: B4 Vocal range bottom: F#3 Actors with strong skills on any of the above instruments are encouraged to submit, even if they are suited to a different role than the one allocated to their instrument. AUDITION SUBMISSIONS – In order to be considered for an audition, please submit the following: ● All questions required by the Google Form ● A video recording of yourself playing your primary instrument, in the style of the musical ● If you play any additional instruments, please include these in the video. Please apply through this Google Form: https://forms.gle/pefkvajyBNCj7euJ8 Submissions will close 9am 23 March 2021. If we are interested in seeing you or your client for an audition, you will receive an audition slot and an audition pack. All Auditions will take place on the 1st of April. We are committed to a policy of equal employment opportunity designed to promote a positive model of inclusion. As such we encourage performers of all cultures, gender identities, and ages, as well as performers with disabilities, to audition. We employ around a Gender Parity and Cultural Representation Policy. For more information on these policies, please head to our website: https://www.darlinghursttheatre.com/aboutus NOTES FOR APPLICANTS Performers should be able to play their [primary] instrument with a level of competency enabling them to play confidently with other performers as part of a band. They should familiarise themselves with the music from ONCE to be sure they are appropriately proficient to play the music before coming to an audition, as performers without suitable musical ability will be cut straight away. THE DIRECTOR – RICHARD CARROLL Richard Carroll is a director, writer and producer based in Sydney. Richard directed an acclaimed production of Calamity Jane at Hayes Theatre Co in 2017 starring Virginia Gay, which toured to five cities in 2018-19 including a mainstage season at Belvoir and a 5-week run at Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre. He won a Sydney Theatre Award for Best Production of an Independent Musical, and was nominated for Best Director of a Musical for Calamity Jane. In 2020, Richard directed a new production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! for Black Swan State Theatre Co in Perth. In 2019 he directed Monty Python’s Spamalot at Hayes Theatre Co, and Once at Darlinghurst Theatre Co and Merrigong Theatre Co. Monty Python’s Spamalot toured Australia in 2020. Once had a sold-out season at Darlinghurst Theatre Co, transferred to Merrigong Theatre Co, and then had an encore season at Darlinghurst Theatre Company. It will again return to Darlinghurst Theatre Company for another season in 2021. Richard is co-creator and director of The Show Goes On starring Bernadette Robinson, at Sydney Opera House and Arts Centre Melbourne. He has also directed Gypsy at Hayes Theatre Co, starring Blazey Best; and co-directed An Act of God for Darlinghurst Theatre Co starring Mitchell Butel. His 2016 production of Side Show was nominated for multiple awards, including three Sydney Theatre Awards. For Neglected Musicals, he has directed presentations of Mame and Meet Me in St Louis, as well as the first incarnation of his Calamity Jane. Other directing work includes A Night at the Speakeasy for Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and opening night variety gala concerts for Adelaide Cabaret Festival and The Art House. Richard’s cabaret work includes: Everybody Loves Lucy (co-writer); Dahlesque (co-writer); ¡Hispanic Attack! (writer/director, national tour); and Don’t Bother To Knock (co-writer/director, Hayes/Adelaide Cabaret Festival). Associate and assistant directing work includes: Violet (winner of three Sydney Theatre Awards including Best Independent Musical) and High Society, both at the Hayes. Richard’s producing work includes Darlinghurst Nights and High Society for Hayes Theatre Co; Calamity Jane, Side Show, and Monty Python’s Spamalot for One-Eyed Man Productions; Sweet Charity and Miracle City for Luckiest Productions, and Gypsy for Luckiest Productions & One Eyed Man Productions. In 2010, Richard co-wrote and was associate producer of the FOXTEL documentary David Campbell On Broadway. THE MUSICAL DIRECTOR – VICTORIA FALCONER Victoria Falconer is an award-winning musical director, composer, cabaret performer and multi-instrumentalist. She is based between London and Adelaide. As musical director and arranger, her most recent productions have been the debut of Bourgeois & Maurice's Insane Animals (dir. Philip McMahon for HOME Manchester) and the groundbreaking queer reimagining of Oklahoma! (dir. Richard Carroll for Black Swan State Theatre). In 2019 she was nominated for a Sydney Theatre Award (Once, Darlinghurst Theatre Company, dir. Richard Carroll) and a Green Room Award (Glittergrass, Malthouse Theatre) for musical direction. Other MD credits include Courtney Act’s Under The Covers (Underbelly, London) Unroyal Variety (Hackney Empire) and the debut of Sasquatch The Opera (Summerhall, Edinburgh) written and composed by Roddy Bottom of Faith No More. She is currently working on projects with drag artist Gingzilla, and acclaimed activist performance troupe Hot Brown Honey. Victoria has recently launched her newest creative project, Smashed - The Brunch Party, a femme-fronted, diverse drag and cabaret show that received 5 star reviews for its debut run at Adelaide Fringe 2021, with Victoria as host and performer. She is also co-creator, composer/lyricist and performer with critically-acclaimed feminist firebrands Fringe Wives Club. The trio have received multiple awards for their debut show Glittery Clittery including the Best Cabaret Award at Adelaide Fringe 2018, the Spirit of The Fringe Award at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2018, and nominations for Best Newcomer (Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2017), Best Cabaret (Melbourne Fringe 2017), Best Ensemble (Green Room Awards 2017), Best Overall Show (NZ Fringe Festival 2019) and for two Wellington Theatre Awards (2019). They have performed sell-out seasons at Edinburgh Fringe, Adelaide Fringe, Soho Theatre (London), Malthouse Theatre (Melbourne), BATS Theatre (Wellington, NZ) and Griffin Theatre (Sydney), and have been invited to perform at Darwin International Festival, Southbank Centre London, Woodford Folk Festival and the Famous Spiegeltent at the Melbourne Arts Centre amongst others. Victoria is a founding director and co-producer for The People of Cabaret, an artistic initiative formed in 2020 to amplify and advocate for artists in cabaret, circus, burlesque and associated disciplines who identify as Indigenous and/or Bla(c)k and/or people of colour. In their first six months of existence, they have curated a two week residency of shows at Darlinghurst Theatre Company as part of Bloom Festival, presented an online variety extravaganza for Melbourne Fringe (which won the Spirit of the Fringe Award), and a Sydney Festival production (postponed until April 2021), as well as leading a Mentorship Program amongst other projects that centre, empower and uplift IBPOC artists across the country. As a collaborative musician and performer, Victoria has just finished a debut season at Adelaide Festival 2021 appearing in The Boy Who Talked To Dogs, a co-production between Slingsby Theatre and the State Theatre of South Australia. Victoria's appearances in London include the Royal Albert Hall, the National Theatre’s River Stage and the Barbican, and she has played for recording sessions in famed London studios including The Church, Sofa Sound and Abbey Road Studios. Victoria’s most recent work as composer is on festival-selected documentary Yer Old Faither (dir. Heather Croall, 2020) and award-winning short animated film, Double Portrait (dir.