Broadway Swings: Covering the Ensemble in Musical Theatre

If I am auditioning for a show that I know is looking for Swings then I make a point of noting that I have swung several Broadway shows. If I am really hoping to be cast in the Ensemble then I don’t list the

One night, in Phantom, I had to cover two roles in the show at the same time. One role was the confidant with a painted white face and bright pink cheeks, etc. The other role was a Christine Daaé double in the white negligee gown. I had no time to paint my full face to perform the confidant while doing the double track so I just painted half of my

I would say be open enough to understand what everybody is doing and why they’re doing it. Don’t look at exactly what they’re doing. Your job is to find out why they’re doing that. JACK LEE (Musical Director of nine Broadway shows)

Shove with love—If

when tracking backstage] I take along a tape recorder, and write down the notes later.

the most important part of casting Swings is finding those with the “Swing Brain.” This factor can be difficult to teach and is basically a combination of organizational skills, a “level head,” spatial awareness, and a “go-with-the-flow” attitude.

“Scene Partner” app There is an app that can help Swings to learn their lines more efficiently, called Scene Partner. Scene Partner is a mobile app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch that helps Actors learn their lines. It uses text-to-speech technology, to turn the text of your play into speech, so that you can listen to just your lines, just your c

Once I became comfortable in a few tracks to the point where I didn’t have to focus or think as much about where I was going, I began to track while onstage.

ERIC WOODALL (Casting Director, Tara Rubin Casting)