Auditions for SOUVENIR, Part 2

Three women, three wonderful actors, three possible choices. As is often the case, we would have liked to take a bit from this one and a bit from that one and combined them all into one perfect performer. But since that's not possible, we were looking for something that would move us securely in one direction or another.

Now, as I mentioned, the actor not only has to sing badly, she has to also sing extremely well. She has to sound the way she hears herself in her own head, which is, of course, heavenly.

Each of our three candidates started their audition by singing the Ave Maria by Gounod, and singing it well. This lets us know that the actor has the musical chops, and it lets us see the character as a serious musician. All the women sang it beautifully.

But when Jenkins 3 sang is, Sara asked her to make an adjustment.

"What are you thinking about when you're singing this?" she asked.

"I'm thinking about how much I want to share this wonderful music with the audience."

Sara responded, "I'd like you to try it again, and think of yourself as a vessel and that the music is simply moving through you."

Acting is a strange and mysterious art. I don't know what kind of internal shift the actor made, but when she sang the Ave again, I got chills. By the end, I was in tears.

We had our Florence Foster Jenkins. Her name is Nancy Johnston and she is amazing.

January 6th, 2010