NYC Auditions

Monday and Tuesday we had auditions for Gary Musick Productions casting in NYC. The New York auditions usually yield some great performers. We had a record turn out this time. Over the course of those two days we heard over 330 singers. Kudos to Dave, Mindy, Jennifer, and Steve for trucking through and making it all happen!

Gary addresses a few of the performers before call-backs

Steve Kumer on the piano is a real pro and always takes everything in stride.

Part of the call-backs involve a dance call with David and his crew.

One of the best parts of going to NYC is always getting to see old friends. Adam Bastien  worked for us on several different ships and also did an industrial show for me. He's a great friend. He stopped by to hang for a little while. Adam is singing with an orchestra in NYC that does large events. He's auditioning soon for Rock of Ages...which he would be perfect for! Go ADAM!

Adam, Vanessa Yeaton and me. Adam and Vanessa sang together on the NCL Spirit. I directed their cast. That was a fun group. Vanessa is back in NYC singing and performing. Adam sent her a text and she popped by too. Great seeing them both!

After the auditions, Gary and I had a dinner meeting with a client at The Palm. Our hotel was 2 blocks off Times Square so we walked around and took some pictures afterwards.



In the middle of Times Square they were shooting a commercial. The set was all New Year's Eve and people were dressed the part along with big New Year's Eve hats that said "2012".

As the director yelled "ACTION!" the crowd screamed "Happy New Year!!" And confetti dropped.

Later that night I met up with two ACU alums living and working in the city...Sunday Ibok and Andrew Young. It was great to catch up with them.

Now back in Nashville, the cast of the NCL Gem did their final run-throughs for us this yesterday and today before they leave for the ship this weekend. Great job, guys! Have a great contract out there and break a leg!

NYC Auditions

New York Auditions

Crazy Week!!

The last couple of weeks I have been going at break-neck speed. As I wrote in my last blog entry, I had been consumed in planning and producing the "Third Rail: Cost" health reform summit at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. The planning stage was definitely a busy time.

The week of the conference I traveled to NYC with several other Gary Musick team members to conduct auditions there for singers and dancers. It was a whirlwind trip (we did get to see Burn the Floor on Broadway though). We saw over 100 singers each day and at least 50 dancers each day.


First thing in the morning, everyone was lined up and ready to get registered.

Dancer group 1 warming up for the audition. Our head choreographer (Bruce Stegmann) led them through a challenging combination and narrowed the auditioners into a final call back group.

Jennifer Pippin, Gary's admn. assistant and all around wonder girl, made the day breeze by organizing all the auditioners. Kirk Hunkler (who has worked for us many times as a singer) assisted her in the process.

We saw some great talent and I came back ready to hit the ground running. It was a sprint to the Third Rail conference that loaded in 2 days later.

The Schermerhorn is a beautiful venue for just about anything. It made a great back drop for this conference. My job as the producer of the event was to manage all of the elements of the day (everything from parking, valet, off-site busing, catering, security, signage, stage set, production equipment, staff and interacting with all the sponsoring groups). It was made much easier by wonderful people like Danelle Cain at Vanguard Health Systems, Heather Martin from the Schermerhorn, and Tess Coody from GDC Public Relations Firm in San Antonio. Of course, our Gary Musick staff were all-stars as usual and were the real meat behind all of this--Gary, Jonathan Yeaworth, Jim Sheridan and many more. Thanks, guys!

Here are some pictures from the event...(I really loved how the screen surrounds looked in that room)

Governor Phil Bredesen was an important part of the day and a very nice man. He opened the conference and then moderated one panel and participated in another.

Julie Gerberding (Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2002-2009)

No matter what your view of health care reform may be, this was a conference for everyone. It addressed the less popular but maybe most important component--cost. It was a non-partisan discussion and very interesting to observe. You can watch the sessions online if you're interested at http://www.thirdrailcost.com/. Our guys taped it and we had a live web stream that day. It is still available in sections online at the website above. Thanks to everyone who made that day such a success!

I am into rehearsals now with the new NCL Spirit cast. This holiday weekend, however, is family time. LOVING IT!! Tonight we're hanging out with Jeff and Anna Berry and tomorrow night we're going to see Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina in concert out at the Arrington Vineyards with our friends Ryan and Sarah Williamson and Beth and Byron Williamson. We're so excited about it!

One last thing to share...this morning Ella cracked me up by saying, "Daddy, do I have to wait til I'm older to get baptized? I mean, I can already swim in deep water, and hold my nose and EVERYTHING!" Love it!

New York Auditions

Click on the text above to enlarge

More London Photos

Here are a few more pictures from London thanks to Gary. There are some great shots in here!

Mindy McLemore our Cruise Ships' Project Manager

Steve Kummer, Bruce Stegmann and Jeff Lisenby...more Gary Musick team

I really was more impressed than I look here.

Nice jete, pink girl!

Our General Manager, Dave Patton, give instruction to the singers

a few pictures from the singers' auditions...

This guy...Nick...looked EXACTLY like one of the Jonas Brothers to me.

Joshua Smith...one incredible voice! Keep your eyes on this guy's career.

The first day went long so we had to move downstairs to a smaller room. Can you tell I'm ready for the day to be over?

more dancers

After each group of 50 or so dancers we would confer with our notes and announce call-backs

Bruce Stegmann...teaching the masses. :)

Gary Musick Productions--London Auditions

On our audition days, we started early with an English breakfast of champions before heading to the studio.

We got to the studio each morning and found a long line of performers waiting for the doors to open. It was so cold! Some of them had been there over an hour. I felt sorry for them!

Although the lines continued inside, everyone was warmer...and happier!

Jennifer and Karen kept everything running smoothly.

Bruce taught the combination to almost 200 dancers that first day

I had a nice surprise on Friday. My old friend Ketsia came by to see me. Ketsia and I worked for Norwegian Cruise Line as performers together a LONG time ago. :) She lives in London now and is in the London show of "Lion King". It was fun seeing her again.

Here are some video clips from the 2 days of auditions... with dancers we're watching for technique, turns, jetes, etc. We found some good dancer potentials this week!

Bruce Stegmann (our head choreographer) is so great! Everyone always loves dancing for Bruce. Although he cracks the whip, they love him!

We started with large groups of 50-55 and had them dance in groups of 4 after learning the routine and narrowed it down from there announcing call-backs. We had a great turnout of dancers and singers.

I wish I had gotten more singers on my camera...we got all of the ones who were called back on the main video but here are a few samples...

It seemed fitting that someone in London did a song from Phantom.

We had several great guys

Natasha danced and also sang. She's very talented.