| What
does it mean to be an actor? How do actors do what they do? How do
they deal with the frustrations and rejections? This is the story
of my personal experiences in Los Angeles. Along the way I'll share what
I've learned.
Good Advice for Acting -- and Life!
One of my regular reads is a blog entitled Simply Broadway - A Broadway Actor's Blog. It's written by actor and singer Aaron Lazar. Aaron's past work includes Phantom of the Opera and Oklahoma! on Broadway, the national tour of The Scarlet Pimpernel, and many others. He's currently on Broadway playing the leading man "Fabrizio Naccarelli" in the beautiful show by Craig Lucas and Adam Guettel entitled The Light in the Piazza. Though I've never had the pleasure of seeing Aaron perform, you can get a true sense of his caring and passion for performing from his blog entries. One of Aaron's recent entries speaks about a piece of wisdom that is so very simple and helpful. "It's our imperfections that make us interesting on stage." Simple, right? But, how very empowering to know that as a performer, rather than beating ourselves up as we strain for "perfection," that it is what we do differently and perhaps "wrong" that makes us so watchable? Here's an example. If you're auditioning for a role and you perform exactly as the script requires, you'll get the role, right? Probably not -- because there are probably a number of other auditioners who also did it "exactly right." In most cases, it's the person that brings their own individual spin, their own personality, that will stand out -- and land the role. What is more endearing than a mistake? How many times have you heard a particular rendition of a classic song that becomes your favorite because of a little "hiccup" or performance flaw? Why do we love live performances so much? Because we all like watching tight-rope walking acts -- and the personal flaws. And it doesn't just apply to acting. As Aaron says, "I can think of more than a few people in my life who have nothing to do with the arts and would be much happier individuals if they cherished their imperfections a bit more and stopped beating themselves up over things that are past &/or out of their control." So true.
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Exactly! What a great way to put something I've tried to tell others but botched up horribly. The best I'd managed to put it prior to this was "It's important to follow the rules, but it's also equally important to know when to break them."
This is so much better...
Posted by: Evan | January 10, 2006 08:42 AMWow. That's so right on. It's the little "isms" that people have that make them so interesting. The key is to bring it to the character you are auditioning for or are performing. Otherwise the character doesn't seem "real". Because, really, who do you know that is that perfect?
Thanks for the link, I'll be checking out his blog. ;o)
Posted by: Audrey | January 13, 2006 08:42 AM