Elephant Mountain Music Theatre will be holding auditions for their inaugural production, Jonathan Larson’s Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Rent at the First Baptist Church (611 5th Street, Nelson) on Sunday, November 17 from 2 to 8 p.m., and Monday, November 18 from 6 to 10 p.m.
Based on the opera La Boheme, and set in the gritty “Alphabet City” neighbourhood of New York City circa 1989, Rent tells the story of a group of friends and artists struggling to find life and creative expression amongst poverty, gentrification, homophobia, addiction and the rising threat of HIV/AIDS. Rent is a rousing rock musical, with operatic tear-jerking moments, and a score that runs the musical gamut from rock and roll to tango, R&B, pop and moving ballads.
Elephant Mountain Music Theatre is Nelson’s newest musical theatre company, established by the team that brought Jesus Christ Superstar to the Capitol Theatre: music director Laura Johnson, and stage director Kevin Armstrong, as well as new addition Julie Jonson-Murray. All three are theatre professionals committed to a high level of performance and professionalism, while maintaining a community spirit, and giving performers from the region a chance to perform ambitious repertoire that Kootenay audiences may not get to see otherwise.
Singers are asked to prepare a song from, or in the style of, the show (rock musical/rock opera). Please bring sheet music or a karaoke CD to the audition, or be prepared to sing a cappella. There is no age limit to the audition, but we are specifically looking for actors 18+ (and there are no roles for children). There will be a maximum of 14 singers in the ensemble, so competition will be fierce!
To book an audition, please write to Kevin Armstrong at: nelsonrent2014@gmail.com.