Do you remember those kids in high school who would walk down the hallway harmonizing with friends, complaining about tech (or as we call it, hell) week, or making musical references that only they understood in class? I was one of those “Theatre Kids” – and while I haven’t spent much time on the stage in recent days (mainly due to lack of time), these six lessons I learned during my years under the stage lights have not eluded me.
1. To quote Newsies, it's "all for one and one for all."
Typically, once you are cast in a musical theatre production, you should expect to spend a minimum of five hours per week (but exponentially more when the show approaches) in the company of your cast. As a result, they become an extended family of sorts. You sing together, rehearse that tricky dance move together, struggle through tech week together, and memorize lyrics together, so it makes sense that the bond you have with your cast mates by the end of the show's run is pretty much unbreakable. We're all in this together, after all! That camaraderie is something that really changes you forever.
2. How to change extremely quickly in small, darkly lit places.
If you've ever had 75 seconds before you had to be back onstage in an entirely different costume, you know that distinct breed of panic I'm talking about! This skill, however, still proves helpful in college, when you're running late for your 8 a.m. class and your roommate is still asleep, so you have to change in less than a minute in your dark dorm room!
3. That confidence is everything.
Even if you are not the most confident person offstage, onstage, your confidence has to be on for you to deliver the best performance you are capable of. Of course, every performer been plagued by those pre-solo nerves, but you know what they say about being confident: fake your confidence until it becomes real.
4. That other peoples' opinions of you are inconsequential.
Even though your cast probably feels like a family, there will always be those people who either see you as a threat to their obtaining a role in the next show, or are jealous of your belted voice, or like your costume better than their own (petty, I know, but it happens). Ignore them. What other people think of you has no impact on your life.
5. How to memorize things -- music, lines, and more -- in a flash.
Between auditions, callbacks, and the looming cloud of the day you go "off book," memorization is crucial to the success of any musical theatre performer. Luckily, this is extremely helpful when you need to remember an endless list of terms for your Intro to Communications midterm!
6. The importance of doing things for your own sense of self-fulfillment.
Despite the fact that you are putting on a show for other people to enjoy, you really do participate in musical theatre for the sake of your own sense of self-fulfillment, to make yourself happy. This is maybe the most important lesson you'll learn from theatre: only spend your energy on something that makes you insanely happy, and that makes you feel complete.
