This Is A Song I Wrote For You

I'm taking a break from Breaking Down the Bard to wish you all a Merry Christmas!

My Wednesday posts full of tips and tricks for understanding and performing Shakespeare will resume next week!

This Shakespeare quote is from Henry IV Part 2!

Four years ago, I wanted to make something special for my family for the holidays. I live in New York City, and most of my family is in Seattle, so we don't get to see each other as much as we would like. I had a little tune stuck in my head, so I got to work right after Thanksgiving and created this song to share with my loved ones. That's the wonderful thing about creating art for yourself and others: I got to put my creative energies to work, be a little silly, and work outside of my comfort zone by filming myself singing and playing the only three chords I know on the ukulele; but my family got to have something that was made especially for them, that they could watch as many times as they wanted. Bonus: it cost me nothing to make, and it's still something my loved ones enjoy!

I may have written this song for my family, but I'd like to extend this to my readers as well. Have a Merry Christmas, everyone, and do something with your talents that lets people in your life know that they're special and loved by you!

This Song's All About Christmas

Written and Performed by Emily Philio

 We celebrate each year on December 25th

By gathering up our loved ones and exchanging some gifts

So I'm sending my love from Atlantic to Pacif'

With this song I wrote for you

This is a song I wrote for you (3x)

And this song's all about Christmas

I hope that you like Christmas

It's all about the birth of a special kid

Who changed the world with the things that he did

He fought evil when others would've run and hid

I'm not talking about Harry Potter

(Harry Potter was born in July)

A fat man in red commits some B & E

There'll be coal for you and presents for me

It's the special time of year we get to murder a tree

In the name of holiday cheer

A word of caution for you all, my dears,

The fruitcake's been re-gifted for the last six years

Dancing under mistletoe won't make you Britney Spears

You probably just had too much eggnog

(Kids, eggnog gets better when you're older)

This time of year, the world is filled with joy

As we wish for peace for future girls and boys

It's not figgy pudding, tinsel, or new toys

It's about the gift of love

Have a Merry Christmas!

 Wanna step up your Shakespeare game in time for Audition Season? 

Email shakespearecoach@gmail.com to schedule your first lesson!
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My First Broadway Audition

I was 19, and auditioning all the time. This is back when I was attempting to get my "big break" (whatever that is) in the musical theatre scene. I had arrived ridiculously early at the Actors Equity building, and had been waiting all morning with hopes that whatever I was auditioning for would have time to see me. After a few hours on the wooden benches, the monitor came to us to let us know that there would not be time for us to be seen, BUT, the audition for the upcoming Broadway production of Wonderful Town was wide open.

The audition for Wonderful Town was being held at Chelsea Studios, which is 20 blocks (about a mile) from Equity. It was a beautiful day, and I figured I could walk over, which would be faster than the train due to construction. I wanted to be quick, in case word got out that the audition was empty and every actor in New York decided to head that way, too. I didn't even change my shoes, in order to save time.

I walk/jogged to Chelsea, signed in, and was seen right away. As I walked to the piano, the Casting Director was staring at my shoes, which were these tan platform things that were new, clunky, and didn't really match my dress. As I sang, the Casting Director kept looking at my feet, and I was beating myself up about wearing the "wrong" shoes. I don't remember how well I sang or acted or anything... Both the CD and I were clearly thinking about my unfashionable footwear.

Puzzled, I gathered my stuff and got as far as the bathroom when I saw it: thick, crimson, blood was all over the side of my tan wedge shoe, and still continuing to pour out of my left foot, right where the strap and buckle were digging into my flesh. I hope I wasn't making puddles on the floor of the studio as I auditioned. In my excitement to audition for Broadway, the adrenaline pumping through my body, and my knowledge that sometimes shoes need to be broken in, I didn't even feel the tear in my skin that was upstaging me during my audition! I was horrified, but I shrugged it off as a memorable first audition for Broadway; comforted by the thought that my future auditions for the "Great White Way" would probably be less gory.

Do YOU have a crazy/memorable/embarrassing/hilarious audition story?

 Share it in the comments below!

Save yourself from a Shakespeare audition horror story with my FREE cheat sheet on the Top 5 Mistakes Actors Make in Shakespeare Auditions - available here!

How Your Musical Theatre Skills Will Make You A Kick-@$$ Shakespearean Actor

If you can "kick your face" and "belt for Jesus", I'll bet you already have a lot of skills that you could use as a Shakespearean actor! Did you know that musical theatre has a lot in common with Shakespeare? I'm not just talking about the adaptations of Romeo & Juliet into West Side Story or The Taming of the Shrew into Kiss Me, Kate. There are skills that cross over between the two art forms that you might not have realized!

Christian Borle as Shakespeare in Something Rotten!

Photo: Joan Marcus

Both Shakespeare and musical theatre contain scenes that have performance elements that elevate the production beyond what the audience experiences in daily life. If someone is singing at you in real life, you'd probably think they were crazy, and that guy spitting rhymes on the subway is probably not the next Kanye, BUT when an audience sees a show, they buy into the world of the play where these situations are normal! These activities would seem ridiculous if they weren't being done onstage, but skilled actors can pull it off. These actors can jump back and forth between normal, everyday speech (aka prose) and singing or speaking in verse at the drop of a hat, and when it's good, it is so good, amiright?

Another skill that artists in both types of theatre need is a facility with rhythm and meter. An actor who can tell a story through a song, where the speed and rhythm of the lyrics are predetermined, while still making it seem as though they are uttering these words aloud spontaneously is probably giving a memorable performance! This isn't much different from Shakespeare's verse, where the structure of the rhythm is given to a performer and it is their job to bring the words to life while maintaining the poetry in the text - it might actually be easier, since the actor may not have to belt a G simultaneously!

Not to be overlooked is the fact that there is often music and dancing in Shakespeare's plays. Performers with a background in musical theatre are at a distinct advantage here, as they are accustomed to telling stories through dance and song! There have been countless productions of The Tempest with Ariel played by a dancer, and although no one says that Ophelia is the best singer in Denmark, it certainly doesn't hurt to have a trained singer playing her when she goes mad!

So whether it's Othello or Oklahoma!, Hamlet or Hamilton, actors with these skills are some of the most versatile (and kick-@$$) around!

Wanna step up your Shakespeare game? 

Email shakespearecoach@gmail.com to schedule a lesson!
Click here to get my FREE cheat sheet of the Top 5 Mistakes Actors Make in Shakespeare Auditions!