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Welcome back.

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The focus of this session is process.

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Like all art, theater is created
bit by bit over time,

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and each theatrical discipline
has its own process.

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The most visible
theatrical storyteller is the actor,

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whose process can be broken into three
major parts.

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Audition, rehearsal, and performance.

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Let's head over to the studio
to learn more.

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Before rehearsals
begin, the director and the creative team

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read the script and decide how many
and what type of actors to cast in a show.

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Casting is a process of assigning roles

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to actors,
and it's the director's responsibility.

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A big part of being a professional actor
is auditioning for roles.

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During auditions,
you perform speeches called monologues

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and songs you've memorized and rehearsed
for a panel of people.

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For a musical, these usually include
the Director,

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Music Director, and the Choreographer.

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If they think you're right for the role,
they'll invite you to participate

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in callbacks.

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A second audition,

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in which you read excerpts from the script
and score of the show.

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Auditioning from the script without
having a chance to review it, is called

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a cold reading.

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If the role requires dancing,
they'll teach you a movement combination

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to see how well you can dance
and how quickly you can learn.

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Since The Lion King
began on Broadway in 1997,

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it has been produced all over the world.

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Every single one of those productions
started with auditions.

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Let's take a look at the news coverage of
the Simba audition in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

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Eugene for you.

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After weeks of callbacks,
they finally strike gold.

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Tiago Barbosa

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brings down the house
with Simba's most emotional number.

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Slung.

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Oh oh!

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Good job!

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Can we just cast him right now?

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Oh my God.

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Can we?

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Hey!

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Come here.

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Simba.

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15 years into her journey,

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there's still magic in a discovery
like this.

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You saw how Julie Taymor cast
Simba on the spot, but that's pretty rare.

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After callbacks, the director
typically discusses with the creative team

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before casting the show
and notifying the actors.

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Do you remember your Lion
King audition, Syndee?

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Oh, yeah. I'll never forget it.

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I was so excited. Really nervous.

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I memorized my lines. I memorized my song.

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I went into the audition
and I didn't even get a callback.

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But I didn't give up.

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I continued to audition for other things.

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I studied the role carefully,
and a couple of years later,

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I went back in more confident,
more relaxed, and it was my time.

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I became Nala in the North
American tour of The Lion King.

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Wow. Yeah.

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My audition was pretty nerve wracking too.

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I came into the audition in New York
with my own song, and

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they wanted to hear a song from the show.

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So after I did that, they had me go

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see the show and invited me back to read
and to see how well I moved.

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I guess
I did pretty well because I ended up

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getting cast in the ensemble
in the Las Vegas production.

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Wow. Yeah, I was an understudy for Simba.

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That meant
I learned everything that he did, but

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didn't get to perform every night.

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I would go on if he was sick.

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And when his contract ended,
they offered me the role

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and I said, uh, yeah.

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So I ended up finishing up
the run in Las Vegas

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and took over the role
on the national tour.

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Wow. That's great.

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And look,
it all started with your audition.

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Some people think auditioning
is the hardest part of acting.

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Those people are wrong.

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Although it's a thrill to get that call,

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you've been cast in a show.

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The real work begins once rehearsals start.

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In professional theater,
rehearsals typically begin

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in a rehearsal studio with introductions
followed by a table reading.

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The creative team
and actors will gather around a table

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and read through the script to get a sense
of the big picture of the show

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before it gets broken down into parts
to learn and rehearse.

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At this point, we begin character work
with the director and on our own.

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For Nala,

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I watched a lot of videos of lionesses
online and experimented

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with how to move my body
with the same elegance and fierceness.

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I like to figure out where I,
as a person, connect with my character.

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For example,
I ask, where's the Jelani in Simba?

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I have high energy
and a sense of adventure, just like Simba,

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and I use my relationship with my parents
to figure out

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how Simba relates to Mufasa and Sarabi.

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As character work continues,

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we begin blocking rehearsals
with the director to stage the scenes.

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Music rehearsals with the music director
to learn the songs

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and dance rehearsals with the choreographer
to get our movement in sync.

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As we rehearse the material, actors
always write in their script

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with a pencil, in case things change.

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Everything from our blocking
to music and choreography notes

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gets jotted down
so that we remember everything.

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After each rehearsal, the actors receive
notes from the director, which they write

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in their scripts and remember
to incorporate in future rehearsals.

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It's important that only the director
gives notes to the actors.

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It's never appropriate for actors
to give acting, blocking, music,

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or choreography notes to each other.

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It's important that we memorize our lines
and lyrics when the director asks.

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This is called being off book and allows
the rehearsal process to move forward.

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Once we have the basics of the show down
and have memorized our parts,

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we'll start doing run-throughs

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in the studio
to put all of the pieces together in order.

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Once the set is ready on stage,

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we'll move into the theater and begin tech
rehearsals, which incorporate

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all the technical aspects of the show,
including lighting and sound.

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If the show has a live orchestra,
we will sing through the score

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with them for the first time
in a rehearsal called sitzprobe.

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After that, we all begin dress
rehearsals, full run-throughs of the show

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with all the technical elements,

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costumes and orchestra in place
to prepare for our audience.

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Let's hear
more about the rehearsal process

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from Disney Theatrical Group
Associate Director Jeff Lee.

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Well,
the technical rehearsals are obviously

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when the actors come out of the studio
and where they've been basically

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making everything up in terms of scenery
or costumes or props,

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they've been using rehearsal props.

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Now it's about bringing in all the other
design elements of the show

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that are going to give it life
the lighting, the scenery, the props,

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the costumes, the makeup, the wigs, adding
all of those things together. Now,

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I'm not
a big fan, and I know many directors are,

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many directors love to put the pile of mud
in the middle of the room

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and then sculpt everything away
to what they want to see.

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I'm just the opposite.

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I like layering things so that you bring
the actors on the stage, in work light,

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work with them with the scenery
so that they know

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what's moving and where things are going

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and where they need to be
at what point in time.

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And then you slowly add in the other
layers, you add in the lighting,

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you add in the sound, you add in costumes
and wigs.

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You add in any special effects
so that you basically stack the production

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one element at a time
until the full picture is complete.

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After working hard
during weeks of rehearsal,

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we are finally able to share that work
with an audience.

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That first night performing The Lion
King in Las Vegas, to thunderous applause,

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is something I'll never forget.

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Unlike film,
where performances are recorded

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and crafted into a final product
in the editing room,

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theater is always live,
which makes each performance special.

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Because the audience is different
every night and the audience response

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affects acting,

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no two performances are the same.

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And if something unexpected happens,
like an actor forgets a line or

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drops a prop, everyone on stage

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and in the audience gets very excited
about what might happen next.

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But for actors, staying in character
is imperative.

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For everyone backstage,

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it's problem solving time.

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It's certainly not just actors hard work
that makes each performance possible.

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In fact, in The Lion King,
there are more people off stage

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making a performance happen than

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there are actors on stage.

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But actors have important processes
that help get things

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ready for the show to begin.

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Let's hear more from Production
Stage Manager Ron Vodicka

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about his work with actors
during a performance.

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Many of the actors,
it's an individual process, I would say,

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but most of them, most of them have
what we call a half hour call, which is a

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they're called a half hour
before the published performance time.

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And so, but many of them arrive early
because they need to do

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a physical and or vocal warmup.

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Some of them have to arrive early to,

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to get their makeup
applied to them an hour before the show.

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And so then many of them,
they have to come in and they sign in,

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so they make sure they're signed in
before the half hour,

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and then they can individually go off
and do whatever kind of warm up

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or preparation that they require.

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Then at some point after the half
hour call, most of them go to the,

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most of the time the warm ups happen

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somewhere else in the building,
on the stage or in a hallway,

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they're doing a vocal warm up, and
then they go back to their dressing rooms

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and get dressed and apply their own makeup
for the top of the show.

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The process of putting on a play is hard,
but very exciting work.

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With new opportunities
to learn every day.

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Now it's your turn to explore the audition,
rehearsal and performance process.