Semester's Stars Chosen

The Harvard Radcliffe Dramatic Club (HRDC) common casting auditions have been the cause of exhilaration, heartbreak and a few injuries over the past week.

Common casting, which allows students to try out for most of the season's HRDC shows with one audition, ended earlier this week after six days.

Roles up for grabs included parts in "Anything Goes," "HMS Pinafore," "Jesus Christ Superstar," "Faustus" and "The Importance of Being Earnest." Nobody broke a leg, but students said minor injuries were common in the auditions.

Especially dangerous was the tryout for Jesus Christ Superstar, which required would-be dancers to repeatedly practice a kneeling spin move that dancers said was hard on their knees.

"The dancing was extremely grueling and painful, a whole hour and a half on our knees" says Marvin C. Pittman '02, who was called back twice for Jesus Christ Superstar. "I hurt my right knee especially. One guy was bleeding, but I was lucky enough to only have a few layers of skin ripped off."

Ari K. Appel '03, who auditioned for 10 shows and was called back for six, wrote in an e-mail message that he had fun despite the pressure.

"The high point of the audition process for me was the Jesus Christ Superstar callbacks," Appel said. "The music was so uplifting. But the real pleasure came from the intense dance routines."

Appel said that the weekend of auditions was one of the best experiences he has had at Harvard.

"The choreography was some of the most challenging I've ever tried to dance," he said. "But it was a lot of fun just giving it my all. Last weekend was one of the most intense theatre experiences I've had."

Royd Chung '01, a former member of the Callbacks and a cast member of last semester's Hasty Pudding show, said he enjoyed common casting before eventually deciding to take the semester off from drama.

"I had a great time learning the different songs and dances, and the people I met through the process were really cool," Chung said. "It also made me psyched to go see the shows even though I won't be in them."

Shawn H. Snyder '00 described his common casting experience as thoroughly exhausting.

"I was limping and had bandaids on [my knees] for days...but it was a good, burning worthwhile pain," he said.

Though many who endured the pains of common casting did not get the part they wanted, all the participants seemed to get something out of the experience.