<p>I agree that the audition process is messy, and there are many factors that go into the decision as to who gets what part. However, regardless of the part, if our son auditions, he follows through and does the show, and he doesn’t regret it. </p>
<p>Our son primarily performs with our regional Children’s Musical Theater, which is highly regarded and competitive (having received 8 National Endowment of the Arts awards), and while he pretty much always makes final callbacks for lead roles, he sometimes gets them, and sometimes he doesn’t and is cast in a much smaller vocal role. It depends on the role, the type, and the other performers auditioning, but regardless of the role, he loves performing and he wouldn’t leave the show because of the role he got. He pretty quickly gets over the disappointment when he doesn’t get a lead, especially given there are so many talented kids. </p>
<p>He’s now playing Benny in “In the Heights,” which fits his type perfectly. Before this, he was one of the students in a semi-professional production of Les Miz, and I think he got more out of that experience than when he played Jean Valjean in a high school production 6 months earlier. He once played the male lead in Aida, and a second time, he was in the ensemble. He knows that whatever the role, you can still work on your skills and learn and have a great time from the experience.</p>
<p>He has been accepted in 2 audition BFA programs thus far and is waiting to hear from 5 others, so you don’t have to always get the lead role to get in. In fact, at our regional Children’s Musical Theater, over the past 5-6 years, I can only think of 2 or 3 kids that consistently got one of the lead roles.</p>