Hong Kong Auditions (pt 1)

Hey howdy hey folks!

Last week I went into Hong Kong twice for two different auditions, both for Disney!

The first was for Shanghai Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, and they were looking specifically for dancers. The production is essentially a full Broadway show, just playing at the Disney park in Shanghai.

The second audition was for character performers in Hong Kong Disneyland—more of a “interact with the guests and join the parades” kind of deal.

These two were three days apart, and I only found the HK Disney one after coming back from the Shanghai one, haha.

Anyway, the Shanghai dance audition required auditionees to sing as well, which 😱😱😱

I’m not trained singer at all, and I have trouble singing on-key with accompaniment, so I decided to take some voice lessons. Unfortunately, I only saw the audition posting a week before the actual audition, so I only had time for two lessons 😳

Because the musical is entirely in Mandarin, of course I had to choose a musical theater song in Mandarin, and so of course I ended up going with a Disney song because I didn’t have time to delve into the history of Broadway getting exported to China.

I ended up with “A Whole New World” from Aladdin largely because I already know the tune, and maybe just a little bit to vindicate my eleven-year-old self who didn’t get the part of Jasmine in our 6^th grade musical because I was a horrible singer…..

So: I frantically memorized the song, started daily dance workouts in my tiny studio apartment, practiced my expressions in the mirror, and woke up confident but nervous the day of. Then I miscalculated my transit time (AGAIN – getting through customs is a wild card every time), caught a taxi from the metro; the taxi driver made a wrong turn JUST before I was supposed to get off, so I had to sprint a block on my own in an unfamiliar part of Hong Kong, praying that my last glance at the map had been correct (I don’t have cell service in HK), to arrive at the audition and find that I was blessedly Not Late. 

The audition process itself was fairly straightforward: we all fill out our forms, provide resumes and headshots, have our photos and heights taken, warm up a bit, and then head to the dance studio, which is a huge, gorgeous room.

Interestingly, I recognized two of the staffers from a previous audition I had done for Hong Kong Disney, but I’m not sure if they remembered me, haha. Even though the show was for Shanghai, since the audition was in Hong Kong, I guess they were there for extra support.

We learned a combination from the show choreographer, a sweet bubbly white woman who also speaks Mandarin. So she gave all the instructions in both languages, and that’s pretty fun. The choreography was actually from the show itself, and it was pretty basic, but involved a lot of direction changes that weren’t totally intuitive, haha. I did alright though!

After that, she separated the men and women, gave the men a rest, and had the women all do a turn combination across the floor. I was pretty excited because, to calm my nerves the night before, I had spent maybe fifteen minutes straight doing nothing but pirouettes, so I was BALANCED. Anyway, I killed the turn combo and I could feel it, but……

After that they cut people and I….was one of them…..

The director giving the usual speech about “thank you for your talent and passion” etc. did make DIRECT and unmistakable eye contact with me though, so I’ll take that as a positive sign.

But I. Didn’t. Even. Sing.

I sulked around the venue for a little while after because they had free wifi and met some fellow auditionees (Soey and Nicole, both from HK, I think). Soey was leaving, but Nicole was auditioning more as a singer, so she stayed around even though her dancing hadn’t been up to par. And Nicole was, I kid you not, singing the Mandarin version of “Reflection” from Mulan. And tbh that alone made the whole experience worth it.

Anyway, as I was leaving, one of the men who had also been cut saw me and called me over to say, “Don’t be sad! Maybe they were just looking for Asian faces.” Which was really quite sweet of him.

So I headed home, letting the bitterness have its time—I really want to move to Shanghai, you guys. It’s glamorous and historic and COOLER THAN SHENZHEN.

Photos from the commute back:

It was golden hour, so that means I was walking around
in Extra Tourist Mode admiring the cityscape.

Also I'm perpetually charmed by bamboo scaffolding

Now that's what I call a city!

The MTR line that connects to Shenzhen is all outdoors
and I LOVE MOUNTAINS YOU GUYS

After getting home, I checked the Disney audition website because, I don’t know, I’m a glutton for pain, and then I saw the Character Performer listing I went, “….well, no harm in trying.”

To be continued! 😛✌️