This episode of your daily Lex was not executive produced by John Siracusa Your Daily Lex Feels like we’re building in to a narrative arc on this podcast because I’ve talked off and on Several times about the fact that I’m auditioning for the musical Avenue Q soon said audition is tomorrow Not a ton of things make me nervous I don’t worry about public speaking or whatever else but I’m definitely nervous for this audition because I want it a lot and of course the best way to you know Go in for roles or jobs or anything else is to be okay If you don’t get it, no, I’ll be okay if I don’t get it, but I really want it And I don’t just really want it.

I really want a specific part.

I don’t just really want a specific part I really want a specific two parts I want to play the double role which is how it is done on Broadway of Nikki who is a lot like Ernie a bit more of a slacker maybe And Trekkie monster who was a lot like Cookie Monster and a bit more into pornography.

So those are the two characters That’s not a joke.

It’s the reality of the show, but I want to play those those two characters very much and I have Daydreamed about myself on that stage performing those two puppets and I was trying to think again Why do I want to do this show so much and one certainly?

I love the show.

I really do I think it’s a great hilarious fun show.

I love puppets.

I love puppets being part of a reality And really what it comes down to is one I love the show and then two I love the idea of really puppeteering right?

It’s not quite professional I guess since it’s still community theater, but the idea of puppeteering for big audiences for multiple nights of the show is really fun to me So I really want to get it and as I think I’ve talked about I’m auditioning with a medley.

I wrote that combines I mean the medley I wrote a medley I arranged that combines rubber ducky, which I’m doing in my Ernie voice and see is for cookie Which unsurprisingly I’m doing a cookie monster voice And I’m going to take a puppet to the audition and this is a fraud.

It could be perceived as extra It’s not even the same kind of puppet It’s a rod puppet where you use a rod to control the arm do you can use a double rod puppet which I was going to do but I’m gonna go with a single rod because that’s how most of the rod puppets in Avenue Q are however the two roles I’m auditioning for aren’t even rod puppets.

They’re live arm puppets Live hand puppets they call them where your arm goes through a glove basically a sleeve in a glove.

That is the characters arm But those puppets are really expensive.

You can buy them for several hundred dollars, which I had no intention of doing to audition for show You don’t need to audition with the puppet.

They don’t want you to well They don’t not want you to but they said we’re gonna do puppeteering at callbacks.

So coming with a puppet is Maybe a little bit extra.

So my intention is I’m gonna have Arlo, which is what I’ve named my furry orange monster but I’m gonna have in my backpack and you know, I bring in my my headshot my resume and my Sheet music for the piano player to play while I sing my song I’m gonna have him in my backpack and then when they say, okay, right whenever you’re ready, I say I know this is unorthodox But do you mind if my buddy Arlo helps me out with his audition and they’re like what I’m gonna give him Arlo and I’m gonna Show he’s there.

They might very well say oh, we’re actually doing the puppet stuff tomorrow.

I was trying to make no problem I brought him today just in case because He’s helped me a lot with the my rehearsal for this audition But no problem leaving with a bag or they might say if you’d like And I think that the puppeteering is a good idea And I think that the puppeteering helps my audition especially because these are weird songs to be singing as a human There are weird songs to be saying I also don’t know how many auditioners are gonna be doing Character voices, but to me those are the parts I wanted to have very distinctive voices particularly tricky monster You know just makes sense to me to bring out those voices There’s you know the question of is it awkward if you say hey, can I use my puppet and they say no Not a problem.

I brought him just in case he’s a good luck charm fine.

Move on.

It’s not awkward for me Is it awkward for them?

I don’t know And if they say hey use the puppet and then you don’t do the puppeteering Well, like if I get nervous and so I’m not doing good lip-sync a lot of people when they do puppets They flap the head up, but you’re supposed to do a lower lip down not the top of the head up They might you know If you count, you know five through ten with a puppet five six You can do your hand along with me five six seven eight nine when you’re doing that Your mouth should have flapped twice on seven because it’s two syllables So if I if I don’t do a good lip-sync or if the arm motions are bad or whatever if my eyeline is bad all things That puppeteering Focuses on then that could actually make me worse in my audition there’s also the potential benefit of They’re doing puppeteering your callbacks So if you get called back and then you come back and you have already wowed them with your initial audition And then you can wow them by being a good puppeteer and you haven’t said anything about it Maybe that’s good to all that said I won’t use the puppet.

I like the but I love the puppet I’m friends with the puppet.

The puppet is a friend No, I just I don’t know to me auditioning without a puppet for a show where I want to be a puppeteer is crazy So we’ll see anyway, a lot of people don’t talk about auditions before they do them particularly with non theater people because you know Inevitably the question becomes did you get it?

And then if you have to say no, it’s embarrassing, but that’s not me I’m not a lot of people.

I’m just Lex Friedman the one with the e and in both Lex and Friedman but so I I won’t know when I do Monday’s episode, I’m guessing I’m guessing they’ll take a Several days to a week to start telling people if they’ve been cast and there are days when I’m super confident That I’ll get cast in this show at least in one of the two roles I won and then days where I’m Totally nervous because I think there will be a lot of auditioners and there’s just not that many parts So when I hold a good thought for me this weekend or don’t tell me good luck or don’t because you’re not supposed to tell People good luck with theater supposed to open break a leg.

I don’t even need my legs to be functional just my arms So anyway, happy weekend, and yeah, we’ll talk soon Lex