Elephant & Piggie

Elephant & Piggie’s “We Are in a Play!” will have the entire family dancing and cheering! Based on the beloved, best-selling children’s books by Mo Willems, this delightful musical follows an elephant named Gerald and a pig named Piggie as they take to the stage in this rollicking adventure that is perfect for young audiences. Go with these two “bestus” friends to a party hosted by the Squirrelles, three singing squirrels who love to have a good time, on a day when anything is possible!

AUDITIONS

Our team is looking for dynamic and fun performers to bring these characters to life! More is more when it comes to portraying these characters! We are looking for folks who can express the material authentically but also perform with a lot of enthusiasm, projection and momentum. All performers will be singing and dancing. Performances will be out-doors and folks who can be flexible with weather, outside stimuli and the changing landscapes will thrive best in this cast. Our Team prides ourselves on being respectful and inclusive collaborators and we would like the cast to add to this quality. 

We will be casting 5 to 10 adult actors in this production. Gerald and Piggie will each be played by one performer, but all other roles are open for doubling or ensemble work to fill out group numbers. Please note that while the original production was written with gender specificity in mind for each character, our production concept has each character open to any gender presentation/orientation. They are also ageless, so come as you are!

REHEARSALS

Rehearsals begin the week of April 17 at the Lyric Creative Space in South Burlington, and will continue up to three times per week until the run of the show on Tuesdays and Thursdays (6:00 pm – 9:00 pm) and Sundays at a time to be determined. The week between performances there will be an additional dress rehearsal. 

THE PROCESS

• Please fill out and submit the Audition Form, and contact our stage manager, Kyla, with your preferred audition date (3/30 or 4/1) by emailing [email protected]. Please specify “LYRIC AUDITION” in the subject line. You should receive confirmation within 24 hours. If you do not, please call the Lyric Office at (802) 658-1484.
• After arrival at the Lyric Creative Space, all those auditioning will be brought into the studio for a dance audition, to be taught on site and then performed in groups. (Wear clothes and shoes you can move in!)
• Auditionees will then be called in individually to perform their side and music selection for the team. All materials are provided below.

Please Note: If necessary, callbacks will take place after the scheduled audition on Saturday, April 1. Casting calls will be made later that day.

CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS

GERALD – A lumbering, somewhat formally attired elephant; prone to melancholy. Best friends with Piggie.
PIGGIE – An ebullient, inquisitive pink pig. Best friends with Gerald.
THE SQUIRELLES – A trio of back-up singing squirrels who are friends with Gerald and Piggie. Vocal Range: Ab5 – E3. (Squirrels sing as a trio, we also will be casting folks who can be whole characters on their own!)
DOG – A dutiful delivery dog.
PENGUIN – A sarcastic ice cream seller.

AUDITION SIDES

Choose whichever of the following two sides you prefer. There is no correlation between song and side choice due to the use of non-show music for the audition. 

SIDE #1 – PIGGIE
Ohhhhhh nooooo mmmmyyyyyy tooooooyyyy!!
You…broke my toy!
I am mad! And sad! I am mad and sad and mad and sad and and and
You broke my new toy! I didn’t even get to play with it!
You broke my new toy and I didn’t even have a day with it.
That toy was the culmination of my dreams and what you did was so very mean.
There’s nothing you can do! You are an out of control, rampant toy breaker!
Look what you’ve done!
Look what he did! 

SIDE #2 – GERALD
Piggie! I think someone is watching us!
I don’t mean to be paranoid, but I think lots and lots of people are watching us.
An audience?! Dude! That is a lot of people!
Okay…okay…well what are they doing here anyway?!
(realizing) We are in a play! We must be in a play!
That…that…is so coooooool! Just look at them all! Just sitting there!
Look at all these people out there! Kids! Grownups! They are all here just watching us because…wait for it…We.Are.In.A.Play!!!

MUSIC SELECTIONS

Pick one of the following selections and sing it in whatever octave works for you and in whatever style or as whatever character you would like. Be creative! We are looking for fun, playful, and sincere storytelling, and performers who aren’t afraid to get a little silly (or, actually, maybe a lot silly!) Lyrics and sheet music are provided below, and physical copies will be available at your audition as well. Corresponding YouTube links to the exact audio tracks that you will be asked to sing with at auditions are also available below.

• While these YouTube links are karaoke tracks, do not use the lyrics in the videos—use the lyrics we have provided instead!
• Selections are the first 50 seconds of each track.
• Music selections will not be taught at auditions.
• Auditionees will not be asked to sing a scale, but will instead be taken through a couple of very brief, playful vocal exercises (vocal sigh from high to low, etc.) to get a sense of range.

SELECTION #1 – “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” (Sheet Music Link | Karaoke Track Link)

Old MacDonald had a farm
Ee i ee i o
And on his farm he had some pigs
Ee i ee i oh
With a (pig sound) here
And a (pig sound) there
Here a (pig sound), there a (pig sound)
Everywhere a (pig sound)
Old MacDonald had a farm
Ee i ee i o

Old MacDonald had a farm
Ee i ee i o
And on his farm he had some elephants
Ee i ee i o
With an (elephant sound) here
And an (elephant sound) there
Here an (elephant sound), there an (elephant sound)
Everywhere an (elephant sound)
Old MacDonald had a farm
Ee i ee i o. 

SELECTION #2 – “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” (Sheet Music Link | Karaoke Track Link)

An itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout.
Down came the rain, and washed the spider out.
Out came the sun, and dried up all the rain,
and the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the spout again. 

The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the maple tree
She slipped on some dew and landed next to me
Out came the sun and when the tree was dry
The itsy bitsy spider gave it one more try.

SELECTION #3 – “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” (Sheet Music Link | Karaoke Track Link)

Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream,
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.

Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream,
If you see a crocodile,
Don’t forget to scream.

Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the creek,
If you see a little mouse,
Don’t forget to squeak.

AUDITION DANCE COMBINATION

The video links below will take you through the combination step-by-step. These are in case you would like to familiarize yourself with the material beforehand, but it will be taught in its entirety at the audition. 

IMPORTANT DATES

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