Nice Work If You Can Get It

Monday, August 10, 2015 at 7:00pm (by appointment)
Wednesday, August 12, 2015 at 7:00pm (by appointment)

Main Stage Production
Director/Choreographer – Sheila Waters Fucci
Music Director – Holly J. McCann

All roles are open to audition. We are seeking an ensemble of 30-40 performers for this high-spirited, toe-tapping production.  There are 10 principal/featured roles available (5 women/5 Men) as well as numerous featured supporting roles and a large singing, dancing ensemble including tap.  Auditioners must bring sheet music with them and be prepared to sing 32 bars, but no more than one minute, of a fully memorized Broadway-style musical selection that showcases their vocal range.  

Auditioners should mark their selection with a highlighter. An accompanist will be provided. A cappella singing, instrumentals on CD, Tape, iPod, MP3 Player or digital recorder will not be allowed. Auditioners will also be asked to read from the script and perform a dance combination that will be taught at the audition.  Please bring tap shoes if you have them.

Rehearsals will be held on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings beginning August 25th.  There will be one midweek rehearsal on Wednesday, November 11, 2015.

CALLBACKS:        Thursday, August 13, 2015 at 7:30pm

AUDITIONS BY APPOINTMENT ONLY

Please send an email to [email protected] to schedule your appointment. An audition confirmation e-mail will be sent with full details on what will be expected at your audition. Audition appointments by e-mail are preferred, but if you do not have access to e-mail call the Warner Theatre Audition Line at 860-489-7180 ext.151. Please be specific as to the date you would like to schedule your appointment.

PERFORMANCE DATES:    
Saturday, November 7, 2015 at 8:00pm
Sunday, November 8, 2015 at 2:00pm
Friday, November 13, 2015 at 8:00pm
Saturday, November 14, 2015 at 8:00pm
Sunday, November 15, 2015 at 2:00pm

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ABOUT THE SHOW

Hilarious entertainment is back in high style with Nice Work If You Can Get It. Overflowing with 15 great songs, this brand-new Gershwin musical comedy combines laughter, romance and high-stepping musical magic.  A 1920's feel-good musical, complete with great dance numbers, beautiful costumes and an unlikely love story between a wealthy playboy and a rough and tumble lady bootlegger.

Set in the 1920s, Nice Work If You Can Get It is the story of charming and wealthy playboy Jimmy Winter, who meets rough female bootlegger Billie Bendix the weekend of his wedding. Jimmy, who has been married three (or is it four?) times before, is preparing to marry Eileen Evergreen, a self-obsessed modern dancer. Thinking Jimmy and Eileen will be out of town, Billie and her gang hide cases of alcohol the basement of Jimmy’s Long Island mansion. But when Jimmy, his wife-to-be and her prohibitionist family show up at the mansion for the wedding, Billie and her cohorts pose as servants, causing hijinks galore.

Nice Work If You Can Get It is a lighthearted crowd pleaser set to the backdrop of classic Gershwin hits like “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off,” “Someone to Watch Over Me” and “Fascinating Rhythm.” Featuring a cast of larger-than-life ensemble characters and snappy dialogue by book writer Joe DiPietro, Nice Work If You Can Get It harkens back to the golden age of American musical comedy.


AVAILABLE ROLES
JIMMY WINTER - BARI-TENOR (mid 20s - mid 30s) A wealthy and handsome playboy about to be married. Actor must have great charm, comic skills, must sing and move very well.                              

BILLIE BENDIX- CHEST MIX (mid 20s - early 30s): A tough, clever, feisty and street-wise young woman. Partners in rum running with her best friends, Cookie and Duke. She has always lived in a mans world until she meets Jimmy, a millionaire playboy and falls in love. Must be a skilled farceur. Very appealing, attractive and underneath her tough veneer, she must have a strong sense of vulnerability. Strong Mover/Dancer.                          
COOKIE MCGEE - CHARACTER BARITONE (early 30s - mid 40s): A fast-talking, wise-cracking bootlegger. He can talk anyone into or out of anything. He is mistaken for Jimmy’s butler and has to keep up the charade. Actor must understand old fashioned vaudeville style comedy a la Abbott and Costello.        

ESTONIA DULWORTH, THE DUCHESS OF WOODFORD - STRONG MIX & LEGIT SOPRANO (40s - late 50s): An upper-class, bejeweled dowager. A fervent prohibitionist but underneath there is a wild spirit just waiting to be freed.
                               
EILEEN EVERGREEN - STRONG MIX. LEGIT HEAD VOICE A PLUS (late 20s - mid 30s): Lush and lovely, she is the self-proclaimed finest interpreter of modern dance in the world as well as being spoiled rotten and completely self-involved. Jimmy’s fiancée and Senator Evergreen’s daughter. A dish with great comic skills. Strong Mover.
                                 
JEANNIE MULDOON - STRONG BELTER (mid 20s): A lovely, sexy, chorus girl from Brooklyn who falls in love with Duke, who she thinks is the Duke of England. She still loves him for who he is once she finds out the truth. They are the perfect couple, not too bright but winning. Strong Dancer.
  
DUKE MAHONEY - BARITONE (early 30s - mid 40s): Cookie’s sidekick. Not the brightest guy around. Very shy with women. By circumstance he must pass himself off as the Duke of England. He falls in love with the beautiful sexy chorus girl, Jeannie Muldoon. He is the dim but sweet stooge, paired with Cookie. The brawn to Cookie’s brains.

SENATOR MAX EVERGREEN - NON-SINGING ROLE (50s - 60s): Eileen’s father. A humorless career politician. Stuffy, stern and judgmental. Very distinguished looking. In his youth was in love with Millicent Winter, Jimmy’s mother.

CHIEF BERRY - BARITONE (mid 30s - 40s): Chief of the Long Island Police Department. Fiercely, and to a fault, dedicated to his job. Seems gruff on the outside.

MILLICENT WINTER - NON-SINGING ROLE (50s- 60s): Jimmy's mother. She is "Auntie Mame"; full of life with absolutely no pretenses even though she is unbelievably rich. Lives life to the fullest. Has sex appeal. We find out she made all of her money as a rum runner. In her youth was in love with The Senator.

ENSEMBLE - 10 to 15 Female and Male Dancing (Including Tap), Singing, and Acting Ensemble.