The Fabulous Disney Babe
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I Don't Make the Show....but my
daughter makes local access!
by The Fabulous Disney Babe
I didn't mean to do it. I didn't set out to do it. Honest.
I was just going to cover the auditions for the hosts for the upcoming DCA show "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire? Play It!" at Los Angeles' St. Regis (I didn't book them there, so don't look at me like that) Hotel. I brought my own entourage (my friend and Who Wants to Be A Millionaire resident expert David McKinney) and we got to talk to a few of the people trying out. I had absolutely no intention of doing so myself. Honest.
Of the very-familiar Disney Cast Members trying out, one person in particular looked familiar. I think I've seen him in an Arabian Marketplace selling lamps. The people who all ready had improv-type jobs with Disney were seen first, and were given a blue laminated card with part of the show spiel on it to perform, in addition to a one-minute humorous monologue.
The Arabian Marketplace vendor gives his monologue
Click for a 38 second video clip in MPG format
Small (160 X
120) 2.3 Megs
Large (320 X
240) 4.3 Megs
When they were finished, Union Actors were seen next. At this point, Doobie, John and Tom had all suggested that I sign up so that I could see what it was like to audition as I've had stage and television experience (I played the evil prima donna wrestling manager on World Polynesian Wrestling in Hawaii in the late 80's - early 90's. Trust me, you haven't seen it. And you're lucky.) "I don't have a monologue..." I said. John and Tom were kind enough to not laugh at me in range of my sight or hearing, and for that I'm grateful.
Fab as Regis
"You don't need one. Just tell a story." Fine. I signed up and had my Polaroid taken, filled out the forms, and waited. Doobie and some of the other press people went in to watch some of the auditions, and later came out chuckling. I wasn't allowed, as I was now one of the hopefuls. The long list of Union Actors was finished in about two hours, and the press had gone, leaving us in a more comfortable atmosphere for chatting.
The majority of the auditioneers worked for Disney, but one woman to whom I spoke had seen the call in Backstage Magazine. Of the roughly thirty people who talked with me, she was the only non-Disney Cast Member I met. Auditions had started at nine, and I got in at one-thirty. Funny story. Funny story. Why can't I remember those stupid Importance of Being Earnest or Lovers and Other Strangers monologues from college when I need them? Oh, look, it's Imagineer Mike West (lots of Florida stuff)! I was in a small conference room, inside a kind of square U shaped arrangement of tables, behind which were various and sundry producers, show writers, Imagineers, and other people, from both Florida and California, who would be overseeing the show. I didn't want the position, I was just doing this to write about what it was about, and it was nerve-wracking. I've auditioned for things a gajillion times and it was never this tough. Maybe it's the Disney thing.
My funny story was the truth: why I was there. They did laugh, and they didn't cut me off in thirty seconds as they had been doing with everyone who had come before me in the last hour or so; they let me ramble on until I was finished.
"Thank you, that's all we need." I was a Regis Reject.