Jane Eyre: The Musical (past show)

Book By John Caird
Lyrics By Paul Gordon
Music By Paul Gordon
Presented by special arrangement with Music Theatre International
Director: Marty Bussert
From May 31 to June 16, 2018

Audition Information

AUDITION NOTICE:
Jane Eyre The Musical
April 8 and 9
7 p.m.


James/York Playhouse
200 Hubbard Lane
Williamsburg, VA 23185


Performances:
May 31 - June 16


For auditions please prepare 32 measures (approximately 1-2 minutes) of music from a Broadway musical. Please bring sheet music to the audition, an accompanist will be provided. The song does not have to be from the show, but it should show off you voice in the best possible way. We may ask you to sing something from the show at auditions.


WOMENS ROLES:


Jane Eyre - Age look: 18-20
Vocal range - Alto/Mezzo,- F sharp below middle C to E a 10th above
Jane is a strong-willed and passionate young woman but outwardly quiet, watchful and shy. In many ways the character is a self-portrait of Charlotte Bronte herself, thus she has all the complexities and contradictions inherent in the possessor of a profound spiritual inner life. The actress who plays her
should not be physically attractive in an obvious way, but instead should have a beauty born of calmness, humor and strength.


Mrs. Fairfax - Age look: 55-75
Vocal range - Alto, F below middle C to C an octave above.
Rochester's elderly relation and the house-keeper of Thornfield Hall. This is essentially a comic role, though the comedy should never be over-done. The character is fussy, garrulous, kind-hearted and deaf. She has two major songs which are comedic in style, but the actress must also be able
to touch the audience's heart-strings at certain moments in the show. A gifted actress is required.


Blanche Ingram - Age look: 20-30
Vocal range - Coloratura soprano - to Bb5
The clever, sophisticated and stunningly beautiful lady who Jane, and the audience, must believe is to be married to Rochester. The actress playing the part must have wit and grace and charm, but her chief attraction must be a fabulous soprano voice with which she can dominate Jane and
Rochester and the audience.


Helen Burns, Age look: 14-16
Vocal range - Mezzo, A below middle C to C sharp an octave above.
This part must be able to come across as 4-5 years older than Young Jane. Whoever plays it must be of a strong, calm and spiritual demeanor. Helen teaches young Jane her most important lesson in life in the solo "Forgiveness," so the audience must be engaged by her intellectually and emotionally. Must be a mid to older teen with strong, accomplished singing voice.


Mrs. Reed - Age look: 50-60
Vocal range - Mezzo, Eb above middle C to F an octave above
Jane's aunt. She is a middle-aged woman of a cold and over-bearing nature. A difficult role, the actress playing her must be able to convey a brittle strength which turns to madness and vulnerability of her death bed in the second act.


Bertha Mason - Age look: 35-50
Vocal range - Mezzo, middle C sharp to C sharp an octave higher.
Rochester's mad wife, kept in the attic of Thornfield Hall. Another part for a gifted actress. Bertha can be played in different ways, as a strangely beautiful but criminally
deranged bride, stuck, like Miss Havisham, at the moment of her happiness, or as a coarsened and violent heavy-weight almost de-humanized by her years of madness. Either way will work, or a mixture of both. Room for great invention here.


Grace Poole - Age look: 30-60
Vocal range - Mezzo
Bertha Mason's minder and nurse. This is a difficult role for a good actress, who must suggest to the audience that there is a danger and mystery about race that may even include the possibility that she is the mad arsonist of Jane's worst fears. She is actually a capable and caring woman with an occasional fondness for the liquor pot.


Miss Scatcherd, Age look: 35-60
Vocal range - Mezzo, D above middle C to D an octave higher.
A teacher at Lowood. A hard-faced and embittered middle-aged woman whose nature has been warped by dogged obedience to Mr. Brocklehurst and a natural distrust of anything unusual or imaginative.


Lady Ingram, Age look: 50-70
Vocal range - Soprano or Alto
Blanche Ingram's mother. An amply proportioned woman who wears an expression of almost insupportable haughtiness, her eyes fierce and hard and voice deep, pompous and dogmatical. The part needs an actress with comic skill and a strong stage presence.


Mrs. Dent, Age look: 40-60
Vocal Range - Alto or Soprano
The wife of Colonel Dent - a pale, fair-haired, sweet-natured middle-aged woman utterly under the thumb of Lady Ingram.


Marigold, Age look: 30-70
Vocal Range - Alto or Soprano
A servant at Lowood School. An ex-schoolgirl herself, she has been kept on to do the dirty kitchen work and cleaning. She is semi-moronic and entirely without humor.


Louisa Eshton - Age look: 20-25
Vocal range - Soprano or Alto
Mr. Eshton's elder daughter - she is not unattractive but very myopic and a little slow on the uptake.


Amy Eshton - Age look: 18-22
Vocal range - Soprano or Alto
Mr. Eshton's younger daughter - older teen - pretty, child-like and naive.


Mary Ingram - Age look: 18-25
Vocal range - Soprano or Alto
Blanche's sister - sharp-faced and catty, constantly smirking under her breath at someone else's expense.


MENS ROLES:


Edward Fairfax Rochester - Age look: 30-40
Vocal range - high baritone, B an octave below middle C to a big G above.
Rochester is intelligent, sophisticated and a powerful male presence. He has been greatly damaged by life is therefore quite prickly and demanding, but he has a keen sense of humor and a graceful and engaging personality. Like Jane, he need not be particularly handsome, he should rather be strong and dark and just a little frightening to all but Jane


Robert - Age look: 30-50
Vocal range - Baritone or Tenor
The Butler at Thornfield. Robert is dry and intelligent and kind, a martyr to Mrs. Fairfax's whims, deafness and dottiness. An understanding and reliable servant to Rochester.


Mr. Brocklehurst - Age look: 40 to 60
Vocal range - High baritone, D below middle C to G above.
The owner of Lowood School. He must be an imposing and frightening figure to Young Jane - cold-eyed, zealous and pontifical.


St. John Rivers - Age look: 25-35
Vocal range - Tenor/high baritone, C below middle C to G above middle C
The curate of the parish of Gateshead, caring for Mrs. Reed at her death. St. John (pronounced Sinjun) is a complex and interesting young man, passionately devoted to his Christian faith and duty. He falls in love with Jane because he recongizes a fellow spiritual intelligence. Must be appealing (whether expressly handsome or not) - a dramatic contrast Rochester and a man the audience could seriously think that Jane might marry.


Richard Mason - Age look: 45-60
Vocal range - Tenor, C below middle C to G above
Bertha Mason's brother and therefore Rochester's brother-in-law. He is a gentleman, well off and well educated but a weak man, haunted by the wrong he has done to Rochester and the need to care for his deranged, unhappy sister.


Lord Ingram - Age look: 18-25
Vocal range - Tenor
Also called 'Tedo', Blanche Ingram's brother. He is languid and self-important and in a state of almost constant boredom.


Mr. Eshton - Age look: 50-60
Vocal range - Baritone or Tenor
The local magistrate and a neighbour of Rochester's - a charming but ineffectual middle-aged widower.


Colonel Dent - Age look: 55-70
Vocal range - Baritone or Tenor
A neighbour of Rocheseter's - a choleric old campaigner with an eye for the young women.


The Vicar - Age look: 50-70
Vocal range - High Baritone
His function in the play is to preside over the abortive wedding between Jane and Rochester
and then witness Rochester's subsequent confession.


CHILDREN'S ROLES


Young Jane Eyre, Age look: 10
Vocal range - Mezzo, D above middle C to D an octave higher.
This is a good part for a gifted child actress. Young Jane is strong and willful and full of soul.


Adele - Age look: 8-10
Vocal range - Mezzo, B below middle C to E above.
This part needs a clever, funny and sweet-natured child actress, capable of playing a pretty, self-dramatizing and a vain little French coquette.


John Reed - Age look: 10-14
Vocal range - Baritone or Tenor
Mrs. Reed's horrible little son, cruel, manipulative and violent.


ENSEMBLE


The ensemble serve as "the narrator," speaking and singing Jane's own thought/narrative and offer a great deal of opportunity for making the show unique and powerful. It is
quite involved throughout the show (12 scenes), transitioning, setting the mood, relating narrative.


Servants, including as specified one manservant, two maidservants. Ensemble Characters may double as these.


Schoolgirls Chorus Age look, 8-18
Vocal range, Mezzo, D above middle C to E an octave higher.
Lowood is a school for girls of all ages from 6-18. However many girls end up on stage, they should all be played with great discipline and attention to detail. They should be in uniform attire but not of uniform personality. Though not
amongst the poorest of society, they are certainly down-trodden, hungry and cold, though not dirty and debased.

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