Posts

Your First Day

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  We are just a few days away from the beginning of your 2025 Overtures experience.  Can you believe it?   Your auditions were months ago – it probably felt like this day would never come! We hope you’ve been keeping up-to-date with emails, letters, blog posts, etc. So much of the success of the program falls on your shoulders. We hope we’ve prepared you well! On Monday morning, you’ll receive your Overtures binder and any other materials you requested to have printed out. The binder contains all kinds of useful materials for your time here at Overtures. The most important thing in your binder is your schedule. Your activities for each day are laid out clearly. For example, here’s what Monday’s schedule looks like:                                  Tip of the Day   Upon arrival, you'll also notice "Tip of the Day" sheets posted outside the ...

Meet Your Core Faculty

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  As of this writing, you are scheduled to work with 27 instructors and 5 accompanists during your time at Overtures. At the heart of your work at Overtures is your core faculty, a group of 5 instructors that you will work with regularly throughout the process. This core faculty will be there from beginning to end of your Overtures journey, helping you set goals and giving you the necessary tools to achieve those goals. Today, we thought we'd take a quick moment to introduce you to your core faculty. We can pretty much guarantee that you will love working with them. Angie Benson  (Showcase Music Director) is a music director and musician in the DC area. Signature performing credits include In the Heights , Soft Power , HAIR ,  Pacific Overtures ,  Which Way to the Stage; Into the Woods; The Color Purple; We Shall Someday; She Loves Me; RENT; Midnight at The Never Get; Ol' Blue Eyes; Frank Sinatra; Assassins; Grand Hotel; Girlfriend . Her National Tour credits include...

What to Prepare and Bring to Overtures

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    What to Prepare for Day One: Your assigned solo. Make sure you have it memorized and that you've practiced with the accompanist. (Be prepared to present the whole song.) Learn your assigned small group number - coming soon. Do your best to come in with it memorized!  Two memorized and contrasting contemporary monologues. You'll present one of them Monday. Present the one you feel is your strongest piece.  A 32-bar Golden Age cut.  (Details were emailed out to you regarding specifics.) A 32-bar Pop cut. (Details were emailed out to you regarding specifics.) Arrive in audition attire. You're welcome to bring in a change of clothes for later sessions in the day. What to bring each day: Sheet music for your assigned solo, group numbers, assigned duet / trio, your pop song and your Golden Age song. Printed text of your monologues Your audition songbook A positive attitude, a willingness to try / fail / learn and succeed. Dance clothing and jazz shoes, if you have...

Getting the Most Out of Overtures

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  Getting the Most Out of Overtures 2025 Tips and Tricks to Success for Overtures: During Overtures, there will be many opportunities to expand on your current abilities. To best utilize your time, talents and energy levels with your fellow students, faculty and visiting artists please take the following into account: Program Attire Dress for success in each of your classes. Dress to move and dance in dance class, dress for comfort and adaptability in acting and voice. There will be occasions where we request you to be in audition attire. On those occasions, do so that you can present your best self to visiting guests and artists.  If you've got jazz shoes, wear them for dance classes. If not, don't go out and buy a pair but bring in a set of footwear you know you can groove and move in for a few hours. Same goes for knee pads or any other pads or pieces of support you might need to help you through particularly physical classes. You know your body far better th...

Overtures 2025

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  Welcome to Overtures 2025 On this site, you'll find different blog posts that should help navigate preparing for these next few weeks. From what to bring each day to how to survive them, these posts have information that could aid in making sure you get the most out of every day during Overtures.