For a long time, musical auditions were often done in person. Actors would show up, perform and then go home to wait for a callback. However, COVID-19 changed this method, allowing at-home recordings.
Self-taping became a widely used tool in 2020. Although casting directors have used virtual tools in the past, the numbers skyrocketed when actors were not allowed to be in the same room as their future employers.
A new type of method has begun from this. TikTok has gotten bigger than many may have expected, taking an unexpected turn by becoming a platform for musical auditions.
In December 2024, Dolly Parton announced a new Broadway show titled “Dolly: An Original Musical.” Hoping for authenticity, she allows actors to post their auditions online under the #SearchforDolly hashtag. Interested singers can also post their auditions to the musical’s official website.
“Whether you’re chasing your dreams from a small town or you’ve spent years performing on stages across the country, I want to give you the chance to help me bring my story to Broadway – and maybe even play me,” Parton said in a YouTube announcement.
Parton stressed that the audition was open to everyone; she had worked for years on this musical and wanted to find the perfect person to play her. Parton commented that she needed someone who could capture her spirit on her life’s journey and thought she would find talent anywhere.
On Feb. 13, Dolly Parton released a compilation of the self-tape auditions of the 15 finalists on her TikTok. The comment section debated who they would prefer the winner to be. Elyse Bell and Haley Brown stood out to the fans online, but no official casting decision has been made.
Parton was not the first to embrace social media for casting. In the first two months of 2024, the UK tour of “Dear Evan Hansen” searched for actors through #YouWillBeFound on TikTok.
This was similar to Parton’s search, as actors were to post themselves singing any song from any production on their TikTok page.
This show opened Sept. 9, 2024, and starred Ryan Kopel, Lauren Conroy and Alice Fearn. All of these performers were in the casts of other hit shows, questioning the legitimacy and help the hashtag brought to the casting.
Disney on Broadway is another company conducting open casting calls, but not through hashtags on social media.
“The Lion King” is looking for children and singers while “Aladdin” is looking for just singers. Both auditions request a video be uploaded to YouTube or Vimeo before being emailed to Disney on Broadway.
This is not the first time Disney has done an open casting call, as the company has posted open auditions for the Disney Channel for many years, even before the pandemic.
Open-call auditions are more popular than many people expect. These auditions draw significantly more actors than scheduled auditions, resulting in a larger talent pool. Sometimes, a company is looking for one specific person, and the scheduled actors may not fit into that category no matter how good they are.
Additionally, there are content creators on TikTok who discuss auditions and post some of the auditions that have gotten them their roles.
Rachel Thomas is an actor in New York who often posts videos about singing, dancing or just things about acting. These are not auditions but they are a way to get herself out into the world. She makes a lot of her content to help other people, but future employers could also see this and contact her for a role based on her social media portfolio.
Paige Evans is another creator who has posted her auditions, as well as failed ones. This shows other actors that even though they put up good auditions, they still may lose to another actor.
Social media users, like these two creators, who post about theater on social media use hashtags related to musical theater to promote the content they post.
Captions mentioning open casting calls also get the attention of actors. It sends information about open casting calls on the internet that are not easily found. This is not about posting audition videos online, but it still gets the word out.
Although this new way of casting has not caught on yet, the producers of some of these shows may share a positive experience with using social media. If not, other content creators will continue to share their experience with acting through TikTok and use different hashtags to spread their wisdom online.
