Audition

Harness your passion and nail your next audition with this “immensely useful” (Variety) playbook from the legendary casting director for Chicago, The Sound of Music, Gypsy, and Jesus Christ Superstar—featuring an introduction from Bob Fosse

“A bible for aspiring actors.”—The New York Times

When Barbra Streisand, Robert Redford, Ben Vereen, Lily Tomlin, Bette Midler, and Dustin Hoffman got their first breaks, Michael Shurtleff was there. In Audition, the renowned casting director shares twelve vital guideposts for how to succeed in any audition and offers advice on:
• style
• pacing
• distractions
• risks
• seduction
• drama
• musical theater
• comedy
• self-rescue
• eye contact
• and more!

Audition is a seminal guide to finding victory in all the auditions we face in life.“A practical handbook [and] a bible for aspiring actors.”—The New York Times

“Audition is absolutely indispensable to any aspiring or even mildly ambitious actor. There is no book of which I am aware that gives such first-rate, clear-cut, no-nonsense advice.”—Bob Fosse

“What a book! What an achievement! Audition is the only book ever written that makes the reader understand the theatre.”—Joshua Logan

“Immensely useful . . . A distillation of broad how-to-do-it wisdom.”—Variety

“The subject matter is surprisingly universal (everybody has to audition for something sometime) and the inside tales are terrific. . . . What Stanislavsky was to acting, Michael Shurtleff is to auditioning.”—New York Post

“Extraordinary . . . No actor will want to be without it.”—Estelle Parsons


“An education—in theatre savvy, in self-knowledge.”—Publishers WeeklyA leading casting director for such renowned works as Pippin, Chicago, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Apple Tree, 1776, Oliver!, Gypsy, and The Sound of Music, Michael Shurtleff also wrote plays and novels, directed films, and taught a renowned auditioning course. He regularly advised his readers: “Every day, learn. Learn enough so you can do good theater.” Michael Shurtleff passed away in 2007.