Mark Brandon is an associate at Binder Casting, one of New York’s busiest theatrical casting offices. Initially, the Chicago born Brandon worked as an actor with a musical background but a need for more stability eventually led him to casting. Shirley Rich, the casting director of several Jerome Robbins projects, brought him to Jay Binder. He began as a part-time assistant at Binder during pilot season and six months later became an associate. His responsibilities there encompass the Disney stage projects, including the smash hits Beauty and the Beast and multi-Tony Award winning The Lion King. His features include Casting Assistant on the Academy Award Winning film, Dreamgirls.
I was tired of traveling and living out of a suitcase. I never really felt like I was in control and I wanted to do something where my career wasn’t in other people’s hands. It’s just such a difficult business. I needed to have something where I felt I had a creative outlet. The casting director is part of the creative team. I have a background in acting, I have a music degree from the University of Illinois, I studied piano for twelve years and I wanted to find something that utilized all of those things for me. This ended up being the perfect job for me.
The Lion King is a very, very specific, very difficult show to cast. There are thirteen principles in a cast of fifty and everyone is so different. Julie [director Julie Taymor] has done an incredible job of taking her unique vision of the show and transferring it to the stage. Not only does the show rely on really true actors, it requires performers unlike most Broadway performers.
The sensibilities might be a little different and a little earthier—this just has a more contemporary feeling. A good portion of the ensemble cast has never done a Broadway show before. Most of the dancers come from the world of concert dance because Garth Fagan’s wonderful choreography comes from modern dance. So the Broadway dancer doesn’t always connect to that world. The technique is different, the training is different. And since we try very hard to maintain the African sound, again a lot of the Broadway singers aren’t really appropriate because they don’t necessarily respond to that sort of style. It’s a very specific vocal quality. It’s a very chant-like sound without a lot of vibrato. Americans and a lot of Broadway singers are used to singing with that vibrato. When we audition people and ask them to take the vibrato out of their voices they find it’s not an easy thing for them to do.
We looked for almost two years. We had to do a lot more searching than just putting out breakdowns and letting the submissions come in.
We found people primarily through open calls and searching the country. Little by little, as word got out as to what we were looking for, it became easier. Now, with the popularity of the show, people are coming out of the woodwork. But casting it is still an arduous process because of the vocal and physical demands of the show.
The boy playing Simba has to be ten to twelve years old and essentially carry the first act. He has to have a huge presence and really be able to sing, dance and act. There aren’t too many ten-year-olds out there who can stand on the stage and make you believe that their father just died. The child who we just put in actually came to me from an unsolicited picture that came across my desk. I thought, “This kid has a great look.” But he’d never been involved in a Broadway show or even auditioned for one before. He came in and was totally natural. He’d never done any professional acting in his life. So it just goes to show—you never know. Do I look at pictures and résumés that come across my desk? Yes. Do I open all my mail? Yes. This kid didn’t even have a résumé. Just a school snapshot. Casting the girl to play Nala was a really big challenge too. It’s a very specific look and, like the boy, they have to be able to sing, dance and act. We’re also challenged because at that age, the kids get too big in about twelve seconds.
They have to be stars. And that’s not something you can learn how to do. It’s something that’s innate.
People always want to get back to that freedom. The point of being a child is that you’re basically fearless. Life hasn’t happened to you yet and there’s still that childlike abandon. The boy in the show now is not overwhelmed by being in a Broadway show, he’s just having a great time.
We do work with people in this office because we want them to succeed. My first statement to actors is that I’m on their side. If they look good, I look good. I will spend twenty minutes with an actor I’m really interested in. We’ll go through the music, I’ll tell them the musical director’s approach. I will take them through the scenes, tell them what’s happening, and lead them in the right direction. Then I send them away and bring them in for the creative staff. I will spend that twenty minutes with an actor and work with them so their audition can be that much better. We’re constantly doing that because that’s what it’s all about.
To me, if you’re a musical actor, you’re an actor first. You’re not a singer, then an actor. I respond first to the actor inside of people when we’re looking for musical actors. Hitting the notes and having the range is important but ultimately, the reason we’re all here is to communicate the emotion. So if you’re just singing the notes, who’s going to care if you’re not making the audience feel something? I respond to people who are prepared for auditions, who really spend time to pick apart their material, who make the choices and put it all back together. You have to have all that technical background before you walk in the door. Then, when you walk in, all that technical background needs to go out the window. It should just be innate and all your concentration is on the words. The words are always the most important part. It’s taking that material, picking it apart, spending time with it, thinking about it all beforehand so that in the audition the only thing you do is tell the story with heart. That’s why you study. Actors sometimes think that they can get away with not taking classes. Singing is a muscle. If you don’t keep singing, if you don’t keep studying, eventually all that stuff will deteriorate. Acting is the same way.
The minute the actor walks in the door, the actor is the one who should be in control of their audition. The minute the actor lets someone else take charge is the minute the audition becomes a failure. You need to be in charge and you need to walk in saying to yourself, “I’m gonna do my best, I’m prepared and I’m going to enjoy myself.” You can’t let every audition be a life or death situation. So many actors obsess about why they did not book a job. Stop wasting your energy and your time. Stop second-guessing because there could be any of three thousand reasons, some of which may not have anything to do with you. If it’s meant to happen, it’s gonna happen. And you’ve got to love what you do. If you don’t, if you’re not totally in passion and in love with what you do, definitely go do something else.
Jay Binder Casting
212.586.6777
630 Ninth Ave. #807. New York, NY 10036