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ShowbizU: Sit in the Pit to Advance Your Career- Bill Sherman & Tim Kashani

Name: ShowbizU: Sit in the Pit to Advance Your Career- Bill Sherman & Tim Kashani
Uploaded: 2013-10-07T01:09:25+00:00
Duration: 2 min 5 s
Channel: Tim Kashani
Description: In this interview, Bill Sherman and Tim Kashani discuss how aspiring musical‑theatre professionals should prioritize real‑world experience over formal…

7 Oct 2013 · 2 min

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2:05

In this interview, Bill Sherman and Tim Kashani discuss how aspiring musical‑theatre professionals should prioritize real‑world experience over formal schooling. They argue that reading books or taking classes cannot substitute for the hands‑on learning that comes from working in a production, whether as an intern, production assistant, or simply sitting in the orchestra pit to observe the dynamics of a live show. Sherman shares his personal story of watching eight performances of Wicked from the pit while Alex Lacamoire was music director, emphasizing how that immersion taught him practical insights that no textbook could provide. They stress the importance of meeting and networking with industry people, attending shows, and using resources like ShowbizU, which aggregates information and opportunities for newcomers. The overall message is a call to actively seek out experiential opportunities and build relationships to launch a career in musical theatre.

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A lot of young people that are wanting to— or not even necessarily young, there are people my age too that want to come into, come into the business. And there's school and there's other ways that people can find out about it, but what advice for people that want to be mentored?
I would say to go out and meet people. I mean, I went to undergraduate school, I never went to graduate school because I got thrust into the world really quickly. And I feel like the magnitude of learning in a real environment is major. And especially with this, like, you could study how to make a musical forever, but until you've actually made one, you have no idea what you're talking about at all. You know that too. I mean, like, you could read every book, like, you know, Making Musicals for Dummies and all this other stuff, but until you've been there at 2 in the morning trying to figure out how the band should end this song, or like you've written 18 endings for the song and they all suck and you have to do another one, and then watching the crowd on opening night stand up, until you've tasted that and until you've been there, then you don't know anything. You just don't. And so the advice is get those experiences. Put yourself in a situation, intern, PA, do anything but be there. And, and I don't think anything else can be said that's more major than having an experience. With the theater stuff, it's about— it is an experience, but it's inevitably an experience that you That's why you go to the theater. And so the only way to learn about the theater is to have those experiences also, like go see shows, go sit— oh, go sit in the pit. That was one of the things I did really early on. Our music director, Alex Lacamoire, was at the time the music director of Wicked. So I went and sat in the pit of Wicked for like 8 shows and just watched, which is a crazy thing to do, I know, but it was so fun. And just to see how that dynamic works and like watching the show from the bottom and all that stuff. And then go meet the people, meet the other people who've done it and Check out things like Showbiz U because, I mean, this is like, you know, it's people trying to get you information, trying to get you involved, that they're doing it for a reason because the real way to do it is to be involved.