Who is this “Funny Girl,” you might ask..? Well, it’s been a bit since we featured an internal team member, but there’s no better time than the present! And so, we had a little virtual sit-down with our very own, Courtney, who has been in charge of casting for Mustard Lane and recently joined the National Tour of Funny Girl. Pretty fascinating stuff, if you ask us. Which…you didn’t.
First of all, can you speak on what your internal duties with Mustard Lane are? You’re the Casting Queen, right?!
YES! I have the exciting title of “Director of Casting and Recruitment,” and that’s a fancy way of saying a few things: I oversee the search and hiring processes of brand new BAs from all across the country (and in Canada) to be a part of our awesome database and work our events. I also handle catch-ups with those already in our database to keep our relationships strong and mutually beneficial. Mustard Lane has always been known for hiring stellar, well-rounded and kind human beings and my
primary goal is to carry on that legacy.
Now…while you were lovin’ the NYC/ML life, something happened…a little thing called…The National Tour of Funny Girl…? Tell us! When did you audition and when did you find out you’d booked it?!
My audition story was definitely one of persistence – I went through appointments and final callbacks in 2023 when they were originally casting the tour, and didn’t end up with an offer. Instead of being discouraged, I chose to look at it as not the right timing for me, and I couldn’t have been more right about that. This year (May/June 2024) I went through the process of appointments and final callbacks again, and things absolutely fell into place.
I did my final callback and got the call that night that I had booked an ensemble replacement track. I left NYC two weeks later! It’s been a whirlwind, but so many things have proved to me that the timing of this happening for me this year was better than it could’ve been last year. So, don’t get discouraged out there, people! What’s meant for you will find you when it’s supposed to!
Wow! So this all happened pretty quickly – how long did you have to learn the show before your debut?
It sure did! I joined the company in Washington D.C. while they were performing at the Kennedy Center. I learned the show from the Dance Captain in 9 days with only a few hours of scheduled rehearsal each day as they were also performing in the shows. It was fast and furious! We did my put-in rehearsal in D.C., traveled to our next city (Philly) on a Monday, and I made my debut Tuesday night!
Super cool that you and Kristal were able to figure something out so that you could continue with the company and still take this fantastic opportunity for your performance career. What are your ML duties looking like now that you’re on the road and fully remote? This is somewhat new for the company so we’d love to share!
Kristal is truly THE BEST and I’m so grateful we were able to work out a system that would work for us all. The main difference of course being that I’m not able to be in the ML Office every week (sad face – I LOVE the ML Office and the people in it!), but thankfully, I am still able to manage the casting inbox/submissions, recruitment/digging, interviews and catch ups from the road. We decided it would be a good opportunity for me to meet up with some of our Laners in each of the cities I am visiting as well, to give people an opportunity to meet someone from the office face to face! I’ve been loving getting to see firsthand what incredible Laners we have all over the country.
Touring and performing in Funny Girl itself is a lot; adding another job on top of that..?! How do you manage it all?
Truth! Thankfully, my show schedule is generally the same each week in each different city, though showtimes shift slightly each week and sometimes we have rehearsals or put-ins scheduled on top of the shows. Our touring company management sends out our schedule for the following week every Friday night, and I typically plan out my time for the upcoming week in between shows on Saturdays/Sundays. I am able to schedule phone calls, meetups, or general ML work hours during the days before shows, and thankfully my part-time schedule is flexible enough that each week I can change which days I am able to do most of my work, or I can spread it out throughout the week as needed! It can be a lot but it is all WORTH IT.
Well, the ML Internal Team made a field trip to see you in Philly the other week, and we all had a blast. But more importantly, you were fantastic! It must be fun and fulfilling to have friends at the shows, in different cities.
I cannot get over the fact that the ML fam came out to see me! It meant the world to me, and thank you for your kind words! It’s so amazing how many people I am getting to see and have in the audience in each city. More than I could have anticipated. That support keeps me going and is an added gift to the fact that I’m doing what I love. I’ve only been in the show for 4 weeks so far and have already had 32 friends in the audience!
Well, there ya have it, folks! Isn’t she a gem? We love shedding some insight to our Internal Processes, and how Mustard Lane continues to support artists through it all.
Go follow Courtney’s adventures @cocobrady!
And…if you haven’t kept up with our latest Laner of the Week, now’s the time!