Polly Gershwin's Crazy For You

At the age of sixteen, I had been doing community theater for a couple of years at The Quincy Music Theater. In this particular season, there was one show I wanted to do with all of my heart, Crazy For You by George and Ira Gershwin. The female lead in this musical is Polly Baker and she would sing some of my favorite songs such as “Someone to Watch Over Me” and “Embraceable You”. The problem was I was sixteen and would be competing with college students for this role. This, however, didn’t scare me it only strengthened my resolve to fully prepare and bring my best to this audition.
This experience is one of many, that demonstrates my character. Even from a young age, I considered it natural to accept challenges just beyond my capability,

so I could push myself out of my comfort zone and use that discomfort to grow. When I am unable to meet one of the challenges I have taken on, I don’t give up. I take that experience and learn from it, so in the future; I will succeed when I attempt the challenge next time. I take these shortcomings as fuel to drive my future success, because I trust that I will achieve it next time. I am not scared to fail because I know the path to achieving your highest potential is littered with failures and it is through those failures that we learn and improve. As John Wooden says, “Failure isn’t fatal, but failure to change might be”. This is a quote I remind myself of when I become too narrow-minded in finding a solution to my problem, to help me remember that we must look at all angles of a problem before we can find the appropriate and correct solution. I never intend to stop learning so I will embrace my successes and my failures.
As I set out to earn the role of Polly Baker I worked hard, but I did not let this drive blind me from my other commitments. During this period, I carefully managed my time and kept an “A” average in all of my classes, including my dual-enrolled college courses. This experience also demonstrates that I am very good with planning ahead because the character, Polly, required tap dancing abilities. I was well versed in dance, but I had never attempted tap before, so I began taking tap lessons six months out, this way my skills could be polished before the night of auditions. It is my propensity to find the root of an obstacle, make a plan to overcome the handicap, then to put that plan into motion and give it my all.
The night of audition callbacks finally arrived, the script cold reading portion was first and although acting was not my strong suit, I had studied the play and knew all the parts well. The college students had bested me acting, but I did well enough to qualify for the next round which would be singing which is my strength. Cuts were made throughout the evening; I survived and actually performed solidly during the tap dance section. By the end of the night, it was between me and a college student for the role. For the final stretch, I felt confident in my preparation and put my last ounce of strength into the next few bars I would sing. I got the call two days later saying I had gotten the role and I was overjoyed. In this situation, I got the outcome I strived for but even if I hadn’t, I would have held my head up high that I had given my best and worked harder next time.