Rozi was Young Fiona in
Shrek, the Musical
at the Broadway Theater in NYC!
The Story of How Rozi got cast in "Shrek, the Musical"
Rozi Baker — Young Fiona
Rozi and her family had a 5 day vacation to the Bahamas all planned to begin the day that school let out for the summer. A few days before they left, they got word that Rozi had a call back audition for a big project in which she was very interested. The call back fell on the last day of vacation. The Bakers decided to divide and conquer: Rozi and her mom would come back early, getting home the evening before the call back, and her dad and brother would have a special boys-only day at the Atlantis waterslides. Little did they know that, while they were on their second plane to the Bahamas, one of Rozi's managers was trying desperately to get ahold of Rozi's mom. There was an unexpected audition for a quick replacement of Young Fiona at Shrek, the Musical! The casting director had chosen only a few girls to be seen for it, and Rozi was one of them. The date of the audition was the very day that Rozi and her mom were flying back from the Bahamas.
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Sutton Foster and Rozi Baker, backstage at the Broadway Theatre |
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Rozi with Teen Fiona, Marissa O'Donnell
Rozi's mom, Renae, didn't get the phone call, because she was already in the air where she wasn't allowed to use her cell phone, and had no cell phone service once in the Bahamas. It being the first day of vacation, Renae didn't check her email until the next day, when she found the urgent message from Laura of Shirley Grant Management. Rozi would be needed at the audition two hours prior to the time her airplane was to land in Newark, NJ. Renae couldn't believe it! Why did this have to happen during their one, little family vacation? They had already cut it short for this other callback audition. Would it be worth it to pay for another ticket change and come back even earlier? They checked the airline's schedule and found that they already had the earliest flight into Florida and the earliest connecting flight to the NYC area.
Renae emailed the manager back asking if it was possible for Rozi to be seen the next day, or even after 6:30pm that night, if they came straight from the airport. The response was "No". The casting was to be very quick and the callbacks were to be on the same day, with casting to be finished the very next day.
So the question now became, "Is it worth it to lose another day of precious family vacation to come back yet another day earlier for an audition that wasn't even a callback situation?" The Bakers decided that, even though they loved the show and felt that Rozi was right for the role this year, and might outgrow it by next year, they might just have to kiss this role goodbye. They didn't want to lose another day together as a family, and couldn't afford to get a whole new airline involved to get an earlier flight.
Renae told Laura that they would do their best, once in Florida, to get onto another flight, but couldn't guarantee that they'd get back in time. Laura let the casting director know that they wouldn't know until the day of the audition, if Rozi would get back in time. Renae expected that they would not.
You know how it's easy ignore your mom's advise about folding worn vacation clothes, neatly, instead of bunching them up in the suitcase, just in case you find you need to wear them again? Well, the morning Rozi and her mom were to leave the Bahamas, Rozi put on the only clothes she had with her, that she could imagine auditioning in. Just in case. They were balled up and full of wrinkles. On top of that, she woke up with terribly snarled hair and a FEVER!
This was not looking like they should even try to hurry. But they did their best and got on the plane, where Rozi slept, and couldn't imagine singing later in the day. They planned to get some children's fever medicine once in the Orlando airport.
Once the plane landed in Orlando, and they were in the airport terminal, Renae called Laura, at Shirley Grant Management. Laura urged her to go up to a counter to see if there were any planes that left for the NYC area sooner than the one on which they were booked, which was to leave 3 hours later. The agents at the first counter she went to were in a hurry to leave, and were not helpful. So, as Rozi laid down on a row of seats, Renae went to the next counter, plucked up her courage and said, "That little girl over there could very well be making her Broadway debut, if we can just get her to this audition in NYC at 4:15 today. Is there anything leaving for anywhere in the NYC area that leaves before 2:40?"
The two agents looked at each other, then back to Renae and said, "Well, this one, which is going to White Plains" as they pointed to the board behind them, "but we just closed off the boarding for it. But...." "But...??? Are you saying you would hold this plane for us?" It was only then that Renae had realized that their first flight had arrived 15 minutes EARLY! A small, but crucial, miracle!
She asked quickly, "How far is White Plains from NYC? How long would it take to get in?" The male agent, eager to help them out, knew all about White Plains. He said that the airport was a 10 minute ride to the train station, and he told them how long it took the train to get in to Grand Central Station, which Rozi's mom knew was about a 15 minute run from the audition. The agent also offered that it would take about 40 minutes to drive from the airport to the city.
A split second decision had to be made, and she said, "OK, let's do it!" As the agents held the plane and processed the fee, Renae called Rozi over and let her know they were getting on that plane!
As soon as they boarded, in the two minutes they had before cell phone use would be prohibited, Rozi's mom called Laura and told her they had gotten on a plane and needed her to look up train schedules from White Plains. Also, there was a script to look over that Rozi had never seen, which had - somehow - not come through on the email from the manager. Renae took dictation, from Laura, and scribbled the lines down. The plane took off, and Rozi's mom took stock of their situation. Looking at the train schedule, she could see that they'd have to catch the first train out after the plane landed, to get there in time. If the plane got in on schedule, they would just have time to take a taxi to the train stration, buy the tickets and get on the train. Rozi slept. The fever seemed to be abating, though they hadn't had a moment to get any medicine for it.
As the plane neared the small White Plains airport, it looked as though the plane was arriving on schedule. Rozi woke up and started looking at the script. The plane landed right on schedule, and then had to sit just short of the gate for 15, deadly minutes, while another plane was having some kind of trouble leaving the gate. Well - there went the train idea. They'd never make that now. When they got into the terminal, the indoor taxi stand was easy to find. They ran to it. One man was working at the counter, and another man was standing nearby. Renae blurted out their story and the urgency of their situation. She asked "How long do you think it'll take to get there? I was told 40 minutes, which will just get us there in time. "Oh, no way!" the man said. "Not at this time of day. It'll be more like an hour."
An hour?! That'll be too late. They'll be having callbacks by then! Then she asked "How much is it to go to New York City?" $125 was the reply. This was getting expensive. But they'd come this far. Their car and luggage were in Newark. They already invested a lot into this. So they went for it. The man who had been standing there and heard the whole story said, "I'll take e'm". Once the credit card was processed, he led them, running, to his taxi. Renae had a GPS in her purse and she programmed it to the audition site, so she could see what kind of time they were making. Rozi was feeling much better. Another small miracle! She read the scrawl that was her mom's writing, while her mom started to detangle her long hair; a task that took the entire ride. As the scenery passed by, Renae noted that the driver was making even better time than the GPS predicted. They got there 5 minutes EARLY! That driver got a good tip!
Rozi walked into that audition looking very un-princesslike in her crumpled clothes. She didn't have her picture and resume with her, but she knew the song they needed to hear, and was now familiar with the script. She sang and read, and the people were very kind to her. Rozi and her mom had not realized that the creative team for the musical would be there! The casting director,Tara Rubin, walked Rozi out and asked her mom if they could come back in half an hour for the call back! Of course that was a big "Yes!". That gave them time to grab a bite to eat and go to a nearby building, where Rozi's headshot was on file, and have just one printed. The manager faxed over her resume, and Rozi was able to walk in the call back looking more professional, with her picture and resume in hand.
After the callback, though she didn't know the half of it, Tara Rubin thanked Rozi and her mom for working so hard to get there.
As they began the trip the Newark airport where the car and luggage were, and then home, Rozi and her mom started to "switch gears" to prepare for the callback audition for which she had been preparing; the one for which they had originally cut their vacation short and changed flight plans.
The next day, while sitting and waiting to go in for her audition, Rozi's mom's phone rang. It was Rozi's manager, Shirley Grant. "It's good news...." She teased. Rozi's mom knew, at that moment, that Rozi had been cast as the Young Princess Fiona in Shrek, but she swallowed her excitement and walked around the corner to prevent Rozi from realizing what was going on right before the audition.
And that's how it happened! After Rozi's audition, which also went very well, her mom took out outside of the building before telling her in a perfume store.
She sprayed a whiff of a new perfume she'd just bought for Rozi, and said, "Rozi, you got Shrek!!!" Rozi didn't freak out, scream or jump up and down. She smiled, nodded and said "Cool!"
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