NANCY FITZGERALD-METZLER

Hello fellow theatre artists and educators!I've been doing children's musical theatre for over 2 decades, and I have seen a disturbing trend happening over the past few years that I would love to get your opinions on.It seems that lately I have had a LOT of parent complaints around the casting of the musicals. They don't understand why I can't give every child a speaking role. And they imply in their emails that it is not a product of the fact that the shows just don't have lines for 30-60 characters, but that it is, in fact, my fault that not everyone gets a line.Have any of you experienced this? I hate to admit that I may be a relic. Back when I started doing theater, people won their role. You auditioned, and maybe you didn't get in and maybe you did. Often times, just being cast was a major victory in itself.Then at the community theater level, companies started popping up that removed the competition of auditioning altogether. They introduced "if you pay... you're in." And now it seems to be evolving (devolving?) into "I paid, so my kid should have a role that must have at least one line, if not more."I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to explain the value of an ensemble, and that the popular shows that they all want to do are just not written for 30+ roles, and that sometimes a young actor is not yet READY to take on a role. It has required writing up contracts, handbooks, and holding parent conferences to set expectations on casting. And yet I still get the complaints.Am I going crazy? Anyone else experiencing this?