In her blue off-the-shoulder sweater and black cut-off dance pants, Kara Lindsay looked like she stepped out of "Flashdance." She lacked some of Jennifer Beals' trademark 'tude, but she was a dead ringer for the film star in wardrobe.

Now if only Lindsay can impress the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse's Ed Sayles like Beals' character won over her critics in the movie. But for Lindsay and the other performers who are auditioning for this summer's MGR season, it's a waiting game. There are still three more auditions for Sayles and his crew to get through.

On a bright Saturday afternoon last month, about 40 ambitious performers waited for their chance to show Sayles what they've got. The group auditioning at the playhouse ran the gamut from high schoolers who have never been in a professional production to Actor's Equity Association members who are old hats at this.

For the upcoming four-show season, Sayles has received literally thousands of resumes and head shots from professional actors or those looking to be professional actors, many of whom live in New York City. From those resumes, Sayles pares the piles to those he wants to audition and those who really won't make the cut.

Once the resumes have been culled, Sayles prepares to make the trip to the city to see all of them perform. But before he does that, he holds a local audition. It's unlikely that any of the folks auditioning in Auburn will get substantial roles, but Sayles thinks they are still an important part of the process.

"I can keep my eye on rising talent. I like to follow the high school students," he said.

The audition process is somewhere in between "American Idol" and "Fame," minus Simon Cowell and Debbie Allen. Each performer brings a head shot and a resume and two prepared pieces of music to sing. They are asked to sing two contrasting sixteenths to show both parts of their voice. One piece is generally a ballad and the other is usually a bit peppier, but it all depends on the person auditioning.

If Sayles and Mark Goodman, MGR's musical director from New York City, agree that the person is a maybe, they are asked back to part sing (singing their vocal part with a group), dance or read from one of the show scripts, depending on their strengths.

On the first day of the local auditions (they run over a weekend), only a handful were asked back to part sing and dance.

Lindsay was one of those few, and it's a good thing because if she hadn't, her trip from Pittsburgh might have been for naught.

Lindsay, a sophomore musical theater student at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, spent hours on a cramped Greyhound bus headed to Erie, where her father picked her up and drove her the rest of the way to Rochester, where she's from.

That wasn't as bad, though, as the last time she auditioned for Sayles. Then she took a bus from Pittsburgh to New York City. But she says she doesn't mind the travel if it gets her a job.

"Yeah, there are some creepy people on the Greyhound. But you gotta do what you gotta do," she said as she stretched her legs and warmed up for the dance audition.

Lindsay wasn't the only out-of-state performer auditioning. People from Connecticut, Chicago and Boston made the journey hoping to land a role as well.

Like most of her fellow performers, Molly Brown was hoping that this audition would be her lucky day. But unlike those around her warming up their voices by singing the scales as they wait their turn, Brown is just 15 years-old.

And she's a veteran of the theater.

Brown, a sophomore at John C. Birdlebough High School in Phoenix, Oswego County, has already taken a turn on the stage with an MGR professional cast. Last year, she sang in the ensemble of "Showboat," an experience that made the audition just a bit more comfortable.

"I used to get really nervous for auditions, but now I'm loosening up. If you know the place and the people and the song, it's so much better," she said as she waited with her parents.

Though she's young, Brown has a huge voice that Sayles loves. She possesses a confidence about her singing that few kids her age would, though she a bit of teenage insecurity is still visible during her song. Whether she makes the cut this year or not, she'll keep pursuing this passion.

"Professional or not, I just need to be in theater," she said.

Of course for every confident Molly Brown, there are a dozen others who simply aren't ready for the Merry-Go-Round stage. There were plenty of nervous nellies - hands shaking, voices cracking - who were just a little out of their depth. One showed up without sheet music, an absolute no-no in this process. Another couldn't find her range and had to start over. And yet another spent precious minutes explaining his music to Goodman, an accomplished accompanist who needed no help getting the music right.

But Sayles politely treated each person the same, whether they were equity actors or first-time auditioners. Equally polite was Lori Leshner, the choreographer who will be working on the "George M." and "Brigadoon" productions this season. She took the time to not just instruct the dancers, but to guide them through each step. In New York City, there simply isn't the time for that kind of care, but Leshner's feeling is why not do it if she can.

"I really like having the time to help. It's really nice to be able to do that," she said.

At the end of the day, after song after song and dance after dance, Sayles was ready for a drink. But throughout he remained jocular with each performer, even the most exasperating. His response to one singer summed up the day.

Sayles thanked a young performer for coming after he finished singing - universally that sign that you didn't make the cut. The young man asked, "That's it?" Sayles responded with a sigh.

"Yep, that's it."

Staff writer Lauren Ober can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or lauren.ober@lee.net