La La Land: a fair representation of the triple threat?

As part of my inquiry I am interested to discover whether the components of a successful musical theatre audition have changed and if so what they are. In my previous blog I discussed a brief history of musical theatre and the impact development has on the standard required from performers. This lead me to think of La La Land.

To me La La Land highlights a combination of factors very relevant to my Inquiry. I put the question 'what factors make a successful audition?' to my SIG who came back with the following points;

'Obviously it depends what job it is, but being a fabulous dancer, or a fabulous singer isn't really enough anymore, you need to be able to act, sing, dance, back flip and be incredibly good looking.'

'Being the best isn't enough, you have to be the right height, have the right colour hair'

'Being the best is sometimes irrelevant, i've been to auditions where they are clearly looking for someone who can fit in the costume of who ever they are taking over.'

'sometimes they aren't even looking for the best, sometimes they audition the best and then chose a famous face to play the role instead purely for bums on seats.'

'I think it still comes down to talent. Maybe not for everything, but if you are persistent and consistently perform well in auditions you will continue to get seen for productions and eventually will land a job.'

Are Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone triple threats? Yes they sing, dance and act in the film, but I know many people who can do all three to (in my opinion) A higher standard than the stars of this film. If you analyse this film, the choreography was basic, presumably because thats the level the leads were capable of, and the singing was weak. So why did they get the parts? For all the negative factors of a successful audition that my SIG discussed? All of which are out of our control? Why would they not cast unknowns that were true triple threats?
The same question relates to the theatre. It is becoming more and more common to cast the latest runner up of the X factor as the lead in a musical than to showcase an 'unknown'. But what many people who naively pay to see a celebrity face in a musical fail to realise, is that the majority of these celebrity faces, not all, have little to no training in theatre.

That being said, I actually loved this film. It's definitely a step in the right direction and Gosling and Stone are incredible actors which made me overlook the mediocre singing and dancing. Would I have felt the same if two unknowns were cast in the leading roles?

As always, would love your thoughts!