On "Friends", why didn't Joey get a role in "A Tale of Two Cities"?
Answer
He Couldn't Dance
On Friends, Joey did not get a role in A Tale of Two Cities because he could not dance well enough for the musical. His audition exposed a lie on his résumé: he had claimed to have extensive dance experience.
The storyline appears in “The One with All the Jealousy,” the twelfth episode of the third season. Joey is pursuing a part in a Broadway musical adaptation of Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities. Although he is a competent actor, the production requires applicants to complete a dance audition.
Joey tries to bluff his way through the process, but his dancing is extremely poor. The situation becomes even more embarrassing when he is asked to teach a dance combination to the other auditionees after the dance captain is unavailable. Joey demonstrates his improvised routine, the group follows him, and the result is a comic disaster. He eventually abandons the audition.
The title refers to Dickens's 1859 novel, not a real production Joey joined. Friends uses the fictional musical to highlight Joey's optimism and willingness to exaggerate his résumé, a recurring part of his struggle as an actor.