Hello, my name is Betsy and I'm a singing teacher at TakeLessons. In this video
you're going to learn how to choose the best audition songs for musical theater.
So no matter your voice type, gender or age, if you want to become a Broadway
star keep watching. And don't forget to click the link in the description box to
try our free online singing classes. So there are definitely a few things that
you should think about before you audition for any kind of musical. You're
gonna want to think about what you're auditioning for. You're gonna want to
audition with a song that's gonna show you off for the role that you're going
for. So if I'm gonna be a femme fatale I don't want to sing you know something
from Cinderella or something from Rodgers and Hammerstein where it's
very sweet aunjanue. I'm gonna want to choose something that would show off
that acting ability. So think about what show you're auditioning for. I think
that's probably my number one tip when I talk to students about an upcoming
audition. One top misconception though that I think young students or people
who are inexperienced with auditions is, is that they want to audition with the
songs from that show. Don't do that - you want to do something that's similar in
style but not from that show. So if I'm auditioning for the Little Mermaid I'm
not gonna sing 'part of your world.' I might sing something similar from maybe
Aladdin. I might sing something that kind of shows the same range. So maybe I would
sing 'a whole new world' or something that Jasmine sang because they both have
that mixed belt. And so you could show off that style, let the director see you
in that role's light and then that would give them an idea of what you would
perform like in that role. So one of the main reasons you don't want to sing a
song from that show is- put yourself in the director's position. If you're
sitting there listening to 30 or 40 singers you don't want to hear the same
song all day long. You don't want to hear one song, you want to be able to imagine
the singer in a role and kind of see them act out something without literally
being bored to tears. So that's one of the reasons. Another reason is that it's
just traditionally not done. You shouldn't pigeonhole yourself into
that one role. You want to do something that's similar in the genre
but that wouldn't necessarily paint you into a corner. So some very overused
audition songs kind of depend on the genre. So let's talk about Disney songs.
If you have to audition with a Disney song, if that's part of the parameters of
your audition guidelines, do not sing Frozen. Do not sing 'let it go.' Do not sing
Moana right now, 'how far I'll go.' Those are going to be so overdone and while
you might sound amazing, and that's a great song to really showcase if you are
truly a belter or have that kind of range, there are gonna be about 30 other
people that are doing the exact same thing. It would be better to dig back a
little bit farther. Maybe pull something from Pocahontas or Aladdin that hasn't
been done so recently, so that you would stand out just a little bit. If you're
doing something in more traditional musical theatre, don't sing 'wicked.' You
don't want to do 'defying gravity' and be the fourteenth girl in a row singing
'defying gravity.' Even, again, if you sound great, you're just not going to stand out.
Barbra Streisand pretty much owns a lot of Hello Dolly so just don't go there.
Basically you want to stand out and set yourself apart from everybody else in
the crowd so that a director or casting director remembers you uniquely. So when
you're auditioning for a soprano role I think the most important advice I can
give is to consider the role. If I'm going to be singing something that's a
little bit more operatic, let's say we're doing Phantom of the Opera, maybe I would
audition with something like 'glitter and be gay' from Candide - something that shows
off that coloratura or lets people know that yes, I have a musical theater or
singing voice but I also have a classical voice. Whereas if somebody is doing
Cinderella you know maybe I would do something else from Rodgers and
Hammerstein or something from West Side Story maybe. Kind of same genre, same era.
Let the director see you in that light but then also let them know that you can
sing. You have that mixed belt range, you also have the higher notes. Something
like that would be important to show off during your audition.
So when you're auditioning for an alto role, again it's really important to
think about the role that you're auditioning for. If I'm gonna be a femme
fatale maybe I would sing 'whatever Lola wants' from Damn Yankees. Whereas if it's
an older or more of a belting role - 'a mother doesn't matter anymore' from Bye
Bye Birdie - something that's gonna really be a showstopper, show off that big
belting range that you have, use your chest voice, really just let it all out.
If you're a younger alto, a Disney song would be great. Pocahontas has a lower
tessitura so that you could sing 'colors of the
wind' or 'just around the riverbend,' something like that a little bit easier.
A couple more for altos: I like to recommend 'somewhere' from West Side Story
because it's not done as much as the other song, so again you'll stand out a
little bit and you will kind of be able to show off your range. If you're a
soprano who can belt it's good to audition for belting roles but if you're a mezzo
or an alto with a range it's great to show off your higher notes because that
might put you in a different place in a director's head. While some songs from a
popular show like Beauty and the Beast might be overdone, I know a lot of
sopranos like to sing 'home' or younger vocalists will audition with some of
those songs. 'A change in me' isn't done very much so it's great for an alto with
a range. So if you can start a little bit lower and then at the end of the
song get a little bit higher choose some of those 32 bars that really show off
that you can sing and you do have a stronger head voice. That'll definitely
set you apart from other altos in the crowd.
Tenors in musical theater, it's just, you're lucky. You can sing just about
anything. There's a million great tenor roles. There are a million great songs
that tenors can choose. The only problem that you're gonna have is choosing
something that another tenor right next to you is not going to choose. So if you
want to think out of the box a little bit maybe do a show that's done less. So
'the secret garden' is a great show, has a great score. 'A bit of Earth' is a
beautiful song for a tenor to sing. It's not done a lot. The show is not performed
over and over and over again. So something like that would be a good
choice for you. So another one that you might want to avoid would be from
'aspects of love.' 'Love changes everything' is over done by tenors, but in the same
musical Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote 'seeing is believing' and that's almost never
done. So that would be great choice for a tenor to choose and kind of avoid that
classic cliche. And maybe the director will go 'oh now that sets you apart,
I can think of you now when I'm looking back at the last 50 singers.' So if you're
a bass or baritone, again, think about your role. Most baritones or bass roles
are either going to be the villain or they're gonna be a buffoon, so somebody
that the main character is going to kind of play off of. Think of like a dorky
best friend. Don't sing 'luck be a lady' - every bass out there, every baritone is
gonna shuffle his way across stage and sing that one. Don't be that guy. A better
choice if you're going to be the villain from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, 'Hellfire'
is great, can show off those acting chops and really put you right into that
villain mentality. Another one might be 'they live in you' from The Lion King - also
not done as much and it would be really really good to show off that range as
well. So if you're a teenager and you're considering auditioning for musical
theater it's important to realize that boys voices change during that time but
girls voices also change during that time. So when you maybe used to be a
younger soubrette you could be developing into something and have a
richer chest voice. If you do have control over that chest voice and your
head voice as a teenager a great song would be, I've talked about it before but,
'a whole new world' from Aladdin, because you start in that mid belting range but
then you flip immediately to that head voice. That transition is
really important to show off and would probably set you apart from any other
teenager in the crowd because when your voice is changing you don't maybe have
that control over it. So if you're a kid under 13 and you're trying to think of a
great audition song there's a ton of Broadway shows that are really really
catered towards or even written for kids. 'Notice me Horton' is a great song for a
younger auditioner. It's literally going to fit perfectly well and show off a
little bit of those acting abilities. Parents I would try to have your kid
work with a coach, have them pick something out that works for their voice
type. So if they're a sassier little child maybe have them sing something
unexpected like 'poor unfortunate souls' that Ursula would sing. A casting director
is definitely going to remember something like that, a little
six-year-old singing that is very different than you know 'part of your
world' which he may hear like 40 or 50 times that day. So musical theater
auditions usually require a singer to sing either a 16 bar or 32 bar excerpt
so you want to pick the best part of that song that really highlights your
voice. So if the beginning is kind of boring in a song and even talkative and
the ending is this huge showstopper, don't pick 32 bars from the beginning. It doesn't
have to be. Pick 32 bars at the end that really shows off your
range. Another thing to consider is what you're auditioning for. Are you a femme
fatale? Are you a leading lady? Are you a funny lady? Are you a villain? Are you a
you know leading man? You want to show that off in your audition, so make sure
that you're choosing a piece that paints yourself into the character that the
director is looking for. Remember a director is gonna sit there for eight or
ten hours and stare at audition after audition after audition. Pick
something that makes it really clear that he can see or she can see exactly
how you would be in that role and they'll want to bring you back. Put yourself into
their shoes. What do you want to see as a director? Do you want to watch the same
song over and over? No you don't, so choose something that's a little bit
more unique, something that you can put your spin on and make sure if I'm a
funny lady I'm going to sing something that showcases
that I'm a comedian, that I can do that, that I can act. The whole point of an
audition is to sell yourself to that casting director so that they can see
what you can bring to that role. Can you think of any other good audition songs?
Leave a comment and let us know. And if you enjoyed this video consider
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