Hello hello hello and welcome to the first edition of Musical Theatre 101!
As I've previously explained, this is for all you fellow theatre geeks out there who just need a little help.
Reminder that I am not a professional whatsoever; I'm just a super obsessed teenager whose only experience for this are the 18 shows I've done that I have had to audition for.
This first post will be on finding audition songs, because I know that can be super frustrating and the right song makes or breaks your audition.
Here are my top tips for finding a good audition song:
DO:
1. SING A SONG BY THE SAME COMPOSER.
If you look through the repertoire of the composer who wrote the music for the show, you will find other shows that have similar music styles. Singing a song with a similar style will show the casting team that you can handle the music from the show and that you did your homework as well.
2. SING A SOLO SONG.
This probably seems like a no-brainer, but don’t try to sing a song written for multiple people: a duet, a trio, a quartet, full cast. Obviously there are exceptions to this rule, especially after you make audition cuts, but sometimes the impact of the song can be lost if only one person is singing. Even solo songs with the ensemble singing backup aren’t the best to use in my opinion.
3. SING A SONG WRITTEN FOR YOUR VOICE PART.
A really good website for this is stageagent.com. You can look up shows and then go to characters to see the voice parts of all of the roles. This is especially helpful if you’re not very familiar with the show, so you know what characters/what songs you might want to learn for the audition. Trying to sing a song that’s not in your range is really not a good idea for an audition. You want to show off the best parts of your voice, not struggle to hit certain notes.
4. SING A SONG FROM THE SAME TIME PERIOD.
This is pretty much a last resort, but if you can’t find good songs from the same composer, then look through your repertoire for songs written within five years of the show. A lot of the time, the styles will be similar (NOT ALWAYS).
DON’T:
1. SING FROM A SHOW THAT HAS BEEN ON BROADWAY IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS.
The more recent songs/shows tend to be overdone. It’s best to wait until they close (this is strictly for auditions for shows. If this is picking a song for a talent show or cabaret performance or something, recent songs are often very good choices!)
2. SING A SONG THAT IS OVERDONE.
This is very obvious but people are still out there singing Les Mis and Wicked. If you’re not sure if yours is overdone, just google overdone audition songs and check a couple different sources.
3. DON’T SING DISNEY MOVIE SONGS.
Sorry guys, I love Disney just as much as the next person (okay a lot more than the next person) but songs from Disney movies are super overdone and not quite as Broadway-esque as an audition song should be. Disney musicals are a completely different story and are totally okay! Just make sure if a song is both in the movie and the musical that you’re using the arrangement for sheet music from the musical version.
4. DON’T SING A SONG FROM THE SHOW YOU ARE AUDITIONING FOR.
Please don’t. It’s a total amateur move (that I have definitely done multiple times. Also obviously if they require you to sing something from the show then do it). To be honest, I don’t know exactly the reason why. I think the main reason is that if you sing a song from the show, you could be performing something in a totally different way than what the director was envisioning. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it could keep them from actually considering you for the role. You’re also putting yourself in a box; if you do a song from that show, it’ll be hard for the director to imagine you playing anyone else and you could completely lose any part instead of just the part you wanted the most. At this point in time, it’s just really professional to have something in the style of the show, not from it.
I really hope this was helpful to some of you! If you don’t feel like doing this or just need help, please feel free to pop into my inbox to ask me about audition songs; I’d love to help out! On top of that, if you have any requests for this series or just questions in general, don’t be afraid to say hi. Thanks for reading! I hope you have a lovely day!
Metamorphic Trials 101 is an all-ages superhero/science-fiction series created and written by Cecil Brown about Kris Nanimer, a kid who was kidnapped by a clandestine organization known as ROMA. ROMA experimented on him, giving him superhuman abilities. It worked, so he tried to escape. And when that failed, they took his powers away. Then he tried again. And again. Eventually he would succeed, but in doing so he has no one to turn to. MT101 is intended to be a series grounded in science, but still accessible for younger audiences.
Alam nyo ba yung feeling ng aral ka naman ng aral , pero bumagbagsak ka parin? Napupuyat ka na nga, pero bumabagsak ka parin? Napapagod ka na sa lahat, pero bumabagsak parin?
Tamang feels pa para sa mga Med Tech students na kagaya ko? Aral ng aral at basa ng basa, pero wala parin?
Nako for sure meron na rin kayong naisumpang professor na sobrang walang hiya na kulang nalang gawing zero ang grade mo? Like, “Ma'am asdfghjkl edi wow!” Diba nakaka-g*go naman talaga yung nag-aral ka, nagpuyat ka, pero binagsak ka? Pero wala ka namang magagawa kasi studyante ka lang at mas mataas sya sayo. Kaya ang gagawin mo nalang at mag-aral, mag-dasal at maging immortal. Tama ba? HAHAHAHAHA
Pero syempre konti palang yan. Dapat iisipin parin natin na dapat kayanin natin kase wala namang imposible sa taong nagpupursige. Nakikita naman lahat ni Lord ang mga pagsisikap mo kaya ipagpatuloy mo lang yan MedTech student, dahil everything will be worth it in the end.
