Are baritones at a disadvantage for college auditions?

My son is a baritone and it seems like all the newer musicals have tenor leads/parts. Just wondering if people with sons who auditioned this year had any thoughts about whether it’s an advantage to be a tenor? He has a good range (according to his voice teacher it is G2-A flat4 (full) C4-C5 (falsetto) whatever that means - I am not a singer!) and has a beautiful voice but definitely more fitting for the golden age when the lead roles were baritones. According to his school drama teacher he has leading man looks (tall, dark hair and handsome) and he thinks my son is at a disadvantage since he isn’t a tenor.

I don’t think it is a disadvantage being a baritone. My son is a baritone and he got lots of offers!

Ummm - I think your school drama teacher is talking into their hat. Who is going to play: Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, Ali (Come From Away), Bruce (Fun Home), Andrew Jackson (Bloody Bloody AJ), Usnavi (In the Heights), Anthony (Priscilla Queen of the Desert), Bert (Mary Poppins), Black (Wild Party), Caldwell (Urinetown), Brad (Rocky Horror) and on and on…

Being a baritone may be an advantage, not a disadvantage. There are plenty of roles for baritones, and you need all four voice parts in a musical ensemble. Even if there weren’t many roles for baritones in newer shows (which is not true, see list above), colleges do Golden Age shows all the time, Summer Stock does Golden Age all the time, and Broadway revives Golden Age shows all the time (I just saw the fantastic production of My Fair Lady at Lincoln Center - which had a lot of baritones in it, by the way). My d’s school is doing Guy and Dolls right now.

I am not sure of the stats on this, but when this topic has come in the past here on CC, college faculty members have commented on the difficulty in finding auditioners to fill lower voice parts.

That’s great!! My son was a little discouraged after the drama teacher’s random comment…

My son is also a baritone and was one of only two baritones in his BFA class, who were both in demand casting-wise throughout their 4 years. After showcase, he garnered quite a bit of attention from agents who viewed him as something of a unicorn in the MT world and highly castable. In fact, he’s now in the ensemble of a national tour – not a Golden Age show! – and because of his vocal range is the understudy for the male lead. And he’s looking forward to growing into even more roles as he ages.

Also, you’ll be amazed at what weekly, private voice lessons of college calibre can do to stretch range. My son was a “baritenor” and can now consistently and beautifully hit high b flat in chest voice - this was not doable senior year of high school. So your son will have best of both worlds potentially!