audition songs/ monologues

<p>Or, in All My Sons, Anne's brother, George, who comes to take her away - very urgent, very vulnerable and enraged, very hot monologue!</p>

<p>Another one (same show) is where Chris professes his love for Anne (before they first kiss).</p>

<p>Edmund (Long Day's Journey) is fabulous, as is Eben (Desire Under the Elms - but this has Ozark accent, as I remember).</p>

<p>I would avoid Death of a Salesman, because the boys are middle-aged.</p>

<p>Look at The Subject Was Roses (the soldier son), Picnic (Hal or Alan), and 27 Wagons Full of Cotton (Vacarro) - all great classic American realism pieces.</p>

<p>eve</p>

<p>Yes, Prof. Great idea! I was thinking the same thing. </p>

<p>George is great if the kid is right for the part. George is very troubled.</p>

<p>Love that.
xx,Mary Anna</p>

<p>P.S. I played Sue Bayless at the Dallas Theatre Center and Arthur Miller came to the show and met us afterwards because he was being given the Meadows award at SMU. That is a great memory for me.</p>

<p>Eugene Lee did the set (there was a full scale airplane nose on stage up center!) Eugene, for those of you who don't know, did the set design for the Broadway production of Wicked and many many others.</p>

<p>Holy cow!?! That sounds like the experience of a lifetime - two "greats" in the same place, and you in the middle of it. It sounds like it made a huge impression on you, you lucky gal!</p>

<p>eve</p>

<p>Indeed, it made quite an impression on me. </p>

<p>I will never forget meeting and talking with Miller after having performed one if his plays for him! Unbelievable.</p>

<p>I re-lived it all recently when he pass on. He was a giant, no doubt about that and left a theatrical legacy that we will all benefit from for generations to come.
(Later that evening, I was dying to ask him about Marilyn but thought better of it)</p>

<p>xx,Mary Anna</p>

<p>To all - I haven't seen much mention of this here, but of great importance. My D, thanks to Mary Anna, has recently learned the value of the lyrical interpretation of the songs that you choose. She has gotten direct feedback from one school indicating that it was her interpretation of the song that turned them off. So she went back to the drawing board to understand better how to act the song as well as sing it. This is an important point that I think we missed because we were so focused on hitting all the right notes. She was also requested by another school to send a CD of her voice as well as a DVD of her performing the songs because they are as interested in how she inteprets her music as how she sounds. This should definitely be considered when choosing your songs.</p>

<p>Thank you to everyone who has posted show suggestions for my D. You guys are SO generous! Thanks so much for all the thought you put into your posts. D and I will take a serious look at all of your suggestions. I have been out-of-town the last couple of days, or I would have thanked you sooner.</p>

<p>NOCCAMOM....this is all very important in musical theater, even more so than vocal performance. It is not just how good you sing. You must ACT the song. Once a student has the vocal part down, the work must happen in the acting of the song. Some call this vocal coaching. </p>

<p>This is something worked on in MT BFA programs. For instance, we observed a class on this very thing on a visit to UMich where one student at a time was coached on acting the song with critiques by the professor and the other students. My D has done workshops on this too. </p>

<p>I believe Mary Anna is your acting coach. I don't know if she helps with this but my daughter took all her college audition songs to the acting coach and sang them a capella JUST to work on the acting of the songs. On one occasion, her acting coach came over to the voice teachers studio and did an acting the songs session so that the voice teacher was playing piano as well. So, her coaching with the acting teacher was not just for her monologues but also for acting her songs. Others, who live in more populated areas, sometimes have a voice teacher (for technique) and a vocal coach for this sort of thing. </p>

<p>In any case ,glad you brought this up because it is about MORE than if you sing well. You have to be able to act and interpret the song because it is musical theater, plus have stage presence. You must make the song believable. </p>

<p>Susan</p>

<p>I myself coach via the same model UM uses, where acting choices are informed BOTH by lyrical text AND the musical choices made by the composer. In a well-written song, these cannot and SHOULD not be separated. That's why I find UM's MT performance classes so effective, because they are taught jointly by an acting teacher AND a music expert - such a wonderful combo, and so amazing to watch a skilled music director uncover musical subtleties that lie in the "tiniest" details of chord choice, dynamics (as marked in the music), major and minor keys, etc. - translating the musical language into acting choices! I would encourage all of you to seek teachers (or a teaching team) who approach music and acting as EQUALLY important. Often you may need TWO teachers to cover this fully - a coach and a voice teacher - but make sure BOTH understand BOTH sets of demands equally (that your vocal coach knows where in a song "vocal" considerations need to guide acting choices, and vice versa). This requires finding teachers who are knowledgeable about acting, about vocal technique, and about PERFORMANCE PRACTICE specific to MT song literature: in other words, your teachers should know MT well enough to know that girls who don't have strong high belt voices shouldn't sing something like, "Gimme Gimme," for example - AND YOU SHOULDN'T SING THIS ANYWAY, b/c it's too overdone right now - it's just an example. :) I see SO many MT auditionees who pick a song that should be chosen specifically to show off a certain vocal skill (high belt, soaring legit, nimble coloratura, rock tenor, etc.) but DON'T HAVE THOSE VOCAL SKILLS - and I wonder, "WHO advised this student???" And I also see WONDERFUL singers who have nothing going on acting-wise - and again I wonder, "Who were their teachers???" </p>

<p>Hooo boy - can you tell how passionate I am about song choice and performance? :)</p>

<p>P.S. I am hearing wonderful things about URINETOWN at CMU (opened last weekend) and COMPANY at UM (opening Thursday)! I think both are sold out at this point, but you never know, for those of you who may be around either school this coming weekend...</p>

<p>We will see Company at UM on Saturday night. Will you be able to get there Coach or are exams and such ruling your life? Would love to compare notes afterwards.</p>

<p>I was able to get an extra ticket on line just this weekend (I was told they released a few extras) and it's open seating in a relatively small performance space. So there may be a few tix still to be had. There are five performances. I, too, have heard that the "buzz" about this show is very strong. Can't wait!! The cast is all juniors and seniors.</p>

<p>Thanks so much for the confirmation about selections! We love your ideas and will put them to good use.</p>

<p>Hello, there! I am new to this whole type of thing, so you'll have to bear with me. I am a senior and am applying to college for musical theatre. Not necessarily to go to Broadway or the West End (although I absolutely LOVE London and England in general!) but because I want to do music performance but don't want to do classical. I see myself heading in the direction of kind of what Michael Buble and Josh Groban have done. Music is what I breathe for. I don't know what I would do w/o performing. The feeling is just so amazing. I just recently played the role of Maria in The Sound of Music with my community theatre group. Words could not even begin to describe how wonderful that feeling was. It was absolutely INCREDIBLE! Just a little bit about me: I am 18 and a soprano with (usually) a pure tone. My range is about a G below middle C up to about a B right below the high C. My best range area would probably be middle C or the B right below it to a G or possibly an A below high C. I wish I could just send a recording with this so it could help whoever help me find stuff! I received an acceptance letter to BW, but my acceptance into the musical theatre program is pending my audition on Feb. 11th. I've also applied to U of Akron but really want BW. To get it I really need to WOW the audition panel. I am having a dreadful time choosing my material. I need 3 16-bar pieces from the musical theatre repertoire--one ballad, one up-tempo, and one of my choosing--, and one monologue not to exceed one minute in length. This is mainly directed towards the Professor, but I'll take suggestions from anyone else. I have been thinking along the lines of maybe "Show Me" from My Fair Lady, "In My Own Little Corner" from Cinderella, "I Have Dreamed" from King and I, "If I Loved You," "Before I Gazed At You" from Camelot, and "How Are Things From Glocca Morra". I have the 16-Bar Theatre Audtion book for Soprano and that is where I have found these. Some of them I already knew. Unfortunately, though, even though I know everything from Sound of Music inside and out, they just aren't good audition pieces. Oh, yeah, and I am a huge Julie Andrews fan (probably the biggest! I just absolutely love her!). I also want something light and fun like some of the songs in Once Upon a Mattress or "My Strongest Suit" for Aida, but those are too overdone, so I need similar things. You know, something that says, "Here I am!" I guess it needs to be something bold. This is so stressful. I really need to knock them dead if I want this. BW is only taking 12-15 into my program. I don't know what to do! PLEASE HELP ASAP!!!!</p>

<p>capeziogal - Welcome! While I'm not able to help with song choices and happen to have a son, I'll agree with you that BW is wonderful. No matter how very talented you are, you can never count on getting into one of these highly competitive programs. The academic acceptance is great, but that also doesn't get you into the program. I will tell you that BW has a BA theatre degree that I believe does not require an audition, so you could do that for sure! If singing is what you love, this degree will not be what you want.</p>

<p>Don't put all your eggs in one basket, but instead please take my advice and find more programs than just BW to apply to. You also need to find a safety program, unless Akron is okay for a safety for you. I'm telling you that even the most talented of people often don't get in to some of these programs. I just don't want you to hold out until after this audition and be too late to apply for something else.</p>

<p>If you want suggestions, please click on my name and choose to send me an e-mail from the drop-down menu (different from a PM).</p>

<p>Welcome! I can tell you that most of the songs you mentioned are overdone, unfortunately (although I LOVE My Strongest Suit, as well!) My d has to sing "In My Own Little Corner" for her vocal class at NYU and she HATES it since it shows no range at all (she's a soprano, as well). I really wouldn't choose that song. Show Me is good, since it goes high and is upbeat, but it IS done an awful lot. My d sang something called Should I Be Sweet for her NYU audition; it's uptempo and goes VERY high (maybe to a high C?? Don't remember; maybe a B). She also sang something from the Hunchback that was a little belty; sorry, I forgot the name but maybe you can look it up! Good luck to you - I know someone at BW and he LOVES it (he got a stand in role for the lead in the musical as a sophomore).</p>

<p>capeziogal:</p>

<p>Why not ask the director and musical director of your recent show? They might have worthwhile suggestions.</p>

<p>capeziogal:
my D's sometimes look for audition pieces by the composer--they know which style of writing suits their voices well. try looking at the songs of cole porter, gershwin, arlen, etc. it might be easier than a group of pieces someone else selected for an anthology.</p>

<p>by the way--i have a general question--are disney songs (either from shows or movies) discouraged or not for auditions? i have had so many conflicting opinions that i feel unable to advise my D on this subject so i have said "steer clear" because i just dont know--thanks for your help!</p>

<p>Last summer when my D was at the CMU precollege program Gary Kline actually suggested she use a song from a Disney movie musical</p>

<p>re-posted from the other song thread</p>

<p>Lyric Interp </p>

<hr>

<p>Students, if you are reading this, and wonder what we are all talking about in regard to singing and acting your songs. Let me put in simply:</p>

<p>If you are singing, be sure your voice teacher is also a vocal stylist or is addressing your lyric interp (acting) of the song. If not, find an acting coach or drama teacher who you trust who can help you "act the song". </p>

<p>We are all posting about how important this is, so obviously, it is something you need not neglect.</p>

<p>xxx,Mary Anna</p>

<p>Thanks, Mary Anna and everyone else for emphasizing the importance of auditioners being able to interpret/act a song, and not just stand there and sing it!
OK, this may sound like a super stupid question, but I will risk it. (My pride is far less important than making sure my MT-driven D has the right coaching!)
How can we, as parents, judge whether our kids' vocal coaches/voice teachers know what they are doing in this regard? When my D began taking voice through her old school, she was basically assigned someone. The teacher seemed competent and my D definitely improved under her tutelage. However, it was clear from the start that this person knew nothing about MT and that began to be a problem, so my D was switched (a year after I requested the switch, but she <em>was</em> switched) to a different vocal coach. This one has some MT experience and directs school vocal groups, etc. as well as teaching voice privately. This teacher and my D have a good relationship and enjoy one another. But I would not have the slightest idea how to ascertain whether this particular teacher is qualified for the kind of thing you all are talking about. Any hints/tips you guys can provide would be appreciated. Also, I wonder how important it is for a coach to be working on this kind of thing with a singer all along, or whether it is something to emphasize only before college auditions. (I hope that makes sense. My D is only a sophomore in high school, so we have some time.)
L</p>

<p>The first question...finding the voice teacher or knowing if they are the "right" one for you....I do not have a lot of "advice", but like with anything, you can ask around with others who are taking voice for MT and who they use, find out the background of that person, try it out and see what you think, etc. It sounds like your daughter takes voice lessons via school and that may be a different situation as you have who the school has on staff. Then, I suppose you have to think about if that is going well for your D or if she needs private lessons or not. My daughter's voice lessons/teacher were not through school. She wanted to take voice lessons starting in seventh grade which for her was turning 12. I asked around but basically already knew that those taking voice for musical theater in this region were going to a voice teacher who is 50 miles from us. He splits his week between his home/studio in VT and his private voice studio in NYC, plus he is on the voice faculty of Circle in the Square Theater program. We didn't really need to "check it out" because not only is he thought of highly, but we knew his credentials...a PHD in the field, years on a faculty in a MT program, students who have won Tony Awards, MAC, and Emmy Awards, and perform on Broadway, at the MET, etc. We felt fortunate that anyone like him was available given we live in a VERY rural area. But if I did not find him, I'd ask around more and find out the teacher's background/degrees/experience, the kinds of students the teacher had ,the types of music worked on, if the teacher ever worked with youth who were going on for BFAs in MT or voice or just what. Then, as with anything, you can try some lessons and see for yourself. </p>

<p>As far as the teacher working on coaching the songs, the acting of the songs and such.....First, I think it is important to have a voice teacher who actually is familiar with and works on the MT repertoire. Not all voice teachers do. Ours does the full gamut....can work on classical, Broadway, or pop. But a major thrust of the students we know working with him do work on MT. They may also do classical. But the lessons focus on technique....singing itself. He prefers to do these lessons in small groups (not that different than what is done with freshmen in my D's BFA MT program now). Teens of about a similar level are in the same group and they work on technique as a group but then part of class is each person works on a song. If my D had an audition for a show coming up and she wanted a private lesson for that, she could get one. During THAT lesson, he may also have coached a bit on the interprettation of the song and acting/performing it. He is more of a voice teacher than a vocal coach but also will get into vocal coaching if working on an audition piece. Then in senior year, anyone who was going to be auditioning for BFA programs, could switch into just private lessons and that is what my D had last year. They worked on selecting songs and technique of singing those songs but also performing those songs (interpretation). But as I mentioned in another post somewhere, my D ALSO took the songs she had selected to her Acting Coach (she got an acting coach just for college auditions and had never had one before). The acting coach was for the monologues BUT she also would sing her songs for him a capella and they worked on acting them. So, she got more of that with him than the voice teacher. One day the acting teacher and the voice teacher teamed up so my D could work on acting her songs but have the voice teacher accompany on piano, as a team. This was also done with her theater friend who studied with the same people and in fact is now her roomie and in CAP with her. I recall them doing this session together. </p>

<p>Previous to last year (which was in essence her "senior" year but she was actually a junior in HS), she had done three intensive 3 day workshops where her voice teacher brought up faculty from CITS in NYC to conduct. Those workshops worked precisely on this very thing.....the performance of the songs. One of the acting faculty from CITS then chose to move to VT and split his week in half like the voice teacher does. My D was in luck because that was just when she was starting her last year of HS and would be preparing for college auditions. She had no drama classes or acting lessons in our state. But now she was able to work with this same acting teacher/coach on the monologues on weekends and the voice teacher from the same NY faculty in separate lessons. But we knew that this acting teacher, who helped her on monologues, would also be able to coach on acting the songs because that is exactly what they used to do in the yearly workshop intensives that he came up here for. So, on a regular basis, the voice lessons did not involve acting the song, but when preparing auditions for a show or for BFA, the private voice lessons DID incorporate that some (her voice teacher is very involved in MT and has had many students go on for BFA programs so he is not like just a classical voice teacher by any means) and the material was ALSO worked on with an acting coach who likely is better equipped on the acting aspect anyway. SOME people have a voice teacher for technique and one for vocal coaching. As we live in a rural area, that kind of breakdown is not available. But that is an option elsewhere. But as long as the voice teacher is someone who prepares students for auditions, then they likey work on this aspect too but again, a student could also do what my D did which was to work on the acting of the songs with an acting coach (an acting coach familiar with MT and this sort of thing).</p>

<p>You still need to take voice lessons that help with vocal technique skills and with learning the songs for auditions but the interprettation also must happen and that can possibly be with the same teacher, or a vocal coach, or an acting teacher. Some students also have a bit of a natural "knack" for acting/performing the song anyway. </p>

<p>Susan</p>