Help! Monologue & Song Auditions: Suggestions for Boys

College Majors Musical Theater Major
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<p>As my son gets his materials ready, I've been second guessing and worrying :-) We are not well off and cannot afford a coach who would help him. So I'm turning to the CC community for advice & suggestions. My son does perform professionally & semi-professionally, but auditions for shows have different goals from college auditions and we sort of feel out of our league. Mainly I'd want to know if any of these are overdone or not advisable in general for whatever reason & I'd want any and all specific suggestions. I realize you can't tell if they're appropriate for my son in particular but I'd appreciate ANY advice. However, for monologues, we don't need links to various peoples' long lists of monologue suggestions (one had over 50!) --the lists are great, but very very overwhelming. You can pm me too if you want.</p>

<p>Songs: My son is a baritone with a range of F2-A4. He does have an excellent voice teacher who is gifted at vocal instruction, but she does not work with getting an audition package ready; she prefers he choose. Current choices: He has taken to "All I Ever Wanted" from Prince of Egypt. Is this overdone? Is it advisable to sing from something that hasn't been performed on stage? He does sing it beautifully. Other choices: 'The Next Ten Minutes," from The Last 5 Years (in an actual audition - though he got a callback - he was advised that this was 'too old' for him. Is it too old for colleges too?). Also: 'Make Them Hear You," from Ragtime. Also "Winter's on The Wing" from Secret Garden. Finally, "Take Me To THe World," by Sondheim from Evening Primrose.</p>

<p>Do any of these stand out as overdone or unadvisable? Is the selection not varied? Any further ideas? MANY thanks.</p>

<p>MONOLOGUES: HELP! We are having even MORE trouble with monologues, particularly contemporary. We looked up various links, but there's so much info, we sort of shut down, both of us. It's really hard going through this without advice. Any suggestions for boys? He is 17 and looks 17 at most. For a long time he's used the Brighton Beach Memoirs monologue (Eugene), but for colleges this would be very overdone and anyway, he needs something fresh.</p>

<p>ANy stick out as overdone or bad in any way? Any ideas? </p>

<p>William Inge: "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs" (Sammy)
Is Harold Pinter (The Dwarfs) too abstract? </p>

<p>We have a book, Monologues for Young Actors (by Lorraine Cohen), but if we take monologues from this book, will they all be overdone since other people use it? ANyone familiar with this book?</p>

<p>I realize this is alot of questions, but again, appreciate any help at all. Many thanks.</p>

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<p>I googled overdone college audition monologues and you can also do this for songs. There are many lists that came up from different sites. I also looked at acceptable pieces for college auditions on different college websites and cross referenced these with the overdone lists. You can also google plays with male characters from the ages of 17-25 and also cross reference those with the lists. You can also use these overdone lists to see authors and then look for lesser known plays from that same author. Not gonna lie, this is the most frustrating part of the process- trying to help your child choose a piece. They are way too busy to read all of these plays and to even do a lot of the research. I don’t think too many posters will share what their own kid did because for instance, what my son auditioned with may not be right for your child. As far as songs, I was always told to not do something from a show that has been on Broadway in the last 5 years. Anyway, all the monologues should be from published plays and your child should read the entire play and really understand the character. I don’t think obscure is bad if you can totally connect with the character and the adjudicators. Do not use monologues with a lot of swearing and do not use songs with a lot of vocal gymnastics. Hope this helps! Good luck!</p>

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<p>supportive, Now why didn’t I think to do that?? Thanks so much for the tip about googling and cross referencing! Yeah, this is definitely a frustrating process.</p>

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<p>connections, I sent you a PM.</p>

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<p>You’re welcome connections! I thought when my kids went to a PA school they would be helped with choosing material. Boy was I wrong! I had to resort to my own research. What I did was come up with a list of choices that my daughter could choose from. With my son, his teacher actually helped him. This is a teacher who got several of his students in Juiliiard. With my daughter, she was all on her own- but that’s another story! I hated this part of the process the most and with musical theatre, it’s even harder. My son didn’t have to worry about any songs because he was strictly straight acting but my daughter had to choose 3 to 4 as she was vacillating between MT and Acting- ultimately choosing straight theatre .</p>

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<p>I don’t think it matters if it’s overdone if you can kill it! If they love what you are doing with the song, they are not going to criticize your choice. Was Prince of Egypt a musical- not just a movie?</p>

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<p>theatremomma, Prince of Egypt was only a movie, although done in musical fashion. He sings it well and it would suit his ‘type’ but I don’t know the etiquette about this. I know some programs have specific guidelines but many don’t.</p>

<p>supportive, thanks again. I feel so much better now that you gave me a handle on this. I was feeling really overwhelmed and so was my son.</p>

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<p>Connections, some schools call for songs specifically from a musical. Two of the schools my daughter auditioned for did not require one from a musical- but those were for BFA Acting programs (she sang “Gravity” by Sara Bareilles- one school had to be acapella and the other had to have a track). I believe for NYU, you can chose one of the songs not from a musical. Definitely pay attention to the requirements of the school and do NOT break those rules. Anyway, I think I gave myself an ulcer during this process and I definitely gained weight! I feel for ya! However, it is easier for boys- especially if they can sing and dance!</p>

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<p>I sent a PM</p>

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<p>Connections - I just PM’d you too. You sound a lot like us a year ago :)</p>

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<p>Don’t use the monologue book. I will PM you, but one great tip is that a monologue used for an audition can be several sections of dialogue pieced together as a monologue. Make sure your S has READ THE PLAY – so important. PM coming shortly.</p>