Need Advice on Audition Material...

<p>My daughter will be auditioning for upcoming musicals - both in high school and community theater. I have recently been listening to Jekyll and Hyde and love the song, Once Upon A Dream. My daughter is a soprano, is 14, and has been taking voice lessons for years. What do you think about this song? Do you consider this song a good audition piece? A song to use in competition? Has it been overdone? Thanks!</p>

<p>while it is a nice song, it doesn't really have much acting involved. it wouldn't really show a lot of emotional range (in terms of competitions) and i think the highest note is a mid-range C (i could be a little off). for competitions, i think she'll want to use something that shows off the range/agility of her voice a little more, as soprano competitions are sometimes fiercely competitive.</p>

<p>in terms of auditioning for shows, you really have to tailor the song to which show she's auditioning for, so whether or not it's a good audition song depends on what the show is. for college/summer program auditions, i wouldn't use this song, i don't think.</p>

<p>The song is very overdone,as are all songs from J & H. Although your daughter is bit younger, a good place to begin learning about what's overdone is to peruse the websites of college MT programs and look at their "do not use" lists. Also - since you are currently researching vocal coaches - be wary of any coach whose material choices mirror the overdone list! And listen to Sporti's wise words about songs having dynamic acting values - the character singing should be working for an important goal ("objective," in acting terms), not just emoting.</p>

<p>mrdutt-My D is the same age and yes, this song is overdone. Take the advice of those that tell you that the material chosen for an audition should be "tailored" to the show that she is going for. Certain material just "works" better for certain shows and in community theatre, with a 14 year old, I am sorry to say that it doesn't matter HOT good your D is, she most likely will end up passed over for women 2 to 3 times her age (no matter what age the character) and offered a part in the chorus, if anything. It's a hard pill to swallow, especially if your D is extremely talented ( and we know that there are "youngsters" playing leads on Broadway as we speak, but local theatre isn't like that- they want to know that the people they choose will be there year after year, and a younger girl will be going away to school... That being said, I've seen 40 year old women going in and singing "I Enjoy Being a Girl" and ending up with a role that belonged to a much younger character-go figure!?
The rules for competitions are sometimes a bit more clear and her teacher/coach should be able to help her with all of this. The info. from the people on this Board has helped immensely just getting through the frustration of this year! Sooner or later, your D will find a director who will likes her and knows that she CAN do it, so she just has to keep going out there and trying all kinds of things (are there any Gilbert and Sullivan groupsinn your area? Even the chorus' in G&S shows sing more than most supporting roles in musicals!)
Please feel free to PM me, since we seem to be having similar experiences and our daughters might enjoy talking with each other too...)</p>

<p>Mrdutt
My D is also 14 and does a lot of school and community/semi-professional theatre, I can tell you what our experience has been. (Sorry I don't know anything about competitions).
We live in an pretty intense theatre area, and D is almost 5'7" so she is competeting with adults for adult parts, so is happy to be able to achieve ensemble with this. We have found that for local auditions it doesn't really matter what she sings. They want to hear and see her initially and then deal with specifics of range at call backs. So she has sung songs that are both over used and completely inappropriate (in every way) but that she enjoys singing for these auditions. Her most in appropriate is Never Go Back to Before from Ragtime, which is almost comical for a 14 yer old AA to sing- but she sings it well and she currently LOVES it, so whatever is what her dad and I figure.
We selected much more carefully for summer program auditions and certianly will for bigger or college auditions. But for now, oh well.
The other thing I think helps, and this is similar to what Lulu's mom said, it probably depends on how well you know the theatre/director/community. She sang Never Go Back for a director who she had spent 4 weeks in his summer program so he knew what she could do anyway. It is unlikely we would have had her sing it for someone who has never worked with her before.
So my very unprofessional advise is, for community theatre at 14, let her sing what she likes and sings well, being able to act it and being overused, in my humble opinion don't matter all that much.</p>