So this is my first post so I have no idea what I’m doing or if anyone will respond but I’ll give it a whirl!
I just wanna know if any of these potential audition songs are outrageously overdone
Ballads:
“When Did I Fall In Love” from Fiorello
“Lover Come Back to Me” from The New Moon
“Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” from Roberta
“Somebody Somewhere” from the Most Happy Fella
“Make the Man Love Me” from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
“Why Did I Choose You” from The Yearling
“Spring is Here” from Spring is Here
“You’re Nearer” from Too Many Girls
“Love Walked In” from Goldwyn Follies
“I’m Your Girl” from Me and Juliet
Uptempos:
“Saga of Jenny” from Lady in the Dark
“Don’t Want to Be Here” from Ordinary Days
“Miss What’s Her Name” from Miss Spectacular
“I’ll Show Him” From Plain and Fancy
“On the Other Side of the Tracks” from Little Me
“Falling Out Of Love Can Be Fun” from Miss Liberty
“All Of My Laughter” from Fig Leaves Are Falling
“What Do You Think I Am” from Best Foot Forward
I don’t think they qualify as overdone (exception - maybe for “saga of Jenny”) While avoiding overdone songs is always a good plan, a better question might be - what about these songs makes them a good audition song for you? What fits your type? What do you connect with in these songs?
Yeah thanks so much!! I have a high soprano range and can also belt up to about a D, so I’m probably going to sing them all through and see which ones feel best with my voice. I think I’m also going to see which ones are most interesting to act. Thanks for your input!
Sing what you love and connect to! In my opinion, none of these are overdone enough that you should be concerned. And the ones I know seem pretty appropriate! Wouldn’t recommend The Saga of Jenny though since it’s telling a story rather than actively pursuing an objective from your imaginary scene partner.
It’s great to show off your range, power, etc. - and certainly you want to be in a range that is comfortable for your voice, but most important is finding song choices that speak to YOU and what kind of character you have the ability and physical attributes to play. What speaks to your heart and would show the auditors who YOU are? Not just how high you can sing. And just to be safe, always pick a song that you could sing if you have a sore throat, are exhausted from being stuck in the airport, or could still nail if you ran through the lobby door three minutes before your scheduled audition time.
Some songs don’t cut well. Make sure to pick songs that can be reasonably cut to 16 and 32 bars. I think most of the songs on your list are from the Golden Age, so whether or not they cut well will probably not be a big factor - most Golden Age songs cut very easily since they tend to be in classic 8/16 bar verse-chorus form. Some contemporary songs can be a real bear to cut.
It is fairly rare to get a chance to sing the whole song. The majority of auditions are 16 or 32 bar cuts.
I’ve sung a lot of these pieces, so in my opinion…the strongest potential ballad choices are Make the Man Love Me (I sang this my audition cycle! It’s an exquisite piece), Somebody Somewhere, and Why Did I Choose You. They all cut well and they’re all knockouts when you raise the stakes. When Did I Fall in Love is a great piece, but I’d reconsider doing it for college auditions. In my opinion, that song is for a woman a little bit older than those auditioning for college. I love Don’t Want to Be Here, I’ll Show Him, and The Other Side of the Tracks (singing that this semester!) for uptempos, especially for a chance to show off your mix/belt. You have some great options lined up for yourself!
You guys are literally all so helpful thanks so much!! CanadianMTgirl you are right about when did I fall in love-- I’m thinking of doing Make the Man Love Me thanks so much again!
Hello, I’m a male baritone and I have a question about song choices, I went to a Music Theatre Camp this summer and learned these 5 songs
“Brotherhood of Man” How to Succeed in Buisness…
“King of New York” Newsies
“Happiness” You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown
“Let There Be” Children of Eden
“Funeral Sequence” Parade
I was wondering if any of them would be a possible audition song I could use, I’m a senior.
Hi, I’m also a bass baritone and although I am just a senior in high school this year I do have some suggestions about your songs. It’s impossible to tell you what you should sing since we don’t know your looks or voice color; but I can suggest what not to sing.
Brotherhood of Man, this isn’t necessarily a bad song but you’d be making a solo from a group number and there isn’t really any character arch either. So while it’s not a bad song, I just think you can find something better
Newsies was just recently on Broadway, so it’s very overdone, it’s also a Disney musical which some auditors might be turned off by. And, just like BoM, this isn’t really a solo song.
Happiness, I really like this song, I think it’s very cute. It doesn’t really show off anything vocally (I.e. Upper or lower range, big vibrato, etc) and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Let There Be is a good choice if it suits your personality and fits in your voice.
Parade is written by Jason Robert Brown and the auditioning rule of thumb is to not sing anything by JRB. This is because the accompanist will be quite challenged and even if they are great it still takes coordination with the singer to pull it off. And along with the piano part being challenging the vocal part is difficult too so even for recorded accomp auditions it might still be a bad idea.
You might want to look into more pre 1960s musicals, not only do schools require songs from the era but you will find more choices for the lower voice. Contemporary musicals seem to favor the tenors.
Rodgers and Hammerstein material is excellent for the more classical song requirments. That song specifically is good for college aged low voices too. Some people might caution the use of it because it’s in the 1st volume of the the bass baritone musical theatre anthology and everyone’s voice teacher’s grandma has that book so potentially it could be overdone. But, as a guy and even more so a baritone the auditors won’t see that many of your type anyway so I don’t think bass baritones should have to worry about overland songs. I also love the tune of that song and it has a lot of potential acting you can do.
