Can you please give me feedback on my musical theatre auditon repertoire?

[Padmini]

Posted: 10/22/14 at 2:10pm

I am a soprano and would like to develop my musical theatre audition repertoire. I would like to play the following roles, all of which are within me: the classic ingenue (the sweet, innocent, romantic girl); the contemporary ingenue; the free-spirited, off-beat, circus girl; the emotional, poignant girl (i.e. Meggie in The Thorn Birds, Maggie in Mill on the Floss, Natasha in War & Peace); the leading lady with a star image (i.e. Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard).
Please suggest songs that depict that variety of characters.
So far I have accumulated the following:
Before 1960:
“Falling in Love with Love” from The Boys from Syracuse, “Glitter and Be Gay” from Candide, and “Make Believe” from Show Boat: Ballads
“Anything Goes” from Anything Goes and “It Might as Well Be Spring” from State Fair: Uptempo
1960-80:
“Simple Joys of Maidenhood” from Camelot: Ballad
“Beautiful Candy” from Carnival!, “Mein Herr” from Cabaret, “I’m the Greatest Star” from Funny Girl: Uptempo
1980-1995:
“On the Steps of the Palace” from Into the Woods, and “Moonfall” from Drood: Ballads
“Carrie” from Carrie, “I Want to Go to Hollywood” from Grand Hotel, and “The Singer Must Be Free” from Nightingale: Uptempo
1995-Present:
“Storybook” from The Scarlet Pimpernel and “The Sea of Life” from The Pirate Queen: Ballads
Contemporary/Pop:
From Musicals:
“Every Story is a Love Story” from Aida and “Whispering” from Spring Awakening: Ballads
“Crossword Puzzle” from Starting Here, Starting Now: Uptempo
Regular:
“Bubbly” by Colbie Caillat and “Moon River”: Ballad
“Circus” by Britney Spears: Uptempo

Please suggest an uptempo song from 1995-Present.
Can you please tell me whether all these songs are soprano and whether I have evaluated them to be ballad and uptempo correctly?
I would also like feedback on whether the songs that I have accumulated thus far are good for my repertoire, for those characters that I would like to play.
Thank you very much!

[WOSQ]

Posted: 10/23/14 at 4:40pm

This is going to sound like I am ripping you and your taste to pieces. I am not. Your taste is actually good. There is a whole lot of material here, and I won't be able to get through it all.

If I tell you to replace a song, that doesn't mean ditch it, it means put it on your B or C list. I will also jump all around.

Glitter and Be Gay is overdone since it is about the only coloratura aria in any Broadway score. You've got a song already from Carnival. How about Mira from that same show? Or take a look at Will He Like Me? from She Loves Me.

Where are the Simple Joys is a great song, but make sure every word can be discerned because there are so many jokes in the lyric that to slur them would be a waste. When you sing this, make sure you tell the joke. It is also loaded with inner rhymes and alliteration ("I won't be bid and bargained for like beads in a bazaar.").The music is lovely but in this case, it supports the lyric which sets up her character. Get a director to work on it with you and help you pinpoint the jokes and have fun with this one. Don't be afraid to play with the tempo within the song. It doesn't have to be sung the same way all the way through. If this is sung as a ballad it will be dull, dull, dull.

I'm The Greatest Star - great song but to do it would be asking for it. This is the only song on your list that I will say "no".

Falling in Love With Love: speed it up from the show tempo, make it angrier. It is not written to be ballad tempo but rather just a bit, well, "up". But look at that bitter, bitter lyric. Don't you just want to spit those words out? Say the lyrics; act them out. Feel all those hard consonants. Be careful that you don't go over the edge or over the top. Its a good song, but make sure you say what you want to with it.

It Might As Well Be Spring can be sung up-tempo, but it is written as a daydream. It is the end of summer but she is singing how she feels like it is spring.

As with all the songs, get another set of eyes and ears who can help with subtext, focus and phrasing. Look at the each lyric and deduce what you want to say within the context of the song. There is text, sub-text and then things like singing the exact opposite of what it says.

Why are you even thinking about a song by Britney Spears? You're a soprano which means you can sing. Bluntly, Britney Spears cannot sing. Find something written by or for a real singer.

And here's where I get into trouble. If you think the song is really about sex, it usually is or can be.

Good luck.

[Padmini]

Posted: 10/23/14 at 5:45pm

Thank you so very much for your very helpful feedback on my song choice. It is excellent! You really seem to know the subtleties and nuances of songs.
Do you think that what I have chosen a good variety that shows that I can play a broad range of characters?
Is no song set in stone as ballad or uptempo? Are you saying that Simple Joys should be sung as uptempo, instead of a ballad and that Falling in Love with Love is really uptempo?
I chose Circus by Britney Spears since I was told that auditioners expect pure contemporary/pop songs for auditions instead of songs from contemporary/pop musicals. Is that true? Another reason is that the free-spirited, circus girl is one of the character types that I want to play. However, since you think it not to be a good idea, I will drop it.
And are you saying that some of my songs are about sex?
Is it a good idea to have two songs from the same musical in my repertoire?
Please also suggest an uptempo song from 1995-Present. Thanks again.

[Padmini]

Posted: 10/23/14 at 5:53pm

Also, is it possible to get cast in a musical if you modify the song from the original showtune?

[WOSQ]

Posted: 10/24/14 at 12:00pm

So many questions.

Some songs are written in one tempo, but are famous in another. A friend was shocked when I told him that Happy Days Are Here Again is written to be sung fast and happy. Barbra is the one who slowed it down and made it ironic. He had no idea. Then I sang it for him and told him it was used a campaign song (I think for FDR) during the Depression.

Analyze the lyric to every song line by line and if you're having trouble, ask somebody with a creative bent. You have to find a reason to sing each line.

Of course you can modify the tempo provided you can make it work in the new context. You can modify the tempo within a song as well.

For auditions, you cannot go wrong with The Great American Songbook unless another type of song is specified. A contemporary pop song can be used, but make sure its a good song that shows your musical and acting ranges. That's a common misconception about singing auditions--yes, they are about musicality but they are also about acting.

Sex:
Simple Joys of Maidenhood is all about a sexual life before she actually is wed. "That knight pining so for me, he leaps to death in woe for me" is sex-mad and she knows it and that makes her very pleased. Why does she have to give up all this fun stuff without having experienced it just to get married to man/boy she has never met?

It Might As Well be Spring has a total undercurrent of longing.

Falling in Love With Love is really "No more sex!" In the show it is actually sung by an unsatisfied wife who doesn't sound all that miserable. That's why I think it needs work. The original tempo is moderate.

With I Could Have Danced All Night (not on your list) you could change in your head the word 'danced' to something more horizontal and that's the subtext. I have heard this slowed way down and sung just above a whisper. It was one of the sexiest things I've ever heard without a single word being changed. "Bed? Bed? I couldn't go to bed. My head's too light to try to set it down..."

Your variety is great, perhaps even too great. For any audition you ought to have about 8 songs of differing types ready. It is better to have 8 songs you know like your name than 20 that you just know.

To tell the truth I don't know that much contemporary pop because it doesn't have staying power. I do know that Britney Spears can't sing - you can throw Taylor Swift onto that pile too. What I hear in new songs doesn't have any great emotional or musical range.

Yes, you can alter a show song. Make it work for you. You do not have to use the original context. How many times have you heard the middle of Everything's Coming Up Roses ("You can do it. All you need is a hand." Etc) away from the show?

Updated On: 10/24/14 at 12:00 PM

[Padmini]

Posted: 10/24/14 at 2:40pm

Thank you very much for your detailed answers! It really means a lot to me.
I am glad to see that you think that I have good variety.
I do not plan to have I Could Have Danced All Night in my audition repertoire as it is overdone. Thanks for the point on it, though.
I meant to ask, do people have success with getting cast when they sing the song in a different key or tempo than the original?
I am delighted to get such great feedback. I was just wondering: Are you a Broadway musical theatre performer or musical theatre teacher? It really seems like it!

[WOSQ]

Posted: 10/24/14 at 3:42pm

A key is your key. Transpose rather than stretch for a note.

(By the way, your vocal teacher is half right. You really can't expand a range. Except when the voice isn't in shape. Big example was Madonna who took loads of lessons before recording Evita because of the killer vocals the role requires and found notes that she didn't know she had. Lloyd Webber told her she would have a better career if she continued with those lessons to keep the newly found range, but she didn't.)

Try to sing the song close to the original tempo unless it has been reconcieved and works with another tempo.

But you never know when the director or musical director is a jerk and thinks that everything ought to be just the way THEY think they ought to be.

Welcome to show biz.

I was an actor many years ago and I see a lot of theatre. However when I walk down the street or don't have a book on the subway I think about things. It isn't enough to just say, "That stunk." Why did it stink? What could be done to make it work better?

I just recently saw a production where the leading lady was too lady-like and nice, and she needed a good healthy dash of earthiness.The director needed to take her for half a day, one-on-one, and practically paste that earthy quality on her.

Story:
and this was filmed for 60 Minutes;

Barbara Cook, then about 80, is giving a master class and the young male singer who is quite good, is singing "The Nearness of You". He is good, make no mistake, but there is something missing.

Barbara Cook asks him what he thinks the song is about. He says that it is about wanting to be close to his significant other and how that is really all he needs.

Barbara Cook says to him matter-of-factly, "I think the song is about sex."

Big laugh off camera from the class observers, but the camera stays on the singer, and you can almost see a light bulb go off over his head. He gets it.

We see him singing again and while perhaps going too much for the obvious, he is on his way to giving some subtext to the song.

another tale:
Mike Nichols, just about the best stage director around these days, thinks there are three kinds of scenes: fights, negotiations and seductions. His longtime friend and one-time performing partner Elaine May (who also writes and directs), says, "When in doubt, seduce!"

A song can be a scene, or it can be a whole 3 minute 3 act play.

You can read "seduce" to mean convince.

[Padmini]

Posted: 10/24/14 at 3:59pm

Thank you very much again! I really like your feedback and anecdotes.
Could I possibly keep in touch with you via e-mail regarding my journey in show biz? If you are game for this, please send me a personal message with your e-mail address.
Thanks again.

[Padmini]

Posted: 10/24/14 at 4:04pm

And can you please reply to this thread: https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1077636&boardname=student&dt=0&boardid=14
Thank you in advance.