Wailing, blow em out of the water tenor songs!!

So an actor friend and I were having a conversation about good audition material (both of us being tenors) and he says to me "Y'know...all the good songs go to the ladies, the guys never get to sing their hearts out, where's the male version of Elphaba? where's the men's version of 'defying gravity?"

and then I opened my mouth tell him that there are plenty of songs out there where men get to wail and sing their hearts out. But unfortunately all I could think of was "king of the world" from songs from a new world

anyone else have any ideas?!!

Updated On: 3/16/08 at 08:44 PM

"corner of the sky"? jeez, I haven't even heard of the musical you listed. i'll have to check it out, but don't mention the obscure facts first, it doesn't help a case. it makes you sound desperate.

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Jekyll and Hyde is filled with them.

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There's a song from Ten Commandments the Musical thats ridiculous.

It's called Is Anybody Listening and Adam Lambert sings it.....its craazzzy

Updated On: 3/17/08 at 12:58 PM

Raul does a killer rendition of everything. I love him. hahaha

This is debatable, I guess. But I definitely consider "Awaiting You" from Myths and Hymns to be in that category...

Boy With Dreams from Edges gets pretty up there.

She Cries is not a Tenor song, nor is Being Alive. And Bring Him Home is HARDLY a wailing blow em out of the water tenor song...
Lost in the Wilderness works...and I agree with Awaiting You.
Any of the songs Judas' sings in Jesus Christ Superstar, especially Heaven on their Minds and Judas' Death (The little I don't Know How to Love him reprise in there can be absolutely stunning, especially if you flip it up the octave). If you have a High G in a decent mix, or if you can really wail or scream it, then Gethsemane can really rock peoples worlds.
Pity the Child lets your show off some chops...I think you get a nice full voiced sustained D.
Riff Raff's stuff from Rocky Horror has a nice rock tenor edge to it.
King of the World is probably one of the best in terms of range and gymnastics you get to show off...but basically anything Billy Porter has ever sung is the definition of wailin' blow em' out of the water tenor songs.

Bring Him Home is not a "wailing" type song. It's not a "fierce" song if you will, if sung properly.

Lost in the Wilderness is clearly the BE all END all song for fierce tenorness. But these also work:

"Monticello" - Edges
"What Do I Need With Love?" - TMM
"Run Away With Me" - The Unauthorized Bio of Sam Brown
"Talent" - Bounce
"Taking the Wheel" - It's Only Life (ish, but necessarily too high)
"Forest For The Trees" - The Spitfire Grill (more bari-tenor)
"Who Can I Turn To?"
"What Kind of Fool I Am" - Stop the World I Want to Get Off!
MOST tenor songs by Bill Finn Including, "Anytime," "Erections," "When The Earth Stopped Turning"

gah, there are too many.

Even Soliloquy from Carousel has a bitchin' ending

Regardless of whether or not you've sung the songs, they are NOT tenor songs. Both of them are written for a voice with a Baritone timbre. The range of both pieces falls into that of a baritone and the "money" notes, sit a little low for a true tenor to truly wail on them.
And Bring Him Home, first off, is NOT one of the hardest tenor songs to sing. In fact I wouldn't even rate it in the top ten. While its true that any good tenor will use full and mix and head voice, with excellent support, its just too easy to cheat and simply sing the song in falsetto...which is pretty damn easy to get away with, with Bring Him Home, as has been proven by some of the men who have played Val Jean.
And secondly...Bring Him Home is hardly a show stopping number. Or for that matter really even a tenor song...the top note is what...a B Flat...thats pretty well within the ranges of most professional baritones...and a large number of the men who have played the roles have in fact been baritones with an extension...
Finally, Bring Him Home should NOT blow people away if sung in context. It should put them into an emotional state yes...but if they walk away saying...wow that man sung that song incredibly...then it was poorly sung. If the audience doesn't connect to the song, if they aren't pulled past the superficial impressiveness of singing high notes prettily, well then you've failed as a singer and an actor.

From CHESS:

Anthem
Pity the Child
Where I Want to Be

HA! His voice is exceeding raspy on that recording!

friggin' fanastic song. Love how he goes super high.

I'm surprised Jesus didn't make a comment about "Anytime" by William Finn, because it's there with Being Alive and She Cries so it must be a baritone song too? For gods sake Norm Lewis sang it and he's definently a baritone. BUT a tenor can sing them! I'm a tenor and I sing them just fine, I can still belt out what I need to belt out and use a controlled deeper tone when needed.

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