Most overdone audition songs right now- Page 3

[nyc_theatregirl]

Posted: 12/17/08 at 2:06am

Okay so I have an audition coming up (for my school's musical) and here are my choice of songs:

- A Change In Me (Beauty and the Beast)
- Good Morning Baltimore (Hairspray)
- I Could Have Danced All Night (My Fair Lady)
- Green Finch and Linnet Bird (Sweeney Todd)

How bad are these choices?

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 12/17/08 at 2:17am

I'd avoid all of those.

[cello_dude]

Posted: 12/17/08 at 2:20am

It's HIGHSCHOOL! All they really want is to hear if you can carry a tune. Seriously

[ggersten]

Posted: 12/17/08 at 9:28am

It depends on what the show is. What kind of voice do you have? What role would you like? Are you trying to show off a singing voice or acting ability? Or are you headed to the ensemble, no matter what, because you are a freshman or sophomore. There are lots of threads on auditions songs on the student board as well.

[groovy-hoover]

Posted: 12/17/08 at 12:02pm

Hmm there's some obvious ones to avoid - Les Mis, Phantom, Cats is still overdone, JCS, Joseph, Miss Saigon, Grease, Blood Brothers (at least in the UK), Jekyll & Hyde, Maria (WSS), Cabaret, Anthem (Chess), Fame & Out Here On My Own (Fame), Hairspray, Wicked, ACL, Rent, Disney, Showboat, Sunset Boulevard, Summertime (Porgy), Kiss of the Spider Woman, Oklahoma, Adelaide's Lament (G & D).... and more...

Songs For A New World is the most overdone of JRB, but his other work is quite popular in auditions.

Also, when picking a song, you need to consider your pianist as well as your self - don't choose something with a really hard arrangement unless you're magically bringing your own pianist e.g:-
Sunset Boulevard
Miller's Son
Another Hundred People
Meadowlark
I Think I May Want To Remember Today
Martin Guerre

And then, I'd also try and avoid songs that have a particular singer associated with them - The Man That Got Away, Maybe This Time, The Way We Were etc.

[Sondheim_Geek]

Posted: 12/17/08 at 1:06pm

A Way Back To Then

[FlyingMonkey1223]

Posted: 12/17/08 at 2:25pm

Lovely black ladies always insist on doing some number from DREAMGIRLS...namely "And I'm Telling You..." and it sounds like pure ogre horror.

[nyc_theatregirl]

Posted: 12/17/08 at 5:04pm

We're doing the musical auditions differntly this year, which makes its difficult to pick a song to sing. They aren't picking/revealing the musical until the auditions are finished because we have a new director and he wants to see what voices our school has to offer. I probably am headed to the ensemble because I'm a sophmore and my dance schedule is pretty intense, but it's worth a shot. I don't have to worry about sheet music or anything for the audition because we audition acappella.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 12/17/08 at 5:35pm

On all of the auditions I've gone to, they've wanted to hear something from the show.

[E.Davis]

Posted: 12/17/08 at 5:58pm

Is "If I cant Love her" the last 20 bars still safe...from Beauty and the Beast...It just shows off my range so well...

[bertandrew2]

Posted: 12/17/08 at 7:22pm

I am amazed at how many people come to auditions with songs from MILLIE. Please stop the MILLIE songs....I turn right off when I hear them Also, "Good Morning Baltimore"--every girl with an extra pound or two comes in singing this!!!! And please, if you have "No body does it like me" in your book, THROW IT OUT!! And if you have "You Can Always Count on Me" in your book, THROW IT OUT!!!

Okay. Those are my pet peeve songs

[Neverandy]

Posted: 12/17/08 at 11:32pm

distinctive baritone-Yup. 8 bars happens all the time at Chorus Calls.

[kchenofan]

Posted: 12/19/08 at 10:35pm

awww...i love "glitter and be gay" from candide! =(

but i would probably sing "goodnight my someone" from the music man.

people, be kind to wicked and leave your OCR in its case if thinking about auditioning with it. thank you

[Madcap Maisie]

Posted: 12/19/08 at 10:40pm

Legally Blonde Ballad

Updated On: 6/12/20 at 10:40 PM

[beltingbaritone]

Posted: 12/19/08 at 10:47pm

Here's the thing about overdone audition songs. You cannot avoid the casting director hearing your song of choice twice. Its just not going to happen. When audition notices say stay away from popular songs they're talking about Wicked, and Rent, and Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Yes, its good to pick more obscure materail, but what you really need to do is pick a song that you're comfortable with. The audition process is strenuous enough, so you need to know your material like the back of your hand. Plus, an obscure song that you sing well isn't going to get you as far as a more popular song that you own. You can't predict what other people are going to sing, you can only serve what you've got.

[wizard2joe]

Posted: 12/19/08 at 11:54pm

I was thinking of using a song from "A New Brain" is that musical commenly used in auditions?

[fiesta1]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 5:52am

I sit on the receiving side of the table now, and really prefer older songs. To me this indicates that the actor has a deeper repetoire, and a sense of MT history (rather than just overplaying Annie/Wicked forever). I love JRB, but L5Y and Songs for a New World are tough songs to do well.

When I've auditioned, I have selected songs that are well-constructed and not often performed. I am a bari-bass, and my old audition song was "Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins (this was before MP was only a movie). I've also used "With Every Breath I Take" from City of Angels. They are not typical guy songs though.

Keep your audience in mind (as well as those who are at the sudution table). For a production of When Pigs Fly, I auditioned with "The Miller's Son" from Little Night Music. A 6'3 bass singing "And I shall marry the miller's son...." got a round of laughs. But for that particular show, camp and humor mattered.

[beltingbaritone]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 1:41pm

You're never supposed to sing songs of characters you couldn't realistically play. So for the traditional audition, female songs would be out for males, and vice versa.

[Shannon Bo Dannon]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 2:04pm

Are any of Sondheim's shows really overdone?
Updated On: 12/20/08 at 02:04 PM

[beltingbaritone]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 2:10pm

Some of his older works aren't as overdone, but they usually are very hard to sight read for the pianist.

[Tevye the Dairyman]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 4:45pm

something i've always stood by for most college auditions and other stuff, professional and amatuer, is to choose songs that you're confident you can act. you don't just wanna be staring at a spot on the wall focusing on the music. do something where you can show them what you can do with a character and how you are special compared to the others waiting outside. i find this to be infinitely more important than worrying if something is overdone. but then again...don't sing ALW, Wildhorn, Boublil and Schonberg, JRB, etc...that pisses people off

[shesamarshmallow]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 4:49pm

When I did EPAs a few months ago, I kept hearing
Notice Me Horton (Seussical)
The Night That Goldman Spoke... (Ragtime)
Larger than Life (My Favorite Year)
She Loves Me (She Loves Me)

[singer73192]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 5:13pm

I hear a lot of people doing "Somebody to Love." by Queen

[myshikobit]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 5:38pm

So all my school shows make you do songs from the shows =(. But I was working with my little sisters (they're twins) for their 3rd grade audition ( their first show =)), and it's Cinderella. So one of them wants to be Cinderella and the other wants to be a mouse. So I've been working on them with "There Won't Be Trumpets" for Cindy, and "Land of Betrayal (from "Two Gents") for Mouse. I'm so proud of me/ them (I had to steer them away from Wicked, lol). As for me, songs I'm working on right now are "The Road You Didn't Take" from Follies, "I Got Your Number" from Little Me, and "In Praise of Women" from LNM. Good choices?

[xxdrewboy85xx]

Posted: 12/20/08 at 11:06pm

When I directed The Rocky Horror Show last year so many girls sang Take Me or Leave Me from Rent. After about the 10th time i started putting every girl that sang it in the rejection pile no matter how good. I was just so sick of hearing that song!
Updated On: 12/20/08 at 11:06 PM