Musical Theatre Audition Songs – Choices for Mezzo Soprano

Musical Theatre Audition Songs - Choices for Mezzo Soprano_550
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When choosing an audition song to sing at a musical theatre audition it is vital that you not only choose a song from your range but you also seriously consider your own acting range and the type of character you are auditioning for. So often I hear tales of someone auditioning to play something like Maria from the Sound of Music with a sexy sassy song from Rent (well thats an extreme example but you get my drift!)
This list of songs are all very character and story driven so choose wisely.
It is vital that when auditioning for a part in a musical you are showing off your acting ability just as much as your singing. Directors love working with actors, with actor-singers, if they just wanted a cast of singers then they would go with classically trained singers who have dedicated years to perfecting a classical sound which will be faithful to the notes on the staves and bring no character to the song.
You can bring your character and acting to your singing – don’t leave it at home!
Mezzo-Soprano Songs for Auditions
I always recommend you approach any audition song as a monologue first. Try learning it as a speech and acting it without music first. Get inside the character and situation which is driving the song before you approach the singing of it. I really believe this method gives you a tremendous head start when you begin putting the words to music.

We would love to know what your favourite mezzo-soprano song for auditioning is, let us know via Twitter @actorhub.

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  • Not For The Life of Me is from the 2000 stage musical Thoroughly Modern Millie based on the 1967 movie. The story is set in 1922 and tells of a small town girl Millie Dillmount who has come to New York to marry for money instead of love – a thorougly modern approach! She falls in love with the flapper lifetsyle and gets caught up with a white slavery ring in China! The show is very tongue in cheek and a complete pastiche.
    This number opens the show and is sung by Millie as she arrives at NYC train station from Kansas and tears up her return ticket!
    It is a classic ‘I wish’ song and is very popular for auditions for that reason.
  • This great song is taken from the musical Ordinary Days by writer and composer Adam Gwon.
    When Deb loses her most precious possession–the notes to her graduate thesis–she unwittingly starts a chain of events that turns the ordinary days of four New Yorkers into something extraordinary. Told through a series of intricately connected songs and vignettes, Ordinary Days is an original musical about growing up and enjoying the view.
    A wonderful song which is full of quirky character, lots of funny lines and a really nice storyline to follow. This song is pretty similar in tone and feel to ‘I Can Do Better Than That’ from Jason Robert Brown’s ‘The Last Five Years’.
    This song is a perfect choice is you are looking for something which allows you to inject your own personality in to your singing. The stroy of the song about wanting to escape from a hun-drum life is one everyone can relate to and also has a slight wink to the whole audition process.
    “I finally got a job at some hum-drum office – Like everyone right out of school does – I sat there at my cubicle every day – Sending faxes, and that?s what my life was”
  • The 1945 musical Carousel is famous for the songs ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, ‘June is Bustin Out All Over’, and the beautiful ‘If I Loved You’. The show tells the story of carousel barker Billy Bigelow, whose romance with Julie Jordan comes at the price of both their jobs. He attempts a robbery to provide for Julie and their unborn child; after it goes wrong, he is given a chance to make things right.
    This song is first sung in Act One by both Billy and Julie as they talk about what life might be like if they were in love with each other, with neither confessing that they are actually falling in love!
    The reprise in Act Two is the version which is normally used by males for auditions. (Spoiler alert!) At this point Billy has died and returned to Julie and his daughter as an angel to make right his wrongs, he drops a star which Julie picks up and he sings this heartbreaking love song to his widow as she feels his presence.
  • Trouble in Tahiti is a one act opera-musical and is considered to be one of Bernstein’s ‘darker’ works. The piece is a scathing attack on America suburbia.
    There are only two singers, a married couple named Sam and Dinah, the show is the story of a day in the life of this couple who are desperately unhappy, longing for love.
    ‘What a Movie’ is a song Dinah sings to an unidentified person in a hat shop, in the song she tells of a movie she has spent the afternoon watching called ‘Trouble in Tahiti’, she recounts the story of the movie and sings it’s theme song ‘Island Magic’ and is caught up in it’s escapism and optimistic fantasy of love.
    The song is an epic with so much scope for fun and character as Dinah ‘lives’ the different scenes – she starts off hating the movie, gets carried away when recounting it’s story and drops back into reality every now and then.
    This is a BIG song and might be more suitable for a showcase than an audition.
  • Candide is a musical which is probably more of an operetta than it is traditional musical theatre. It is based on the novella by Voltaire. It is a long, tangled and epic plot with the hero Candide searching for the ‘best of all possible worlds’
    Candide beleives that Cunegonda, his betrothed, is dead and has set out on a journey of discovery. Cunegonde turns up alive in Paris, being supported by a welathy lover living in the house of a Marquis and a Sultan. She is being aided by an Old Lady who is serving as her governess. Cunegonda draps herself in her jewels and sings ‘Glitter and Be Gay’
    The song is brilliant fun, Cunegonda is bemoaning her lost purity, largely because she feels that she ought to do so, and is trying to convince herself that her glee and delight in jewelry is a sign of character when faced with adversity rather than a sign that she has always liked pretty, shiny things!
    If ‘Soliloquy’ is a musical theatre aria for a male singer, then ‘Glitter and Be Gay’ is a musical theatre aria for a soprano.
    “And yet of course I rather like to revel, Ha ha!
    I have no strong objection to champagne, Ha ha!
    My wardrobe is expensive as the devil, Ha ha!”
  • The Addams Family by Andrew Lippa is a musical based on the famously spooky and ooky family from the tv show, comic books and movies.
    Wednesday Addams, the gothic teenage daughter of Mortica and Gomez, has fallen in love with a ‘normal’ boy and has invited him and his parents for dinner at the Addams home.
    Pulled is the song Wednesday sings as she tortures her brother Pugsley on a rack. She sings how her new love is changing her and ‘pulling’ her in a new direction.
    The song is very funny as Wednesday describes all the things which are suddenly making her happy, the lyrics are a joy and you can have a lot of fun with this song.
  • A song which is full of deep emotion.
    The song is sung by a young girl who has discovered she is pregnant, from the lyrics I would imagine she is alone in the world. This girl finds grace in her situation, she feels worth for the first time in her life. She is bringing another person into this world, a person who perhaps can make a difference like she could not.
    I would recommend this song is sung with innocence and honesty, no edges no tricks, just sung simply. I also suggest that this could be sung to the unborn child and that way you might tap into the correct emotion.
  • Catch Me If You Can the musical played in Broadway in 2011.
    The story is the same as the movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio, it tells the story of con-man Frank Abagnale Jnr in the 1960s
    This song is sung by Brenda, a nurse who has won Frank’s heart when he is on the run and posing as a Doctor. Frank has proposed to Brenda and told her the truth about himself and all the lies. He promises to return to her after he has escaped the FBI agent who has been trying to catch him for years.
    Brenda sings this to the FBI agent telling him how she feels about Frank and how she will never reveal where he has run to.
    This is a beautiful song and shows off character, storytelling, emotion and vocal range. Perfect for auditions.
    “Men who you call real were really fakes who left me nothing – But this man you call a fake gave me something real”
  • The Last Five Years is one of my favourite musicals. It is beautiful, intelligent and simple.
    The story explores a five-year relationship between Jamie and Cathy. The show uses a form of storytelling in which Cathy’s story is told in reverse order (beginning the show at the end of the marriage), and Jamie’s is told in order (starting just after the couple have first met). The characters do not directly interact except for a wedding song in the middle as their timelines intersect.
    This song is the opening number of the show and is Cathy lamenting the end of the marriage. I will say it again but I truly believe this song needs no tricks and no big show off belty moments, play it for its simplicity and for the emotion. Also take note of the opening words “Jamie is over and Jamie has gone”, she knows it is over, there is no fight left just a sad realisation of life’s finality.
  • Cathy is taking her new boyfriend Jamie to meet her parents. She tells him about her past relationships and how she is not going to end up like her friend from high school
    Remember this is at the start of their relationship so should be acted with that kind of daft enthusiasm which you ‘put on’ when you are trying to impress someone you fancy! A great story song which is full of character.