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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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We would love to know what your favourite mezzo-soprano song for auditioning is, let us know via Twitter @actorhub.
Click on title to view the video
Click on image to buy from Amazon
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There Won’t Be Trumpets (click to view video)
Anyone Can WhistleAnyone Can Whistle is set in an imaginary town which has gone bankrupt. The only place which is doing well is the local sanatorium, known as ‘The Cookie Jar’.The town’s council, in the hope of the tourist dollars it will bring to the town, declare a rock with a spring of water coming from it to be a holy miracle – capable of curing the ill. Fay Apple, a young sceptical nurse doesn’t believe in miracles and has brought all 49 of her inmates from the Cookie Jar to the spring to see its holy powers for herself.The inmates escape and Fay goes into hiding and hopes for a miracle herself, a hero who will deliver the town from its madness.“Those smug little men with their smug little schemes They forgot one thing: The play isn’t over by a long shot yet!” -
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If I Loved You (click to view video)
Carousel
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. -
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Loving You (click to view video)
Passion
Passion is a wonderful Sondheim musical adapted from an italian film Passione D’Amore. It explores the theme of love also touching on obsession, beauty, sex, power and manipulation.‘Loving You’ is a beautiful song sung by the ailing and plain Fosca who has fallen in love with the young soldier Georgio. He does not love her and pleads with her to give him up and with this song she explains that hers is not a love she is able to ‘give up’. Her love is not a choice, it is who she is, all she is, and she would gladly die for him.‘This is why I live, You are why I live’ -
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Fly Into The Future (click to view video)
VanitiesVanities is a musical by David Kirshenbaum and a book by Jack Heifner, based on the book and 1976 play of the same name. It played off Broadway in 2009.The show tells the tale of three best friends: Kathy, Mary and Joanne through high school, college and professional lifeFly into the Future is sung by Mary, the most flamboyant of the three as she decides to quit college and explore everything which life has to offer her.Mary is outwardly flamboyant but deep down insecure – this song allows you to show off and belt and inject fire and fecklessness into your performance.” I’m sick of this sorority. Think I need some distance, A place to disappear. So it’s adios and away I go,
and I’m kind of scared – But the moments here.” -
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And I Will Follow (click to view video)
Wearing Someone Else’s Clothes
And I Will Follow.This song isn’t from a show, it comes from Jason Robert Brown’s solo album, so you could interpret it how you wish. Really dig into the lyrics and find the story behind the song. Make sure you have a clear story and a clear character so that you can showcase your acting skills.This song isn’t from a show, it comes from Jason Robert Brown’s solo album, so you could interpret it how you wish. Really dig into the lyrics and find the story behind the song. For me it is about a woman keeping her vow, you need to work out her vow to who or what, sometimes as an actor it is worth not going for the obvious and seeing how that changes the delivery. -
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Sooner Or Later (click to view video)
Dick Tracy
Sooner or Later comes from the movie Dick Tracy and is one of the songs which Sondheim wrote for Madonna’s character Breathless Mahoney, a seductive and sultry singer from Club Ritz.The song oozes sex appeal as Breathless is desperately trying to seduce Dick throughout the movie, however the double meaning of the song refers to Dick Tracy and how he ‘always gets his man’ ie: he always captures the bad guy.Reveal your inner vamp and sexy side and play with the double entendre’s and enjoy it!“And no one I’ve kissed, babe, ever fights me again. If you’re on my list, it’s just a question of when.” -
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I Could Have Danced All Night (click to view video)
My Fair Lady
I Could Have Danced All Night is from the 1956 musical My Fair Lady about a cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from professor Henry Higgins who himself has a wager with a friend that he can make her pass as a lady. The musical has been called ‘the perfect musical’ by historian Mark Steyn in his book “Broadway Babies Say Goodnight: Musicals Then and Now”This song is sung by Eliza Doolittle in Act One, she sings it expressing her excitement after an impromptu dance with her tutor in the small hours of the morning.The song was placed at number 17 in the American Film Institutes top 100 songs of cinema. It was originally sung by Julie Andrews but has been covered by everyone from Jamie Cullum to The Brady Bunch! My favourite beinga cheeky cha-cha-cha version by Peggy Lee! -
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Waiting For Life (click to view video)
Once On This Island
Flaherty and Ahrens took inspiration from the novel My Love, My Love by Rosa Guy and also sprinkled in some elements from Romeo and Juliet.The story concerns a peasant girl on a tropical island in the Caribbean Sea, who uses the power of love to bring together people of different social classes.Waiting For Life is sung by the lead character Ti Moune. She is a peasant girl and in this song (early on in the show) she prays to the Gods to let her know her purpose in life and to let her be like the ‘grandes homme’ (people from the city) she has encountered racing past in their white cars.A song full of innocence but bursting with desire to be something better than you are today – perfect for a casting.” Even the fish in the sea – Must be longing to fly – Catching a glimpse of a stranger – In white racing by.” -
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Where Is The Warmth (click to view video)
The Bakers Wife
The Baker’s Wife is a Stephen Schwartz musical which has never had a succesful West End or Broadway run, yet remains hugely popular amongst musical theatre afficianados.The story revolves around a small Parisian town which is enamoured by bread produced by the newly arrived middle aged baker and his beautiful young wife. The wife has an affiar with a handsome gigolo and the baker loses his will to bake.Genevieve, the baker’s wife, has run off with her handsome young lover, she is disenchanted however. They are passionate but that is all, as he sleeps she sings and asks “Where Is The Warmth?”. She gathers her belongings and leaves him.The Baker’s Wife is famous for the song Meadowlark, which is an audition standard. Where is the Warmth is a beautiful and tender song, less ‘showey’ than Meadowlark and I personally think more suited to an audition room as it has intimacy and will show off your acting skills. -
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Think of Me (click to view video)
Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera really needs no introduction, it is the epic 1986 Lloyd Webber musical which tells the gothic horror story of a young beautiful soprano Christine Daae who beomces the obsession of a disfigured musical genius.Think of Me is a song which introduces the character of Christine a swedish chorus girl who has to go on in place of the prima donna Carlotta who is refusing to perform in what appears to be a haunted Opera House. -
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