The Most Popular Songs for Female Belter’s at Auditions

From the 1964 musical Funny Girl this great song has become a complete standard and in 2004 was named #46 in the American Film Industry’s top 100 songs in American cinema.

The show is a semi-biographical story of the life of the Broadway and Hollywood star Fanny Brice and in particular her stormy relationship with the entrepreneur and gambler Nick Arnstein.

This song closes Act One and tells of Fanny’s determination to marry Nick despite being warned about his gambling past.

Both the stage and the movie version of Funny Girl starred Barbra Streisand and this song is associated so closely with her version, which she sings on her many tours.

On My Own is Eponine’s solo in Les Miserables and in the song she sings of her unrequited love for Marius and how she would love to be by his side but knows that he only loves Cosette and not her.

This song did not actually exist in the original French version of the show and the tune we know as On My Own was actually adpated from a song originally written for the character of Fantine. Eponine’s original solo was the song “L’un Vers L’autre”

On My Own was made famous by Frances Ruffelle, the first actress to play Eponine on the London stage and more recently by Samantha Barks in the movie version. The song has become one of the more popular songs from Les Mis and Eponine is perhaps one of the show’s most popular characters.

It has since become an iconic song on it’s own right outside of Les Mis.

Hairpsray is a musical based on the John Waters film, and is in fact now a movie musical in it’s own right.

The show tells the story of Tracey Turnblad a plump teenager who lands a part as a dancer on a local TV show and manages to use that show as a platform to bring racial equality to her little corner of America.

Good Morning Baltimore is the opening number and is sung by Tracey. It is a celebration of her life and her love for her hometown, dancing and her desire for fame.

The song is intentionally funny and has great lyrics such as ” Good morning Baltimore, There’s the flasher who lives next door, There’s the bum on his bar room stool, They wish me luck on my way to school”. The best way with any comedy song is to play it straight, really play it for the truth of the song the fact that Tracey is full of zest for life and sees the world in a ‘glass half full’ way. Play it for the truth and the humour will be natural and not forced.

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.

Part of Your World is from the Disney musical The Little Mermaid.

The song is sung by Ariel, the Little Mermaid, when she is in her secret cavern where she keeps all of her treasures which she has collected from the human world. The song reveals her desire to be human and live amongst them in their world and leave behind the mermaid world under the sea.

The song was almost cut from the movie because Jeffrey Katzenberg, the head of Disney, felt the song was ‘boring’ and would be over the head of the children the film was intended for.

Menken and Ashman lovingly call this song ‘Somewhere That’s Dry’ as they think it shares many similarities with their big female solo from Little Shop of Horrors ‘Somewhere That’s Green’

‘Defying Gravity’ really is the BIG number from the popular show Wicked by Stephen Schwartz. Wicked tells the ‘true story of the witches of Oz’, how the Wicked Witch of the West became the Wicked Witch of the West and how Glinda the good became so damned good!

This number is the finale of act one and comes when Elphaba discovers that the Wizard of Oz is not the great heroic figure everyone belives him to be. She vows to use all of her powers to fight him and stop his sinister plans against the Animals of Oz.

The song is about living without limits and being everything you can be.

The song has quickly become one of the most well known Broadway songs of all time.

This nunber is probably the most famous song from the musical Dreamgirls and is the big troch song which closes Act One.

The song is sung by Effie White a singer in the girl group The Dreams who has been told that her place in the group is over and also her relationship with her lover, their manager Curtis Taylor Jr.

The song is HUGE and needs a real powerhouse performance – which it has had from it’s two most famous performers Jennifer Holliday, the tony award winning actress who played the role on Broadway in 1981, and Jennifer Hudson, the Oscar winning actress who played the role on screen in the 2006 film.

Tomorrow is the big song from the 1977 show Annie.

The song is first sung by orphan Annie to the stray dog she has found on the streets and she tells him of better days to come, she then sings it once more to President Franklin Roosevelt and his cabinet who adopt her stance that the people need to be optimistic during the tough times of the great depression!

The song was first written for the short film ‘Replay’ in 1970 and was then called ‘The Way We Live Now’. It has been recorded as a disco version by Grace Jones, a punk version by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes and even by the legendary Patti Smith as a hideen track on her 2002 compilation album.

Anything Goes is a song from the 1934 musical Anything Goes and features humourous lyrics poking fun at many figures of scandal and gossip from that time.

The musical is all about the farcical exploits of the passengers aboard a cruise liner heading to New York from London. Nightclub singer Reno Sweeney belts out this number as the finale to Act One.

The song is all about how love moves so quickly nowadays in the post depression era! It has been covered by everyone from Frank Sinatra to Lady Gaga.