Photo Credit: Randy Le’Moine via cc
Casting Directors auditioning actors for Musical Theatre often hear the same songs over and over again. Are they bored of those songs? Sometimes. However these songs are often sung time and time again at castings because they are great to show off acting and vocal skills and they become the perfect musical theatre audition song.
With the internet it has become so much easier for people to get access to scores through sheet music download sites and also naughty bootleg sharing sites. Forums are allowing people to share hot tips and new favourites and Youtube makes searching for audition material much easier. It can be wise to try and find something new, something people are going to be surprised with, but often the favourites are the best. The casting director finds it easy to quickly compare you with others and the accompanist will know how to play the song!
The following are popular audition songs because they work for people, they are story songs, they are able to stand on their own and allow you to show off your singing to its best but also, which is so important and often overlooked when auditioning for musical theatre, these songs allow you to show off your acting skills too.
Audition Songs for Women (with videos):
Here is a list of five current popular audition songs for women.
Click on title to view the video
Click on image to buy from Amazon
Click on title to view the video
Click on image to buy from Amazon
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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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What a Movie (click to view video)
Trouble in Tahiti
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. -
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Wait A Bit (click to view video)
Just SoFrom the Styles and Drewe musical Just So, based on the Rudyard Kipling book.A really beautiful ballad sung by the Kolokolo bird, she is wondering why her courage fails her, she wants to fly but is afraid to fall.This is one of those songs which will give you the opportunity to show a range of emotions whilst offering up something a little bit different from the usual shows. -
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A Summer in Ohio (click to view video)
The Last Five Years
A Summer in Ohio is one of those songs which will make the audience smileThis song gives you loads of room to show off your personality and comedic skills. Cathy is writing a letter to Jamie, she has an acting job in Ohio and is telling him of the disappointing life and the eccentric colleagues she has there. A joy for anyone who has worked in small town rep! -
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I Want To Go To Hollywood (click to view video)
Grand Hotel
Grand Hotel is based on a 1932 film telling the story of a weekend in a hotel in Berlin and the intersecting stories of the eccentric hotel guests.I Want To Go To Hollywood is a fun song sung by Flaemmchen a secretary who is dreaming of fame and fortune.The song is full of fun lyrics and is a typical dreamer number, giving you plenty of room for character and storytelling as you sing of the life you have and you life you dream of, also some room for a bit of 1920s dance to sneak in! -
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