Best Soprano Songs for Musical Theatre Auditions

Soprano Songs For Musical Theatre Auditions
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Actor Hub know how difficult choosing a musical theatre audition song is. There are so many shows and so many songs, it can be overwhelming.
We have a series of articles with some ideas and choices, these are some of our favourites and are songs which we think can show off both your range and singing ability, but more importantly can demonstrate your acting ability, you joy at building a character and creating a performance.
It is vital that when you choose a song you really look at it in the context of performance. Read the whole script, try to get an understanding of the character and why they are singing this particular song.
A musical director will be listening to your voice, seeing if it can fit in with the show, they will be able to spot your vocal ability it is what they are trained to do. Chances are you wouldn’t be there if you couldn’t sing.
What I always think is more important is that you can act, and this is what the director is looking for. They want actors who can bring life to a show and to characters, they want to know you can act and sing. If they just wanted singers, then they would hire a singer. You are an actor, you have trained in acting, in bringing alive a character, so make sure you choose a song which can demonstrate that.
Here is a list of Soprano songs which we feel would work well at any audition. Click on the title or image to watch a video of the song.
Soprano Songs for Musical Auditions
These are songs which will hopefully guide you when looking for a musical theatre audition song, have a watch of the video, listen to the song and if you like it then try and read the script or watch the show and get a feeling for the character, if you can do the character and the song justice … then go for it … if not keep looking and if you find something else let us know via Twitter @actorhub and we can add your choice to the list.

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  • Evening Primrose is a television musical movie based on a short story about a poet who seeks refuge from the world by hiding in a department store. There he meets a society of ‘night people’ who live in the store and he falls in love with a young girl called Ella.
    Ella has never seen the outside world and wants to leave with Charles and experience the world.
    It is a wonderful song and is full of innocence and hope.
  • Sweeney Todd is melodramatic and almost operatic throughout, this song is one which can really show off a true soprano.
    Johanna is being kept by Judge Turpin almost as a prisoner and in this song she is likening herself to a caged bird. Keep your spirit and voice bright and ‘bird-ish’ when singing it. Each phrase ends with a long note, try to hold it and not decrescendo.
    Outside the sky waits, Beckoning, beckoning, Just beyond the bars. How can you remain, Staring at the rain, Maddened by the stars?
  • Songs For A New World has no story so if you choose a song from this to audition with, you need to do your homework. Build a story and a character around the song show them you can act and create.
    A recurring theme in Songs For A New World is parents. Mothers are portrayed as nurturing and fathers destructive, with a few exceptions. This song is one of the exceptions. This is a song about a woman abandoning her children and husband, the kids must be young because one of them is afraid of the dark. You need to know why she is leaving, is it best for them or for her. Play with performing it in different emotional states, don’t go for the obvious, see how this changes the song, see how this changes the performance. The beauty of a song like this is that you can build your character and see what works best for you.
  • Saturday Night was Sondheim’s first musical which was written in 1954 but was never produced until 1997 due to an unfortunate set of events!
    Set in 1929 in Brooklyn a group of friends spend their Saturday Nights restless because they have no dates. Gene, who works in Wall Street in a menial job dreams of escaping Brooklyn and becoming a member of the exciting Manhattan society.
    This song comes at the very end of the show as the various characters look forward to the future, they have realised they are happy with the life they have in Brooklyn and look towards the future.
    Saturday Night ends and the characters finally are looking forward to what tomorrow will bring.
  • Saturday Night was Sondheim’s first musical which was written in 1954 but was never produced until 1997 due to an unfortunate set of events!
    Set in 1929 in Brooklyn a group of friends spend their Saturday Nights restless because they have no dates. Gene, who works in Wall Street in a menial job dreams of escaping Brooklyn and becoming a member of the exciting Manhattan society. He crashes a party and meets Helen (also a gatecrasher).
    As the weeks go by, Gene is so desperate to impress Helen and climb the social ladder that he invests his friends money and even sells their precious automobile.
    Helen tells him that she hates what he is doing but admits that she is in love with him with this song.
    “So many people in the world, And what can they do, They’ll never know love, Like my love for you”
    This ballad requires support due to some of the long phrasing, although for sopranos it is worth noting that this song will use their lower notes which need to be expressive.
  • That’ll Show Him is from the Stephen Sondheim show A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum
    A rare thing in most soprano songs … this is funny, very funny!
    Sung by Philia, the virginal love interest in this farce. She promises Hero, her true love, that even though she has to marry someone else she will always love him. The song is her reassurance to him that when she makes love to Miles (her new husband) she will be thinking of Hero, when she makes love to him she will actually be making love to Hero …, so she’ll make love even more intensely!
    Lots of room for comedy, timing and character play in this song. A lovely choice.
  • Parade is an epic show dealing with the 1913 trial of Leo Frank who was accused and convicted of raping and murdering a thirteen-year-old employee. The trial was sensationalised by the media. When Frank’s death sentence was commuted to life in prison by the departing Governor of Georgia, Leo Frank was kidnapped by a lynching party and hanged from an oak tree.
    This song is sung by Lucille, Leo Frank’s wife, who is singing to a young reporter who has seen the case as a way to build his own career and become famous. This is a real actor’s song and has tremendous power when handled correctly
  • It Never Was You is from Kurt Weill’s Knickerbocker Holiday
    Knickerbocker Holiday is a romantic comedy from 1938, but also is a political allegory equating Roosevelt’s ‘new deal’ with fascism.
    Kurt Weill was a German composer who is best known for his collaborations with Brecht.
    Sung by Tina Tienhoven, daughter of the head of the town council. Tina is in love with Brom Broeck, a commoner, they hope to marry but Brom wants to be more respectable first.
    The song, like a lot of Weill’s songs, is a standard. It is a beautiful love song and has been covered by everyone from Judy Garland to Megan Mullally! Don’t let that put you off, standards are standards because they are beautiful songs.
    Connect with the truth of the song, with the huge longing of searching for your one true love, connect with the romance and try to connect to the heart and you will hit the right note (and hopefully the right notes!)
Be bold, daring and creative and you can’t go wrong.