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Too many shows, too many songs, too few time!
Finding song for a musical theatre or drama school audition can be as tricky as finding the perfect monologue. Actor Hub is here to help with some of our favourite suggestions for baritones to sing at a casting.
Whenever you choose a song to sing at an audition remember that the director will be looking at your acting skills, at how you show both character and story through song.
When you choose a song treat it as you would a monologue, research the character and most importantly have an understanding of the musical it comes from.
If the casting director just wanted excellent singers, then they would hire an excellent singer. You are an actor, you have trained in acting. Your skills lie in bringing alive a character, so make sure you choose a song which demonstrates that.
Here is a list of Baritone songs which we feel would be perfect for auditioning. Click on the title or image to watch a video of the song.
Bookmark this page and keep coming back as we are constantly updating and adding to this list. And if you have an addition then please let us know and we can add it to the list.
Baritone Songs for Musical Auditions
This list will hopefully guide you when looking for a musical theatre audition song, have a watch of the video, listen to the song and see if you like it. Do try and read the script or watch the show. If you find something else or have a recommendation let us know via Twitter @actorhub and we can add your choice to the list.
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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Never Will I Marry (click to view video)
Greenwillow
Greenwillow is a musical by Samuels and Loesser based on the novel by B.J Shute.The show takes place in the magical town Greenwillow, the eldest child in each generation of Briggs men must obey the ‘call to wander’ and leave behind their family.Gideon Briggs is desperate to break this spell and settle down with his sweetheart Dorrie.Never Will I Marry is a powerful baritone showpiece where Gideon reflects on his life and the path that the superstitous village has for him.Interestingly Anthony Perkins was not available for the filming of the infamous shower scene in Psycho due to rehearsals for Greenwillow. -
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Class (click to view video)
Saturday NightSaturday 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.The group have decided to head out for a Saturday Night and Gene has arrived in elegant clothes which has impressed everyone. He tells them how his smart clothes will be the ticket to the beautiful world and people of Park Avenue!This is a terrific mid tempo number is charming and a great opportunity for a singer to be cheeky, fun and likeable. -
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I’ve Got To Find A Reason (click to view video)
CarnivalCarnival is a 1961 musical with a book by Michael Stewart and lyrics by Bob Merrill based on the 1953 film Lili. Interestingly the show was originally called Carnival! but the director made them drop the exclamation mark as he said the show is “not a blockbuster, its a gentle show”Lili a lonley orphan runs off with a travelling carnival and works the puppet act. the puppeteer Paul, and the magician Marco The Magnificent are in love with Lili and engage in a fierce rivalry for her love.I’ve Got To Find A Reason is sung by Paul early on in the show before he meets Lili. At this stage he is a lonely, bitter and crippled man unhappy with his life.The musical is an odd one with lots of singing to puppets! This song is a classic “I Wish” song which is usaully the domain of the tenor, so it is great to find a baritone I Wish song as they are perfect for auditioning as they help channel the emotions you will be feeling at an audition. -
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Guido’s Song (click to view video)
Nine
Nine is a musical based on the Federico Fellini film 8 1/2. It tells the story of film director Guido Contini who is having a midlife crisis as his 40th birthday approaches. The musical has found recent fame as a movie starring Daniel Day Lewis.Guido’s Song comes early on in the show and is when we first see Guido’s crisis as his interior world starts to become indistinguishable from the real objective world.The song is only to be tackled by the brave baritone as it is a bit of a masterpiece, if you trust yourself and your accompaniest then you will have a lot of fun with it. -
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What More Can I Say (click to view video)
Falsettos
Alongside Sondheim and Schwartz the composer William Finn is also a favourite at auditions. The song Sailing from the musical “A New Brain” is worth checking out, but on our top five is the beautiful love song What More Can I Say from Falsettos.Falsettos the musical consists of two mini musicals March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland and tells the story of Marvin, his ex-wife Trina, his psychiatrist Mendel, his son Jason, and his gay lover Whizzer Brown.What More Can I Say is sung by Marvin as he sits and watches his sleeping lover Whizzer and wonders how much he loves him. It is a lovely, ballad, tender and sweet with soaring melodies, and it is one of the most tender love songs I’ve ever heard. -
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All Through the Night (click to view video)
Anything Goes
Anything Goes by Cole Porter is a 1934 show which is still a crowd pleaser today and has recently been on Broadway with Sutton Foster and Joel Grey.The story is a wonderful madcap journey aboard the SS American ocean liner from New York to London and is full of brilliantly witty, clever and winning songs such as Anything Goes, You’re The Top and I Get A Kick Out Of You.Billy Crocker is a stowaway who is madly in love with the heiress Hope Harcourt. In Act Two he has been imprisoned in the brig and sings of his love for Hope.A perfect love song great for auditioning to play romantic or juvenile lead roles. Remember that with Cole Porter a lot of fun can be had with the lyrics so make sure you hit every syllable as well as every note. -
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I Was Here (click to view video)
The Glorious Ones
The Glorious Ones is a musical by Flaherty and Ahrens set in 17th Century Italy and concerning a theatre troupe in the world of commedia dell’arte. It is based on the book by Francine Prose.The musical is a mixture or slapstick and serious, and tells the story of commedia dell’arte and how its bawdy comedy captured the publics adoration. The Glorious Ones has been called smutty, nutty, sentimental and moving.I Was Here is a beautiful song about the things we give up as artists, the struggle we go through to leave something behind. The emotion and story behind it should really hit home as a performer and it could make a terrific audition number. -
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Good Thing Going (click to view video)
Merrily We Roll Along
Good Thing Going is another example of a perfect sweet, simple but also so, so clever, Sondheim song.It comes from the musical Merrily We Roll Along which was a huge flop when it originally played.The song perfectly expresses the feeling of looking back at a relationship. In the show the song is rejected by some producers as not being ‘hummable’!The song is one of those haunting Sondheim songs which plays in your mind a long time after you’ve heard it.It isn’t big and showy, its small, heartfelt and perfect – just like love! -
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Glass Of Water (click to view video)
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic“Glass of Water” is a song from the cartoon series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (yes, I’m serious).In the song, the nefarious trickster spirit Discord (voiced by John de Lancie of Star Trek fame) is sick, so he asks his “friend” Twilight Sparkle and her sister-in-law Cadance for a simple glass of water, among other things. Hijinks ensue.The song was composed by Daniel Ingram and written by Ed Valentine for the episode “Three’s a Crowd”. It also marks de Lancie’s first solo number as Discord, performed in a sprechgesang style of half-speaking and half-singing.Beyond being filled to the brim with countless blink-and-you’ll-miss-it pop culture references in the latter half, the song perfectly captures Discord’s zany, off-the-walls personality that makes him — and the show, to an extent — so popular. (It also helps that the role was originally created as a tribute to his role from Star Trek as “Q”.)”I’d like that glass of water please
Some magic spell to cure disease
A firm ‘gesundhoof’* when I sneeze
A fresh bouquet of rosesSome lozenges will soon appease
My wheezing when I start to sneeze
A wig to keep me from the breeze
And blankets for my toes-es”* “Gesundheit” meets horse punPlease note this episode aired early 2014 and so the amazon links are to songs from earlier seasons of this show, not this particular song -
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If I Have To Live Alone (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 affair with a handsome gigolo and the baker loses his will to bake.Amiable the Baker has had to admit to himself and the townsfolk that his wife Genevieve has run off and left him. He sings If I Have To Live Alone, as he decides that he will live alone with dignity.The song is a lovely piece for any actor, it is the story of a broken man rebuilding his life. The character really goes on a journey and it is a gem for a baritone to sing at an audition. -
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