Musical theatre audition songs from new composers

Michael Bruce’s song ‘Portrait of a Princess’ has garnered acclaim from all corners of the theatre industry since it premièred in 2009 in a concert of his work at the Apollo Theatre.

The song follows the ups and downs of a Princess, watching her fumble her way through life, love and everything in between.

His songs are fresh, catchy and engaging-with lyrics that move you to tears one minute, and send you in to a side-splitting mess the next.

Howard Goodall’s “If I Could” from The Hired Man.

Set against the backdrop of the Cumbrian lakes in the early years of the twentieth century, it tells the timeless, moving story of a young married couple and their struggle to carve a living from the land, just as the traditional rhythms of English country life are being swept away by the gathering storm of war in Europe. It’s haunting, thrilling, stirring stuff.

The Hired Man is based on the much-loved novel by Melvyn Bragg, and brought to life by the heartbreakingly-beautiful music of Howard Goodall.

The musical Dogfight is a musical adaptation of the 1991 film with River Phoenix and Lili Taylor.

A group of Marines are about to be deployed to Vietnam in 1963. The last night before they ship off, the guys put $50 in a pot to host a date party – and whoever brings the ugliest girl to the party wins the money.

Young Eddie is running out of time to find a date. He ducks into a diner and sees a rather plain girl, Rose, and convinces her to join him for the evening. Along the way to the party, Rose is excited about her first real date and starts telling Eddie all about herself, her dreams and ideals.

Christopher Hamilton’s “Somebody’s Wife” from Over The Threshold.

Over The Threshold is a 75 minute long musical about four characters whose lives are turned upside down in one fateful evening.

Tom is out of work and commitment-shy, Kate has been dreaming of marriage since she was six-years-old – he’s suffering a loss of libido, she thinks he doesn’t love her. Across the landing lives Sam, who’s just discovered she can’t have children and whose husband Charlie has walked out on her.

Opposites attract – but then they’re stuck with each other. When a relationship goes stale can a little flirting bring back the spark? Infidelity might drive a couple apart but then so might monogamy.

Chris Passey’s “If Only They Knew” from the album Self-Taught, Still Learning.

A self taught pianist, Chris Passey is a West Midlands based Composer/Lyricist, Musical Director and Vocal Coach.

His music is a rare treat in musical theatre-based songs as they are beautiful to the ear but never become self-indulgent or fall into the realms of musical or lyrical cliché.

Most of the songs on the album are from his musical ‘Bridges’ – a story about connections between people and how all these lives came to weave together at some point, and it’s a story about going with your instincts, perhaps lust or passion over common sense. It’s essentially a love story that takes us down loads of different paths and it’s a story that couldn’t be told any other way than using song.

The sheet music is available from his website.

This song comes from the musical The Unauthorized Autobiography of Samantha Brown written by the hugely talented team of Kait Kerrigan and Brian Lowdermilk.

The show is set at dawn on the day that Samantha Brown is supposed to leave for college, she is sitting in her car but can’t turn the keys. She is filled with doubts and the show is told through a series of flashbacks from her senior year as Sam comes to terms with her parents expectations, her first love and a lost friendship.

This love song is sung by Sam’s boyfriend Adam as he tries to get her to run away with him!

Here is what Kait Kerrigan had to say about using this for an audition:

“Let me be your ride out of town.
Let me be the place that you hide.
We can make our lives on the go.
Run away with me.”

Rebecca Applin and Susannah Pearse’s “White Elephant Stall” from Sex and the Village

When the humble village of Chatterly is threatened by a supermarket chain that wants to build on its land, all the inhabitants must band together to figure out a way to preserve their beloved community.

Chloe, a girl who dreams of being a writer but who has so far only written for her personal blog, ‘Sex and the Village’, may have worked out a solution. But convincing the village is not going to be easy, especially as old tensions, wishes, and loves soon begin to resurface.

Packed with lively songs that are at once vibrant, poignant, and memorable, this hilarious, heart-warming musical explores the ins and outs of country village life alongside the universal wish to dream and to love.

George Styles and Anthony Drewe’s “They Don’t Make Glass Slippers” from Soho Cinders.

Edgy, fun and deliciously naughty, Soho Cinders celebrates London’s most colourful district.

When impoverished student Robbie becomes romantically involved with engaged Mayoral candidate James Prince, his lap-dancing step-sisters become the least of his problems!

James and Robbie’s worlds collide forcing them to fight for their own fairy-tale ending in this hilarious, satirical twist on the classic Cinderella story.

Joe Iconis is a writer of character songs which really have a story to tell in a modern fashion. He is a cool name in musical theatre and by performing one of his songs you are showing you are on the pulse of whats new.

Nerd Love comes from ReWrite a trio of mini musicals and it tell of the high school love between a pair of nerds! It is full of hilarious lyrics and pop culture references, my favourite being the differences between Velma and Daphne from Scooby Doo!

Stick to the character and his or her growing passion throughout the song as he gets more ‘horny’ about the nerd he is wooing! Don’t worry about the song rocking out – stick to your charavter and dont let the music intimidate you. Have fun!

Jonathan Gealt is currently working on three musicals and is a member of the advanced BMI Theater Writing Workshops. He is at work adapting the Novel “Dust and Shadow” which just had it’s first reading March (2012) in NYC and it’s first full 29 hour reading in November 2012.

His debut album ‘Thirteen Stories Down’ was released in 2011, and features the fantastic song ‘I Am Yours’ as well as many more performed by some of Broadway’s biggest names.

Laurence Mark Wythe’s “Goodnight Kiss” from Framed.

Framed is a commission from Korean producer Chun Soo Shin and OD Musical, one of the most prolific and successful music theatre producers in Seoul, which will be workshopped in the West End in 2012.

A Goodnight Kiss is a beautiful song. It is best when subtly performed – no big production to it. It should be about the voice, the music and the lyrics.

Charles Miller and Kevin Hammonds “You Know How To Love Me” from When Midnight Strikes.

New York, New Year’s Eve 1999 – the dawn of a new millennium – and Jennifer West’s intimate dinner party for close friends and family begins to fall apart upon the discovery that her husband has been having an affair.

To make matters worse, she realizes that the unknown mistress is one of eleven party guests. As the hosts confront their unraveling marriage, new resolutions, past mistakes, and an uncertain future merge into an explosive and life-altering evening.

With a score by Charles Miller packed with original show-stopping songs, When Midnight Strikes gives a remarkably accurate sense of the brittle gaiety of a New Year party, with all the tensions so often seething beneath the surface.

Grant Olding’s “Midnight will happen without us” from Simply Cinderella.

The old fairytale gets a modern twist with Cinderella working in a recession-hit shoe factory and living in Slipper Street with her bullying, talentless stepsisters, Coral and Pearl, who want to make it big in a girl band.

With no chance of escape, Cinderella makes a pair of shoes, and, with a little help from her dead mother who used to sing at the old Cinderella ballroom on the site of the shoe factory, she does go to the ball and fall in love.

Ordinary Days, a refreshingly honest and funny musical about making real connections in the city that never sleeps (but probably should at some point.)

Adam Gwon’s Ordinary Days tells the story of four young New Yorkers whose lives intersect as they search for fulfillment, happiness, love and cabs.

Adam Gwon writes crisp, fluid and often funny lyrics that reflect the racing minds of four New Yorkers on a nervous search for their immediate futures.

Set mainly in San Francisco, the storyline of the new musical Daybreak details the demise of a 21st century marriage riddled with Mike Leigh-style secrets and lies, while the successful relationship of protagonist Dylan’s parents decades earlier, is interwoven as a parallel plot line.

Without darkness one cannot see the light, proclaims Bobby Cronin’s new original musical Daybreak. Indeed, darkness is aplenty in this dramatic, almost sung-throughout, coming of age journey.

Move On is a song with inspirational lyrics.