Funny or Comedy Musical Theatre Audition Songs for Females

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is a 2008 musical miniseries in three parts, produced exclusively for Internet. The musical was written during the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. The idea was to create something small and inexpensive, yet professionally done, in a way that would circumvent the issues that were being protested during the strike.

The three act show tells the story of Dr. Horrible, an aspiring supervillain; Captain Hammer, his nemesis; and Penny, their shared love interest. This song comes in Act Two.

Dr Horrible (known to Peggy by his real name Billy) and Penny are growing close and she sings this song to him over frozen yoghurt at the laundromat (how very Whedonesque!)

This is a very pretty number and is taken from a comedy – although is not necessarily a comedy number

“Here’s a story of a girl
Who grew up lost and lonely
Thinking love was fairy tale
And trouble was made only for me”

Baby ran on Broadway from 1983 to 1984 and is all about the reactions and stories of three couples each expecting a child.

The three woman are Lizzie a university student who has just moved in with her boyfriend, Athletic Pam who has had trouble conceiving and Arlene an older lady and the mother of three grown up daughters who contemplates an abortion.

This great number is sung by all three woman when they meet in a doctor’s office – and so as an actor you have a choice of which character’s section to deliver as your audition piece. Or if you are really daring why not try playing all three different woman and really showing off your range?

All three woman are full of character and the song has energy and fun fast lyrics to play with.

“I want it all
I want the morning sickness and the elations
I want every known female sensation
I want to be Scarlett O?Hara, Joan of Arc, Lauren Bacall
I want it all”

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying tells the story of young, ambitious J. Pierrepont Finch, who, with the help of the book “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”, rises from window washer to chairman of the board of the World Wide Wicket Company.

This song is sung by Rosemary Pilkington, a young secretary, who has helped Finch climb the ladder and has fallen for him. She has brought a new ‘Paris Original’ dress which she hopes will impress Finch but she has arrived at the party to find that every other woman has been hoodwinked and they are all wearing the very same ‘Paris Original’ frock!!

The song starts as a beautiful love song and then gets funnier and funnier as Rosemary gets more and more annoyed as she realises everyone else is wearing the same ensemble as her!

“This irresistible Paris original,
Tres sexy, n’est pas?
God damn it, voila
And I could spit. ”

Once Upon a Mattress is a musical comedy. It opened off-Broadway in May 1959, and then moved to Broadway. The play was written as an adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Princess and the Pea.

The song is sung by Princess Winnifred the Woebegone, a brash and unrefined princess from the marshlands has come to marry Prince Dauntless – son of the devious Queen Aggravain who sends away every Princess as no one is good enough.

This song is Princess Wobegone’s opening number, she was so eager to arrive that she swam the castle moat! She immediately charms Dauntless, Studley, the knights and most of the kingdom with this song.

This is a funny song with plenty of opportunity for some good old fashioned comedy and lots of schtick!!

“Though a lady may be dripping with glamour
As often as not she will stumble and stammer
When suddenly confronted with romance
And she’s likely to fall on her face
When she’s finally face to face
With a pair of pants”

This is a wonderfully funny character song about how an Alto never gets the chance to sing the melody!

It is full of strong comedy moments for any character actress. The end of the song is pure genius where the Alto gets to demonstrate her fabourite tunes – but her alto parts …. the harmonies!

If you want to showcase not only your comedy skills but your singing skills then you will have a blast with this truly fun number!

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas is a musical inspired by the real-life Chicken Ranch in La Grange, Texas. It is the late 1970s and the show tells the story of a brothel which has been operating for a century just outside a Texan town.

“Twenty Four hours of lovin” is sung by Jewell a black torch singer with a rich Mezzo voice. She is Miss Mona’s housekeeper and confidant and friend to all of the working girls. She sings this saucy number to the girls who are getting ready for ‘a homecoming dance’ that Miss Mona is planning for the local Football team – Jewell has a day off to spend with her man and sings about exactly waht she plans on getting up to!

” There’s an hour of hold me tight
There’s an hour of yeah, that’s right
There’s an hour of baby, baby
Could we do it maybe again ”

Fanny is a 1954 musical based on a trilogy of plays by Marcel Pagnol and tells a tale of love, secrets, and passion set in and around the old French port of Marseille.

This song is the final number and sums up the entire show – all about parents and children and the rocky relationships. This song sees the reunion of mother and child, of Fanny and her son Cesario.

The song can be sung ‘very’ tongue in cheek which makes it a terrific audition song for a young comedy character actress, just like in this home video version.

“Be kind to your parents
Though they don’t deserve it
Remember they’re ‘grown ups'
a difficult stage of life”

The Most Happy Fella from 1956 is a Frank Loesser musical about a romance between an older man and a younger woman based on the play They Knew What They Wanted by Sidney Howard.

This song comes at the very start of the show and is sung by young harrasses waitress Cleo at the end of a busy shift at the Golden Gate Restaurant in San Francisco.

The song shows off your singing ability, infact this show has been staged by the New York City Opera, whilst letting you inject a lot of character and humour into the delivery.

“Ooh my feet! My poor, poor feet!
Betcha your life a waitress earns her pay
I’ve been on my feet, my poor, poor feet
All day long today.”

Nunsense is a musical comedy by Dan Goggin from 1985 which was actually based on a series of greetings cards – seriously! It was first a cabaret and then became a full blown musical and has spawned six sequels and three spins offs as well as made for tv with Blanche from The Golden Girls – seriously ….. Im not making this up!

This song opens Act Two and is sung by Sister Robert Anne who is a streetwise Nun from Brooklyn. The song is a ballad about how church has changed since she wasa little girl. The song is fun but also has gravitas and introspection which makes is a lovely audition song for someone wanting a funny song which will also show off depth, range and singing ability.

” Nuns appeared in black and white
And so did every rule
Things were either wrong or right
At St. Clare’s Catholic School

And then the rules began to change
And many lost their way
What was always black and white
Was turning shades of grey”

Annie is a Broadway musical based upon the comic strip Little Orphan Annie. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years.

Annie is a fiery young orphan girl who must live in a miserable orphanage run by the tyrannical Miss Hannigan. Her seemingly hopeless situation changes when she is selected to spend a short time at the residence of the wealthy munitions industrialist, Oliver Warbucks.

This number is sung by Miss Hannigan as she explodes with hatred for all the girls in the orphanage.

The role of Miss Hannigan is a delight to play, a real baddie with lots of sass and a liquor problem! This song has some wonderful lyrics to play with and a great character to sink your teeth in to.

“Some day I’ll step on their freckles
Some night I’ll straighten their curls
Send a flood
Send the flu
Anything that
You can do
To little girls”

Back in the nineties it was rare to re-imagine a movie as a musical, it is pretty common nowadays. Big was a musical adaptation on the 1988 Tom Hanks movie which tells the story of Josh Baskin a twelve year old boy who grows up overnight after being granted a wish by a machine at a carnival. With the aid of his best friend, Josh must cope with his new adulthood while finding another machine so that he can wish himself a kid again.

This song is sung by Susan Lawrence a VP in charge of marketing at MacMillan Toys where the grown-up Josh has been given a job. Susan finds herself attracted to Josh and sings of how she could do without falling in love again!

The song has comic potential as Susan is a straight laced ballsy businesswoman who dreams of another life altogether. The comedy comes out of her struggle between the two.

“I wish I felt connected,
I wish I felt inspired,
I wish I felt no interest
In that guy who just got hired.”

Originally written in 1967, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown is a musical based on the cartoon characters from Peanuts. It has a simple cast and staging which makes it a favourite for amateur theatre companies.

In 1999 the show was revived on Broadway and the character of Patty (not to be confused with Peppermint Patty) was replaced with the character Sally Brown played by the then relatively unknown Kristen Chenoweth.

Sally’s big number ‘My New Philosophy’ comes in Act Two when angry with getting a D in a homework assignment she says ‘Oh Yeah, That’s what you think’ and she decides it is her ‘New Philosophy’ and sings about philosophies and what she understands them to be. Shroeder tries to explain what philosohies are but Sally doesn’t listen and carries on singing.

Its a very funny song and is full of character and comedy possibilities.

“When life’s a dizzy maze
On alternating days
I choose a different phrase-
My new philosophy!”

Newsies is a broadway musical based on the 1992 Disney film, both were inspired by the rela life ‘Newsboys Strike’ of 1899.

The story follows the life of 17-year-old Jack “Cowboy” Kelly, one of the hundreds of homeless and orphaned children who sold newspapers in New York City during the 1890s to support themselves. When their publisher, Joseph Pulitzer, tries to squeeze a little more profit out of their labours, Jack and his army of ragged orphans and runaways, called ‘newsies’ organise a strike, only to be confronted with Pulitzer’s hard-ball tactics.

This song is sung by a young female reporter Katherine Plumber whom Jack has the hots for. When the boys start to strike Katherine see’s this as as an opportunity to become a more successful reporter and decides to cover the protest and sing this song “Watch What Happens”

It is a great, fast song with a lot of scope for character acting and humour.

“Picture a handsome, heroicly charismatic
plain spoken, know nothing, skirt-chasing, cocky little son of a ..
lie down with dogs and you wake up
with a raise and a promotion.”

The 1989 Disney movie The LIttle Mermaid opened on Broadway in 2008, following in the footsteps (pawprints?) of The Lion King. The show, like the film, tells the story of a mermaid who dreams of the world above the water and gives up her voice to a sea-witch in order to find love.

This number is sung by the villain of the piece, the sea witch, Ursula. This number is her first appearance and really sets up her character. She is planning revenge on her brother, King Triton. She has been banished from the palace because of her magic and has decided that Triton’s daughter Ariel, The Little Mermaid, is the key to her getting back the crown and the trident and getting ‘the good times back’

A character actor’s song for a BIG voice and a BIG personality, this one could be a lot of fun …

“Did I use some black magic?
Well, oopsie–my bad!
Did I mutilate, maim and destroy?
Just a tad!
And for that, I get banished!
But me, I’m not mad”

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a musical telling the story of a fictional spelling bee (US spelling competition for school kids) set in Putnam Valley Middle School. Six quirky adolescents compete in the Bee, run by three equally-quirky grown-ups.

Marcy Park is an all round champion! She speaks six languages, is a member of all-American hockey, a championship rugby player, plays Chopin and Mozart on multiple instruments!

She is an over-acheiving child and is actually fed up of winning and only sleeping three hours a night and hiding in the bathroom cabinet! She is not even allowed to cry.

This funny song tells of her expertise and is a great song best played with plenty of deadpan delivery for maximum comedy!

“I Speak Six Languages
I am sick and tired
Of always being the best
And the brightest
At every mass”