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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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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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Little Wonders (click to view video)
Meet The Robinsons
Meet The Robinsons was released in 2007 and is loosely based on the book ‘A Day With Wilbur Robinson’. The films has twists and turns as the characters travel back and forth through time.The central character, an orphan, Lewis is desperate to be able to find out why his mother abandoned him and perhaps even stop her doing it. This song is sung at the very end of the movie when Lewis has come to a realisation that he must appreciate what life has given him and the family and friends he already has – and keep moving forward.The song is more pop-rock than traditional broadway musical, but could really suit the right voice and the right audition. I love it, I think it tells a story about living for the here and now, living for today and appreciating the ‘little wonders’ of life.“Our lives are made,
In these small hours,
These little wonders,
These twists and turns of fate,
Time falls away,
But these small hours,
These small hours still remain.” -
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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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In Praise Of Women (click to view video)
A Little Night Music
‘A Little Night Music’ is a deliciously funny comedy of manners and ‘In Praise Of Women’ is my favourite song from this show.It is sung by the wonderfully self-important Carl-Magnus and is just perfectly clever as he sings all about both Desiree his lover and Charlotte his wife.Fidelity is more than mere display; It’s what a man expects from life. Fidelity like mine to Desiree And Charlotte, my devoted wife.The song also ends on a belting F-sharp, which could win over any audition panel (if you get to the end of the song, of course!?) -
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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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Purpose (click to view video)
Avenue Q
Avenue Q is an hilarious musical which has puppets alongside actors. If you went looking for Sesame Street and got lost and ended up in the wrong neighbourhood you might just find yourself in Avenue Q!The song Purpose comes early in Act One and is sung by lead character Princeton. Recently graduated he is keen to find a purpose in life.Like Corner of the Sky from Pippin, the song is typical of dreamer songs and is great for auditions as it has plenty of character and comedy and story in its lyrics.Be careful to keep the emotion under control and not be too ‘wide-eyed and jazz-hands’ when singing it. Try to keep grounded and find the truth in the song to really show some acting ability. -
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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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What Is It About Her (click to view video)
The Wild Party
The Wild Party takes place in the roaring twenties and tells the story of a ‘wild party’ one night in the apartment shared by the vaudeville performers Queenie and Burrs. They have a volatile rocky relationship and this party is intended to be the party of the decade!Queenie has been flirting with Mr Black, a strapping young guest at the party, much to the annoyance of the overbearing possessive Burrs. He has scolded her physically for this behaviour, and in the song What Is It About Her he confesses his rage and sadness at her affection for another man.Burrs is a violent brutal possessive man, and is a joy to get your teeth into for any performer. This song is a gift for any musical theatre performer, it is full of emotion, full of repressed feelings finally getting voiced. If you can discover the truth and let the emotions burst out of you with feeling then you will stand out for all the right reasons. -
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Soliloquoy (click to view video)
Carousel
Carousel was the second musical by the team Rogers and Hammerstein. The story revolves around carousel barker Billy Bigelow, whose romance with millworker Julie Jordan comes at the price of both their jobs. He attempts a robbery to provide for Julie and their unborn child; after it goes wrong, he is given a chance to make things right.When Julie has announced her pregnancy to Billy, he is overwhelmed with happiness. He imagines all the fun he will have with his son, Bill Jr, then he realises the child could be a girl, and reflects soberly on the duties he will have being a father to a girl. All of this reflection is done alone on stage in the epic musical song ‘Soliloquy’The song is seven and a hlaf minutes long! And through it Billy daydreams happilly, then is horrified, then disappointed, then tender, and then motivated. It is a huge song for any singer and is done well can be a tour de force. It is the closest I think musical theatre gets to having an aria.Interestingly when Sinatra released ‘Soliloquy’ as a single the song was not complete on Side A it had to continue on side B.“I-i got to get ready before she comes!
I got to make certain that she
Won’t be dragged up in slums
With a lot o’ bums like me” -
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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. -
Be bold, daring and creative and you can’t go wrong.
Musical Theatre Actor Hub Advice
