Auditioning for a Musical? The "Package"

Auditioning for a musical is very similar to opera in that both require an audition "package" that shows off your ability as a performer.  For musicals, I find the variety required for auditions is tremendous.  Here are just some the time-period categories to fill:

1) A "Golden Age" musical: This song should be from the 1950s-1960s, and is from the era of musicals by Rogers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, later Cole Porter etc...
2) A Sondheim musical: This is a bit iffy, as many pianists have a hard time sight-reading Sondheim.  I find that this should just be in your package in case they really want to hear Sondheim.
3) A Early Musical selection: Think pre-1940s, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, Gershwin, operetta composers etc...
4) A contemporary musical (1980s to present day).
5) A pop song.

Here's where it gets even MORE difficult: with these 4 time periods, you need to also have pieces that show off the following singing abilities:

1) A ballad - think slow love song
2) An uptempo song - fast tempo
3) A narrative song - a song that tells a story and has considerable drama
4) A comic song - Show off your funny side
5) Several 'special abilities' song - A song that has shows off something unique - a dialect (Cockney for My Fair Lady!), or perhaps incredible high notes etc...

In all likelihood, you will probably end up with 7-8 songs that you know cold: memorized and could be sung in a moment's notice.  In my next post, I will show why auditioning for operas and classical music is SO much easier!

DWS