Bigelow Drama
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How to Pick a Song for a Musical Theatre Audition

 Pick 16-32 bars from a musical theatre song to sing (if you don't know what that means, go for a verse and a chorus. Don't learn the whole song.)  Which verse and chorus? The most interesting ones, of course! Look for the moment the character realizes, explores, discovers, or changes.

The right song is a song:
-You love. If you don’t love it, how can I?

-From a musical. I’m sure you sing Miley Cyrus very well, but that doesn’t tell me anything about your ability to sing in the musical.

-From a musical that is in a similar style as the show you’re auditioning for. See below for more on that, but if you sing someone the song and they say “What a great gospel number! Did you learn that at church?” you probably need to find something else.

-Also, sing it in the style of the musical. So, yes, you COULD sing “A Whole New World” operatically, or as a rap, but…. Don’t.

-has a catchy and repeating tune that sounds good sung a cappella. (No one wants to sit there awkwardly while you wait for the imaginary drum part that is playing in your head to be over.) 

Please do NOT pick a song that:

-You have already sung on the Bigelow stage

-Is in the Bigelow songbook (unless it is from this show)

-Is from a jukebox musical (a jukebox musical is a collection of pop or rock songs that somebody wrote a script around after they were pop or rock hits. Examples: Mamma Mia. Jersey Boys. American Idiot.)

-Don’t pick a song from any of the following shows, all of which are in a very different style from the musicals we do: Les Miserables, Spring Awakening, Phantom of the Opera, Rent.

Don’t panic! If you need help picking a song, Ms. Alberts would be delighted to help. But listening to musicals to pick something should be fun. I mean, you like musicals, right? You can always do something from the show we're doing, though I encourage you to look around. 


  • Home
  • Current Season
    • Resources >
      • Acting
      • Tech
      • Writing
  • Students
    • About drama
    • Auditions >
      • Casting Policy
      • Fall Play Auditions
      • Winter Musical Auditions
      • Audition Tips >
        • Monologues
        • Singing Auditions
        • Dance Auditions
        • Choosing a Song
        • Audition Materials
    • Crew >
      • Tech Crew Jobs
      • Tech Designs
    • How to Deal With Audition results
    • Middle School Is Not Destiny
    • Memorization
    • Newton North Info for 8th graders
    • Past Shows
  • Parents
    • PoPS
    • Theatre Counts: How Theatre Education Transforms Students' Lives
    • Middle School Is Not Destiny
    • Helping Students prepare for auditions
    • Helping Students Deal With Audition Results
    • Summer Camps
  • About
    • Arts Faculty
    • Performing Arts Calendar
    • Links
    • FAQ
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