NOTE: I am receiving large numbers of requests for feedback on audition pieces. My schedule no longer allows me to respond to every request in a timely manner. I will still try to respond to requests, but I may approve your comment and leave it on the website for others to respond before I can personally chime in. Thanks for checking out the site! ~Matt
“DO NOT” lists can be controversial but can also be a great starting place to figure out if your singing something everyone else will be singing as well. The following serve as a starting place for your rep search. I will update this list as I receive updates from agents, colleagues, etc.
In general:
Nothing with excessive profanity
Nothing that puts yourself up on a pedestal/says look at me! (i.e. Gorgeous from Apple Tree)
Nothing with excessive sexual innuendo
Do not play a mentally challenged person
Do not ask rhetorical questions of a sexual nature to the audition panel
Nothing from a current Broadway show
Nothing made famous by a specific artist (i.e. Barbara Streisand or Kristin Chenoweth)
From a top agent in NYC:
- Anything Jason Robert Brown
- Anything from Phantom of the Opera
- Girl in 14 G
- Taylor the Latte Boy
- Gorgeous (Apple Tree)
- Take a Chance on Me
- Run Away with Me
- I Gotta Run
- Neverland (Scott Alan)
- Mama Says
- Forest for the Trees
- Not for the Life of Me
- Gimme Gimme
- everything from Wild Party
- Screw Loose
- Privilege to Pee
- Here I Am
- Astonishing
- Show off
Overused selections (This is not always as important for college auditions, but it can serve as a warning and you may want to bring other songs. If the song is perfect for you, its probably ok for a college audition if its on the list below, for the list above, its probably not a good idea regardless of how well you sing it.)
- All I need is the girl
- Always true to you
- Anyone Can whistle
- At times like this
- Being Alive
- Corner of the sky
- How ’bout a dance?
- I’m not that smart
- In a very unusual way
- In my life
- It hurts me
- Johanna
- Not for the life of me
- Not while I’m around
- Notice me, Horton
- On the street where you live
- Sara Lee
- She Loves Me
- Should I be Sweet (or Hot)
- Don’t rain on my parade
- Easy Money
- Everybody’s girl
- Extraordinary
- Fifty Percent (50%)
- Forget about the boy
- Gimme Gimme
- Goodbye, old girl
- Good Think Going
- Gorgeous
- Home (Beauty and the Beast)
- Home from Phantom
- I cain’t say no
- I enjoy being a girl
- I met a girl
- I wanna be bad
- Ice Cream
- Life of the Party
- Lonely Town
- Look what happened to Mabel
- Lost in the wilderness
- Love Look Away
- Luck be a lady
- Mamma Says
- Man Wanted
- Many a new day
- Maybe this time
- Meadowlark
- Memory
- Miracle of Miracles
- My new philosophy
- My white night
- No man left for me
- Nobody does it like me
- Show me
- Stranger to the rain
- Take a chance on me
- That’ll show him
- The Story Goes on
- Tonight at 8
- Waiting for life to begin
- What do I need with love
- What is it about her?
- What you’d call a dream
- When did I fall in love
- When will my life begin (from Tangled)
- Wherever he ain’t
- Yes, my heart
- You can always count on me
- You’ve got possibilities
- Annie
- Baby
- Secret Garden
- Children of Eden
- The movie “Fame”
- Godspell
- Thoroughly Modern Millie (this one applies to college too)
- Phantom of the Opera (this one applies to college too)
- Any Disney films
- The Fantasticks
- Wicked
Top Monologues:
- Joan Cusack’s monologue (Is there, oh, ANY OTHER TIME you could have told me this?) — this has been VERY popular for at least three years now. Give it a rest.
- Squeaky Fromme from Assassins
- Darleen Dances
- Bridal Registry from A My Name is Still Alice
- Belize’s monologue about the national anthem from Angels in America
- Mom’s Ashes from I Think I Love You — I can’t BELIEVE this is STILL so popular… it is really getting ridiculous
- Murder Your Fish/Mess up your life a little… don’t know what it’s from but it must be in a monologue book somewhere because HOLY COW
- Diana from Moving (Quaker school… awards… someone is going to prick your bubble)
- Anything from Kellie Powell’s website (notmyshoes.net) – she’s a great person, lately every 1 out of 5 female auditionees at SU has a monologue from her site.
From: http://www.musicaltheatreaudition.com/performance/auditions/overdoneauditionsongs.html
- Good Morning Baltimore from Hairspray
- On My Own from Les Miserables
- Adelaide’s Lament from Guys and Dolls (why are teenagers always singing this? the character has been engaged for 14 years!)
- Memory from Cats
- I Hate Men from Kiss Me Kate
- All That Jazz from Chicago
- Wash That Man… from South Pacific
- Can’t Help Lovin’… from Show Boat
- Big Spender from Sweet Charity
- You Can Always… from City of Angels
- Shy from Once Upon a Mattress
- Tomorrow from Annie
- I Enjoy Being A Girl from Flower Drum Song
- Broadway Baby, Hard Hearted Hannah, Hit Me With a Hot Note from Follies
- Surrey With The Fringe On Top & I Can’t Say No from Oklahoma
- They Call the Wind Mariah from Paint Your Wagon
- Corner of the Sky from Pippin
- Summertime from Porgy & Bess
- The Music of the Night from The Phantom of the Opera
- Hero & Let’s Hear It For The Boy from Footloose
- Seasons of Love from Rent
- Big Spender from Sweet Charity
- Part Of Your World from The Little Mermaid
- In My Own Little Corner from Cinderella
- Popular from Wicked
- Anthem from Chess
- This Is The Moment from Jekyll & Hyde
Overdone Audition Songs Not Associated With A Specific Show
- I Get a Kick Out of You
- Miss Bird
- Embracable You
- New York, New York
Overdone Shows That Directors Are Sick Of
- Any show that the company you are auditioning for has done in the last five years.
- Whatever the “Hot New Musical” is… right now it’s Wicked
- The Sound of Music
- A Chorus Line
- Rent
- My Fair Lady
- Titanic
- Footloose
- Grease
- Jekyll & Hyde
- Little Shop of Horrors
- The Fantastiks
- Les Miserables
- Phantom of the Opera
- Evita
- Almost everything by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Watch Out For… Songs that are Problematic
(These songs may not necessarily be overdone, but have something that may make them inappropriate for auditions)
- Over The Rainbow fom The Wizard of Oz (this song belongs to Judy Garland)
- Any other “Signature Song”