[J]

Hey everyone, I'm going to be trying my hand as a musical director for a high school summer production of Little Shop of Horrors. I was just wondering if anyone had any tips, especially about how to run the auditions (what to ask for, should I have them sing a capella, etc?).

Even if you're not a musical director, I'd really appreciate any suggestions that would steer me in the right path on this!
Thanks,
-J

[le_moofin]

I'm NOT a musical director, but I've been to a few auditions... I'd suggest checking out the Auditions forum for seeing what a standard audition is like. A few quick suggestions:

1. Don't do a capella. Instead ask auditionees to sing a 1-minute selection from any Broadway song (require either sheet music or CD accompaniment). Believe me, your ears will thank me for it.

2. Make sure your accompanist is competent enough to sightread sheet music, because they will probably need to for quite a few songs. Also, if he/she isn't so great at sightreading, keep that in mind when the auditionee seems to flounder (it isn't the auditionee's fault, so be kind).

3. If an auditionee sings a song that doesn't seem too challenging or show enough range, feel free to ask them to sing a few scales.

There is a lot more advice over on the Auditions forum. I'd check that out if I were you