Singer
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Mixing acting and singing auditions?Hi! I'm a musical theatre nut, and although I've never actually been able to perform in anything, *sob* there is nothing I would rather do. Believe me, it's not my fault I haven't been in anything! I happen to live in a small town where there is absolutely NO theatre activity at all. I hate it!  
I'm FINALLY going to be able to perform when I go to college this fall, (YES!) and I can't wait! 
The point of this post is that, in checking out the audition rules for the college, I found that you are only given 90 seconds if you are both acting and singing. I wanted to ask you if it would be acceptable to mix your acting in throughout the song. I mean, for instance, if I were singing "In My Own Little Corner", and sang some of the song, had an interlude of a monologue written specifically for that purpose, and then finish the song. Is that OK? I like the idea of it, but I don't want to do it if it's not a good idea.
Thank you for any advice! 
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MaryMag
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Traditionally what is done is that you do a short monologue and a short song. I would suggest doing a 30 second monologue and 16 bars of a song. The judges/whoever's watching you probably expect it to be done this way.
This is what jazzygirlsings says about how to find a monologue:
| Quote: | Actually, I often use monologue books as a reference to get me started...I never use the monologues in those compilations...Instead, I get a sense of the playwrights that seem to write stuff that appeals to me and start by reading the plays that the monologues I like come from...then reading other plays by the same author and often finding better stuff!
It's exhausting work, but I've found it's cheaper than just going out and buying a bunch of random plays that have nothing in them that appeals to me...
Another great book for reference is "The Ultimate Scene and Monologue Sourcebook". It doesn't even give you the full monologue, rather it explains the play that it comes from, gives a bit of character background and tells the type of monologue it is...it will usually give you the beginning and ending line...just enough to be able to get a sense of the writing style...
And don't get frustrated...Finding a monologue doesn't take HOURS...it takes days, months, or even YEARS...yes...YEARS! LOL! |
and this is what I responded with...
| Quote: | I completely agree with Jazzy on the method of finding a good monologue. Monologue books are a little bit like Musical Theater Anthologies for Soprano/Mezzo/etc. They give you a taste of certain writers/composers and once you find some you like, you can go and look into their other works.
I found my first monologue using this method. I bought a monologue book and found a monologue I really liked from Marsha Norman's "Gettin' Out." I then read "Gettin Out" and actually picked a monologue from elsehwere in the book. (Actually, I pieced one together from long bits of Arlene's dialogue).
I found other monologues by attending plays and thinking, holy cow that was brilliant I must use it. I saw 'The Little Dog Laughed' in January and heard a monologue that was perfect for me.
When I used to have a private acting coach, she would give me 4 or 5 monologues that she thought would be appropriate for an audition and had me read the plays and pick which one I wanted to do. That really spoiled me! It was awesome. But she's hours away now. : (
I might suggest looking at an 'overdone monologues' list. I know some people take issue with these lists, but there are a few good reasons to pick a monologue that is not on this list. |
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Chevstriss
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making your accompanist start and stop more than once is gonna drive him crazy and you really run the risk of it being all goofed up. Do one or the other first.
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what_the_heck013
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The closest I've done to this was the song "Molasses to Rum" from 1776 and the monologue before it. It was a little hard to time the accompaniment to start part way through the speech yet go straight into the song.
I've never stopped during a song to give a monologue and then continue, though.
Plus, it would be ideal to do a song that contrasts with the monologue. Rather than showing them that you can play one character type, you can show them two!
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Singer
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I see where you are coming from! Thanks for the advice!
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Ariel
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hmm unless maybe it's a song from ACL? Like "NOthing"
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