[Roger's Chica]

I've been thinking lately about how "Nothing" from ACL was a ridiculously popular audition song when I was in high school. Part of that was the fact that there are the spoken bits that the song doesn't work without, so the auditioner gets a chance to really act without having to worry about hiting the right notes at the same time -- or so it was explained to me. I've been wondering if these spoken lines are frowned upon though... even when you get to sing a full song (or attempt to) are the spoken lines going to bother the panel?

What are everyone's feelings on spoken interludes in audition songs? Do you make your cuts to exclude them? What about situations where you supposedly get an entire song and it's difficult to segue from one verse to the next without these little spoken lines?

[shadowdancer]

Well Nothing would not work without the spoken dialogue. Asa rule I say cut it. Nothing is a monologhue in itself. it starts and ends and that is the story

[jazzygirlsings]

Nothing, while a great acting song, often cheats the casting team of hearing what you sing like...It's not a terribly impressive song, in that respect...

And it's a singing audition, unfortunately, in that realm...spoken dialogue in an audition song is generally a no-no, unless you have a couple of words spoken here and there...

[Roger's Chica]

"Nothing" was definitely a cheat on the part of a lot of these girls to "get two monologues"... A couple of them were pretty open about their "cleverness".

On the other hand, I've used "Gee, I'm glad I'm No One Else But Me" from Anne of Green Gables for several auditions. There's a little spoken segment that's included on the recording which creates the segue between the first portion of the song and the second. (She makes up a reason for the roads being red, which they are in PEI, but there's no indication as to that being what she is singing about without the dialogue segment.) I've done the song with accompanment for a couple auditions where I am allowed to sing the entire piece and I usually include an abbreivated version of the dialogue to connect the two sections (along the lines of "Mr. Culbert, your roads! They're red! Red hair and freckles have been my lifelong sorrow, but why are your roads red?" and then back into the next verse)... but I'm a little leery of doing that in this new acapella situation that's come up for me this month.

[theonetowatch]

I think staying away from any dialogue unless it is EXTREMELY MINIMAL is always a good idea. If they wanted you to do a monlogue they would have asked for it. If they want you to sing, you should sing. if a song you really want to use has dialogue and you can cut it or just sing a part of it that doesn't have dialogue, thats fine. for instance in Nothing, there are parts that could work that are just singing, as long as you don't need a whole song. But if you think it's too much pressure to be worrying about hitting the right notes while you act, maybe you shouldn't be doing musical theatre, lol.

[Dancediva19]

Sing for the singing audition, speak during your monologue. Act during both.

[jazzygirlsings]