[Sir Honic]

I know there's a separate board for audition stuff, but it was a toss up between here or there.

Anyway, here's my dilemma. A local high school is putting on a production of West Side Story, but it's an all girls school without a counterpart guys school. So they hold open auditions. I would like to audition, but I'm not sure if I'm vocally strong enough to audition for Tony. My two previous roles have been for secondary, quirky characters (ex. Thenardier in Les Mis) so I would like a more challenging role. How important is the type of audition song to the part you get? I've heard that for Tony, you should definitely sing a ballad, versus an uptempo song for most of the other gang members.

So, should I aim high, sing a ballad, and try for Tony? Or just go straight for a secondary character.

[MaryMag]

I would suggest aiming high for Tony. If you can sing his stuff, they'll know you can sing Riff and Action's stuff no problem.