OK, so I need help with my Oklahoma audition for the fall.

I'm male, 17, with a range that can be best explained as a bass-baritone, with the ability to hit some tenor notes. So that leaves me open for pretty much every guy role in the show. Great, I suppose.

I've been told to prepare a song from the show as my piece. Now, I don't find this very helpful to me (I have my own personal portfolio of songs I would use for such an audition), but regardless, I have to go for it. I've narrowed my (lead) choices to Jud, Curly, and Ali, which isn't really a surprise. Can't dance, so Will is out (although i LOVE his songs...). Andrew would be OK, but he's not in my top 3 choices.

In theory, this would leave me with "Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'", "It's a Scandal! It's a Outrage!", and "Lonely Room" (the only 3 songs I think they'll let me sing, as we have to choose from a list). I'm pretty sure that most guys will be singing the first, but I want to keep it as an option. The second doesn't show off my range, and only applies to a specific character, as it's the only patter song in the whole bloody show, which may limit their view of me at first glance. Finally we come to #3. While it is a awesome song (and my favorite out of the three), I'm entirely unsure on how to sing it.


It can be sung either 2 ways. As Jud, being sane, lamenting to himself/the audience about his lot, and snapping at the very end. Or, Jud, going crazy, ranting and raving. with moments of sanity, and lunacy. If I go that way, I'm honestly unsure how to do it. Do I have Jud be already crazy, and getting worse ? Or do I have the two similar portions at the beginning, and near the end, be his sane points, with his lunacy being expressed through the rest of the song, especially at the end? Or do I do it entirely differently?


Thanks!

This way. Just 'thinking out loud' only in an intense way. Incidentally, I'd love to hear what's in your portfolio of songs.

LONG POST WARNING. Here it goes!

Tonight- West Side Story
A Boy Like That- West Side Story
I Have A Love- West Side Story
America- West Side Story
One Hand, One Heart- West Side Story
Somewhere- West Side Story
Molasses to Rum- 1776
Cool, Cool, Considerate Men- 1776
The Lees of Old Virginia- 1776
I Hate Myself For Loving You - Rock Of Ages
Keep On Loving You- Rock Of Ages
Simply Second Nature - Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
It Must Be Believed to Be Seen- Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
Strike That, Reverse It- Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
Pure Imagination- Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
King Herod's Song- Jesus Christ Superstar
Gethsemane- Jesus Christ Superstar
Pilates' Dream- Jesus Christ Superstar
I Don't Know How to Love Him- Jesus Christ Superstar
Heaven On Ther Minds- Jesus Christ Superstar
You and Me (But Mostly Me)- Book of Mormon
Sal Tlay Ka Siti- Book Of Mormon
I Believe- Book Of Mormon
The Ballad of Booth- Assassins
The Ballad of Czolgosz- Assassins
Unworthy of Your Love- Assassins
The Ballad of Guitear- Assassins
One Song Glory- Rent
Today 4 U- Rent
You'll See- Rent
Tango: Maureen- Rent
Out Tonight- Rent
Another Day- Rent
Over The Moon- Rent
Take Me Or Leave Me- Rent
Without You- Rent
I'll Cover you (Reprise)- Rent
Halloween- Rent
What You Own- Rent
Fiddle About- Tommy
See Me, Feel Me- Tommy
Cousin Kevin- Tommy
Pinball Wizard- Tommy
Smash The Mirror- Tommy
I Believe My Own Eyes- Tommy
I'm Free- Tommy
All That Jazz- Chicago
When You're Good To Mama- Chicago
All I Care About- Chicago
We Both Reached For the Gun- Chicago
Roxie- Chicago
Mister Cellophane- Chicago
Razzle Dazzle- Chicago
Electricity- Billy Elliot
Kids- Bye Bye Birdie
One Last Kiss- Bye Bye Birdie
Honestly Sincere- Bye Bye Birdie
The Company Way- How To Succeed
Love From A Heart Of Gold- How To Succeed
Paris Original- How To Succeed
Reviewing The Situation- Oliver
That Nearly Was Mine- South Pacific
I Hate People- Scrooge
Make The Most of This World- Scrooge
You...You- Scrooge
I Like Life- Scrooge
A Better Life- Scrooge
Thank You Very Much- Scrooge
I'll Begin Again- Scrooge
30/90- Tick, Tick, Boom
Johnny Can't Decide- Tick, Tick, Boom
Sunday- Tick, Tick, Boom
See Her Smile- Tick, Tick, Boom
Come To Your Senses- Tick, Tick, Boom
Why- Tick, Tick, Boom
Louder Then Words- Tick, Tick, Boom
How Can Love Survive?- Sound Of Music
Edelweiss- Sound Of Music
Climb Ev'ry Mountain- Sound Of Music
The Military- Seussical
Alone In The Universe- Seussical
The One Feather Tail Of Miss Gertrude McFuzz- Seussical
Amazing Mayzie- Seussical
Amayzing Gertrude- Suessical
How Lucky You Are- Seussical
Mayzie In Palm Beach- Seussical
All For You- Suessical
I Dreamsed A Dream- Les Mis
Who am I- Les Mis
Master of The House- Les Mis
Stars- Les Mis
Red & Black- Les Mis
One Day More- Les Mis
On My Own- Les Mis
A Little Fall Of Rain- Les Mis
Bring Him Home- Les Mis
Dog Eats Dog- Les Mis
Javert's Suicide- Les Mis
Empty Chairs At Empty Tables- Les Mis
Beggars At The Feast- Les Mis

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100 songs, from 20 shows, with an average of 5 songs per show. Mind you, I have passing familiarity with all songs in the shows on this list, but these songs are the ones which I know how to sing, and can do well. Yes, this means I have a lot of sheet music. And I only really have around 5 choices for audition material at any, mostly contingent on various factors, like what kind of show it is, and similar ones in my portfolio.

Les Mis comes in first, with 13 songs, followed by Rent, with 12. Tommy, Chicago, Suessical, and Tick, Tick, Boom are tied for 3rd, with 7 songs each. Scrooge comes in 4th, with 6 songs, along with WSS, and Assassins. JCS has 5th completely alone, with 5 songs, while Charlie And The Chocolate Factory has 6th sown up with 4. Sound Of Music comes in 7th, with 3 songs, along with How To Succeed, Book Of Mormon, Bye Bye Birdie, and 1776. Rock Of Ages gets 7th, with 2 songs. Finally, in a tie for 8th (and dead last), are Billy Elliot, Oliver, and South Pacific, with 1 song each.

The whole portfolio is VERY heavy on rock (5 of the shows are either rock operas, or have rock in their title, and about 33% of the portfolio), with the shows almost exclusively being written post 1960. I have a few modern classics, and a few standards thrown in for good measure. Also, some ones that haven't got very wide acclaim (like Suessical), and at least 1 that hasn't premiered stateside yet (Charlie And The Chocolate Factory).

There are a few female songs, mostly because I can either get up to their range (JCS for example), know them (all of them) or have performed them at various times (Seussical is the big one here). All in all, I think it's quite a nice list.


Any thoughts?

A nice mix of well-known and obscure, current and classic. Ordinarily I would say that Les Mis is overdone but the good thing about your list is that a lot of them are very rarely done.

Thanks. My only question would be what to replace Les Mis with, if I ever decided to replace it. Any ideas?

My suggestions are either Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Shrek, or Addams Family.

I'll have a listen to them this week. Do you think, by the way, that I have too many female songs in my list? There's less then 15-20, so it's not a major component, but I'm wondering if I could replace them with other, more man appropriate songs.

Not at all. I try to keep a few female songs in my rep as well. By the way, I may as well share my rep with you and I welcome your thoughts.

Ten Minutes Ago (Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella)
Love Sneaks In (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels)
Magic to Do (Pippin)
Bless the Lord (Godspell)
Kiss the Girl (Little Mermaid)
Lullaby of Broadway (42nd Street)
Jump Shout Boogie ( Barry Manilow)
Happy/Sad (Addams Family)
We Kiss In a Shadow (King and I)
God Help the Outcasts (Hunchback of Notre Dame)
Prince Ali (Aladdin)
Go the Distance (Hercules)
Razzle Dazzle (Chicago)
My Girl Back Home (South Pacific)
When I’m Not near The Girl I Love (Finian's Rainbow)
The Other Generation (Flower Drum Song)
I Want To Be Seen With You Tonight (Funny Girl)

Hey,

Sorry I've not responded in a few months, I've been terribly busy. I listened to all those songs, and absolutely loved them all. Quite strange, since most of those shows I hadn't listened to before that.