rossji

Love the screen name. If you're applying to Tisch, as my d did, you need to bring a taped recording, so you won't need to worry if it's too hard to "play". They might have changed since last year, though. I would probably stay away from Music Man (too common). Life of the Party is a great belt song, but I'm not sure if it's overdone. I love it, personally! My d uses A Change In Me from Beauty and the Beast for an audition song; it's a great song, too, but not sure if it's overdone. I thought it WAS from the play? It certainly isn't in the movie. Well, good luck to you!

aspiringactress1

I have been told to steer clear of Wildhorn pieces (jekyll and hyde) because colleges aren't too crazy about his music, same with ALW. Jekyll and Hyde is probably done a lot anyway. Beauty and the Beast is on the "do not do list" for CCM at least. i would say jon and jen and christmas lullaby are not overdone. just my two cents

illinisue

I just received CCM's "Do not use" list for admission in fall 2006.

Vocal
Rent, Les Mis, Phantom, Jekyll and Hyde, Scarlet Pimpernel, Secret Garden, Mystery of Edwin Drood, Miss Saigon, Beauty and the Beast, Aida, and any of the mature theatre songs of Stephen Sondheim.

Acting
No dialect, age appropriate
Not from: Baby with the Bathwater, Laughing Wild, Loose Ends, Beyond Therapy, Night Luster, Boy's Life, Plaza Suite, Odd Couple, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, Star-Spangled Girl, Wit, Quilters, The Fantasticks, Fat Men in Skirts, Oleanna, Vagina Monologues, Darlene Dances, Gypsy, 'Dentity Crisis, The Woolgatherer and Extremities.

They have also added a regional audition in Atlanta on Jan 21.

SeasonsofLuv23

Hmm...I'm very surprised that Wicked is not on there. Anyone else?

illinisue

I agree...but I think that it goes back to the "anything (revival or new) on broadway" idea.

alwaysamom

Don't be surprised that Wicked isn't listed. They've only listed three current Broadway shows and probably, only because those are long-running popular shows. It's a given that anything which is currently running or which has been on Broadway in the past five years shouldn't be used, and I'm sure that CCM is assuming that their applicants will know that.

samia525

I'm not sure why everyone keeps saying Jason Robert Brown is terribly hard to play. Some of his songs are, but a lot of them are ridiculously easy on the piano. I'm seriously considering "You Don't Know This Man" from Parade as one of my audition choices. It's super-easy to play (I play it.) What do you guys think? Auditors, is this terribly overdone? I like it because it shows off my high belt mix extremely well, and I connect with the emotion of the piece.

Thank you for any feedback in advance!

Samia

CoachC

"You Don't Know This Man" is an "exception" song in Brown's body of work as far as ease of accompaniment. When people refer to the difficulty of JRB's accompaniments, they mean songs like "This Is Not Over Yet" and "Old Red Hills of Home," also both from PARADE (and bith men's songs, so of course you are ok there). I have a friend who has done several Broadway musicals (and was just cast in Elton John's new show LESTAT) who was forced to choose a different song for a major Broadway audition IN THE AUDITION ROOM because the accompanist couldn't play "Old Red Hills of Home." So...it's all dependent on the song - just as Sondheim AS A RULE is rough to play and rougher still to stay melodic as the singer within if you are at all nervous, but SOME Sondheim songs are easy to play and sing.

As for using "You Don't Know This Man" - if you TRULY connect to the song, it may be a great choice, especially if you have a strong high belt, as you indicate. However, there are many "angst-y" acting traps in that song - since it is such an impassioned plea and such a life-and-death situation in the context of the show, I see many young (and not-so-young) actors really OVER-act this song. A good GENERAL rule if is you truly can't find emotional levels and CONTRASTS (or opposites, as Michael Shurtleff calls them in his acting "bible," Audition) in a song, DO NOT use it for an audition piece. NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU LOVE SINGING IT!!! As an auditor, it is NOT pleasing to watch someone play fairly one-level "troubledness" or "sadness," etc. - and even if an actor isn't "playing emotions" but rather "playing objectives," the performance of the song can seem simply "emotional" on ONE LEVEL. "Emotional" isn't bad - but ONE LEVEL is, because as humans, we don't EVER really operate on just one level or convey JUST ONE thing - there is always joy mixed in with sadness (we are sad because we've lost something we loved a great deal, for example, but we show some of the joy of HAVING that thing even when weeping over its loss), etc. As singers, we often just want to dig into the "most powerful" emotion of a song - especially because that is what pop/rock singers and concert performers do, rather than giving more "real" human emotional range to a song - and because we all love to use our money notes to WAIL OUT those heightened emotions! But remember - never just play ONE thing in a song - and the prettiest, most dramatic songs that we ALL love to sing contain the greatest number of (like a lot of JRB's stuff - what girl or woman DOESN'T love to sing "Still Hurting" from LAST FIVE YEARS? ; ) - which, btw, has some easy sections in its accompaniment and some VERY tough ones)

Having said all of that - it's definitely just general advice, not something directed simpy to you, samia - I am not questioning your acting abilities! But your post inspired a tangent that is a very important one as all of this year's seniors really begin to settle on their audition song choices.

CoachC

babygiraffeboots

It's generally warned not to use Sondheim for an audition because it probably won't show off your voice best because of the difficulty for you and the accompianist and no JRB because basically, the accompianist is your best friend and you want to be polite and make their lives easier especially since not all accompianists are that qualified.

samia525

CoachC,

Thank you for your wonderful comments, and you're entirely right, of course. The reason I like the song so much is that I approach it the way I would do it as a monologue - more incredulous and angry than sad/troubled, and with tinges of pride and satisfaction that I, as a woman, can beat this moron man who is spewing nonsense about my husband (and therefore, about me.)

I agree; it would be terrible if acted on one general "sad" or "troubled" level.

be_a_star

I'm not sure this really fits in this thread, but when exactly is the break off date for contemporary monologues vs. classical ones?

Mary Anna

Generally 1900

chrism

If a school requires a classical monologue, I thought they meant Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Is it true that IF they do mean Shakespeare (and contemporaries) they would specify this? and if they don't specify this then they mean anything earlier than 1900?

thanks for clearing this up!

nytheatermom

Carnegie Mellon is the only one my daughter has encountered that specifically asks for Shakespeare. Others specifically ask not for Shakespeare. The important thing is to read each school's requirements carefully and have backups.

BroadwayWannabe

carnegie mellon officially asks for classical....most people use shakespeare for that (i am! lol), but i know someone who did from Antigone and other classical plays like that

i believe michigan was one of the ones that said no classical material, but i could be mistaken