So many topics in this thread, thought I would at least chime in on a few.
-Is 16 bars enough? Yes. I know that is hard for some students and parents to understand, but it really is. We can see the student’s personality, confidence, musicality, pitch accuracy, and vocal quality in a very short amount of time. That’s what is most important to me. Someone mentioned diction (easy to train), sustained legato (not a necessary trait for musical theatre singing, can be taught if needed), training (easy to see in 16 bars), humor (if it is naturally there it will come through; not something we need to see in the audition), acting skills (can see it in 16 bars, most important in the monologue), and comedic timing (not something that we need to see in the audition; if it is naturally there it will be obvious).
-Are the audition fees a lot? Yes! BUT the faculty have absolutely no input on those fees and I imagine if we tried to give our input to admissions they would probably ignore us. Admissions has costs associated with marketing (print and web), staffing, and getting the applications processed (SAT, ACT, transcripts, and getting students entered into the computer database). Application fees offset those costs.
-I personally will never ask for a classical song and I think there are very few schools that will. The ones that may are probably Bachelor of Music programs.
-We ask for songs other than what you are prepared for a variety of reasons, always because we like you and are trying to look for something else. If a student works with a private coaching group (MTCA etc.) I ask for something else to see if they are perfectly coached or just really good no matter what they sing. If they sing something that I think doesn’t show off their true voice, I will ask for something else. If I don’t like anything in the book, I will ask them to sing an a cappella pop/rock song. The purpose is to see how adventurous they are and to also get them singing something that has not been coached. I cannot tell you how many students it has SAVED in the audition room. We have admitted many students after hearing a pop/rock song that they did not intend to sing. It allows us to see their personality, raw voice, and instincts. It tells us a lot. The only time singing a song not in your book will count against a student is if they are resistant or do it poorly and the rest of the audition package is also weak. So if asked to try something, jump in head first and give it 125%.
-At my school we assess fit throughout the entire process. We assess the students when they walk in the room for our group meeting. We watch how they sit in the room while we talk, we watch how they interact with their parents, how they interact with our admissions staff, with our student helpers, and our accompanists. We watch the dance auditions (even though I know very little about dance) so I can see how they handle themselves in a learning situation. We then take time to talk with the students if we feel like we still have not gotten a feel for the student’s personality.
~VT