Source: Playbill
WOW. We have put that book through the wringer!
Before we wrap this series up, I have a couple more strategies to help you spit shine your repertoire and feel prepared for almost anything.
Double It
Once you’ve decided what categories you should address in your book and once you find pieces that fit those categories, brace yourself: Find an alternative piece for each established piece in your book. Wait! Don’t leave. Hear me out.
1. Why? Because the world of musical theatre is small. At some point, you are going to end up in front of the same director several times. You won’t want to use the same piece over and over again. This is a strategy to help avoid the “Oh-my-god-they’ve-seen-this-a-million-times” panic.
2. There is no need to ultra-prepare these pieces. Just having them alleviates that panic. You can effectively prepare these pieces fairly quickly.
3. This also helps when you need to audition for a show and your standard audition piece is from the same show.
4. This is just a “if you want to” strategy.
5. You don’t necessarily need a double for every category in your book. You probably don’t need more than one novelty piece. But you might want a couple showstoppers
Copy It
Insurance, my friends. What if, just what if you left your audition book on the bus? Or if you dropped it in a puddle. Or you name it. Consider making either a dropbox file or a physical copy of your audition book just, as Chris Rock says, “in case shit.” At the very least, make a list of your current repertoire and keep it separate from your book for reference.
Resources:
Books
- A Performer Prepares by David Craig
- On Singing Onstage by David Craig
- Audition by Michael Shurtleff. On the surface, this may strike you as a book on cold reads. However, all of his advice can be applied to song preparation.
- Auditioning for the Musical Theatre by Fred Silver (intro by Charles Strouse)
Movies and Documentaries
All That Jazz. (Fictional) Great audition sequence.
Every Little Step. (Documentary) Nearly required viewing.
Theatre of War. (Documentary) Watch Jeanine Tesori (Violet, Shrek the Musical) and Meryl Streep work together on original music.
Classes:
Chicago Musical Theatre Workshop
Hire a coach!
Sometimes one time only Master Classes pop up. People like Ann Reinking and Faith Prince have popped into Chicago in my recent memory. Keep you ear to the grindstone for these opportunities.
Websites
Musicaltheatreaudition.net – I’m not sure this site gets updated very often but it’s still a treasure trove
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So…um, that’s it. That’s everything. That is pretty much, minus individual actor-specific advice, everything I know about building musical theatre audition repertoire. If you’ve been with me from the beginning, I thank you. If you just showed up, I thank you. I just wanted to get this series out of my system. And here it is! I do have some potential future plans for this series, but I’m not quite sure how they will manifest.
Again, I want to thank you for taking the time out to read my posts. I’ve tried to provide both standard and alternative methods of repertoire building. Hopefully some of these posts have shaken up how you look at your book. Although my advice may not be for everyone, I do believe in it and I use it myself. I hope I’ve provided some new ideas for finding repertoire, and considerations that might improve what you’ve already got.
Authentic Auditioning 