Project Audition Song

JTylerBlog@gmail.com

Well.
With all the Legally Blonde hype wound down for now, it's time for me to start some new projects-- obsessions (which ever you'd like to call it).

I am currently on the search for an audition song. Ideas?
It needs to not be "cursed by the Audition Gods". What does that mean exactly?

No Jason Robert Brown (which is a shame since he's a favorite of mine), Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sondheim, Frank Wildhorn, or other various artists. Why? Various reasons, but for the most part these top 3:
1. Too hard for the pianist to follow if he/she doesn't know the piece
2. Too emotional/obscure for an audition piece
3. Too Story-heavy to cut

In short; here are the 10 commandments of audition song-ing by your very own Julia:

1. Make it show off the best of your range
2. Don't pick an "over used" song... keep in mind over-heard songs and over-used auditions songs are different. Just because it's considered unique to people on the streets and it's not being performed at every high school pop show from here to Georgia does NOT mean a casting director hasn't had in burned in their memory!
   
3. Make sure it has a story, but is still cut-able if you just need 16 (give or take) bars
4. Make it fresh; something the casting directors want to listen to you sing
5. Don't just find something you like-- find something you can actually sing
6. Make sure the sheet music is available
   
7. Don't mimic a style; just because Bernadette sounds like that doesn't mean you do, too
   
8. Have an up-tempo song and a ballad on hand
9. If you can only hit a high C on Mondays, make sure there are no high C's in your piece. Your permanent range- not future... not past- but current/permanent range is the only one you should be singing from.
   
10. Make it age appropriate. I don't want to hear "Dance 10, Looks 3" from a 15 year old.

So yeah. Easy enough right? I THINK NOT! And this is what I'm currently on the search for.
My previous audition song was "I Can Do Better Than That" from The Last 5 Years. BUT then I got word from the Audition Gods, that not only is Jason Robert Brown spit on by pianists! But The Last 5 Years is an OVER USED Off-Broadway! Bah! Curse you, Audition Gods!

Julia, baby, who are the Audition Gods?
Well! These are "those people". ...You know. I'm making no sense.... Example: You know when people say things like "Well, you know what they say! *insert some saying your mother would tell you*" Well, who is they? Nobody knows right? But apparently they are just filled with sayings, and you listen to what they say! Same with Audition Gods. Who knows who's calling those shots but they are shots that need to be called... And apparently Casting Directors listen to them-- in translation, you should, too.

I really love "Taylor the Latte Boy" by (none other than) Kristin Chenoweth. But a few concerns... It's not from a production and no sheet music.
Do you think this will be a problem? What are your own commandments of auditioning?
Let me know! (comment or e-mail... JTylerBlog@gmail.com )

None the less, you should listen to it. It will make your life:



Isn't she the cutest. Oh, I can't resist, I am a long long long time Chenoweth fan! Please look at this, too! You'll love it! (but don't be thinking Audition Song)



JTylerBlog@gmail.com