For years I’ve been teaching performers what to do on auditions. There’s a lot they need to think about, and I’ve never specified “remember the face of your accompanist” as one of them. But a book with 20 songs? Absolutely appalling and totally unprofessional. Nobody, from peon to LuPone, can keep that many numbers in audition-ready state. And “The Beauty Is” – well, Jose and I can play it, but since most audition pianists can’t, why take the risk? Guettel, LaChiusa, J.R.Brown and some of Sondheim’s more difficult pieces are recipes for disaster. The audition’s about you and your personality, not the accompanist and his virtuosity sight-reading.