Question for DR Jose. What would be the top 10 "Audition" songs these days? (Following up "I Can Cook Too" comments the other day.).
Hmm... Well, off the top of my head, and based on recent experience:
Women's Songs:
"Gimme, Gimme" -
Thoroughly Modern Millie"The Girl in 14G" - Tesorie/Scanlan
"Taylor, the Latte Boy" - Goldrich and Heissler
"You Don't Know This Man" -
Parade"You Can Always Count On Me" -
City of Angels - Ladies, please note: Hold out that last note!
"How Could I Ever Know" -
The Secret Garden"Somebody, Somewhere" -
The Most Happy Fella"Home" -
Beauty & The Beast"Much More" -
The Fantasticks"Someone Else's Story" -
Chess"I Will Be Loved Tonight" -
I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change"Times Like This" -
Lucky StiffWell... That was 12... sorry...
Men's Songs:
"Soliloquy" -
Carousel"Anthem" -
Chess"If I Can't Love Her" -
Beauty & The Beast"Me" -
Beauty & The Beast"On the Street Where You Live" -
My Fair Lady"I, Don Quixote" -
Man of La Mancha"Make Them Hear You" -
Ragtime"The Old Red Hills of Home" -
Parade"This Is Not Over Yet" -
Parade"Now While I'm Around" -
Sweeney Todd"Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat" -
Guys & Dolls"Miracle of Miracles" -
Fiddler on the Roof-I figured I would list 12 here too just to be fair.
Now for the disclaimer:
Again, this list was just off the top of my head. None of these songs are bad songs. And I have no qualms about hearing nor playing any of them at auditions. However, there just seem to be these periods of time when certain songs gain and re-gain popularity. Sometimes, I'll go for months without having a certain song put in front of me, and then, BANG!, I'll end up playing it 15-20 times in one day. There's no real science to it. It just happens. And as I've said before, if the song is sung well, it's a joy to listen to and to accompany.
I also left out some "classics" from the above lists. Songs like "Can't Help Lovin' That Man", "Vanilla Ice Cream", "Art Is Calling For Me", "The Man I Love", "Old Devil Moon", "Ain't Misbehavin'", "Luck Be A Lady Tonight", "Johanna", "Glitter and Be Gay" (yes, that "Glitter and Be Gay"), "Losing My Mind", "Comedy Tonight", "All I Need Is the Girl", "Summertime", etc... Again, there seem to phases to the "over-done-ness" of these songs. And, again, as long as they're sung well...
A lot of it also has do with what is published and readily available for actors and actresses to go out and learn - and have music for. Yes, there are various sources and people from whom to procure some of the unpublished stuff, but for the "average" actor and actress (please, no letters), the time and effort involved in getting some of that material just isn't worth the extra time and effort. But it is amazing just how fast music can circulate once someone or someones lands a copy of something. *There is one piece of music that I transcribed for someone a few years ago. It was something off a cabaret album, and the music was not - and is still not published for it. I've seen my own arrangement put down in front of me a couple times since then, and each time I ask, "Oh, where did you get this from?!?!?" -Of course, the best part of this situation is when they ask, "Do you know this song?" - "
Do I know this song..."
