Makenzie Turner the thing is. My first audition for a professional theater, I used popular. I was really new, but you know... and I got the lead. Because I believe that was the best choice for the character. Because the director saw something in me because of the song. But yeah
I’m doing an audition soon and I’m so tempted to do this song because it feels so comfortable to sing but I know it’s used a lot so I’m just like ahhhh what do
Just don't do Waving Through a Window. Leave that out all together. Yes, it's a great song, and yes, you can act this song, but iTS SO OVERDONE OH MY GOD.
@@couchchester it's not NEW because originally came out decades ago, but because it was recently revived (the last 5-7 years are most people's benchmarks) you might want to stay away from it
This isn't a musical or audition thing, but at literally every single talent show or singing event I've ever been to there is at least three people singing Hallelujah. This is bad because only one of them can ever really sing the song right, so the others will sound bad by comparison. Like, I felt bad for the other people who couldn't sing it, since they also choose a really bad instrumental background.
1. When I was in middle school, the two songs almost all the girls used were "Popular" from Wicked and "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid. I never wanted to hear those songs for YEARS afterwards. 2. As far as I know, it's not overused yet, but I think "Michael in the Bathroom" from Be More Chill will become an overused audition song, especially for men. It's got a good range, you can show off your belt, and, to borrow a phrase from Amy, you can really act your way through it. However, acting through it will probably mean a lot of young men trying to scream and cry and sing where they can't. Get ready, everyone. Get ready to see it butchered.
When I was ten I had an audition for a kids film and you had to sing a Disney song. About an hour into the auditions the casting people stuck their head round the door and said 'Please, if you were going to sing A Whole New World would you consider singing something else? Even if it's Happy Birthday or a nursery rhyme.' Que a dozen people looking panicked and me feeling rather relieved! xx
"When You're Good to Mama" from Chicago. When I was in highschool there was this one girl who would ALWAYS sing a "risqué" song like that and it just didn't make any sense. It's a highschool production, you don't need to sing a hyper sexual or risqué song to get the part! Especially when you don't sing it very well. The shows we did were Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Zombie Prom, Merrily We Roll Along, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood. All very family friendly musicals IMO
Also some other family friendly musicals are Legally Blonde, The Lightning Thief, and Great Comet! Did Legally Blonde a couple years ago and my best friend is in TLT at the moment
Alternatives: Thinking about Think of Me from Phantom? Try No One Else from Great Comet. Thinking about Waving through a Window? Try Words Fail. Thinking about Burn? Try Kindergarten Boyfriend. Thinking about On My Own? Try Legally Blonde.
Don't forget On My Own, anything from Wicked, any female song from Hamilton, anything Jason Robert Brown (unless the obvious ones), I'm honestly TIRED of hearing "Fly Fly Away" from Catch Me if You Can and "Astonishing" from Little Women.
I have an audition coming up and I reallllly want to sing Burn from Hamilton but I feel like it’s over done... if so my backup right now is Breathe from In The Heights
Don't do Hamilton. Hamilton is just so everywhere right now that auditioners don't want to hear it. Maybe in 50 years if it leaves broadway you could do it, but for now lay off the Hamilton.
I find that singing songs that were not originally written for your gender helps to make a song different. Maybe not for some auditions as it's not showing your casting type, but for things like LAMDA musical theatre exams it's a really good idea. I sang Waving Through a Window for my exam and, whilst maybe quite a few boys may have used it, I doubt many girls have so it just makes the song more different.
I'd really like to but I think the possibilities are endless for songs and if I say ones that I would suggest, it might encourage more people to just go for those... if that makes sense...
wait a moment this was posted today .. April first ... Aprils fools day . Does that mean Amy LOVES these songs and recommends that you sing them ?????????
I samg it for my last audition.... because I was auditioning for The Addams Family lol. We could only song a few songs depending on what character we wanted, or our range.
I think it’s because when people are new to the community it’s not the most typical show that you hear about e.g. les mis, phantom, hamilton, DEH etc. They reckon it’s contemporary and stuff but it’s not really. Just my thoughts on it but I think that’s why.
I can't even sing but I love watching these videos. If I could though, I'd probably like to sing Breaking Down from Falsettos or Moments in the Woods from Into the Woods
In middle school I guess our class was going through a Heathers phase because it felt like in seventh grade every girl and their mama sang Beautiful for their auditions. One time I had a friend (let's call her A) do it and she told another girl (let's call her B) that she was going to do it. B had done Beautiful the last audition which didn't feel too long ago and B actually messed up on some of the lyrics. B told A that she wasn't going to do it anyway and was going to do something else. The day of the audition B went right before A and did Beautiful as her audition song and A had to do it too because that's all sh prepared.
I usually do songs like Defy Gravity, Wizard and I, Once More I Can See, Finding Wonderland, and Worst Pies In London. Depends on the show and the character.
This is super helpful - especially, as you said, for those who haven't done so many auditions before! If you consider doing a sequel, it'd be great if you offer an alternative (ie similar style and vocal type) to each song you mention which is less overused :)
Lucky for me I live in Germany so a lot of these aren't overdone here because a lot of the shows are simply not well known in the first place XD So if you're plugged into what's going on with Broadway and West End you can always find little known songs that may be overdone in the English speaking world, but not here :D (Always Starting Over is a good example of that, actually). For my last audition I used Watch What Happens from Newsies - it has a nice range and a lot of potential for acting, specifically when auditioning for a more comedic role. Not easy to learn because it's very fast, but imho totally worth it :)
Hi, ich weiß, die Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass du das hier noch siehst, ist recht gering, aber ich versuche es trotzdem: Ich bin auch aus Deutschland (okay, obviously...) und habe ewig im Internet und sonstwo nach Songs gesucht, die bei deutschen Musical-Castings viele Leute singen und welche man deshalb vermeiden sollte. Leider habe ich nirgends praktische Tipps gefunden und würde gerne wissen, was der deutsche Durchschnitts-Musicalanwärter so singt, damit ich das dann nicht mache. Weißt du da zufällig mehr darüber? Wenn ja, würde ich mich sehr über eine Antwort freuen, vielen Dank!
I hate when people make Still Hurting just a sad song. Whenever I sing it (which is always alone in my room), I add a LOT of anger to the beltier parts. I mean, who wouldn't be angry when they were just broken up with?
when I go in for auditions, I have the tendency to pick disney songs. My go-tos are Part Of Your World and Poor Unfortunate Souls from The Little Mermaid (It's my favourite disney movie and both can show off my range really well depending on if I want to sing higher or lower)
Waving Through the Window from DEH and the songs from Anastasia will be on this list very soon. A lot of these songs are also not age appropriate for high school students, such as You Don’t Know this Man, Still Hurting, and What I Did for Love.
Anastasia has been around for 20 years because of the movie so I wouldn’t be surprised if Journey To the Past and Once Upon A December weren’t already overdone
My go to audition song is 'Dance With You' from Prom, because it's so interchangeable as a duet and a solo. Plus I used to be bullied for being gay, so I relate largely so I can 100% emote through it. Unfortunately, I've only just plucked up the courage to sing in front of an audience (see: the bullying- I used to get told I had an awful voice and I started to believe it) so my last audition feedback mainly was about my singing confidence, but it's practice and I'm proud of it :)
I have an audition for a school coming up and I have been asked to prepare 2 songs. I'm a mezzo so I'm thinking of performing Breathe from In the heights and She used to be mine from waitress. But I'm not sure if these are good choices. Any advice on auditions or songs?
Amanda Smith I’m a mezzo too. I love doing I’d give my life for you from Miss Saigon. It is a little overdone but it’s such a beautiful song and it’s good to act through. Also stars and moon from songs from a new world is really good and not overdone. Hope this helps 😊
i think breathe is a nice choice, it is quite popular but i wouldn’t call it overdone! i would avoid she used to be mine as waitress is very current and i know this song is very very popular for girls to sing recently, there was three girls singing it at an audition i did recently! some songs i like that as far as i know aren’t too popular right now are times are hard for dreamers from amelie and one perfect moment from bring it on just to give some suggestions. If they’re asking for two songs they probably want them to contrast to show everything you can do so i’d try and choose two songs that contrast either in mood, so one lighthearted and upbeat song and one more deep and emotional song is one idea, or try to pick two contrasting vocal approach so one belty song and one more legit sung, or even one song from a very contemporary musical and one song from an older musical, basically just try to find some contrast between your two songs! If you have spotify or something like that what i do to find songs that aren’t well known is listen to different musicals and try to find ones i’ve never heard of and just play them in the back ground while i’m doing something, and if you’re just looking for solos just look for all the songs that only have one name under them and queue a few to listen to! sorry if this is long winded i just know that i struggle finding rep that’s not over done too so i hope all this helps! Good luck with your audition xx
May be a little too high for you, depends how you feel when singing but Journey to the Past- Anastasia and In my dreams- Anastasia Again, may be high for you but they are good for acting through and showing power. Hope this helps ! 💕
I wouldn't do Waitress. It's generally frowned upon to sing a song from a show that's currently on Broadway. It's better to perform a song from a show that's not so everywhere in the theatre world today.
I'm always surprised that so many of these are still sung so regularly at auditions..Shows like TL5Y and Millie should just be avoided altogether for boys or girls I think. I love them both, but I don't think there's any originality that can be brought to these (at least in the context of an audition). And I would never think to sing Giants in the sky unless specifically asked to because to me that is suuuch an obvious tenor choice. Pulled surprises me, I wouldn't have thought of that one as overdone but I'd imagine it's done badly more often than it's done well. I just can't when people flip to headvoice for the end of that one..Mix it or belt it but please don't flip- for some reason it just totally does my head in.
Fun audition story: this year I got sick right before my audition for my high school show. So I had to change my song from hopelessly devoted to you from grease to an acty song, new girl in town from hairspray. It actually worked out very well cuz we did little mermaid and the Disney esque hyper-acting got me the part I wanted!
I’d like to recommend a really underrated musical!! It’s called ‘from here to eternity’ and it was on at the west end in 2014 I think? It’s got really good music by Tim Rice and the choreography is insanely good. You can watch it as it was filmed professionally and you can buy it on dvd!! Highly recommend, it’s wonderful
The thing about 'overdone' audition songs is that people get very defensive about them, when they have no real reason to. Yes, it may hurt you in the first impression to come in with the same song as another person, but in the end, if you perform the song well enough and give it your own life, it may even endear you *more* to the casting directors. It's always felt very elitist, to me, to judge people by their audition songs. While I think videos like these are good guides on songs people might not be aware are overdone, it can be very easy to fall into the trap of being exclusionary, which to me is something that theatre falls prey to and is against it's very *concept*. I like that you picked songs that weren't incredibly obvious, but maybe in the future, provide questioning people with alternative songs, instead of just telling them their picks are bad and moving on? Like, 'If you liked 'Gimme Gimme' from Thoroughly Modern Millie, here's a less overdone song to do instead!' Love you as always, of course! I just wanted to provide a little constructive criticism!
So true !!! I'm in drama council and I'm very close to my performing arts teacher and she tells us all the time in musical theatre that she's tired of songs from les mis and phantom of the opera. And I have heard giants in the sky a few times- lots of forgetting the lyrics/ mumbling through it. Oh dear.
Love this, please do a part 2? Another one I’ve noticed is She Used to be Mine, especially as most young girls don’t really have the life experience to relate to it... beautiful song though and I love Waitress, just one I’ve heard too many times at auditions:/
Yikes 😂. I am in a musical theatre course and we had to sing solo songs. I chose Pulled from the Addams Family and my friend Emily chose Still Hurting. You are very right for Pulled at least. A girl had done it in the year above me (I didn’t realise until I had learnt it) and is a much stronger singer than me which made my performance look very weak in comparison. My friend is the first person I heard singing Still hurting and I could literally listen to her sing for hours.
love this video! sadly, i got sick the week of auditions & i've had to change my audition song to "giants in the sky" because i'm too sick to sing anything else. most people at auditions so far (ours span for 3 days) have sung "happy birthday", so i'm not all too worried for it being overdone at this specific audition!
I’m not new to Musical Theatre at all, but I’m always wondering when a song is overdone considering I’m never the one casting. Do you think Legally Blonde is a good show to do an audition song from? It wasn’t that popular and I was thinking of doing,”Ireland.”
For my middle school drama club production of ItW Jr., you could use Giants in the Sky as your audition song for every part, except the witch, since we were given specific songs to do for the audition. Obviously, there were others, but still, the director must’ve heard that so many times.
Here are a few I'm tired of hearing: Tomorrow - Annie I Feel Pretty/Somewhere - West Side Story Sixteen Going On Seventeen - The Sound of Music Castle on a Cloud/On My Own/I Dreamed a Dream - Les Mis A Lovely Night - Cinderella Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again - POTO Till There Was You - The Music Man Before the Parade Passes By - Hello, Dolly! This Is the Moment - Jekyll and Hyde
OMG I agree with every single one of these. We had a performance class in college where we had to bring songs in to perform for my whole department and multiple people would sing all of these songs a million times over the course of my four years in school.
I've only had to do Giants in the Sky for an audition as it was the song we were told to do for my high school production of Into The Woods. I didn't get the part sadly
For my VERY first audition for drama 2 in sixth grade (I got into the class!!) I sang "I can hear the bells" from Hairspray and for some type of reason she she loved it and she was jumping up and down (my friend told me it was because she is one of my class mates mom's, so she is a chaperone for like ALL of the field trips in 5th grade, so she knows me, but she didn't know that I could sing, she she was excited)
If I auditioned I would do 1. If you want me - Once 2. Worst pies in London - Sweeney Todd 3. Kindergarten Boyfriend - Heathers 4. The Hills Are Alive - The Sound Of Music 5. Burn - Hamilton
Im going to a workshop today and we have to bring audition music, and I chose Not For the Life of Me... Im still going to use it because its a little too late, but I do have a few backup pieces just in case 😂😂😂
I would like to think that I sang Pulled for an audition before it for overused but I could be wrong... Would never sing it now. Ugh, picking out audition songs give me so much anxiety! Probably for other people too, that's why they choose overdone ones. Great video, Amy!
So I have a few auditions for schools coming up and I've chosen Maybe This Time from Cabaret and She Used To Be Mine from Waitress (to contrast) but now I'm regretting SUTB as I think it may be overdone. I've also transposed both the songs because literally every theatre song is too high for me and now I'm panicking
On my own and I dreamed a dream... the amount of times I have heard this song (especially on the internet and auditions). I have done that song for my college audition, I have since found new material and they have worked for my drama school auditions. Others: Defying Gravity, Popular, She used to be mine, Let it go, I have a dream, Music of the night and Wishing You were somehow here again
Agree with all of the Sondheim songs! Also I feel like Nothing from A Chorus Line gets chosen a lot and I've seen a very wide range of versions of it...
It's my opinion that by choosing more obscure or underrated theatre songs, it shows in the audition that you're creative and/or you have put in work to actually find a song that fits your voice and you can act well.
Oh God even worse is when they make What I Did For Love into a romantic love song instead of about the love of dance like it shOULD BE. And there's so many better Last Five Years songs than Still Hurting! I don't even really remember it, but damn I remember See I'm Smiling and Climbing Uphill.
Have you watched rise it’s a new show and I just watched the first episode it is about a high school thetere department doing spring awakening as its show the charachters are so good
Is Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again one to avoid? I think it's a nice mezzo-ish piece, but I don't know if it's overdone because Phantom is very popular?
Thinking of On My Own? Try Legally Blonde. Thinking of Burn? Try Sonya Alone. Thinking of What I Did For Love? Try Nothing. Thinking of Astonishing? Try So Much Better. Thinking of Not For The Life Of Me? Try I'd Rather Be Me. Thinking of Think of Me from Phantom? Try No One Else. Thinking of Still Hurting? Try Lifeboat.
In my own little corner from Cinderella , people do it to be “original “ but I’ve been acting since age 6 and I have yet to not hear it at an audition.
I always use songs from obscure musicals. Really obscure. Less then 500k views on RUclips obscure. At least the song isn’t overused! If anything, it’s better because it’s a song that hasn’t been used often (if at all), so you have a better chance of standing out. You’re gonna need it when the role you’re auditioning for is especially coveted
I remember once I was going in with Hellfire from Hunchback and at the last moment decided to do Johanna instead. The panel asked me why I chose it when I was done and I could tell by their tone they were not happy I chose it. I got a role in the play. I got LeFou. I guess it was because I was clown and sang Johanna.
The funny thing about on my own is that it’s so universally recognised as overdone so it’s probably never done in auditions anymore, therefore making it underrated again. *IT’S THE CIIIIIRCLE OF LIIIIIIFE*
What are your thoughts on doing "For Forever" or "So Big/ So Small" from DEH for an audition. It suits my casting type quite well but I haven't been to many auditions so I'm not sure if they are overdone or not.
I totally agree with you, though most of those are my shower songs, i.e never to be heard in public! I was wondering though, I am going to audition for a character whose cast as bubbly bright and energetic. I was thinking of doing Popular from Wicked, but do you think "A trip to the library would be better?
Does "No One Else" from Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812 count as an overused song? There could be a possiblity that some songs from Waitress can be Overused. Like "She used to be Mine" and "When He Sees Me". Our school does school productions, but they don't do the whole musical. The Grade 12 was competing against the Grade 11. They never did any auditions or anything. Every section had to join, and compete against eachother or each grade. (ps. the grade 12 won. they did Lés Miserables)
I’m so damn lucky, because at my stage school auditions, when we’re doing a show, every single person is doing a pop song, because pretty much nobody else apart from me likes musical theatre. Which means I could do On My Own, but not happening shister.
A few weeks ago I was at an audition and we were waiting for our singing audition. There were six other people with me. Four of these were singing Burn from Hamilton. I was shocked
I almost sang Pulled once for an audition but I didn’t end up doing it because I thought the piano part was a bit complicated (which, Pro Tip, is never a good thing). But not doing that song SAVED my skin because the girl who went before me at the audition sang it!! That would have been awkward
At my small school, we had an audition for Getting to Know The Sound of Music. We hAD A GIRL WHO SANG ON MY OWN. AND SHE GOT LIESL. I'M NOT JOKING! If you're wondering, I got Brigitta! I'm so excited! My awesome director is adding back in Elsa, and giving each kid a solo part in A Lonely Goatherd. I was actually surprised that Brigitta has an equal amount of importance as Liesl in the play! I'll update here after Spring Break.
Hey I am totally in agreement with your choices. I love the If/then soundtrack and I saw the show with aiding Menzel and James Snyder, and Anthony Rapp as the leads. And I adore “Always Starting Over” but as it’s sung by Menzel. I’ve heard it at karaoke, and I hate it.
![SahBabii - Viking [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/D37cL92JX0I/mqdefault.jpg)
My name is Sarah,I'm auditioning for Veronica Saywer and I'll be singing Guns and Ships from Hamilton.
-Famous Last Words
My name is Phillip, I am a poet
The Ironic Nerd At least do a SINGING song
Ooooahhhhhh
I love this
Large baguette
Another one is Popular from Wicked. I’ve heard that one sooooooooo many times! I love the song to pieces , but I think so many people have done it!
Makenzie Turner the thing is. My first audition for a professional theater, I used popular. I was really new, but you know... and I got the lead. Because I believe that was the best choice for the character. Because the director saw something in me because of the song. But yeah
+Kayla Amy said that yes, you can get the part using such a song, but it's not advisable for castings.
Alice Pan yeah. But a lot of overused songs are overused for a reason. But you’re right. I try to stray away from those songs
Kayla OBrien well that’s great that you used it and got the role!
Whoops, I used this one for my musical school audition :P
....On My Own.
YES
Please no...
What Georgie Did I WAS WAITING FOR IT THE WHOLE TIME
I’m doing an audition soon and I’m so tempted to do this song because it feels so comfortable to sing but I know it’s used a lot so I’m just like ahhhh what do
What Georgie Did pReTeNdInG hE's InSiDe Me
ON MY OWN...stop
I was looking through to see if someone said this before I said anything.
OH MY GOD dONT EVEN StaART I CAN"t
Great song...just overdone
As soon as I saw the title I started singing On My Own
Firespork
I started singing Waving Through a Window lmao
Firespork same!!!
SAAAAAMMMEEEE
Just don't do Waving Through a Window. Leave that out all together. Yes, it's a great song, and yes, you can act this song, but iTS SO OVERDONE OH MY GOD.
Some Crazed Nerd Really? Thank you so much! I was almost going to do it.
also Burn (plus you shouldn't do anything thats new on broadway anyway, its unprofessional)
I may or may not have done that much once but it was my only second audition ever
@@user-oq6ol5fi2w is falsettos considered new or not.. HMMM
@@couchchester it's not NEW because originally came out decades ago, but because it was recently revived (the last 5-7 years are most people's benchmarks) you might want to stay away from it
Could you possibly do another video on under appreciated audition songs people never consider? 😘💗
Callie rae please
I'd like to do something like this!
I hear Defying Gravity tons! and it's like 'Hun, I know it's a frigging amazing song but stop it'
This isn't a musical or audition thing, but at literally every single talent show or singing event I've ever been to there is at least three people singing Hallelujah. This is bad because only one of them can ever really sing the song right, so the others will sound bad by comparison. Like, I felt bad for the other people who couldn't sing it, since they also choose a really bad instrumental background.
Agree same for titanium (I don’t know why people always do it it sounds so bad all the time)
Omg that was my sister in her middle school talent show!! 😂😂😂
Same with this girl is on fire
1. When I was in middle school, the two songs almost all the girls used were "Popular" from Wicked and "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid. I never wanted to hear those songs for YEARS afterwards.
2. As far as I know, it's not overused yet, but I think "Michael in the Bathroom" from Be More Chill will become an overused audition song, especially for men. It's got a good range, you can show off your belt, and, to borrow a phrase from Amy, you can really act your way through it. However, acting through it will probably mean a lot of young men trying to scream and cry and sing where they can't. Get ready, everyone. Get ready to see it butchered.
Ariella Kahan-Harth
LMFAO I'M THINKING OF DOING MICHAEL IN THE BATHROOM I'LL PROBABLY DO SOMETHING ELSE INSTEAD THANKS!
dont do michael in the bathroom, you should never do a song from a show that just came out/ is running currently,
I use Popular sometimes. I only use POYW for a Disney audition
When I was ten I had an audition for a kids film and you had to sing a Disney song. About an hour into the auditions the casting people stuck their head round the door and said 'Please, if you were going to sing A Whole New World would you consider singing something else? Even if it's Happy Birthday or a nursery rhyme.' Que a dozen people looking panicked and me feeling rather relieved! xx
haha that's amazing!
I have an audition for a kids TV show soon
Edit: I got a part in the show, it's the part of a little girl
"When You're Good to Mama" from Chicago. When I was in highschool there was this one girl who would ALWAYS sing a "risqué" song like that and it just didn't make any sense. It's a highschool production, you don't need to sing a hyper sexual or risqué song to get the part! Especially when you don't sing it very well. The shows we did were Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Zombie Prom, Merrily We Roll Along, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood. All very family friendly musicals IMO
Wow that’s a great lineup of musicals, I love Drood it is such a fun experience
I'm cringing from this girl lol
Also some other family friendly musicals are Legally Blonde, The Lightning Thief, and Great Comet! Did Legally Blonde a couple years ago and my best friend is in TLT at the moment
Dear Evan Hansen,
Today is a good day, and here's why: because Amy Lovatt uploaded a video and that's enough.
Edit: Happy Easter y'all!!
Alternatives:
Thinking about Think of Me from Phantom? Try No One Else from Great Comet.
Thinking about Waving through a Window? Try Words Fail.
Thinking about Burn? Try Kindergarten Boyfriend.
Thinking about On My Own? Try Legally Blonde.
I'm not a tenor, I'm a mezzo soprano. so no Words Fail. But Kinder Garten Boyfriend is in my rep book
hi my name is isabel harper and I will be auditioning for mufasa from the lion king. I will be singing “defying gravity” from wicked.
Isabel Harper lol 😂😂😂😂
Don't forget On My Own, anything from Wicked, any female song from Hamilton, anything Jason Robert Brown (unless the obvious ones), I'm honestly TIRED of hearing "Fly Fly Away" from Catch Me if You Can and "Astonishing" from Little Women.
I have an audition coming up and I reallllly want to sing Burn from Hamilton but I feel like it’s over done... if so my backup right now is Breathe from In The Heights
I think both of those songs are equally popular. If you want to sing Burn, sing Burn because Breathe is just as overdone.
If you want a really powerful song, go for Burn.
Common advice is to never sing a song from a show that's still running
Don't do Hamilton. Hamilton is just so everywhere right now that auditioners don't want to hear it. Maybe in 50 years if it leaves broadway you could do it, but for now lay off the Hamilton.
Do Not Do Hamilton it will make u look like a beginner like your inexperienced and that is not the image you want to give off
I'm seeing comments of people saying On My Own and Popular and Waving Through A Window. I agree. But Michael in the Bathroom is overdone.
The last time I was this early, these songs weren’t overused.
Love you Amy❤️❤️
hahahahaha! Ly2!
I find that singing songs that were not originally written for your gender helps to make a song different. Maybe not for some auditions as it's not showing your casting type, but for things like LAMDA musical theatre exams it's a really good idea. I sang Waving Through a Window for my exam and, whilst maybe quite a few boys may have used it, I doubt many girls have so it just makes the song more different.
You give great advice. Can you do a video about songs you recommend? I'm not auditioning anyway, but I really love to explore new musical songs.
I'd really like to but I think the possibilities are endless for songs and if I say ones that I would suggest, it might encourage more people to just go for those... if that makes sense...
wait a moment this was posted today .. April first ... Aprils fools day . Does that mean Amy LOVES these songs and recommends that you sing them ?????????
Tyler James SHE HEARTED YOUR COMMENT! GOD HAS SPOKEN
EVERY👏🏼SINGLE👏🏼AUDITION👏🏼 I go to SOMEONE sings pulled from the Addams family👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
I samg it for my last audition.... because I was auditioning for The Addams Family lol. We could only song a few songs depending on what character we wanted, or our range.
I think it’s because when people are new to the community it’s not the most typical show that you hear about e.g. les mis, phantom, hamilton, DEH etc. They reckon it’s contemporary and stuff but it’s not really. Just my thoughts on it but I think that’s why.
I love Pulled and i've sung it in concerts before but after seeing how many people audition with it I don't think I'll ever use it for an audition😂
I know right...I was going to sing pulled from the Addams family but..so many people sing it
I can't even sing but I love watching these videos. If I could though, I'd probably like to sing Breaking Down from Falsettos or Moments in the Woods from Into the Woods
Such awesome songs! I think Breaking Down is fab!
How old are you because if you are in high school you want to sing a character you could potentially play.
Juliet Deane Im in high school and I can’t sing lol. I just really enjoy those songs
In middle school I guess our class was going through a Heathers phase because it felt like in seventh grade every girl and their mama sang Beautiful for their auditions. One time I had a friend (let's call her A) do it and she told another girl (let's call her B) that she was going to do it. B had done Beautiful the last audition which didn't feel too long ago and B actually messed up on some of the lyrics. B told A that she wasn't going to do it anyway and was going to do something else. The day of the audition B went right before A and did Beautiful as her audition song and A had to do it too because that's all sh prepared.
I usually do songs like Defy Gravity, Wizard and I, Once More I Can See, Finding Wonderland, and Worst Pies In London. Depends on the show and the character.
This is super helpful - especially, as you said, for those who haven't done so many auditions before! If you consider doing a sequel, it'd be great if you offer an alternative (ie similar style and vocal type) to each song you mention which is less overused :)
I’d Rather Be Me, It Roars, Mama Who Bore Me and Me and The Sky are ones I commonly hear
Lucky for me I live in Germany so a lot of these aren't overdone here because a lot of the shows are simply not well known in the first place XD So if you're plugged into what's going on with Broadway and West End you can always find little known songs that may be overdone in the English speaking world, but not here :D (Always Starting Over is a good example of that, actually). For my last audition I used Watch What Happens from Newsies - it has a nice range and a lot of potential for acting, specifically when auditioning for a more comedic role. Not easy to learn because it's very fast, but imho totally worth it :)
Hi, ich weiß, die Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass du das hier noch siehst, ist recht gering, aber ich versuche es trotzdem: Ich bin auch aus Deutschland (okay, obviously...) und habe ewig im Internet und sonstwo nach Songs gesucht, die bei deutschen Musical-Castings viele Leute singen und welche man deshalb vermeiden sollte. Leider habe ich nirgends praktische Tipps gefunden und würde gerne wissen, was der deutsche Durchschnitts-Musicalanwärter so singt, damit ich das dann nicht mache. Weißt du da zufällig mehr darüber? Wenn ja, würde ich mich sehr über eine Antwort freuen, vielen Dank!
Amy!!!!!! I have no theatre people to tell sooo I have to come here and tell you!!!! MY PARENTS GOT US TICKETS TO SEE HAMILTON ON TOUR!!!!! 😭😭😫
ahyhhhhhhh im so excited for you!!!!!!
Hello today I'm going to be auditioning for Aaron Burr and I'm going to be singing 'The Gun Song' from Assains
Throwback to when I discovered you by your first overdone audition songs video! In that one you said On My Own like 3 times! 😂💗
Maeve Exactly! That was my first Amy video as well! I really thought this was a re-upload for a moment.
hahaha yeah that's why I didn't include it in this one... I really drove that one home hahah!
Why are people singing Sondheim and JRB at auditions anyway? Unless specifically asked? That's just asking the pianist to hate you...
I'm singing think of me for my next audition.
HA! APRIL FOOLS!
definitely on my own and wizard and i, which is so sad because i love both of those songs SO much
I hate when people make Still Hurting just a sad song. Whenever I sing it (which is always alone in my room), I add a LOT of anger to the beltier parts. I mean, who wouldn't be angry when they were just broken up with?
when I go in for auditions, I have the tendency to pick disney songs. My go-tos are Part Of Your World and Poor Unfortunate Souls from The Little Mermaid (It's my favourite disney movie and both can show off my range really well depending on if I want to sing higher or lower)
Waving Through the Window from DEH and the songs from Anastasia will be on this list very soon. A lot of these songs are also not age appropriate for high school students, such as You Don’t Know this Man, Still Hurting, and What I Did for Love.
Jenna Tomashosky
Waving Through a Window is already overdone...
Anastasia has been around for 20 years because of the movie so I wouldn’t be surprised if Journey To the Past and Once Upon A December weren’t already overdone
My go to audition song is 'Dance With You' from Prom, because it's so interchangeable as a duet and a solo. Plus I used to be bullied for being gay, so I relate largely so I can 100% emote through it. Unfortunately, I've only just plucked up the courage to sing in front of an audience (see: the bullying- I used to get told I had an awful voice and I started to believe it) so my last audition feedback mainly was about my singing confidence, but it's practice and I'm proud of it :)
I have an audition for a school coming up and I have been asked to prepare 2 songs. I'm a mezzo so I'm thinking of performing Breathe from In the heights and She used to be mine from waitress. But I'm not sure if these are good choices. Any advice on auditions or songs?
Amanda Smith I’m a mezzo too. I love doing I’d give my life for you from Miss Saigon. It is a little overdone but it’s such a beautiful song and it’s good to act through. Also stars and moon from songs from a new world is really good and not overdone. Hope this helps 😊
i think breathe is a nice choice, it is quite popular but i wouldn’t call it overdone! i would avoid she used to be mine as waitress is very current and i know this song is very very popular for girls to sing recently, there was three girls singing it at an audition i did recently! some songs i like that as far as i know aren’t too popular right now are times are hard for dreamers from amelie and one perfect moment from bring it on just to give some suggestions.
If they’re asking for two songs they probably want them to contrast to show everything you can do so i’d try and choose two songs that contrast either in mood, so one lighthearted and upbeat song and one more deep and emotional song is one idea, or try to pick two contrasting vocal approach so one belty song and one more legit sung, or even one song from a very contemporary musical and one song from an older musical, basically just try to find some contrast between your two songs!
If you have spotify or something like that what i do to find songs that aren’t well known is listen to different musicals and try to find ones i’ve never heard of and just play them in the back ground while i’m doing something, and if you’re just looking for solos just look for all the songs that only have one name under them and queue a few to listen to! sorry if this is long winded i just know that i struggle finding rep that’s not over done too so i hope all this helps!
Good luck with your audition xx
May be a little too high for you, depends how you feel when singing but Journey to the Past- Anastasia and In my dreams- Anastasia
Again, may be high for you but they are good for acting through and showing power. Hope this helps ! 💕
I'm currently obsessed with Laura Osnes' voice so maybe "Love will come and find me again" or "Dyin ain't so bad"
I wouldn't do Waitress. It's generally frowned upon to sing a song from a show that's currently on Broadway. It's better to perform a song from a show that's not so everywhere in the theatre world today.
I'm always surprised that so many of these are still sung so regularly at auditions..Shows like TL5Y and Millie should just be avoided altogether for boys or girls I think. I love them both, but I don't think there's any originality that can be brought to these (at least in the context of an audition). And I would never think to sing Giants in the sky unless specifically asked to because to me that is suuuch an obvious tenor choice. Pulled surprises me, I wouldn't have thought of that one as overdone but I'd imagine it's done badly more often than it's done well. I just can't when people flip to headvoice for the end of that one..Mix it or belt it but please don't flip- for some reason it just totally does my head in.
Another one is Shy from Once Upon a Mattress. I was at an audition and 3 girls sang it.
Out of the context of an audition though, the intro to Still Hurting is brilliant!
TRUE!
I’m still hurting from hearing these songs 5 million times
Fun audition story: this year I got sick right before my audition for my high school show. So I had to change my song from hopelessly devoted to you from grease to an acty song, new girl in town from hairspray. It actually worked out very well cuz we did little mermaid and the Disney esque hyper-acting got me the part I wanted!
fangirlfortheages oh we did little mermaid this year too, what part did you get? :D
Kєndαll Sιℓνєя a mersister. It was really good cuz I’m shy and a sophomore at a really competitive school
I’d like to recommend a really underrated musical!! It’s called ‘from here to eternity’ and it was on at the west end in 2014 I think? It’s got really good music by Tim Rice and the choreography is insanely good. You can watch it as it was filmed professionally and you can buy it on dvd!! Highly recommend, it’s wonderful
I LOVE From Here to Eternity! I saw it on its closing week and I'm so sorry it isn't on anymore! I live for that recording though!!!! x
as soon as you said that my head literally played *bling* THERE ARE GIANTS IN THE SKY
hahahahha
The thing about 'overdone' audition songs is that people get very defensive about them, when they have no real reason to. Yes, it may hurt you in the first impression to come in with the same song as another person, but in the end, if you perform the song well enough and give it your own life, it may even endear you *more* to the casting directors. It's always felt very elitist, to me, to judge people by their audition songs. While I think videos like these are good guides on songs people might not be aware are overdone, it can be very easy to fall into the trap of being exclusionary, which to me is something that theatre falls prey to and is against it's very *concept*. I like that you picked songs that weren't incredibly obvious, but maybe in the future, provide questioning people with alternative songs, instead of just telling them their picks are bad and moving on? Like, 'If you liked 'Gimme Gimme' from Thoroughly Modern Millie, here's a less overdone song to do instead!'
Love you as always, of course! I just wanted to provide a little constructive criticism!
So true !!! I'm in drama council and I'm very close to my performing arts teacher and she tells us all the time in musical theatre that she's tired of songs from les mis and phantom of the opera. And I have heard giants in the sky a few times- lots of forgetting the lyrics/ mumbling through it. Oh dear.
We get given songs to sing in my high school’s auditions for shows and It’s bitter sweet lol
Love this, please do a part 2? Another one I’ve noticed is She Used to be Mine, especially as most young girls don’t really have the life experience to relate to it... beautiful song though and I love Waitress, just one I’ve heard too many times at auditions:/
At my most recent audition, I was in a group of 20 and three people did journey to the past and four did one perfect moment.
Yikes 😂. I am in a musical theatre course and we had to sing solo songs. I chose Pulled from the Addams Family and my friend Emily chose Still Hurting. You are very right for Pulled at least. A girl had done it in the year above me (I didn’t realise until I had learnt it) and is a much stronger singer than me which made my performance look very weak in comparison. My friend is the first person I heard singing Still hurting and I could literally listen to her sing for hours.
love this video! sadly, i got sick the week of auditions & i've had to change my audition song to "giants in the sky" because i'm too sick to sing anything else. most people at auditions so far (ours span for 3 days) have sung "happy birthday", so i'm not all too worried for it being overdone at this specific audition!
I’m not new to Musical Theatre at all, but I’m always wondering when a song is overdone considering I’m never the one casting. Do you think Legally Blonde is a good show to do an audition song from? It wasn’t that popular and I was thinking of doing,”Ireland.”
For my middle school drama club production of ItW Jr., you could use Giants in the Sky as your audition song for every part, except the witch, since we were given specific songs to do for the audition. Obviously, there were others, but still, the director must’ve heard that so many times.
Here are a few I'm tired of hearing:
Tomorrow - Annie
I Feel Pretty/Somewhere - West Side Story
Sixteen Going On Seventeen - The Sound of Music
Castle on a Cloud/On My Own/I Dreamed a Dream - Les Mis
A Lovely Night - Cinderella
Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again - POTO
Till There Was You - The Music Man
Before the Parade Passes By - Hello, Dolly!
This Is the Moment - Jekyll and Hyde
OMG I agree with every single one of these. We had a performance class in college where we had to bring songs in to perform for my whole department and multiple people would sing all of these songs a million times over the course of my four years in school.
Hi I'm sky and I'm going to be auditioning for the part Heather McNamara and I will be singing helpless from Hamilton
try to avoid singing songs from shows still on broadway!!
also,,, NEVER EVER EVER SING OWN MY ON OR DEFYING GRAVITY!! OR ANYTHING FROM HAMILTON
I've only had to do Giants in the Sky for an audition as it was the song we were told to do for my high school production of Into The Woods.
I didn't get the part sadly
One of the biggest ones..... Mama who bore me.
For my VERY first audition for drama 2 in sixth grade (I got into the class!!) I sang "I can hear the bells" from Hairspray and for some type of reason she she loved it and she was jumping up and down (my friend told me it was because she is one of my class mates mom's, so she is a chaperone for like ALL of the field trips in 5th grade, so she knows me, but she didn't know that I could sing, she she was excited)
That's my go to song
If I auditioned I would do
1. If you want me - Once
2. Worst pies in London - Sweeney Todd
3. Kindergarten Boyfriend - Heathers
4. The Hills Are Alive - The Sound Of Music
5. Burn - Hamilton
A song that I would totally sing for an audition would be Sweet Transvestite or toucha from Rocky Horror.
Im going to a workshop today and we have to bring audition music, and I chose Not For the Life of Me... Im still going to use it because its a little too late, but I do have a few backup pieces just in case 😂😂😂
I typically use If I Had A Fine White Horse from The Secret Garden for auditions. I’m just curious about what everyone else does
Could you possibly do a video like , What’s in my rehearsal bag,, how I learn lines ect?!xx
OOOh I love these ideas!!! x
I had no idea that Pulled from Addams Family and Not For the Life of Me from Thoroughly Modern Millie were used so often, thank you Amy!
my go to ballad is in not that girl from wicked- it fits my range so well
I would like to think that I sang Pulled for an audition before it for overused but I could be wrong... Would never sing it now. Ugh, picking out audition songs give me so much anxiety! Probably for other people too, that's why they choose overdone ones. Great video, Amy!
I love singing With One Look at auditions for school/musical theatre auditions
Also Maybe This Time is such a good song cause you can progress you acting through it
So I have a few auditions for schools coming up and I've chosen Maybe This Time from Cabaret and She Used To Be Mine from Waitress (to contrast) but now I'm regretting SUTB as I think it may be overdone. I've also transposed both the songs because literally every theatre song is too high for me and now I'm panicking
On my own and I dreamed a dream... the amount of times I have heard this song (especially on the internet and auditions). I have done that song for my college audition, I have since found new material and they have worked for my drama school auditions.
Others:
Defying Gravity, Popular, She used to be mine, Let it go, I have a dream, Music of the night and Wishing You were somehow here again
At one audition I heard about 10 Defying Gravity’s
Agree with all of the Sondheim songs! Also I feel like Nothing from A Chorus Line gets chosen a lot and I've seen a very wide range of versions of it...
Once my sister did Shy from Once Upon A Mattress for a hairspray audition. She later learned that three other girls did it at the same audition 😆
KitKat Draws omg I had to do it for an audition and it didn't fit my range.... I hate it so much😂😂
KitKat Draws Our drama club performed Once Upon a Mattress a year ago
It's my opinion that by choosing more obscure or underrated theatre songs, it shows in the audition that you're creative and/or you have put in work to actually find a song that fits your voice and you can act well.
Oh God even worse is when they make What I Did For Love into a romantic love song instead of about the love of dance like it shOULD BE. And there's so many better Last Five Years songs than Still Hurting! I don't even really remember it, but damn I remember See I'm Smiling and Climbing Uphill.
YES YES YES!
Have you watched rise it’s a new show and I just watched the first episode it is about a high school thetere department doing spring awakening as its show the charachters are so good
that sounds interesting, where is it on? TV or a streaming service? :)
Phelie315 it’s on NBC but it’s also on Hulu it comes on tv on tuesdays.
IT HAS AUIL'I FROM MOANA
Idk if I spelt her name right but oh well
ooh I haven't head of it! will have to check it out!
Is Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again one to avoid? I think it's a nice mezzo-ish piece, but I don't know if it's overdone because Phantom is very popular?
Thinking of On My Own? Try Legally Blonde.
Thinking of Burn? Try Sonya Alone.
Thinking of What I Did For Love? Try Nothing.
Thinking of Astonishing? Try So Much Better.
Thinking of Not For The Life Of Me? Try I'd Rather Be Me.
Thinking of Think of Me from Phantom? Try No One Else.
Thinking of Still Hurting? Try Lifeboat.
I was waiting for On My Own to be put in there... it's the worlds most overdone song I swear!
In my own little corner from Cinderella , people do it to be “original “ but I’ve been acting since age 6 and I have yet to not hear it at an audition.
i love astonishing from little women but i hear it so much omg
I always use songs from obscure musicals. Really obscure. Less then 500k views on RUclips obscure. At least the song isn’t overused! If anything, it’s better because it’s a song that hasn’t been used often (if at all), so you have a better chance of standing out. You’re gonna need it when the role you’re auditioning for is especially coveted
I remember once I was going in with Hellfire from Hunchback and at the last moment decided to do Johanna instead. The panel asked me why I chose it when I was done and I could tell by their tone they were not happy I chose it. I got a role in the play. I got LeFou. I guess it was because I was clown and sang Johanna.
New subscriber here! Really loving your channel & hearing your opinions, I could actually just listen to you talk all day
Hey Rachael - ah thank you! So glad you're enjoying my channel!
Love you Amy!!❤❤
love you tooooooo!
The funny thing about on my own is that it’s so universally recognised as overdone so it’s probably never done in auditions anymore, therefore making it underrated again.
*IT’S THE CIIIIIRCLE OF LIIIIIIFE*
What are your thoughts on doing "For Forever" or "So Big/ So Small" from DEH for an audition. It suits my casting type quite well but I haven't been to many auditions so I'm not sure if they are overdone or not.
Don't. It's much better to do songs from a show that's not currently on Broadway.
I totally agree with you, though most of those are my shower songs, i.e never to be heard in public! I was wondering though, I am going to audition for a character whose cast as bubbly bright and energetic. I was thinking of doing Popular from Wicked, but do you think "A trip to the library would be better?
I think a trip to the library would be a great choice as it isn't too overdone!
should i sing Santa Fe for my newsies audition
Does "No One Else" from Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812 count as an overused song? There could be a possiblity that some songs from Waitress can be Overused. Like "She used to be Mine" and "When He Sees Me". Our school does school productions, but they don't do the whole musical. The Grade 12 was competing against the Grade 11. They never did any auditions or anything. Every section had to join, and compete against eachother or each grade. (ps. the grade 12 won. they did Lés Miserables)
I’m so damn lucky, because at my stage school auditions, when we’re doing a show, every single person is doing a pop song, because pretty much nobody else apart from me likes musical theatre. Which means I could do On My Own, but not happening shister.
A few weeks ago I was at an audition and we were waiting for our singing audition. There were six other people with me. Four of these were singing Burn from Hamilton. I was shocked
I agree with these and honestly thought you were going to say on my own from les mis as well 😂
I almost sang Pulled once for an audition but I didn’t end up doing it because I thought the piano part was a bit complicated (which, Pro Tip, is never a good thing). But not doing that song SAVED my skin because the girl who went before me at the audition sang it!! That would have been awkward
At my small school, we had an audition for Getting to Know The Sound of Music. We hAD A GIRL WHO SANG ON MY OWN. AND SHE GOT LIESL. I'M NOT JOKING! If you're wondering, I got Brigitta! I'm so excited! My awesome director is adding back in Elsa, and giving each kid a solo part in A Lonely Goatherd. I was actually surprised that Brigitta has an equal amount of importance as Liesl in the play! I'll update here after Spring Break.
Hey I am totally in agreement with your choices. I love the If/then soundtrack and I saw the show with aiding Menzel and James Snyder, and Anthony Rapp as the leads. And I adore “Always Starting Over” but as it’s sung by Menzel. I’ve heard it at karaoke, and I hate it.