I definitely believe in keeping a healthy repertoire of audition material alive (both songs and monologues for me, since I'm a musical theatre actor), and I try to tailor my list based on what's happening out there.

I know that most auditions consist of pretty conventional 16 bars/one-minute monologue stuff, but every once in a while you get the odd director or CD that wants to see something unusual or specific. Every time I hear about something new, I try to incorporate it into my repertoire so I'll be prepared if it ever happens to me... y'know, just in case.

So I'm curious... has anyone ever had a request to do unusual material at auditions? Some of the most unconventional ones I've run across are:

- A two-minute monologue in which the actor portrays three or more characters
- A song audition from a show that came out the same year as the show being cast (in this case, i think it was 1972)
- A monologue adapted from a non-traditional source (i.e. interview, short story, magazine article, etc)
- A monologue where you purposely play against type (i.e. way too young or old, ingenue if you're a character actor, etc)
- A (and this is a direct quote) "Sondheim-esque song not written by Sondheim"



Any thoughts? What different types of material do you try to keep current in your repertoire? My current list consists of about 25 "categories" of monologues, and 35 of songs. Anyone else?

Wow, kinnniggets, it sounds as if you are VERY prepared! In my experience, you can never prepare FULLY in advance for what a director will want. At a recent audition I was at, the director asked the actor to do the monologue again "as if he was walking on hot coals" and then another "as if the sun was rising as he spoke." Both actors just had to be flexible to meet those requests... I know you are talking about prepared material, not direction, but I guess my point is that at a certain point we have to accept that we have prepared enough, and move on to other issues (like acting or singing classes, etc.) It sounds to me like you are more than prepared! But, like you, I am very interested to see what most people have in their repertoire. I think I have about 6 monologues "at the ready" and a couple songs (but I'm not a musical theatre actor, I'm sure you guys need more!). AND I am LA based, where almost no one wants monologues..It's cold read city out here.

Anyone else want to share what they have as their audition ready material?

Some of my friends have teased me about having a huge audition book and, in fact, I just finished culling it because I recently had a Musical Director play, "Let's look through this and see what else you have in here" and I found myself silently praying, "Don't pick that, or that...". If it's in your book, it should be on its feet and ready to go. Once a month, I try to set aside an extra hour to sing through my book with my voice teacher just to make sure it's all ready. I've been blessed to have both a voice teacher and vocal coach (two different jobs, folks!) who are both very knowledgable in finding good material. I credit Ted Kociolek for providing my 'Master List'. Here's what I keep in my book:

16 bar Contemporary (post 1970, not Sondheim) Generic Ballad
16 bar Contemporary (post 1970, not Sondheim) Character Ballad
16 bar Contemporary (post 1970, not Sondheim) Generic Uptempo
16 bar Contemporary (post 1970, not Sondheim) Character Uptempo
16 bar Standard (1920-1970) Generic Ballad
16 bar Standard (1920-1970) Character Ballad
16 bar Standard (1920-1970) Generic Uptempo
16 bar Standard (1920-1970) Character Uptempo

I have the full songs for these in case someone asks, "Can I hear a little more of that?" It's happened, I only get caught with my pants down once. That said, it's funny but they're not usually my first choice for the categories below, some are great 16 bar cuts but 'eh' as full length choices. So in addition, I have:

A Generic Contemporary Ballad
A Generic Contemporary Uptempo
A Character Contemporary Ballad
A Character Contemporary Uptempo
A Generic Standard Ballad
A Generic Standard Uptempo
A Character Standard Ballad
A Character Standard Uptempo
A Lloyd Webber Song
Two Sondheim Songs
I have two good songs that show off my legit voice
I have two patter songs, one Gilbert & Sullivan and one contemporary
An uptempo and a ballad appropriate to Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA)
A good Jazz and a good blues song
Period/pop songs from the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and 90s. I skipped the 80s, I try to forget that decade
I need a good Country/Western song but any more and my binder will explode.

I know that sounds like a lot but in the last six months, I have sung everything in the book except for the jazz piece and some of the period ones. There's a thrill to walk into an audition for a workshop of a new musical that you know nothing about, hear a brief description of the story and style, and be able to smile and say, "You know, I have just the song for that." I am now working on my monologue book (yes, book!) so that I can do the same thing there. My list for that has twenty slots (Anyone take Karen's class?) and I'm up to twelve now. Acting is preparation, right?

SecondBanana,

Actually, that sounds quite a bit like my list. And I also get a lot of grief for mine, but I'm lucky in that once I latch on to a piece of material and learn it and work it up (for both songs and monologues), it usually just sticks with me, and I don't have to work too hard to keep it up. So I'm not busting my carcass to be over-prepared... just trying to always add new things and hang on to the old stuff, too.