G&S is like opera - if you know the aria from the operetta for the character you want to play, sing that. If you don't, sing another G&S aria for a similar character in another of their operettas - e.g., if you're auditioning for Ruth in PIRATES sing another buffa-contralto aria from G&S. If you know no G&S arias at all, sing an operetta-like song with a similar sensibility. I have auditioned for G&S using G&S, Ivor Novello, Noel Coward, Frederic Norton (who wrote Chu Chin Chow), and Lerner & Loewe. I've had positive responses to all of these. I remember when I was cast as Little Buttercup, my original audition piece was "Fly Home Little Heart" by Ivor Novello. I've never had much success, on the other hand, using Katisha's "Alone and Yet Alive" in an audition because unless the audition pianist already knows it, it is apparently quite difficult for many PIANISTS (vs. true accompanists who know how to listen to and "follow" singers) to sight-read effectively. But then, I've had to struggle through so many auditions where the pianist was totally inept at sight-reading, I've stopped slapping my forehead in wonderment that the director would even consider USING such a pianist, and instead learned to be forthright enough to politely stop singing to ask the auditors whether they wouldn't rather hear me _a capella_ instead of struggling to be heard over excruciatingly bad piano playing. So far, 2 out of 3 music directors have taken me up on the offer, and I've been called back because they were able to hear that *I* was able to perform the song even if the pianist wasn't.
KM ............................ NEIL SHICOFF, TENORE SUPREMO http://www.radix.net/~dalila/shicoff/shicoff.html
My Own Website http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + I sing hymns with my spirit, + + but I also sing hymns with my mind. + + - 1 Corinthians 14:15 + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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