In Defense of Auditioning with Material from the Show

by Chris Peterson

There’s a long-standing bit of gatekeeping in theatre auditions that needs to go the way of dial-up internet and mandatory pantyhose: this idea that auditioning with a song from the show is some kind of theatrical faux pas.

You know the rule. “Please do not sing from the show.” Or worse, those directors who allow it but sneer the moment you launch into a familiar melody, as if you’ve just violated sacred protocol. It’s tired. It’s elitist. And it’s robbing people of their best shot.

Let’s be clear: there is absolutely nothing wrong with auditioning with a song from the show you're auditioning for. In fact, sometimes it’s the smartest thing you can do. You're not trying to show them how well you can sing some obscure ballad from an off-Broadway flop no one's heard of since 1992. You're trying to show them you can sing this role, in this show, on this stage.

You know what’s hard? Nailing the character, the emotion, and the vocal style of this specific show and then getting judged for doing exactly that because someone thinks it’s “unimaginative.” No. What’s unimaginative is forcing actors to interpret a completely different composer and still expecting them to channel the vibe of your production like some kind of theatrical mind reader.

And let’s say this louder for the people in the back: Auditions are not scavenger hunts. They’re not supposed to be a contest of who can find the weirdest cut of the weirdest song no one else will be doing. That’s not artistry, it’s pageantry. This idea that you have to unearth some forgotten Sondheim deep cut just to be taken seriously is absurd. Auditions are about fit, not obscurity. If the best fit is something from the show itself, so be it.

Here’s a secret most of us know but too many directors forget: a good performance is a good performance. Period. If someone walks in and delivers the hell out of “Oh What A Beautiful Morning” when they’re trying to play Curly, and it works? Cast them. Don’t dock them points because you’ve arbitrarily decided that showing you exactly what they can do in your show is somehow “too on the nose.”

Yes, I get it. Directors want to see if you can make interesting choices. But that has nothing to do with whether the song is from the show and everything to do with whether the actor understands the material. And guess what? Someone choosing to audition with the song from the role they want isn’t lazy. It’s brave. Because they’re telling you, straight up: “I can do this. Let me prove it.”

We should want actors to walk into the room with confidence. We should want them to feel like they have every tool available to succeed. So why on earth would we punish them for picking a song that actually helps them shine?

To the directors who forbid this out of tradition, maybe re-examine why the rule exists in the first place. And to the actors nervously hovering over their audition book wondering if they’ll be judged for going with the obvious choice, pick the obvious choice. If it shows your range, if it tells your story, if it gets you closer to the role, sing the damn song.

Because at the end of the day, we’re not auditioning to win some arcane trivia night. We’re auditioning to find the right person for the job. So let people show you exactly what they’ve got. And if what they’ve got is on the page, in the score, and from the show, even better.