TheatreNerds Click the ‘More Details’ under the song to get context, see lyrics and hear the song. To clarify, by ‘fresh’ we do not mean new, but under-done or overlooked songs that are great for auditioning.
Here are 51 fresh audition songs for altos:
1. Nobody’s Chasing Me from ‘Out of This World’
Range : F3-Bb4
Style : Uptempo (Golden Age)
Mood : Frustrated, Comedic
2. Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm from ‘How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying’
Range : C4-Eb5
Style : Ballad
Mood : Romantic, Comedic, Flirtatious
3. If He Really Knew Me from ‘They’re Playing Our Song’
Range : G3-B4
Style : Ballad
Mood : Romantic, Pivotal Moment
4. You’d Better Love Me from ‘High Spirits’
Range : A3-C#5
Style : Midtempo (Swing)
Mood : Romantic, Sassy
5. Disneyland from ‘Smile’
Range : G3-D5
Style : Ballad
Mood : Hopeful, Uplifting
6. Plant You Now, Dig You Later from ‘Pal Joey’
Range : Bb3-D5
Style : Midtempo (Golden Age)
Mood : Romantic, Conniving
7. You Don’t Tell Me from ‘No Strings’
Range : Ab3-C5
Style : Midtempo Swing
Mood : Kiss-Off, Defiant, Empowering
8. Someone Woke Up from ‘Do I Hear A Waltz?’
Range : A3-B4
Style : Uptempo
Mood : Excited, Fascinated
9. That Terrific Rainbow from ‘Pal Joey’
Range : B3-Bb4
Style : Midtempo Swing (Golden Age)
Mood : Sassy, Seductive
10. How I Feel from ‘The Me Nobody Knows’
Range : G3-C5
Style : Ballad
Mood : Dramatic, Heartbreak
11. The Colors of My Life from ‘Barnum’
Range : C4-Eb5
Style : Ballad
Mood : Introspective, Romantic
12. City Lights from ‘The Act’
Range : G3-F5
Style : Uptempo Rag
Mood : Comedic, Sassy, Showstopper
13. What A Nice Idea from ‘Two Gentlemen of Verona’
Range : A3-B4
Style : Midtempo (Soft Rock)
Mood : Jealous, Romantic
14. What Is A Woman from ‘I Do! I Do!’
Range : G3-Db5
Style : Ballad
Mood : Dramatic, Nostalgic
15. Old Friend from ‘I’m Getting My Act Together And Taking It On the Road’
Range : G3-Db5
Style : Ballad (Pop)
Mood : Romantic, Uplifting
16. The Music Still Plays On from ‘A New Brain’
Range : F#3-G4
Style : Ballad (Contemporary)
Mood : Nostalgic, Motherly
17. Millwork from ‘Working’
Range : A3-A4
Style : Ballad (Soft Rock)
Mood : Nostalgic, Emotional
18. If You Hadn’t But You Did from ‘Two On the Aisle’
Range : G3-C5
Style : Uptempo
Mood : Comedic, Break-up, Showstopper
19. Lazy Afternoon from ‘The Golden Apple’
Range : F3-C5
Style : Ballad (Golden Age)
Mood : Romantic, Seductive
20. Ladies from ‘Destry Rides Again’
Range : G3-Bb4
Style : Midtempo (Golden Age)
Mood : Comedic, Sassy
21. How Can I Wait? from ‘Paint Your Wagon’
Range : F3-C5
Style : Midtempo (Golden Age)
Mood : Romantic, Infatuated
22. Goodbye My Love from ‘Ragtime’
Range : F#3-Db5
Style : Ballad (Waltz)
Mood : Hopeful, Dramatic, Romantic
23. My Big Mistake from ‘The Will Rogers Follies’
Range : F3-D5
Style : Uptempo Swing
Mood : Romantic, Light-hearted
24. I Wish I Could Forget You from ‘Passion’
Range : A3-E5
Style : Ballad (Contemporary)
Mood : Dark, Romantic, Dramatic
25. Change from ‘A New Brain’
Range : F3-D5
Style : Uptempo (Contemporary)
Mood : Boisterous, Outgoing
26. No Time At All from ‘Pippin’
Range : E3-A4
Style : Uptempo (Swing)
Mood : Carefree, 60s Pop-feel, Comedic
27. Our Kind of Love from ‘The Beautiful Game’
Range : G3-D5
Style : Midtempo (Waltz)
Mood : Romantic, Inspiring
28. Why Do the Wrong People Travel? from ‘Sail Away’
Range : C4-Eb5
Style : Midtempo (Golden Age)
Mood : Comedic, Wise-cracking
29. Hold On from ‘The Secret Garden’
Range : F3-B4
Style : Ballad (Contemporary)
Mood : Motherly, Dramatic
30. If He Walked Into My Life from ‘Mame’
Range : Bb3-D5
Style : Ballad
Mood : Regretful, Dramatic
31. It’s a Helluva Way to Run a Love Affair from ‘Plain and Fancy’
Range : G3-C5
Style : Uptempo Swing (Golden Age)
Mood : Comedic, Romantic
32. I Ain’t Down Yet from ‘The Unsinkable Molly Brown’
Range : Bb3-F5
Style : Uptempo (Golden Age)
Mood : Empowering, Confident
33. Turn Back, O Man from ‘Godspell’
Range : D3-D5
Style : Midtempo (Rock/Blues)
Mood : Husky, Seductive
34. Anyone Can Whistle from ‘Anyone Can Whistle’
Range : G3-C5
Style : Ballad (Golden Age)
Mood : Romantic, Hopeful
35. Look to the Rainbow from ‘Finian’s Rainbow’
Range : Bb3-Eb5
Style : Ballad (Golden Age)
Mood : Story-telling, Inspirational
36. How Are Things in Glocca Morra from ‘Finian’s Rainbow’
Range : A3-F5
Style : Ballad (Golden Age)
Mood : Folk tune-esque, Nostalgic
37. The Best In the World from ‘A Day In Hollywood, A Night in the Ukraine’
Range : F3-D5
Style : Ballad
Mood : Nostalgic, Dramatic
38. Stop, Time from ‘Big the Musical’
Range : G3-D5
Style : Ballad (Contemporary)
Mood : Motherly, Dramatic
39. I Just Want to Be a Star from ‘Nunsense’
Range : G3-C5
Style : Midtempo (Swing)
Mood : Showstopper, Comedic, Sassy
40. Kiss Her Now from ‘Dear World’
Range : Ab3-E5
Style : Ballad
Mood : Romantic, Dramatic
41. It’s A Business from ‘Curtains’
Range : C3-Ab5
Style : Midtempo (Swing)
Mood : Comedic, Wise-cracking, Character number
42. Lucky from ‘A Little Princess’
Range : G3-C5
Style : Midtempo (Contemporary)
Mood : Jealous, Villainous, Cantankerous
43. It’s An Art from ‘Working’
Range : A3-D5
Style : Uptempo (Waltz)
Mood : Proud, Empowering
44. The Cake I Had from ‘Grey Gardens’
Range : F#3-C#5
Style : Midtempo (Swing)
Mood : Comedic, Regretful, Cantankerous
45. I’m Going Back from ‘Bells Are Ringing’
Range : Bb3-D5
Style : Uptempo (Golden Age, Jazzy)
Mood : Empowering, Finale
46. Flaming Agnes from ‘I Do! I Do!’
Range : D3-Db5
Style : Midtempo (Jazzy)
Mood : Sassy, Comedic, Confident
47. Kiss of the Spider Woman from ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’
Range : G#3-G#5
Style : Midtempo (Waltz)
Mood : Dark, Menacing, Villainous
48. Special from ‘Avenue Q’
Range : F3-Db5
Style : Midtempo (Jazzy)
Mood : Sassy, Seductive, Tongue-in-Cheek
49. Teaching Third Grade from ‘Ruthless’
Range : Eb3-B4
Style : Midtempo (Contemporary)
Mood : Comedic, Sarcastic
50. The Dark I Know Well from ‘Spring Awakening’
Style: Midtempo (contemporary)
Mood: Dramatic, Story-Telling
51. Just Around The Corner from ‘The Addams Family’
Style: Midtempo
Mood: Dark comedy, Satirical, Awkwardly inspirational
beautiful from heathers!
Or Fight For Me, which is easier because the solo is longer
I don’t think they would be good for altos- more suited fro Mezzo-Soprano’s. Beautiful goes in to Defying Gravity territory, and Fight For Me is borderline.
Well, they’re talking about audition material. You only want 16-32 bars for an audition unless they’re asking for songs in their entirety. I like to do “Privilege To Pee” from Urinetown. The song has high parts, but a low alto could easily put together 16 bars from it without using those parts.
I agree that they go out of the Alto range
Actually, I can hit the notes in Beautiful AND in Fight For Me but I am not nearly close enough to hitting Defying Gravity notes so Beautiful is a good choice for Altos!
While Beautiful is a good song, I would not recommend this as an audition song. During auditions I recommend choosing a song from a less well known musical so you can surprise the audition “judgers” with an amazing song they probably haven’t heard in a while. Also, beautiful does have good singing parts, there is a lot of little monologues in the middle and they want to hear a song during your song and a monologue during your monologue.
From Brigaden. My mothers wedding day and the real love of my life.
nothing stops another day from Ghost
Days And Days from Fun Home, Black Is A Moocher from The Wild Party (LaChiuisa)
Can you do one for sopranos please
Playing Nancy from groundhog day
Don’t suppose you know if sheet music is out for groundhog day yet?
“Right Hand Man” from Something Rotten. Great song!
I’m doing that one for my very first community theatre audition
“I didn’t plan it” from Waitress
“Humming” and “It Was Always Always You” from Carnival, and “The Sweetest Sounds” from No Strings.
Another amazing song for altos is She Used To Be Mine from Waitress. It has just enough range to show off how high you can go if needed, but not so much that it’s made for sopranos. It has some gorgeous low bits to really show off tone and style.
A Girl Before from American Psycho is a good one that’s not even close to overused.
There are worse things I could do from grease!!
The audition song I am using for my next musical is I Want to be Bad from Good News.
a good one would also be ireland from legally blonde
I looked up originally “recent songs for altos” and I got this but didn’t know any of these songs. I think that I know most of today’s music so… not completely satisfied.
I think that’s the point. They’re fresh so if you use them, people won’t roll their eyes at your basic song choice.
I would love a fresh list of audition songs for sopranos! 😊
I’ve Been Married and Married (“to Keep My Love Alive”)
From Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
Comedic narrative
said this before but this is with corrected title
Burn from Hamilton
is that and alto song?
It works for altos or sopranos, but I think every director on the planet has gotten sick of it by now. : (
I don’t recommend doing a song from Hamilton. Popular musicals will annoy the people who are listening to your audition.
Stars and the moon (songs for a new world)
“Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride” from I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change!!! ❤️
“Alto’s Lament” It is such a funny song that is too real for altos.
Requiem from dear Evan Hansen is pretty good if you have the range and it can showcase it in a matter of bars but its more for a second soprano.
A Million Dreams, from The Greatest Showman.
You Must Love Me, from Evita
Maps, from Fun Home
I have never heard of any of these songs. Maybe choose some alto songs that people may know better.
Another suggestion is “Little Girls” from Annie 2014 movie by Cameron Diaz
These are 51 “Fresh” Songs, not 51 “Well-known” songs or 51 “Overused” songs. If you haven’t heard of any of these, perhaps it’s time to give them a listen on youtube and to expand your repertoire?
@BethanyBrown exactly
Unlucky at Gambling! (Fifty Million Frenchmen) it’s a Cole Porter song that’s great for Golden Age shows!
Home from Beauty and the Beast, no one really knows this one, because they’ve never heard the Broadway version.
On My Own from Les Miserables would be good for someone who had a range that was in between alto and soprano.
Do not do On My Own or I Dreamed A Dream from les miserables. They are on the overused song list and ARE NOT good for auditions.
I’ll Be Here from Ordinary Days. Though, it is more of a mezzo-soprano song.
City Of Stars from La La Land
Favorite Things from The Sound Of Music
are also good alto songs!
If you’re an alto with a bit of range or pretty versatile, I recommend looking at Living in the Moment by Katharine McPhee. It’s actually from Book Club, and quite a good song, a bit of a challenge though.
YES! Its so under-rated and such a great way to show your range especially during the bridge. Some altos might not be able to do it but I think most can.
Literally none of these songs have a karaoke version anywhere and most of them you cant get the sheet music for for free … so how am I supposed to practice… it’s not the same when you do it with the vocals of someone else at the same time
I love that they didn’t put songs from ultra-popular shows and instead chose lesser-known ones that made good audition material. Well done, Theatre Nerds.
Plus Avenue Q is my favorite musical and I want it to get as much recognition as possible, so again, well done.