The hills are alive...

Another day, another audition coaching session.

There’s a lot of hype at the moment for the new production of The Sound of Music in the West End. Andrew Lloyd Webber is on the lookout for a new unknown, and is auditioning for unprofessional actresses to play Maria.

Yes I know that’s not true, but it makes a great line. (I believe the brief is an actress without full professional experience.) Anyway, two of my clients have had auditions for the role of Sister Berthe, and needed advice on repertoire to take. The requirement was a Rodgers and Hammerstein song and an own choice piece.

For Sister Berthe we have a couple of pieces of information from the excellent Stage Agent website – she is the mistress of the novices (so we assume she has some ability with disciplining young people) and she is strict (well, that answers that one then). So we are on the lookout for music that will suit a strict nun. Hmm.

Now I like taking music and giving it a slight tilt. So with the first client I suggested the little-known piece from Cinderella – The Stepsisters’ Lament. Cinderella was one of the first musicals written for TV, and is a Rodgers and Hammerstein piece. We played the song (which is originally a duet) as a solo for a strict teacher at a senior girls’ school.

I set the scenario as standing for several minutes in the staff room listening to a group of teachers raving about a particular student. Having got impatient with them, she launches into the song pointing out that though the student may be good, clever, pretty and an all-round achiever, she is still irritating and doesn’t deserve to win all the acclaim.

This scenario gives enough of the vexed feeling without getting too strident, and keeping it in the appropriate age range, both of the character singing (40s and upwards) and the subject (late teens, early 20s).

Visit http://www.vocalprocess.co.uk for the latest downloads:
the Vocal Process eZINE (free electronic magazine)
86 things you never hear a singer say (free ebook)
Looking at a Voice (endoscopy video download)