Building Your Book: Musical Theater Audition Repertoire

Presented by Alex Ratner

Held in person (review requirements for in-person activity)

Refresh your audition “book” with this five-week intensive dedicated to diversifying your musical theatre repertoire. Led by composer, music director and arranger Alex Ratner, each week focuses on a different era/style of musical theatre — from the Golden Age through contemporary pop/rock — as Alex assigns and coaches students on two contrasting, tailor-made audition cuts, drawing on a database of 500+ custom audition selections.

Students are expected to prepare two new 32-bar audition pieces (~1 minute long each) prior to each week’s class, using sheet music and reference recordings provided, and will leave the workshop with a unique “book” of 8 personally curated audition cuts covering a wide range of material: comedy, drama, ballads, uptempos, etc.

FOR THE FIRST DAY: Participants should bring sheet music for 1-2 current audition song selections (one song is fine, two is preferable) for the first session, when Alex will get to know everyone’s vocal ranges and musical interests. Any songs will work, from musicals or not. Students need not be able to read music, but everyone should be prepared to sing each week.