Choosing Audition Songs for BFA Programs

Quick answer: Most BFA programs ask for two contrasting songs — usually one uptempo and one ballad, or one Golden Age and one contemporary selection — chosen to show range, not just vocal range. The song that serves you best is one that fits your actual voice and age, tells a clear story you can act honestly, and holds up to a cut. Whether it's "overdone" matters far less than whether you can make it yours; plenty of well-worn songs still book callbacks every season when the person singing them commits to the material.

Contrast is the point, not a technicality

Programs ask for two contrasting songs because they're trying to see two different things from you in a short amount of time: your legato and your belt, your comedic timing and your dramatic weight, or your older and newer stylistic range. The Musical Theater Common Prescreen, a shared standard many programs follow, frames this as choosing one song from before 1970 and one from after, or one traditional musical theatre song paired with something stylistically different. Either framing points to the same goal: pick two songs that don't sound like they came from the same afternoon.

Choose the song that fits you, not the room

The material that reads best is rarely the hardest or the flashiest — it's the one that fits your actual voice, sits in a comfortable part of your range, and matches material you can act honestly at your age. A song written for a character a decade older than you, or a belt that sits at the very top edge of what you can sustain safely on a given day, tends to show the effort more than the performance. If a piece asks you to reach for an emotional extreme you haven't lived yet or can't yet justify honestly, it's usually harder to sell than something quieter that you fully understand.

Cut length depends on which system a school uses

Once you've chosen the song, the cut has to fit what the school actually asks for, and that varies by system. Some schools set their own bar-based cuts, commonly 32 bars, 16 bars, or a strict one minute. Others follow the Musical Theater Common Prescreen's time-based approach, which asks for a fuller 60 to 90 second excerpt instead of a bar count. Our full breakdown of both systems covers how to tell which applies to a given school, and what actually gets a cut disqualified.

What "overdone" really means, and how much weight to give it

An overdone song isn't disqualifying, it's just a song a lot of auditors have heard many times, which raises the bar slightly on making it feel specific to you. Backstage spoke with professors at six musical theatre college programs and put together a list of songs coming up constantly at auditions, and their honest conclusion is worth sitting with: as one contributor put it, the real question is "does this song suit their strengths" and whether you can make your version "unique to you," more than whether the title itself is common. A song like "Almost Like Being in Love" has been sung at auditions for decades and still works when someone commits to it fully; a rarer song sung without any real ownership of the story doesn't automatically fare better. If you're drawn to something well-known, a good teacher or coach can usually help you find the specific angle that makes your take distinct, rather than steering you away from it outright.

Building a book that works across your whole list

Once you have songs that fit your voice and satisfy the contrast requirement, the more practical question becomes how many schools a given pair can serve. A 32-bar cut built for one school might need retiming for another using a 60-90 second MTCP cut, so it's worth tracking not just which songs you're using but which specific cut of each one has gone to which school, and whether it's still available for reuse elsewhere on your list.

Where to go next

• Confirm which cut system each school on your list uses
• Build your audition book and track readiness on each piece
• See how song selection fits into the full audition timeline

The right song for an audition room is rarely a secret weapon nobody else has found. It's the one you understand well enough to make an audience forget they've heard it before.