Revitalising Your Repertoire: Songs by Schwartz

How many composers have had as many hit musicals across as many decades as Stephen Schwartz? Wicked, Godspell, Pippin, Children of Eden… the list goes on! This means there’s a plethora of interesting and varied material to choose from when it comes to adding one of his songs to your repertoire. 

Here’s five of his songs that we love and work well in auditions:

Lion Tamer

This is a fantastic example of an “I want” song that is also a good audition length if you cut the second verse and go straight to the bridge. It’s from The Magic Show which is a one-act musical set in a seedy nightclub that ran for four years on Broadway in the 70s. The one trick to this song is the time signature, the unusual 7/4. Make sure you’re across where each of the phrases begin. 

Here’s the song in context featuring Didi Conn (if you’re trying to figure out where you know her from, she’s most famous as Frenchy in Grease). It could go a little faster than this tempo for an audition.

You can get the sheet music here.

Proud Lady

Here’s a brilliant number from The Baker’s Wife. Again, it’s an “I want” song but this time with a fair dose of over-confidence and lack of self-awareness! It’s a great song to have in your audition folder because it has two sections that let you show contrasting skills: the patter and quick-thinking verses and the tone-filled long notes of the chorus. It needs a SEVERE cut to make it work for an audition, but there are multiple ways you can achieve this easily. 

Here’s a great version by Nick Rashad Burroughs:

Sheet music here.

The Spark of Creation

From Children of Eden, this is a great energetic uptempo number that lets you show warmth, drive and vocal control. It can be judiciously cut to allow for a few different lengths. Make sure you’re familiar with the interval jumps in the choruses - they’re tricky! Using the exercises from the “Tuned Up” category of Warm Me Up will be helpful.

Here’s Shoshana Bean (we love her voice and the clarity of her story telling)

And here’s the wonderful Stephanie Mills from the original production.

The sheet music is available here.

It’s An Art

We love a song that lets you say, “let me share with you what I know about the world” and this is one of those! It’s from Working, which incidentally is full of great stand alone songs from a variety of composers. This one will need a significant cut to be of appropriate audition length - PLEASE don’t do the whole thing!  

Here’s Lenora Nemetz from the original company of Working

And back from the days of variety TV (why don’t we do musical numbers on TV anymore?), here’s the legendary Rita Moreno (you’re welcome)

Sheet Music is here.

Beautiful City

Written for the film and a concert version of Godspell - this song is a potent reminder of resilience and the power of community. It feels appropriate to include it in our list at this time. It works well at many different tempos and suits a variety of singers.

Here’s Hunter Parrish from the most recent Broadway revival (the whole Warm Me Up team has become obsessed with this version!)

And here’s the silky smooth tones of Ramin Karimloo

You can find sheet music here.

Remember to warm up with Warm Me Up app before jumping in to your singing practice and please let us know what warm ups work best for which songs!