Pippin Audition Help!

[nanodayo]

My high school is doing Pippin next fall and I am debating between trying out for the Leading Player or Fastrada and I’m having trouble researching audition songs for either of them. I’m an alto in my chorus, but my range can extend throughout all of the female voice parts and even most of the tenor part. I definitely have a richer voice than my classmates, and I tend to mix-belt a lot. Many people have told me that my voice can be operatic, though I have no issue belting. I am a very loud singer as well. Fastrada is appealing because I tend to play villains in musicals, but I love the bold character of the Leading Player. I must note that I am not a dancer. I can learn dancing and put the time and effort into it, but I have never been in dance classes, so my dance skills do not set me apart from everyone else. I feel that my bold singing stands out though, and my ability to create a strong character. If people in my school are great dancers, they typically do not stand out in singing or acting (from the people who’ve auditioned before), so I’m considering the Leading Player because I believe my singing and portrayal of her will compensate for the lack of dance skills. If anyone had suggestions on which character I should play or audition songs for either (or both would be preferable so I can sort of try out for both), please let me know! Thank you!

[Grace Axcelson]

My school did Pippin this year, and I was in the same place as you! Both characters are very fun, but both are demanding in different ways. Obviously Leading Player has more stage time which means more songs, acting, and definitely dancing. However, you can play a lot more with your interpretation of the character. Meanwhile, Fastrada is a little less demanding, but the scenes that she's in command stage presence. Especially Spread a Little Sunshine!! Some schools choose not to include the dance break in that song, but my school did. Considering I'm not a great dancer and I'm very loud, I chose to audition for Fastrada and I got the part!! Hope that helped :)

[Sage5]

I did Pippin freshman year of high school and we gave parts based on seniority (not a performing arts school, focused primarily on academics) but I was leading player understudy!! I have the same larger range thing going on and sang tenor sometimes, alto most of the time, and soprano when they couldn't hit the notes bc for some reason I just had a huge range. The leading player would be great for someone with this sort of vocal range imo bc it was originally a guy part so ends up low (singing where the guy did) and high (singing up the octave) and goes all over the place. I do have dance experience so can't really put myself in your shoes in that regard but I'd still suggest you go for leading player, honestly in my production we had people dance around her a lot and she had more singing/acting than dancing anyway!

[EmptyChairs]

If you were going for the Leading Player (Which is on my list of roles I want to play before I die) I would look into the works Bob Fosse was involved in. One I find particularly helpful, which I have been in, is Chicago. The dance styles are the same, and same with the style of a lot of the songs. For the dancing portion, look up fosse style dancing, especially the doll-like moves (for a number like Glory. A good example of a dance number that would use a lot of doll fosse is Both Reached For The Gun), and also look at songs from shows in which someone is as if they were a ringleader, like Billy Flynn from Chicago and the Genie from Aladdin for instance. The style is more like Flynn, but neither really captures the complexity of the Leading Player, and I would say it is one of the most complex theatre characters.