Huge List of Musical Theatre Songs for Legit Sopranos and Mezzos

Drawing from shows as diverse as Alphabet City Cycle, Bridges of Madison County, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Wicked, and many many more, Kevin Michael Jones' gigantic list is a great resource for singers and pianists looking to expand their contemporary MT rep.

200 Contemporary Musical Theatre Songs for "Legit" Sopranos and Mezzos

Not sure what "Legit" means? Take a look at Kevin's article on the four main types of singers on Broadway today.

Pasek and Paul's Do You Remember

Here's a hidden gem that one of my students introduced to me earlier this year: Do You Remember by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, from a projected and as yet uncompleted Peter Pan sequel. The ageless Peter Pan (sung here by Gavin Creel) meets an aging Wendy:



This performance is with Tampa-based pianist Robert Jarosh and a very talented, though unnamed singer David Michael Bevis (thanks Robert!):



You can purchase the sheet music on the Pasek and Paul website. It's well worth the $8.99 price tag, and the piano part is very well written.

(Thanks, Stevie!)

Show Guides for Music Directors

Peter Hilliard at Music Directing the School Musical has taken the time to create two music director's guides for frequently performed shows, covering versions, casting, materials, errata, and advice on trouble spots.These are incredibly useful resources and hopefully he has more on the way.

Annie: A Rough Guide for the M.D.
Thoroughly Modern Millie: A Rough Guide for the M.D.

Musical Theater vs. Opera

Patricia Causey's Musical Theater Talk on BlogTalkRadio looks at current issues relevant to the musical theater world. Her April 16 episode, Musical Theater vs. Opera - Double-dipping Between the Two is particularly interesting, with differing views on whether opera and musical theater styles are converging or moving apart. Running time is around 1 hour 30 minutes.

[Update: I've deleted the embedded BlogTalkRadio widget, which is set to play automatically and might end up becoming irritating after a while. Click on the link above for the program.]

Follow-up Regarding Musical Theater CP Programs and Training

I've been receiving a few requests for information about musical theater programs for collaborative pianists. In the comments of my Degree Programs posting, I received the following from an anonymous reader:

someone asked about a musical theater accompanying degree program... i am very interested in musical theater accompanying as well and wanted to share how i've gotten my fill of it in school. i got my mm at university of michigan and am now getting my dma... they have a big MT department and i was able to work with some of the pianists in it. i took a year long seminar on problems one might encounter in the MT world (arranging, transposing, realizing better accompaniments than the printed ones, and a repertoire study) with a pianist on the faculty, then later played for one of their shows with another pianist/conductor. they also offered to let me accompany dance classes and rehearsals for that experience. if someone is interested in that line of work, i suggest that you look for a school with a good MT department like michigan, cincinnati, etc, and just make yourself available to the department. often, MT departments are hurting for good pianists... although, i've found keeping up my classical studies as well keeps me enriched. later in my life, i would be interested in teaching the MT side of collaborative piano.

Thanks for your story, anonymous commenter. The opera and musical theater sides of the coaching/repetiteur career track can often seem to be mutually exclusive, and I don't presume to know the ins and outs of building a career in musical theater. I'm glad there are programs and apprenticeships at places like Michigan and Cinncinnati that can help develop the next wave of musical theater pianists.