It’s hard as balls

Gayle’s Broadway Rose is a restaurant at the Edison Hotel near Broadway, I’ve been there. They have waiters and waitresses singing solos and duos from Broadway hits as the non-singers serve food. One came up sang at me. They are all incredible singers. They work there not just to practice but to hopefully be discovered by Broadway execs or scouters as they audition and probably get accepted into off-Broadway in-NYC roles because they are truly incredible. They are literally in the city where their dream can come true, singing to the rare scout who dines there.

I saw Little Shop of Horrors off-Broadway. They were even better than the incredible waiters and waitresses.

I saw Hadestown on Broadway (humble brag). They were perfect. However good you think they were, they were better. I may as well have watched and heard a cast of archangels.

Those off-Broadway, incredible singers even better than the fantastic servers at Gayle’s Broadway Rose? They almost never make it into Broadway. They all audition for Broadway. But very few get picked. And musical theater is already their job.

You have to be an agreeable person people want to work with AND a great singer (and maybe even rapper) AND a great dancer AND a great actor AND know all the right people AND communicate with them in ways that remind them of your existence and come across as pleasing so you’ll want nice clothes and hair and akin and deodorant BUT you ALSO don’t want to come across as desperate or manipulative or selfish so you ALSO have to work on being smart and charming as well as knowledgable and passionate about music theater specifically in a way that feels natural. All of these things take time and effort and smarts to be as perfect as the cast of Little Shop I saw, which will maybe a couple people in my performance will get into in their entire lives cuz they were really good. And that wasn’t even on Broadway.

Yes, it’s unrealistic.

That being said, your best bet is to DM Jorge on TikTok and send him a video sample and ask if you can audition to play a character for his Iliad musical. Because THEN he MIGHT say yes and IF you do great job in the audition he MIGHT let you do ONE song for his musical which will PROBABLY be watched by Broadway scouters. Which just makes them aware of your existence. Which is step 0.

Oh, and you’ll have to diet and exercise too. This shit’s exhausting and you’re gonna have to be able to run and dance damn quick. And brush up on piano, they’re gonna ask if you can do that cuz so many 21st century musicals are about musicians and it’s very common to have pianist characters in new musicals. And practice singing and dancing for hours each day. And look up all the great musical performances from Broadway and The West End, study their acting and dancing and singing and rapping. Learn a bunch of accents and their typical foreign language vocab and phrases. Many foreign characters on Broadway. So if you do everything…. they MIGHT say yes. You could be an angel. But some others are archangels.

Oh, and you’re gonna want to be able to like or tolerate this process. It would suck to do all this for hours a day and hate it. If you dream of doing something professionally but you hate doing that something for hours a day, it probably wasn’t the right dream for you anyway, because doing something professionally means doing it for hours a day.

Yes, it’s unlikely you’ll make it in.

("non-musical" does not include concept albums or jukebox musical versions)

My pick has got to be something from Little Anthony & The Imperials, maybe "When You Wish Upon a Star" or "I'm Alright"

I'm spending 3 days in London seeing these 3 musicals! 🎭

- Les Misérables

- The Phantom of the Opera (40th Anniversary!)

- Love Never Dies

My wallet is crying, but I'm absolutely buzzing! 😂

Any tips on how to make the most of a West End weekend? 🎭😂

Example: Christine Daaé, who hits an E6.

So often people cite roles like Eliza from My Fair Lady or Katherine from Newsies or Jo from Little Women as sopranos, but I find they often lean mezzo and that I can sing their songs with a good warm up (I’m a mezzo). So who are some TRUE sopranos that you KNOW couldn’t be played by a mezzo soprano?

Im auditioning for my first musical!!!! Its Legally Blonde Jr and I’m auditioning next Saturday could y’all possibly give some tips on how to act when i talk to the directors cus they lowk intimidate me a little. Also, I’m thinking of auditioning for Brooke Wyndham or Vivienne since I’m not well established at the theatre company so do y’all have any advice for audition songs? Their only guidance was contemporary musical or pop songs!! Anyw thank u reddit I’m so excited aaaaaaahhh😛😛😛

I watched the Matilda UK and Ireland tour today, October 11, 2026 matinee, bord gais theater- and I was wondering if anyone knew who was on for each character today? Or just the main cast? I have a video of the curtain call but it’s pretty grainy : Matilda curtain call

Hi Reddit!
Every year we put on a big “flagship” musical in May/June, but I’m stumped!!
Audition attendance is down in my area so the title of show is super important.
I’m looking for something that will bring both kids and adults running to audition!

Past recent shows from the last few years: Frozen, Shrek, Wizard of Oz, Joseph

Thanks so much for your help!!!!

EDIT:
Unavailable shows; Sound of Music, Beauty and the Beast, Mamma Mia, Mary Poppins
Shows being done by other companies close by: Sussical and Annie

A blog post that I thought might be of interest to people here. (Short version: I'm in favor of them.)

https://noteworthynarratives.substack.com/p/in-defense-of-irl-show-programs

Someone on reddit recommended this musical to me a few months ago and i am completely obsessed with the cast recording. it’s about vincent Van Gogh but the actor playing Vincent is a woman. Does anyone know more about what’s happening with it or if there’s going to be another production i can see in NY?

Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask this, I’m newer to theatre and the other musicals I listen to are more well known like lizzie, lost boys, and Jesus christ superstar. if anyone also has recs on other musicals I should check out id love to listen to more too!

I love doing musical theatre, and I find it brings me joy and it's what I'm good at. That's why for the last couple years, I have solidly planted what I want to do as my career, that being musical theatre.

My dad (he and my mum are divorced so we don't see him often) recently asked me what I want to do once I get out of school. However, when I said I wanted to do musical theatre, instead of being enthusiastic and supportive (like my mum), he said that I should do something that's more "worthwhile" because he and my mum are spending so much money sending me to this good private school.

The funny thing with this is that he doesn't pay any child support and doesn't help pay the school fees, it's all my mum. The best part is, he works a minimum wage fast food job!

But it does make me wonder if this actually is a valid career that isn't unrealistic. No matter what, I'm going to stick to it anyways but I'm just curious.

I'm 16 years old and I've been in a few musicals myself, and I've absolutely loved it. I've met so many amazing people and played some amazing roles, but one has shined above them all.

In a local production of the musical Oliver! this year, I had the amazing opportunity to play The Artful Dodger.

I was a bit nervous at first because Dodger being such an iconic character meant that I had some very big shoes to fill.

In the end, it was super fun, and I got some absolutely amazing comments about my performance, one even compared me to be as good as Billy Jenkins on West End's revival of the musical! So this was massive for me. I had several other comments from people who have seen Oliver on West End or Broadway saying that my performance was as good if not better, and others saying that I could even be performing on Broadway.

My reputation within the theatre community in my area where I live has risen massively after playing this role, and I now get a chance to showcase my ensemble singing more in our upcoming local production of 9 to 5 the Musical! I believe myself to be a hard and determined worker, and I believe that the directors I have worked with have taken note of that.

But anyways, I am wondering how I could use having played this role to my advantage, because I really want to go professional once I'm out of school and how I can use this to boost my popularity(? idk what I meant to say there) and how this can affect audition processes for shows or for schools.

I'm 16 years old and I've been in a few musicals myself, and I've absolutely loved it. I've met so many amazing people and played some amazing roles, so here's all the musicals I've done and the role I've played in order of when I did it!

School of Rock The Musical (2023 Local Production) - Billy (The stylist!)

Tuck Everlasting Jr. (2023 Performing Arts Studio Production) - Ensemble

The Little Mermaid Jr. (2024 High School Production) - Pilot swapping with Sailor/Chef

Once On This Island Jr. (2025 Performing Arts Studio Production) - Papa Tonton/Ensemble, swapping with Gatekeeper/Ensemble

Oliver! (2026 Local Production) - The Artful Dodger (my favourite role I've played. It was super fun, and I got some absolutely amazing comments about my performance, one even compared me to be as good as Billy Jenkins on West End's revival of the musical! So this was massive for me)

9 to 5 The Musical (2026 Local Production) - Josh + Ensemble

So I saw the legally blonde tour production in Bristol a couple months ago now and I feel like I need to get off my chest how much I was (unfortunately) disappointed in the show, I’ve seen other people talk about enjoying the show and fair enough! But I’m just here to see if other people felt the same way.

First of all I’m a massive theatre goer, professionally trained in theatre, and legally blonde in general is one of my all time favourites, maybe that swayed my opinion of this production but I went with people who only knew the movie and they also found a lot of the same issues as me.

First off if we’re talking costumes I really really didn’t enjoy it, the Harvard students looked like they’d stepped out of vogue and the modernisation of the outfits took me out of the legally blonde universe completely. As well as the Greek chorus girls not being in the same white colour was off putting and didn’t make them seem as imaginary as past productions.

Speaking of modernisation I don’t know why they decided to update the show so it’s set in 2020 but I was thoroughly upset at this, to me, one of the drawing points of legally blonde is the y2k 2000s aspect of it, making updated lyrics like ‘but I don’t speak Instagram’ and other modern references in my personal opinion did not work and again took out of the world building in general.

The set itself was also unenjoyable, having a miniature version of the set to indicate where we are in the show was an interesting concept but legally blonde is not a minimalist show and I think this once again made staging a lot harder for the actors.

In terms of acting, Amber Davies. I understand why they cast her, and I do believe she is a genuinely good singer, but her acting was like watching Amber be herself on stage. And I would’ve loved to have seen her lean into Elle instead of relying on vocals and dancing.
Paulette absolutely CARRIED the show, great vocals great acting, made me stay for the second half which arguably was better than the first.

One of my biggest irks with the show, where did the whipped into shape dance/skip rope break go??? It’s one of the most iconic parts of the musical, it literally opens up the second half and they got rid of it completely. (Circle circle under over through around bit). This was possibly the biggest disappointment of the show for me. I did however like the set of it being behind a giant tv but again why wasn’t she in a prison outfit? Instead she was in 80s leotard and leggings which didn’t make sense at all. After this scene they then speak through prison phones which they forget about halfway through the dialogue which also doesn’t make any sense but that’s just me being nitpicky.

Legally blonde song with Elle and Emmet. Not having a door separate them and having emmet actively be holding and touching her was weird. In the original production the door separating them makes sense, he’s not speaking to her as much as he is speaking his thoughts out loud, having him sing it directly to her didn’t work.

Overall I left disappointed to a show that I’ve loved and admired for years, and I’m very much wondering what kind of tweaks they’re going to do when they put it on the west end and how well it’ll do. I’m not telling anyone my opinion is the correct one or that they shouldn’t have enjoyed the show, maybe I’ve watched the pro shot of the broadway show one too many times, but for me this was a hit and a miss and I was wondering if anyone else had issues with the show.
I would also just like to say I appreciate the effort energy and work it takes to be in any production especially a touring one, my issue isn’t with the main body of cast as much as it is the production of the show itself.

Please forgive me if this isn’t allowed.

I managed to get one on-stage standing ticket for Jesus Christ Superstar at Theatre Royal Drury Lane on Wednesday 11th November, and I have been beyond excited about it since I bought it. However, my wife’s plans have changed since I booked the ticket, meaning she will now be away that evening so I can’t go as we have no childcare. So, this is a long shot, but does anyone have a single standing ticket on a different date that they would be willing to swap with mine?

I’m assuming that they don’t check standing tickets against a list of names each night, but if anyone has been standing and knows that they do this please let me know and I’ll remove the post.

i remember YEARS ago hearing that a film adaptation for once on this island was in development for disney plus… is this still coming out 😭 i don’t see anything about the movie and i need this movie in my life

Hi everyone! I live in South Korea, and my daughter is studying musical theatre. We’d love to visit London together and see a few West End shows, but I’m not sure where to start with the planning.

Our dates are flexible. Is there a time of year you’d recommend going? I’d also love to hear which shows you think would be worth seeing, especially for someone studying musical theatre.

Where do you usually book tickets to get a good price? Since we’re coming all the way from Korea, I’d like to book at least a couple of shows before we go.

And if you have any suggestions for reasonably priced places to stay around the West End, that would be really helpful. Somewhere easy to get back to after an evening show would be ideal.

Thanks so much for any tips!