Sondheim's songs are often regarded as a challenge to sing due to their lyrical and musical complexity, but they can be a richly rewarding challenge for those who enjoy them. If you're a singer who's interested in singing Sondheim, or even auditioning for a show using his music, this page provides resources to help you choose a song and find sheet music for your performance.
Top Sondheim Songs for Musical Theatre Auditions- UpTempo
This article and the following article, from ActorHub, a website providing advice from actors to actors, suggest Sondheim songs to sing for auditions, although their suggestions could also be used for anyone who’s interested in performing a Sondheim song for any reason. This article focuses on up-tempo songs. Each song listed is accompanied by a description covering such topics as the song’s place in its show’s plot, its characteristics, and advice for singing it, along with a video of the song.
Top Sondheim Songs for Musical Theatre Auditions- Ballads
A companion article to the previous article, this piece focuses on Sondheim ballads that may make good audition pieces.
How to Audition With Sondheim
This article from the theater job website Backstage offers tips from director Sarna Lapine on how to choose a Sondheim song for an audition and what she looks for in a successful audition.
The Stephen Sondheim Collection - Piano/Vocal by Stephen Sondheim (Composed by); Richard Walters (Editor)
ISBN: 1617804290
Publication Date: 2012-12-01
The Stephen Sondheim Collection - Volume 2 by Stephen Sondheim (Composed by); Richard Walters (Editor)
ISBN: 1540000311
Publication Date: 2017-09-01
This two-volume collection, shown above, contains a selection of Sondheim classics and lesser-known songs from many of his shows, along with notes about the shows. Each song has both vocal and piano arrangements available, so you can sing, play, or sing with an accompaniment.
The Almost Unknown Stephen Sondheim by Stephen Sondheim (Composed by)
ISBN: 9781495011535
Publication Date: 2016-12-01
If you’re looking to impress a crowd with one of Sondheim’s more obscure (or even most obscure) songs, this might be the scorebook for you. It consists of Sondheim songs that have never been published in score form before, including songs that were cut from his musicals or were written for musicals that were never produced. The book also contains commentary on the songs themselves and their musicals.
Music Notes
If you’re looking for a specific song that’s not available in other popular Sondheim collections, the next best place to look would be in a collection of sheet music for the specific show the song is from; if you still can't find the song, this website has over 500 arrangements of Sondheim songs available for purchase.