Suggestions For Broadway Duets For A High Soprano And A Mezzo-soprano Voice

What are good Broadway songs for a high soprano?

Obviously, any of the Christine material from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera are soprano showstoppers. A quick Google returns some others I think are pretty good:“Glitter and Be Gay” (Candide, Leonard Bernstein)—this is wicked hard, but oh so much fun. I’ve only given this to one soprano student, I think, and she ate it up.“The Finer Things” (Jane Eyre, Paul Gordon & John Caird)—I’ve never assigned this one, but have heard a number of good coloratura sopranos who’ve been very successful with this. This, too, is very operatic in nature.“Someone Like You” (Jekyll and Hyde, Leslie Bricusse)—not very high, but still definitely a soprano number (tessitura’s too high for most mezzo’s).“How Could I Ever Know” (The Secret Garden, Lucy Simon, Marsha Norman)—makes for a great duet if you can find a tenor who can pull off “Where in the World” right before it, then join you for the duet afterwards (kind of like “Che gelida manina—Mi chiamano Mimi—O soave fanciulla” from La Boheme).These are a few ideas. Google’s your friend!

What are the best mezzo soprano pop audition songs?

Disclaimer: I have never auditioned for anything.  I sing for myself.  Take my advice as a starting guideline only.There are at least these basic parts to this - one part is remembering to sing what you can sing well, meaning you must know your range, what types of music suits you, and how to transpose songs to fit your best key.  Another part is knowing what not to sing at auditions, i.e. things over-done that would make the judges groan, i.e."I Will Always Love You" performed beautifully by the late Whitney Houston, or songs by Mariah Carey, unless you are really that good and can sing as an equal.  Another part is knowing how to sing like yourself and put your own spin on a song without veering too far from the original.  Another is to be able to connect to the song and the audience.  I'm sure others who are familiar with the audition process could chime in better, or you can find lots of information online.Mezzo soprano is the most common vocal type for women, so there are tons of pop artists whose songs you can check out.  Being a mezzo soprano means your comfortable singing range is in the middle for the typical female voice.  It does not mean you can't sing as low as a contralto or as high as a soprano, either.  You can choose something that will highlight your full range, your timbre/tone, your agility and musicality, and your ability to connect to the music and your audience and give a performance, and not just sing a song.For people who haven't been trained, be sure to have others listen to you and give you honest feedback, and get a teacher to at least evaluate you, before you go to audition for anything.And regardless, remember that not everybody is going to love you, and no matter how great you are, everyone has different preferences for tone and style and regardless of what you do well, it might not be what they're looking for.  Be tough, take in feedback with an objective perspective, use it as a learning and confidence building experience, and put your heart in it.

Why are mezzo-soprano roles sometimes sung by a soprano?

Think of the mezzo-soprano as the second soprano/first alto which actually makes it a versatile vocal range,  especially for a lyric mezzo soprano as Swedish mezzo Anne-Sophie von Otter or Latvian mezzo Elina Garanca.  Von Otter  was a soprano as a teenager. You may want to check out Garanca singing Puccini's "O Mio Bambino Caro".  Another example is Swedish Contralto Anna Larsson singing "Milde und Liese" from Tristan und Isolde. Both of these are soprano arias and are on YouTube.  Legendary soprano Maria Callas who could sing mezzo roles without artificially darkening her voice. Leontyne Price is a spinto or "pushed" soprano. This soprano has a warm and lush voice with a substantial lower register. Jessye Norman can also sing in her lower register without darkening her voice. She is a rare type of dramatic soprano called a Falcon (after French soprano Marie-Cornelie Falcon) who can even sing in the contralto range even though she is a soprano.  Several female roles, such as Carmen,  are in a tessitura (or range) that a soprano, mezzo or contralto can easily sing.  Another example is Kundry in Wagner's Parsifal, or Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana.  In other words, if it fits your particular voice, sing it.

What are the best musical theatre songs for mezzo sopranos?

It really depends; as a mezzo you likely have the ability to belt quite well in your chest voice while still hitting a wide top range. As a fellow mezzo, here are some of my favorite solos:What Baking Can Do - WaitressI Can Hear the Bells -HairsprayStepsisters Lament - Cinderella (A duet but I still love it)Look at Me I’m Sandra Dee - GreaseOn My Own - Les MisI Dreamed a Dream - Les MisShy - Once Upon a Mattress (freaking hilarious)There Are Worse Things I Can Do - GreaseStill Hurting - The Last Five Years (Never audition with this song. Just don’t.)The Wizard and I - Wicked (Don’t audition with Popular or Defying Gravity. Just don’t.)Good Morning Baltimore - Hairspray (I can hear the bells is better IMO)Now, as a mezzo I don’t know how deep your range goes, but mine goes pretty low and I enjoy singing some male parts as well because it lets me get my belt out and that’s fun. I’ve listed a couple below.Never Ever Getting Rid of Me - WaitressAny Dream Will Do - Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor DreamcoatCorner of the Sky - PippinDancing Through Life - Wicked (This one has a million voice parts but the opening bars are Fiyero alone and some of my favorite of all time)Sincerely Me - Dear Evan Hansen (Waving Through a Window is a great song and the first two choruses and verses are in my range but low, and the bridge is impossible, so not recommended).Anyways, I will leave it at that but don’t let the gender of the character who originally performed a song stop you from rocking it; go have fun and enjoy your incredibly useful voice type.