Rent has always been one of my favorite shows and it would be my dream to be cast in it but since I'm most comfortable singing alto and everybody and her sister would go for Mimi or Maureen, could a white girl play Joanne? To my knowledge she just happens to be black and it isn't a big part of the show. Also, should I ever try out I'd need a good song to audition with but she's a hard character to pin down. And I'd need something not from the show. Any ideas?

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Thanks and in fact, I've even found a song though I'm not sure it could work, "A Way Back To Then" from Title of Show. Why I'm not sure it could work is that A. Title of Show is not as much of a rock musical as Rent and B. Joanne's biggest vocal parts are more uptempo and "A Way Back To Then" is a ballad. But with it as an example of the kind of song I'm looking for, does anyone have any uptempo suggestions?

I know this is old, but I know someone who played Joanne, and she was white. She decided to play it very upper middle class control freak who "lowered herself" to Maureen for some excitement kind of thing (or so she said, I didn't see it).
Sorry, can't think of any audition song. definitely an uptempo though, and if you can find something wordy, that would be good since she has a tough one in "We're OK".

I was going to 'play' Joanne for a recording once before the project fell through, and I'm white. But of course, a recording has no pictures.