NATS Auditions 2026–27: Build a Song List That Meets the Rules

A strong NATS musical theatre programme needs more than a ballad, an up-tempo song and a favourite from last year's show. In the 2026–27 National Student Auditions, your category determines the required song count and live time allowance, while the repertoire rules affect which songs can sit together. The examples below show how two singers could build complete programmes, then prepare them for both the room and the camera.

We are concentrating on High School and Lower Post-High School Musical Theatre. Classical, Commercial Music, Spirituals and other age groups have their own requirements. Dates and rules were checked on 7 November 2026; the regional example is Mid-Atlantic.

Choose the category before the song list

Elena is a fictional treble singer, aged 17 on 1 September 2026 and in eleventh grade. Leo is a fictional tenor, aged 20 on that date and in his second year of post-high-school voice study. Both study with eligible NATS member teachers, and neither performed the proposed songs in the previous NSA cycle.

NATS uses your age on 1 September, together with school grade or post-high-school voice study, to place you. A post-high-school study year follows progression through the audition cycle; counting only the months when you happened to take weekly lessons can put you in the wrong group. Your teacher should settle any unusual study history with the auditions chair before registration. See the category placement rules.

The three selections must contrast. Different composers are mandatory: two songs by one composer can make a singer ineligible to advance. Tempo, character, text and musical style also matter. The MT regulations require memorised, complete selections and allow only limited cuts consistent with professional practice; removing verses is prohibited.

For these examples, we have chosen established solo songs from staged musicals. The programmes illustrate repertoire choices, not a promise that a particular key or vocal demand suits every singer of this age. The teacher still needs to hear the singer, examine the exact edition and confirm the final entry.

Elena: three different ways of wanting something

Elena's list gives her three recognisable characters and three composers. Its contrast should be audible in the way she tells each story, rather than depending on a costume change or an explanation between songs.

1. “Much More” from The Fantasticks

   Music by Harvey Schmidt; lyrics by Tom Jones. We would use Luisa's eagerness as the programme's bright, forward-looking starting point. Elena needs a specific picture of what this character wants; a general display of being cheerful would give the next song little to react against.

   The composer-approved Fantasticks vocal selections includes the song in a piano/vocal edition.

2. “Home” from Beauty and the Beast

   Music by Alan Menken; lyrics by Tim Rice. This is Belle's full Broadway song, not “Home (Reprise).” Her changed circumstances give Elena a different emotional problem: imagining an escape becomes facing a place she does not want to be. That is a useful contrast with Luisa even before the teacher considers tone, pacing and phrasing.

   The Broadway vocal selections lists both versions. Check the title carefully when ordering or entering repertoire.

3. “I Know Things Now” from Into the Woods

   Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Little Red’s account of what has happened invites a more conversational kind of storytelling. For this programme, we would want Elena to make the changes in understanding clear, with the words doing more work than a succession of illustrative gestures.

   The piano/vocal revised Into the Woods selections contains the song. Its dramatic context deserves discussion with the teacher; a fairy-tale title does not make every part of the musical uncomplicated material for a young singer.

The useful rehearsal question is whether Elena becomes three people. If all three songs arrive with the same facial expression, emotional intensity and habitual gesture, the list is doing work that the performance has not yet done. She and her teacher can compare the first spoken thought behind each song, then rehearse the complete songs without introducing theatrical business just to create a difference.

Leo: lyric line, narrative and a direct appeal

Leo has two more minutes in a live preliminary, but still needs three complete selections. We would give him material that changes the demands on his communication across the programme.

1. “On the Street Where You Live” from My Fair Lady

   Music by Frederick Loewe; lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. This is the programme's opportunity for a sustained, lyrical expression of excitement. We would ask Leo to preserve the character's immediate sense of discovery, so that a beautifully shaped phrase still sounds like somebody thinking.

   A published source is the My Fair Lady vocal selections.

2. “Giants in the Sky” from Into the Woods

   Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Jack has a story to tell. We would place this beside the Loewe because Leo has to carry a listener through events and changing reactions, rather than sustain one kind of lyrical exhilaration. The same revised piano/vocal collection used above includes it.

3. “Corner of the Sky” from Pippin

   Music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. We would use this as a more direct statement of what Leo's character hopes to find. The danger in the pairing with “Giants” is that both become a broadly youthful announcement of ambition. Make the difference specific: what has just happened, who is being addressed and what response would satisfy the character?

   Singer’s Library of Musical Theatre, Volume 1: Tenor contains this song and “On the Street Where You Live.” Check the keys and complete versions before deciding whether that one book meets both needs.

These are original proposed combinations, not recordings we have timed or programmes we have tested with students. They give a teacher something concrete to assess. If Leo's third song becomes a struggle to reproduce a favourite cast recording, a different complete solo that suits his present voice is a better use of the slot.

Before spending money, choose the actual format the pianist can use. For example, Hal Leonard's My Fair Lady listing distinguishes the printed book from an online-viewing Digital Book that cannot be downloaded or printed. Use authorised scores and keep licensed-download receipts with your music. A publisher listing is a route to obtaining music; it is not a blanket approval of every cut, arrangement or key.

What eight minutes actually means

For live preliminary and quarterfinal rounds, the singer chooses the opening song; adjudicators request subsequent selections until the time limit. Start each requested song at its beginning. The audition procedure does not permit moving the start point to squeeze in a preferred passage.

The 2026–27 changes also make the starting point of the clock explicit: your spoken introduction counts. The eight-minute allowance does not mean Elena should turn three songs into a miniature medley.

That is a reason to prepare the whole list, not a reason to rush. The panel could choose a different second song, and Elena cannot plan her preparation around an ending she assumes nobody will hear. Leo can rehearse the same unpredictable sequence with his ten-minute clock. Neither singer should mistake being stopped for evidence that the panel disliked the performance.

Ask someone to choose the next title during a rehearsal. Practise the pause, the change of character and the first entrance with your pianist. Our post on accompanying a singer is useful for the other side of that partnership. This is also a good point to move from polishing isolated passages to practising under performance conditions.

Reuse, arrangements and the point when the list closes

There are three separate questions about reusing a song. Under the current repertoire guidance, one singer cannot enter the same selection in multiple NSA categories. New material is encouraged instead of songs from the previous cycle. Once the qualifying regional event has concluded, its approved programme must remain the same for the national rounds.

The previous-cycle language is encouragement, not a licence to invent a universal disqualification rule. Our two examples avoid the question by using new repertoire. The regional-to-national rule has a different purpose: if Leo qualifies with these three songs, he cannot replace his least comfortable one with a newly learnt showstopper for nationals.

A familiar song title also does not settle whether a particular arrangement is acceptable. The MT rules exclude ensemble numbers repurposed as solos, with a narrow exception for authorised published editions preserving the original solo line and removing incidental ensemble material. Published transpositions available for purchase are permitted. Send the exact edition to your teacher before learning a homemade duet-to-solo adaptation.

Record each complete song separately

Prepare three separate full-song videos per singer. Recordings must date from 1 September 2026 onwards. Introduce the singer, song, larger work, composer and lyricist; use unlisted YouTube links with comments disabled. See pages 34–38 of the full video instructions for required titles and copyright wording.

The NATS recording guidance calls for a fixed landscape view with the face and at least the upper body clear, good lighting and a balanced sound. Keep school, teacher, location and chapter identifiers out of the frame and account details. Each song is one continuous performance; pitch correction, audio filters and splicing takes are prohibited.

For MT, a live pianist is required in person; a piano-only track is allowed for video. A theatrical backing track with drums and other instruments is not interchangeable with that piano-only option. Agree the accompaniment before organising the session, using the MT accompaniment rules.

A short camera test can catch a pianist who overwhelms the voice or a music stand that blocks the face. After the complete take, watch from introduction to final silence. Then test the uploaded link while signed out: check that it opens, that it is the intended song and that its beginning and ending survived the upload. Save the final links beside the programme names so that a similarly named rehearsal file does not become the submission.

A separately recorded introduction may precede the otherwise unedited song. If nerves make the first complete take feel unfamiliar, build in earlier recording practice; our post on the gap between practice and performance explains why the change of situation deserves preparation.

The Mid-Atlantic dates to put beside the programme

There is no single chapter deadline covering every NATS singer. The Maryland/DC chapter calendar lists 9 November 2026 for its virtual Musical Theatre applications, 15 February 2027 for Mid-Atlantic in-person MT registration, and 12–13 March 2027 for those regional auditions at Shenandoah University. Its 1 March regional deadline belongs to Classical and Spirituals, not this MT event.

The chapter's audition details require videos with the November registration and list $30 per entry. They also give 24 October as the minor chaperone-form deadline, which has already passed. A family starting now should not assume that the later video deadline makes an unregistered minor eligible; ask the chair about the specific situation before paying or recording for that event.

Regional entry requires district qualification and a fresh registration by the teacher. The currently linked Mid-Atlantic handbook, approved in March 2025, permits changes between district and regional entry but closes regional repertoire changes at the application deadline. It also prevents teachers accompanying their own students. Confirm these arrangements against the 2027 event instructions when registering.

That earlier repertoire deadline affects the rehearsal plan. A teacher considering a replacement song needs time to assess it before registration, not merely before the March performance. Put the final title, composer, edition and key in the same record; a change in one should prompt a check of what the pianist and application actually contain.

Budget for the next stage separately. NATS lists a $95 national preliminary entry fee per category for regional qualifiers. That is not an all-inclusive audition price: music, pianist fees, rehearsals and possible travel remain additional costs. The teacher handles registration, so agree who pays which expenses before committing to several categories or distant rounds.

Bring the teacher a complete proposed programme and the exact regional calendar. For Elena and Leo, the next useful rehearsal is one in which the pianist has the correct editions, every song can be requested and the camera captures a whole performance. That will reveal more about readiness than repeatedly singing the favourite minute of the strongest song.

Featured photograph: a choir rehearsal by Thirdman / Pexels. The photograph does not depict these illustrative singers or a NATS audition.