When Jye Frasca say the original production of A Chorus Line at Broadway鈥檚 Shubert Theatre, he knew he wanted to be an actor. A few weeks ago, Frasca was inside the Shubert Theatre (this time taking in Hello, Dolly!) when he found out he鈥檇 make his Broadway debut as Boq in Wicked.
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But the Australian-born Frasca isn鈥檛 actually new to the role; he was the original understudy for Boq in the original West End production of the show in 2006. Frasca left the show to pursue London鈥檚 Jersey Boys, where he played Frankie Valli, and had thought his time in Oz had come to an end. Yet, after a prolific career in London鈥攆rom his West End debut at the age of 17 as A-rab in West Side Story to productions of Mamma Mia!, Cats, Anything Goes, We Will Rock You, Mary Poppins, and more鈥擣rasca has finally achieved his dream of playing the Great White Way. Here, the actor takes us through his audition repertoire (watch him sing 鈥淚 Want to Break Free,鈥� 鈥淐an鈥檛 Take My Eyes Off of You,鈥� and 鈥淎ll I Need Is the Girl鈥�) in the video above and learn the songs he used to book his biggest jobs below:
What song did you use when you first auditioned for West Side Story?
Jye Frasca: There is an amazing actress鈥攈er name is Geraldine Turner鈥攕he鈥檚 a huge leading lady down in Australia. I went to a workshop with her and I鈥檇 seen her in Into the Woods, and he said to me 鈥淵ou should sing 鈥楪iants in the Sky鈥� because you鈥檙e a perfect Jack.鈥� So literally for the first four shows that I ever got sang 鈥淕iants in the Sky.鈥� That was my go-to. Geraldine Turner told me to sing it so I was going to SING IT. That song is so character-driven. I would always sing that in conjunction with [another song], like for Mamma Mia! you have to sing a pop song.
How do you approach picking songs for different styles of shows that still speak to you?
I don鈥檛 traditionally like to sing the same thing. I like to pick something that is very geared towards the character. I sang 鈥淎ll I Need is the Girl鈥� and 鈥淚 Want to Break Free鈥� for Wicked. I went through my book and Craig Burns [Wicked鈥檚 casting director at Telsey + Co.] said, 鈥淪ing that,鈥� which is 鈥淚 Want to Break Free鈥� because it was the highest song in my book. And I gave him a little cheeky smile as if to say, 鈥淥f course you want me to sing that at 10:15 in the morning.鈥� And then he said to me, 鈥淪ing me something that shows me your legit Broadway sound.鈥� I had never done 鈥淎ll I Need Is the Girl鈥� in an audition before, but my uncle always said to me you should sing 鈥淎ll I Need Is the Girl鈥� so I鈥檇 learned it but I鈥檇 never sung it for anything. I pulled that out and it was such a full circle moment in that I鈥檇 never done it but I started because my uncle told me you should sing that. I always try to sing something as close as possible to what the character would sing in the show but that鈥檚 not in the show.
What are some other songs in your book?
For Mary Poppins I sang 鈥淕iants in the Sky.鈥� I did it in a cockney accent which actually worked really well. Anything Goes I sang 鈥淲hat Do I Need With Love?鈥� from Thoroughly Modern Millie because Millie had just come out then. There鈥檚 a wonderful song called 鈥淲hat Am I Doing?鈥� from Closer Than Ever.
People love to sing songs from Closer Than Ever in auditions!
Because the songs are brilliant from the entire show, but they鈥檙e not really that known. What鈥檚 very difficult is you go in for a rock musical singing 鈥淟ivin鈥� on a Prayer鈥� and you鈥檙e the 16th person that day and no matter how extraordinary you think your version is, you鈥檙e still the 16th person. That鈥檚 why It鈥檚 so important to find something that is individual. But 鈥淲hat Am I Doing?鈥� I sang for Thrill Me because that鈥檚 darker story and kind of stalker-ish and that song is about that. I do really tend to learn things for auditions. For Jersey Boys, a friend of mine Nicholas Skilbeck who is the music director for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, he did an arrangement for 鈥淒uke of Earl鈥濃攂ecause it鈥檚 so hard to find something that will show your falsetto and your top belting range. He did the most amazing arrangement for me, but I鈥檝e never used that song for anything else because nothing else requires that style.
Is there a song that you love that you love to sing but hasn鈥檛 been right for any auditions?
鈥淐an鈥檛 Take [My Eyes Off of You]鈥� I would never sing in an audition, but I think I sound ok singing it. [Laughs] Also that song is so special to me because when you鈥檙e doing that 11 o鈥檆lock number and the love the audience is giving you because of the character鈥檚 journey to that point is amazing.
