Musical Theater major

[edenespinosalover]

Posted: 10/27/04 at 10:52pm

What are the best schools to attend if you're planning on majoring in musical theater?!

[broadwaybound3]

Posted: 10/27/04 at 10:54pm

WARNING-I AM A RENTHEAD

go to NYC and then go live in alphabet city! yey! ^^

sorry about that...couldnt help it. You could study in london ( great stepping stone) or U. of Toronto

[Blair]

Posted: 10/27/04 at 10:56pm

The search button is your friend. There have been tons of threads about this already.

Basically, it depends on what your strengths are and where you are comfortable. There really isn't any "best".

[BwayLeadman]

Posted: 10/27/04 at 10:58pm

This is the million dollar question, yet nobody knows the answer.
I dont know the answer and I want to study Musical Theatre. I hear positives and negatives about all types of schools. My advice to you is go to the school your heart is set on.
That was the advice I gave myself.

Asking this question, you really want people to ok the school you really want to go to. you will learn what you will learn in any school.

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 10/27/04 at 11:33pm

Studying musical theatre in college is so stupid!! lol

[BwayLeadman]

Posted: 10/27/04 at 11:45pm

bronxboundexpress- all jokes aside, what do you suggest people who want to pursue Musical Theater do?

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 10/27/04 at 11:47pm

Put their tuition toward a real education and persue theatre on the side. A lot of people in this business aren't even trained. You're either have it or you don't.

[BwayLeadman]

Posted: 10/27/04 at 11:51pm

"you either got it or not" I agree Updated On: 10/27/04 at 11:51 PM

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 10/27/04 at 11:54pm

When i was in acting school at NYU(still am technically) they admitted that most poeple don't gain much from theatre school and many feel they wasted their time and money because they had to get a normal job anyway. I'm going to get a real normal education and spend my free time starting the auditions like all they others but knowing i have a normal life to fall back on.

Posted: 10/28/04 at 2:16am

Well a very wise person once told me "if you have a back up plan, you will fall back on it."

I too think that going to college for acting is a waste as a ridiculous number of people on stage have no degree. And then there will be the people who post that there are 10 big theatre names who came out of Michigan, and to that i will reply now, how about the other 250 a year in their class who went no where over the past 15 years.

In any event if you want an education, go get one, but most die hard actors who want to be on a NY stage so bad they can taste will drop out, or be miserable for years while sitting in english class, and start Cutting class to go to auditions etc. So my advice is this.

If you can afford it, move to nyc, find great teachers, and STUDY PRIVATELY. NYU cost 30000 a year plus. For that you can share an apt in astoria for 600 a month, thats 7200 a year, and take 5 dance classes, two voice coachings and an acting class for lets say 300 a week. And still go to auditions. theres 14000ish a year, but its year round for 1, not just 7 months, and its 1 on 1 coaching, not 10 minutes in a 2 hour class and then watching others. And yes you can learn by watching others, but why not go see a show then and watch the best as opposed to some other classmate who may not be able to hack it. Lets be real, if 3 people from your class hit broadway thats amazing. You will also be in the position to do those random shows downtown for free, leave town for a tour without worry. ect ect.

If you want to act so bad it hurts, and you cant see yourself doing anything else, i say do that. If you could be happy doing other things, go to college.

[B.B. Wolf]

Posted: 10/28/04 at 2:27am

Good drama schools:
NYU
Juilliard
Harvard
Yale
Oklahoma U - (used to have a great musical theatre program, anyway)

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 10/28/04 at 3:10am

The best (well, the most prestigious) musical theater B.F.A. programs are, to my knowledge, NYU, Carnegie Mellon, CCM (Cincinnati Conservatory of Music), and The University of Michigan. However, there are plenty of other good programs out there.

Let me offer my own two cents about majoring in theater. If you want to be an actor, you need training. Some have more natural ability than others, but most people need to learn basic techniques. And even if people naturally have what it takes, you'll never reach your full potential without training anyway.

HOWEVER--a BFA in musical theater will get you nowhere in the "real word," and as we know, most actors need to have "day jobs." If you get a BFA, also get a degree in something else. Try doing a double major if you can, if not, do a minor in something.

P.S.--Unless you're aspiring to do opera, DON'T be a voice major. At least at Indiana University, where I go to school, the musical theater people seem to waste a lot their time on their voice degrees, because to be in musical theater you don't need to be able to sing in foreign languages, nor do you have to be a music theory expert.

Best of luck to you!

[B.B. Wolf]

Posted: 10/28/04 at 3:15am

Very true, DB. Though, you'd be surprised how many people in this profession CAN'T read music! I think it's a little ridiculous.
But, studying opera can be VERY beneficial as long as you are able to adapt your technique to sing ON the consonants. Opera's all about biiiiiiiiig voooweeellls. That's why people who've had their career in opera can't make successful crossover records: they still sound WAY too open and vowelly (that's SO not a word.). But, good technique is good technique no matter what your performance venue. Without it, you would burn out.
*cough* Bernadette *cough*

[Speed]

Posted: 10/28/04 at 3:25am

The following people went to the University of Michigan and received a B.F.A degree in musical theater:

Tony nominee Hunter Foster (currently playing Leo in THE PRODUCERS)
Tony nominee Jennifer Laura Thompson (currently playing Galinda in WICKED)
Tony nominee Gavin Creel (currently playing Jean-Michel in LA CAGE)
Tony award winner Jeff Marx (Avenue Q)

Lisa Datz (Titanic, The Full Monty)
Eric Millegan (Harold in upcoming Harold & Maude)
Barrett Foa (Avenue Q)
Danny Gurwin (Laurie in upcoming Little Women)
Erin Dilly (Truly in upcoming Chitty Chitty Bang Bang)
Ian Knauer (State Fair, By Jeeves)
Josh Rhodes (Fosse, Bells Are Ringing, Urban Cowboy)
Miriam Shor (Hedwig, Hair)

I think it's safe to say that it's not a bad program to check out.

There are others too.

[mint0621]

Posted: 10/28/04 at 7:15am

I think that living in NY is an education in musical theater itself...don't know much about musical theater majors, though. Good luck though!

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 10/28/04 at 8:57am

but speed, what about the other hundred or so people in the class? Are any other poeple famous anyway or are they only "broadway" people.

[BlueEyedKate]

Posted: 10/28/04 at 9:40am

If you really want to do musical theater...I would maybe try and do a double major in something else (futhermore, I would suggest doing just plan theater and take voice/dance lessons on the side). I'm finishing up my last semester of school and I've done acting on the side/summer (in fact, I never even expected to go into acting at all)...and I don't have a degree in theater. It can help you, but if you have talent, the degree (or lack thereof)is a rather moot point.

My parents always emphasized having a backup plan - and with two solid, non-theater related degrees, I will...and I'm very much thankful for it. I will be moving to NYC to act this December, but I'm so grateful that if the acting world rears its ugly reality of rejection - I have a backup plan.

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 10/28/04 at 10:03am

Someone once told me (in context of me persuing a degree in musical theatre) "they can't teach you anything you don't already know." I've thought a lot about that, and I don't believe it. I personally don't think a musical theatre major is a waste of your time. Your education is what you make of it. You can only take from it, what you are willing to. But know this, just because you graduate with a musical theater degree, it doesn't mean you are going to be a success. There are no guarantees in life.

[dramafreak13]

Posted: 10/28/04 at 12:30pm

okay, this is my shpeal...
right now i am a BFA in acting major with a minor in dance at Hofstra University. if i had got to any other university i probably would have been a musical theatre major, but looking back on it, what i did was a great idea. the fact is that musicals are not the most challanging pieces of work, acting wise. i sort of agree that you cant really learn anything new when it comes to that. but the fact is, straight acting is something that can be taught and pollished. i have learned so much more about acting and that has helped me become a better musical theatre actor. i also will be able to get more work in the city because there are straight plays plus musicals than just musicals. so yea... that's all i have to say about that...

[Speed]

Posted: 10/28/04 at 3:34pm

bronxbound- I said "There are others too." And there are. I didn't mention the producers, directors, TV and film stars who have come out of the program as well. But this is a Broadway board dedicated to musical theater so I mentioned ones who have recently been doing musicals that people would know.

The good thing about Michigan is that you don't have to do a double major. The acting school is in the school of music. You don't have to choose between acting and singing. It's all integrated.

Chrys- I agree with you and the quote you gave. Yes, they can't teach you anything you don't already know, but college can be a place to discover all it is that you know. And like you said, you get out of it what you put into it.

Dramafreak- I think acting in musicals is just as challenging as acting in non-musicals. The job is the same. Create a believable character and tell the story. And look... you even said that working on non-musicals helped you with your musical acting. Exactly. It's the same thing.

[dramafreak13]

Posted: 10/28/04 at 5:22pm

speed- okay, so maybe i didnt make my point clear... what i should have said was that its much easier to get away with bad acting in a musical because the "average" musical audience will forget about the acting if you can dance and sing well. in a straight play, acting is all you have.

[Speed]

Posted: 10/28/04 at 8:48pm

well, there's the writing, which is probably the most important

and with good writing, most people can get away with not being able to act, sing or dance

[dramafreak13]

Posted: 10/28/04 at 10:15pm

i was just talking about it from a performers point of view

Posted: 10/28/04 at 10:29pm

I am a current Drama major at NYU. Every day when I go to class or a rehearsal or see a show I realize how much I don't know yet. Granted, I'm focusing on design work, but I still take acting classes, etc. My design teacher always tells us to come into class and expect to fail. You're not expected to know all the answers. I at one time believed that if I really wanted to do theatre, then I just needed to go out and do it. But, again, once I got to school and did work with my teachers, not only did I realize that I DID NOT want to be an actress, but I discovered how much there is to learn in any theatrical venue. The moment you stop learning, to me, is the moment when you become flat and uninteresting.

So here's my advice: Do the work. Put the effort into it to find a program that you think is best for you. Decide if you want a liberal arts education or a conservatory one. Talk to people in different programs and find out how they feel about what they're doing. Find out what they love, but also make sure to find out what they hate. Don't rule out conservatory schools.

I go to NYU, my friend goes to Emerson. Whenever we talk we each have such fantastically unique experiences, but we're both learning and we're both growing and we're both having a blast. Do what feels right to you.

One more thing. One of the invaluable things about going to college is that you immediately begin to work with the people who will be your colleagues. You build a community that you take with you into the "real world" Don't underestimate that either. :) Good luck!