BEST COLLEGES BFA MUSICAL THEATER — Page 6

A few weeks ago, I was all for getting a bachelor's degree in Musical Theatre. I was planning to go to U of M, or NYU, or any other prestigious school. Then I had a really informative conversation with my new voice teacher. She has had many successful students go on to professional careers. One being Angela Brown, most recently Aida at the Met.

She told me that it is better to get a bachelor's in either Vocal Performance or Theatre. And then if you want, you can get a master's in Musical Theatre.

With Musical Theatre, you get all the training in each area: acting, singing, and dance. You are good at everything, but you never get enough training in each to truly be great at any of them.

At first, I just didn't really believe that. I thought, well there are plenty of successful people who have a bachelor's in Musical Theatre. But then I looked at some of the best musical theatre performers out there's backgrounds.

Victoria Clark - Music (Yale)
Norbert Leo Butz - MFA Acting (Alabama Shakespeare Festival)
Kelli O'Hara - BM Vocal Performance (OCU)
Sara Ramirez - Acting (Juilliard)
Audra McDonald - Vocal Performance (Juilliard)
Kristin Chenoweth - MFA Opera Performance (OCU)
Idina Menzel - BFA Acting (NYU)
Raul Esparza - BFA Acting (NYU)
Marc Kudisch – BFA Theatre (Florida Atlantic University)
Jeffrey Carlson – BFA Acting (UCDavis) Graduate Acting (Juilliard)

Those are just a few.

Specializing first can lead to so many more career opportunites, and it's a better chance for success. Musical Theatre programs often so specially breed their students for that area that they are good performers all together, but their acting wouldn't be able to carry a straight play, and vocally they would never be asked to do say, a POPS concert.

My plan? Bachelor’s in Vocal Performance, Master’s in Musical Theatre. Try to develop a steady career and if that doesn’t happen in say 10 years, get a Doctorate and teach.

I'm not in any way trying to tell you that that's the only way to go, but it's just something to think about...

It is very true that just because someone doesn't have their degree in something, like Musical Theatre, it doesn't mean they can't do it and become very successful, they can! But I think it's all about work ethic. If you're a musical theatre major and worry that you aren't getting enough training in one particular area, work at it! The schools can only teach you so much, a lot of work is what you do on your own! Not that I'm calling you lazy or anyone lazy or anything, lol, but you get out of any degree only what you want to get out of it. That being said, I need to start working on a lot of stuff!

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I respectfully disagree with you when you say "With Musical Theatre, you get all the training in each area: acting, singing, and dance. You are good at everything, but you never get enough training in each to truly be great at any of them." There are plenty of people who go through BFA Musical Theatre programs and are GREAT at all three things. To say that because you study voice, acting, and dance that you are spread too thin is rather foolish. Some of the very top MT programs aren't gonna let you in their doors unless you show potential as an actor. Others focus more on song and dance. It depends. Getting a BM in Vocal Performance could, in fact, LIMIT opportunities. You are not gonna get the acting training that you would in a BFA program. And if you can get into one, it makes more sense to get a BFA in MT at a top program than getting a BFA in Acting at an equally top or lesser program because MT training will make you that much more versatile!

Idina got a BFA in Drama/Musical Theatre from CAP21 at Tisch - not Acting.

Also, there are VERY, VERY few Masters programs in Musical Theatre - you could probably count them on one hand. BoCo has one, and one or two of the Florida schools do too.

Unless they're hiding it under the Union Square subway station, I don't think NYU has a graduate program in Musical Theatre. (They have one of the top graduate acting programs, though.)

And, just trying to be helpful and shed some light on the college search process for you...you will get intense vocal and acting training at most top MT programs. At alot of the best programs, Musical Theatre is somewhat of a double major - that is to say, you are getting the exact same acting training as the acting majors, and the same training as the vocal performance majors. You're just doing 2x the work! I know this is true at Carnegie, and I'm pretty sure it could be said about Michigan, CCM, etc.

How is NYU's undergraduate programs? I've heard..mixed things. I'm particularly looking at Steinhardt, but I hear that it's not really worth how much you have to pay.

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I'm definitely much more familiar with the Tisch programs than with Steinhardt. My main problems with the school -Tish in particular - (and one of the reasons why I chose to turn down their offer of admission) is price and number of students. They are known to not be very generous with financial or merit aid. They accept 300 students every year, and so, every year, there are 300 more NYU BFA's entering the field. It's my opinion that because of this, a degree from NYU doesn't hold as much prestige or merit (something important to me, but maybe not to others) as other schools. I'm convinced that the training is just as good as the other top-tier schools, but there aren't the extra "perks" to the degree that would have made it worth it to me.

Oh - and only 50% of coursework is in your major. (Compare to 95% at Carnegie, Juilliard). This appeals to some, and it is a turn-off to others.

just a general response to the idea about undergrad in mt versus acting or voice-

its absolutely true what someone said earlier about a double major- you actually ARE getting all of the same training as the acting majors and voice majors and at my school (UArts) you can even take dance major dance classes if you get into them.

the truth is that there's more to musical theatre than just learning to act and sing. if that were it they wouldnt have musical theater prorgams- you could just major/minor or literally double major. a big difference in musical theater training is that you take musical theater classes.

for example- not just studio class for acting and voice lessons- we take singing-acting classes as well for both technique and styles (from gilbert & sullivan to brecht to vaudeville etc). I also study musical theater repertory in a separate studio class (taught by the same teacher who teaches some of the acting major studios) where we do style and scene study in the musical theater repertory... which is important if that's the medium in which you'd like to work.

musicals are in essence different than plays and also different than operas (where acting is for the most part not considered or if it is they take into consideration the specific acting style of opera)... so therefore if you want to work in them- study musical theater. it only makes sense.

you get to take electives at many colleges-- so take extra voice and piano lessons, or study specific studios or take advanced dance classes...

and no one says you cant study outside of school as well. if its not intense enough for your liking- pack your weekends.


any questions about the process or about UArts specifically - feel free to IM me at dorythenun.


thanks

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bump

Tuttle- since you seem against so many programs, I'm interested in hearing what you think the best are (excuse me if you already posted, I don't feel like digging).

i was wondering what people knew about marymount manhattan. my friend is going there in the fall and although im only going into 10th grade, I would like to learn more about it. Thanks!
<3 misha

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My assistant told me about this thread and I thought I would add my 2 cents worth. I work in casting (music theatre mostly) and I see hundreds of talented actors every day. There are many good Music Theatre Programs but the graduates that have been catching our attention and receiving the most work are from...
CCM, Elon University, University of Michigan and Carnegie Mellon.

for what its worth

I agree with TheColorofFlame. Just because someone goes to the best school doesn't mean they're going to have the best training. I think it's based on each individual. It depends on YOU and how much you're willing to take out of the program.

And Mr. Tuttle, I have nothing but great things to say about my program at ITHACA but I haven't heard anything great about the program over at ITHICA.