Opinions sought about musical Theater schools

[Fairygodmom1978]

Posted: 11/18/04 at 9:24pm

I'm trying to get an idea of what musical theater schools in my area (Northeastern Ohio)have to offer. Does anybody have an opinion about Kent State University's Musical Theater program? My daughter is a vocal performance major at another school, and can't get much in the way of acting classes or experience there. She did a big musical in regional professional theater this past summer and wants to be on stage for the rest of her life. Advice? Thank you!

[MagicToDo82]

Posted: 11/18/04 at 9:33pm

University of Michigan's program rocks. Had I known that when I was starting college, I would have gone there. I believe Hunter Foster and Barrett Foa are both graduates, and their shows are awesome.

[etheb]

Posted: 11/18/04 at 9:38pm

*cough* and Jennifer Laura Thompson and Gavin Creel :)

<--huge fan of everything Michigan does, and their shows are AMAZING (can't comment on classes, though)

[MagicToDo82]

Posted: 11/18/04 at 9:39pm

I didn't know JLT went there. That's awesome! Did you see 'Chorus Line' this year?

[Broadway_Bound_Star]

Posted: 11/18/04 at 9:39pm

Try University of Michigan, thats where i'm gonna go, but you need a 3.8 GPA or higher to have a good chance, but I think the majority of the depends on your audition, but for the audition you need two monolgues, one dramatic one cometic. 2 songs, but they can't be from a long list of songs, you need one ballet and one fast tempo. and there is a huge danceing section.

[MagicToDo82]

Posted: 11/18/04 at 9:41pm

I also know that Central Michigan University has a musical theatre program, but I know nothing about it other than I went to see their fall musical, "A Little Night Music," because friends of mine were playing Desiree and Anne, and it was a really stellar show.

[etheb]

Posted: 11/18/04 at 9:46pm

Did you see 'Chorus Line' this year?

nope, i'm in NYC for college! but my mom saw it and liked it, i think. but besides this year, i've seen almost every show there for the last 10 years. of course 10 years ago i was 8 so i really don't remember much! Updated On: 11/18/04 at 09:46 PM

[Broadway_Bound_Star]

Posted: 11/18/04 at 9:47pm

Yeah, but before you try Central, try Western, they have a good one.

[MagicToDo82]

Posted: 11/18/04 at 9:49pm

Hehe. All these schools are in Michigan...apparently I'm not the only Michigander around here.:) Yay! Westerns program is very good, too.

[WayWicked]

Posted: 11/19/04 at 2:38am

Make sure you check out Oklahoma City University. Truly the most amazing musical theater program aorund these days that is actually affordable!

With alumni like Kristen Chenowerth, Kelli O'Hara, Stacey Logan, Lara Teeter, Leona Mitchell, Ron Raines and Jordan Ballard among others, you can't go wrong. They produce the most amazing shows, make their own sets and costumes and tour the world. Plus..with the new 35 millions dollar music school opening next year, OCU will have the most up-to-date facility in the nation. You can even watch it being built on their web page!

http://www.okcu.edu/music/index.asp

[brytelytes33]

Posted: 11/19/04 at 8:12am

Northwestern University in Illinois, University of Michigan, Roosevelt University, and DePaul University in Chicago all have great musical theatre programs. I am personally looking to get into Columbia College Chicago for their musical theatre performance program. They are an all arts school right in the heart of downtown chicago - parents won't let me go to NYC, they says that it's too far from home (I live in Michigan), but they love Chicago and the fact that it's only a four hour train ride from home is a plus for them too.

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 11/19/04 at 9:39am

fairygodmom, here's a link to the best discussion forum I've seen re: MT schools.

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/forumdisplay.php?f=2

There's also a FAQ which was set up by some of the regular posters and the head of the theatre dept. at Otterbein. It includes a list of all MT programs in the country by state, and what type of degree they offer. UMich, along with Tisch, Carnegie Mellon, and OCU, is one of the top programs. Like Tisch, though, you need excellent academics to get in. At UMich you need to be accepted academically BEFORE you get an invitation to audition. Anyhoo, check out that forum. You'll get your questions answered.

[Katakana]

Posted: 11/19/04 at 9:48am

Here is a website that might help you:

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/forumdisplay.php?f=2

Near the beginning of the forum, you will almost always see a thread titled "Colleges for Musical Theater Major - Part 30," which contains an ongoing discussion of this topic by parents, students, and at least one professor. (He happens to be from Otterbein College, which is in your area.) The first page in the thread contains the link to page 29 from the site before it was revised earlier this year, and from there you can trace it all the way back to page 1. The discussion has been going on for at least two years and contains information which is so hard to find in ordinary college evaluation books, which seldom review musical theater programs.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

[Katakana]

Posted: 11/19/04 at 9:54am

I see that erinrebecca (above) and I are of like minds, but I am the slower typist!

[RockyRoad]

Posted: 11/19/04 at 5:15pm

My friends are auditioning this weekend for Oklahoma City University. Good luck!

OCU will not allow you audition either unless you have been accepted to the university. They actually did not admit another friend cause they had too low an ACT score (20). Oh well..guess that's they there's CCM!