Summer at Tisch

[judy_in_disguise]

Posted: 12/3/04 at 8:55am

I'm a university voice student minoring in drama in Ontario.
I was originally looking at doing the spring term (four months) at Tisch- but the tuition is INSANE! ($17 000 American with no financial aid for foreigners!).
BUT
The summer term is only $4000 tuition (which is still almost my entire year's tuition in Ontario) for four weeks.
That's a little more managable...but still friggin expensive.
Anyways, I want to know if it is reccomended. Has anyone done the summer musical theatre course at Tisch? Any advice would be appreciated!

[Amneris]

Posted: 12/3/04 at 10:17am

do it. It was the greatest experience.

[judy_in_disguise]

Posted: 12/3/04 at 12:14pm

Amneris, can you tell me a bit about the program? What kind of people are there? Is it competitive to get in? How are the teachers/courses etc?

[Amneris]

Posted: 12/3/04 at 1:57pm

The people who attend are all VERY talented either tripple threats, or just singers, just actors or just dancers. Everyone suprisingly was SUPER supportive and friendly. The teachers were all wonderful. You are put in sections of 10-16 tops and get ALL the attention you need. You work your butt off rehersing,doing homework, in class work. It was very stressful but, I learned so much more here then any other fulltime school program could possibly ever teach me. For the professional program, they accept you based on your application , personal life experience , letters of rec. and your phone interview. Once you're accepted , the first day of school consists of placement auditions. The courses were wonderful. I think my favorite class was tap, musical scene study,Audition Tech which you either have a working bway actor teaching you or a casting director and vocal performance. We also had a business of theater course which was very helpful and thats the class where business pros come in . Alix Korey taught us some classes this summer.

[Adoannie925]

Posted: 12/3/04 at 8:14pm

I did the NYU summer program at Steinheart for musical theater and it was great! We got lots of good training and master classes. It was exhausting, but I learned so much in those three weeks! I met some of the people who did the summer program at Tisch and they seemed to enjoy it very much. Steinheart seems to have a MAJOR emphasis on voice, acting, and then dance, but it is NYU's music school. From what I've heard, Tisch has more of an emphasis on Dance/Acting, but I'd say, NYU is a great school and it will give you great training, so you can't go wrong with either one of the schools.

At steinheart, we got a ton of master classes, and Bethany Berg from Bernard Telsey (the casting agency) came in and heard us all sing and critqued us, answered any questions, etc. It was great and very helpful!

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 9:43am

*SteinhARDt*

Just correcting for those who may want to do a net search. And Bethany is great! :)

[judy_in_disguise]

Posted: 12/9/04 at 10:17am

Hmm I haven't done enough research- I haven't heard of the Steinhardt program!
It actually sounds quite perfect for me, and I'd be more likely to get accepted into it i think, if it's through the music program. I am a Bacehlor of Music student in Canada, for voice....
thanks guys!

[Sondheimluvchild]

Posted: 12/9/04 at 2:57pm

If it is possible, I would check out some of the productions they put on. If you had seen their recent production of Sweeney Todd you would probably reconsider applying there.

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 12/9/04 at 4:03pm

I see that you are once again bashing Tisch, although under a different user name this time. I'm curious why. You're certainly entitled to your opinion about the Sweeney Todd production, and I didn't see it myself so I can't comment firsthand. But what I can tell you, and others, is that everyone I know who saw it thought it was a solid production with gorgeous sets and a fantastic ensemble. A couple of the leads may have been slightly miscast but apparently the vocal talent was still superb. There were also two very experienced and well-known casting agents there whose opinions echoed these. Perhaps if you'd explain why you didn't like it, it would be more helpful to people here. In any case, seeing one production and and not liking it, then using that as a basis for warning people away from one of the best drama schools in the country is really a little silly.

[Amneris]

Posted: 12/9/04 at 4:06pm

and the fact that almost everyone on bway has tisch in their bios... their actors work.

[Sondheimluvchild]

Posted: 12/9/04 at 8:49pm

For someone who has never seen it or been in it I am shocked you are taking my opinion of it so seriously. The show was overall a big mess. The actors had decent voices but I have seen high school teens who could act better than them. The direction was sloppy. I will say that the man who played Pirelli was wonderful. In contrast the actor who played Sweeney was dreadful. To keep it short, I expected a lot more out of a school that is so well respected in the theatre community.

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 12/9/04 at 10:55pm

I didn't say that I'd never seen it or been in it. I said I hadn't seen this production. It's not your opinion I'm taking so seriously, it's the fact that this was the second time I've seen you bash Tisch on these forums, without explanation. And as I said, seeing one production with one cast of however many students, and basing an opinion of the calibre of the program from that one production is more than a little silly. Tisch accepts roughly 300 students each year. They put on over 100 productions, of various sizes, each year. Perhaps that puts it in more perspective for you in terms of your assumptions that the program is not a good one. In any case, I and others on these forums who are Tisch students, agree that you have a right to your opinion of a particular show, but please realize that it was one show. One. And your opinion is not shared by the majority of people who saw the show. I'm curious, are you a student? Do you go to NYU? Also, what's with the posting under two names?

[Sondheimluvchild]

Posted: 12/9/04 at 11:57pm

First of all, I am not posting under two names. I just came to this board yesterday so I hardly know what you are talking about. I wasn't aware that you were a Tisch student so I can understand why you would take to offense my comments. That was the first show I have seen at Tisch and I guess I was disappointed with the quality of the direction and performances. I expected something more from such a prestigous school. Perhaps, I should see more shows from Tisch before making any more judgements about the program. But after seeing Sweeney Todd I wouldn't want to see any other shows there. Maybe I saw it on a bad night, I don't know. I will stick to my guns about the fact that the quality of the show reflects poorly on the program. I'm sure other shows there are very good and up to the standards that the Tisch program is known for.

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 12/10/04 at 8:08am

Two user names? I'll leave it to you to decide.

12/9 posted by sondheimluvchild in Summer at Tisch
"If it is possible, I would check out some of the productions they put on. If you had seen their recent production of Sweeney Todd you would probably reconsider applying there."

12/3 posted by mohonfdu in Tisch:School of the Arts at NYU
"If you saw their production of Sweeney Todd you would reconsider applying to that school. It was awful. They should be embarrassed."


Obviously written by the same person. Like I said, you're entitled to your opinion of the production but it's wrong to taint others' impressions of a school which happens to be one of the best, based on one opinion of one show.

[judy_in_disguise]

Posted: 12/10/04 at 10:03am

Simmer kids, simmer.
I just asked about the programs at Tisch for anyone who had taken them.
No need to get feisty!

[Switz78]

Posted: 12/10/04 at 10:25am

Isn't it possible that out of all the people who saw the show. @ actually didn't like it and therefore these could be 2 different people?
There is no need to argue with someone who doesn't like a school. Everyone thinks their program is the best or they wouldn't have done it, right?

Now for the comment that Tisch kids work, a lot of schools have people working all over the place. For instance, I didn't know that Baldwin-Wallace in Ohio had a great program but they have a dozen or more grads on 3 national tours, that sounds good to me.

Plus, let's not forget that those studying in NY get to meet people a lot sooner than those studying in IL (where I did)

Just my thoughts. Not attacking anyone here.

[Sondheimluvchild]

Posted: 12/10/04 at 11:09am

I believe I struck a nerve with you Erin with my criticisms about the show. Sweeney Todd happens to be one of my favorite shows and I have seen it performed countless times both professionally and at the college level. For a college level production, Sweeney Todd was not up to par with other productions I have seen at less prestigous schools. For some reason you keep attacking me with false accusations about posting here before. I am sure that there are a number of people registered on this board who has seen Tisch's production. I am sure some of them did not like it and chose to exercise their opinions about it. I think its time to put your ego aside and accept the fact that some people did not like the production. Does that particular production make Tisch a bad school? No of course not, it just reflects poorly on the program.

[suzycat]

Posted: 12/10/04 at 1:12pm

is there an extensive application process for the Tisch summer program when you're coming from a different University? The Tisch website was vague. The NYU Summer Programs website made it seem like all you have to do is register for classes. It can't be that easy, can it?

[Amneris]

Posted: 12/10/04 at 1:16pm

yes, because if you intend to get credit, besides filling out all the stuff for the summer program, you need to go through the university itself to do more stuff.