<p>^^I thought with all the West Side Story references, your child might have been in the recent production at NYU. It was fabulous!</p>
<p>^^In it, no. Sitting in the audience watching it, yes 
I too heard it was really good.</p>
<p>This is a great discussion (and funny). For anyone still considering the acting versus MT thing - or for future candidates, be sure to check on the school programs for both, if you get that acting nod. I see a comment on the Ithaca site about students telling others to come to Ithaca even if they got offered acting, not MT. Almost all of the classes are the same for both tracks and students from both can audition into shows from both.</p>
<p>An add on: According to a report from a CC mom, in the recent production of Spring Awakening at Ithaca, “10 of the cast members were MT students, and 7 were Acting. (All 6 of the understudies/covers were MT students). But, I guess it goes to show you that the Acting students get to do musicals.”</p>
<p>Ahh, prntosome, I was just about to re-post that here! Thank you. </p>
<p>I was just going to add that your answer may depend very heavily on the school. The kids at Ithaca told us that if someone applies for MT and gets into Acting at Ithaca, they should come, b/c there is so much crossover. Another parent reported they know of 2 kids who applied for MT at Ithaca and were accepted for Acting, and they are both going. But, there may very well be other schools where this is not true. For example, I vaguely remember the opposite being true at…Otterbein, maybe? I can go look.</p>
<p>Ithaca is an act-sing-dance school, which I love. But I wouldn’t want to do acting at an MT school where it’s the weakest link. And none of them are going to tell you that’s the case. I sat in on a very disappointing acting class and I’m pretty sure they thought it was quite good.</p>
<p>^^Any chance you want to share what school this was or is that breaking the rules? I do agree, though. It certainly depends on the school. But many schools have dual tracks for acting classes for the MT and Acting programs. If one got in for acting, and could supplement dance/voice outside of the school, it would be worth it, IMO. Depending on the circumstances and the school (and it would require due diligence). I see this as a viable option, whereas I caution those who choose to go to a school they got in to academically for a year, when they plan to re-audition for MT program the following year. That has a lot of problems in most schools.</p>
Hi- would you mind sharing where your child went to college? My daughter is a junior in highschool. She is so torn bw acting and musical theater! She is a very strong actress- has won numerous acting awards at her high school, in addition to winning a state acting award this year. She also takes weekly singing lessons and has danced since age 3 . Shes not happy unless shes in a play at school. There are many more plays in our highschool than musicals( just one)…She feels it might be a little less competitive to get admitted into a BFA for acting versus mt… And she really does want to focus on her acting skills in college… But at the same time, she is worried that her singing will suffer if she is not singing everyday and improving. I have been trying to find schools that let you audition for both… Is that a good strategy? Or audition for some acting, some singing programs?? And see where you get accepted??? Or schools that although she would be a bfa candidate in acting or mt, the two would overlap quite a bit. One additional complication is that I am meeting with a college audition coach soon… They have 2 different packages to choose from… Mt or acting!!! Soooo difficult to choose!!!
@duxellen- this thread is a couple years old- not all of the people who posted here are still frequent contributors. But my D (just finished her freshman year at NYU) auditioned for and was accepted to both MT and acting programs - so I will share some experiences.
Some schools allow you to do “both” at same audition and have well respected programs in both genres. CMU, Syracuse and NYU are examples. D figured it gave her two shots at getting accepted, so why not?
Other schools on D’s list, like Boston (at the time) or Minn Guthrie were acting programs. And some, like BW were only MT (they have non audition BA theater major, but no BFA acting, their MT is BM)
In the end - D had acceptances in both acting and MT. She went with acting at NYU for a wide variety of reasons that fit for her. Frankly I don’t think there is a “wrong” answer- it depends on what you see as your path.
@duxellen, have your D look at Ithaca and CMU. They completely integrate the Acting and MT kids. At Ithaca, the Acting and MT kids take the same acting classes, together. The Acting and MT kids MUST audition for all the musicals and plays. Some schools truly put acting first…concentrate on those. I would suggest looking at the faculty at various schools…some only have one acting professor. This is probably not a school your d would want to go to. Good luck.
@duxellen – As others have said, it is possible to build a list of schools where you can audition for both programs at the same time, that allow MTs to audition for plays and Theatre students to audition for musicals (and where they are cast in both), where Theatre students and MTs are integrated in acting classes, and where Theatre students have the opportunity to take some voice, dance, and MT classes.
A few to look at include:
Ithaca, Syracuse, Marymount Manhattan, James Madison (auditioned BA), CMU, NYU, Wagner (auditioned BA), Muhlenburg (non-audition BA), Shenandoah, UCLA, VCU (theatre, but with MT training and opportunities).
There are others as well, that I am sure posters will suggest. If I think of more I will post too.
Wright State is also such a school. The MT BFA is really an Acting BFA with “emphasis in MT”. For the first year the Acting and MT majors take the same acting classes and there are “ways” for a very committed MT major to get Acting classes for Acting majors as they matriculate. Acting majors can also get voice and dance classes. All theater majors audition for all shows. I believe you can audition for both MT and Acting BFA at same time. I have known of students who auditioned for MT and were accepted to Acting. Those who enter as Theater Studies BA majors can audition to switch to MT BFA one time after freshman year.
OCU is also a place where there is lots of crossover. There is a new chair of the School of Theatre also that the kids are raving about. MTs take acting classes in the School of Theatre with acting students. MTs get first dibs on dance classes after dance majors. But actors can take dance as their schedules allow. Actors can also take voice but are typically not in voice studios with MTs and VPs.
There’s also lots of crossover at Viterbo University. All MTs and Actors take their entire acting track together. Actors can take dance as well (and are required to take at least the 3-credit freshman Fundamentals of Dance course), and can take voice with the faculty in the Department of Music (this is the only major change–MTs have their own voice teachers). The BFA Actors also take a course called “Acting Studio” every semester, which is a specialized course whose curriculum changes every semester based on the needs of the program. MTs can also apply to take that course, provided there is space in it. MTs are cast in the plays, actors are cast in the musicals…everyone has diverse interests and sometimes I forget who is who!
Otterbein is another school that allows a lot of crossover for BFA MT/ BFA Acting. Son auditioned for BFA MT and was accepted for BFA Acting. He is now home, and said he has no regrets in his decision to go with Otterbein instead of his two acceptances elsewhere for MT. Freshmen have dance class daily and son also has weekly private voice lessons. He is taking dance again this coming year and will continue with the voice lessons.
Thank you everyone for these wonderful responses/ suggestions!!! I will definitely add many of these schools to our list… Daughter is at OCU musical theater camp right now and absolutely loving it! She loves how the teachers are so passionate and “know what they’re doing”. It 's too bad it 's so far from home:) If your child is on the fence between acting and musical theatre, a camp like this can be invaluable in helping them come to a decision before senior year of high school. She’s a little homesick, so I think she may want to focus on colleges that are no further than 5-6 hours max from Massachusetts! Keep the suggestions coming! Definites to apply to so far will be: NYU, Emerson, Marymount, BU, Ithaca, Syracuse, Wagner, Muhlenberg… Pace, Hartt, UConn, Montclair… All very competitive / competitive schools to get into( thankfully Muhlenberg doesn’t have an audition process to get in…however it’s still tough to get into academically so you can’t win !) another safety is UNH…we also heard fairfield had a great theater program(even though not a bfa program). We toured their facilities and were super impressed. Plus, college was beautiful and everyone we talked to was super friendly! She really wants a BFA program, but I think it’s important to have a few BAs just to have a well rounded list! Again- I really appreciate all the help from everyone! Thank goodness I found this board:)
@duxellen UConn, BU and Fairfield do not have MT is that correct?
If you’re looking at UNH, you should also have a look at Plymouth State.
All three are for acting -I believe …but BU just received a huge endowment to add musical theater… My daughter is torn between musical theater and acting- so primarily I think we’re going to focus on schools where both programs are intertwined- but she probably will also apply to a few others that are strictly acting… Such a complicated process