<p>And there are many many performers who never went to college at all….</p>
<p>Adam Pascal!!</p>
<p>Current Jean Val Jean on Broadway, many of the Broadway Elphaba’s, I could go on and on….</p>
<p>Hmm. I wonder how much credit the school gets for someone working 10 years later. My guess is very little unless it’s a top 3 program and you hit it big very fast. But it;s interesting. One or two shows after graduation is not a career and I’m starting to see more of this with recent grads we know, personally. It can be a long time between paid projects even for those from top programs. </p>
<p>This is an amazing resource! My daughter is only a high school freshman, but we’re already looking into musical theater colleges. Yes, I get people’s comments that regional work, tours, etc. are just as important as Broadway alums. But for my daughter, the value of this list is that she wants to go to a school that has graduated at least SOME Broadway performers. We’re not ranking our list based solely on number of Broadway alums - there are a lot of factors that go into choosing a college. But if a musical theater colleges hasn’t had a single graduate on Broadway in the past 10 years, that would make us wonder how good the training is. If at least a couple of people have gotten to Broadway, that tells me that the training the students receive is good enough to make them ready to perform on Broadway. Whether they get the opportunity to do so is up to a million factors, including luck. But having at least a few Broadway alumni tells me that the school provides Broadway-level professional training. </p>
<p>As a small example of how fluid these “statistics” are, I know of at least three Northwestern 2014/13 grads who are currently on Broadway (Cabaret, Book of Mormon and The Real Thing plus there may be others I don’t know about), but 6 months from now there could be none or dozens of recent NU grads there. Plus grads from one school may dominate amazing theatres in huge regional markets (for example you’ll find lots of steadily-employed NU actors in Chicago) who consciously choose not to move to NYC. So, as been said, this is interesting but tells only a very small fraction of the story of which programs produce theatre professionals with real staying power, either on or off Broadway.</p>
<p>When my D was asked by an very well known Broadway actor what her goals were at a master class, she simply replied: I want to make a living as an actor. And the Broadway start said that was the best answer she had heard from any student. There are many opportunities out there for actors, and if you are simpply focused on only Broadway odds are you’ll be disappointed. Not that my D would turn that down!</p>
<p>I often wonder if it’s the actor who goes to the school already with the “it” factor ( Megan Hilty, Sutton Foster, Kristin Chenowith) or if it is the school that creates such performers. ( The old Chicken vs. Egg debate). My bet is that most of these performers came to these schools talented and any school could have “trained” them to Broadway.</p>
<p>Well Sutton Foster only went to CMU for a year and from the stories that have floated around they didn’t think she had the “it” factor. </p>
<p>I do believe that many probably do go to those schools very talented and could have been “trained” anywhere. It’s also very much up to the student to learn all they can and supplement what they need. Working actors get their training from all over so I don’t necessarily think the school makes the student. It is what the student puts in that makes them…along with breaks and a lot of luck too!</p>
<p>In terms of the “it” factor, I don’t think it can be taught. I think those who have it, had it before entering college. But I do think a college program can really train a performer on their skill set and that even very talented people, come out more talented and ready after going through such a program. I thinks skill can be taught and a performer is better after more training. That is not quite the same as the “it” factor which is hard to define and seems a personal trait for some performers. </p>
<p>Generally speaking, I believe it is the person who makes it and not the school from where they came. I think you can make it coming out of any college. I think picking a college is more about the fit of what you want in the college. But in the end, it is the person who succeeds or not and they will do so or not no matter where they went to college, in terms of their talents, and so on. Some colleges may offer more networking opportunities and such, which can be important in this career field. </p>
<p>Another point is that if some schools have more successful MT performers post graduation, it may not necessarily mean the program offers better training, but that the school is just more highly selective and so their MT student body is of a high end in the first place and the “cut” was at the point of admission. The concentration of talent in the very highly selective programs may be greater, even though that same level of talent is within any program. It’s like in regular colleges…for example, there are kids at University of VT who are every bit as smart as kids at Harvard. But there are more of these types of kids at Harvard than at UVM. You can succeed coming out of either college. Certain kids are going to succeed no matter where they go to college. </p>
<p>Well put. Charisma is powerful in any profession. Charm opens doors in all walks of life. Animal magnetism…and so on. These cannot be taught. It may be possible to recognize them in the admissions process and have a richer pool of students to train. By contrast, skills acquired prior to and throughout one’s career can very much be taught. The best in all respects will be the actor who is a life-long learner - a perpetual student - whether in he studies in formal classes or by osmosis in the workplace. This is also true of doctors, teachers, writers. There are plenty of doltish graduates of top drawer colleges. Most of the graduates who succeed (by measure of paid employment) will be those with charisma, charm, sex appeal AND a very strong skill set, often though not always acquired through diligent participation in formal training. For an actor choosing college, it will be far more important <em>how</em> he goes to college than <em>where</em> he goes.</p>
<p>Very well said and Sutton Foster is a good example of that! She is one of the hardest working actors out there and was right from the beginning. She speaks/teaches at many schools so a lot of our kids have heard her speak and hopefully shared with us what they’ve heard. She was always my daughter’s role model based on her incredible work ethic which overwhelmed any “missing” talent.</p>
I’d love to see a list like this for Drama schools.
That’s a little more difficult. Some of those schools on the list are strictly acting (no MT program) schools, so we can start from there. But straight stage-based dramas are generally on broadway for such limited runs with much smaller casts (a number of the performers on the MT colleges list are ensemble, and that’s still definitely impressive, but plays don’t have ensembles) that doing a round-up, while not impossible, would be difficult.
That being said, I’m up for the challenge! I’m going to take a look at what’s on right now and see what I can find!
Also if you look at casting breakdowns for straight actors, there are really a lot of parts for 30s, 40s, 50s, so it may take longer to break into a professional groove.
Okay @remartin67 , I looked for the current Broadway PLAYS (I went back to the fall of 2015 and forward by a couple of months–if the casting has been announced) and here’s what I found. Several got their MFAs so I indicated whether it was an MFA or bachelor’s degree when I could, since we’re focused on our kids’ bachelor degrees right now. Also, there were a number of them who didn’t list colleges in their bios. I googled them and when there wasn’t a quick link to say which college, I put them on a ‘no college/none listed’ list.
NYU
Ben Horner (Curious Incident; BFA Stella Adler/Experimental Group; MFA Yale School of Drama)
Kathryn Erbe (The Father)
Brian Avers (The Father; BFA Marymount Manhattan, MFA NYU)
Rosie Benton (Curious Incident; MFA NYU)
Frank Wood (Hughie; BA Wesleyan; MFA NYU)
Pascale Armand (Eclipsed; BA Georgetown University, MFA NYU)
Jeremy Shamos (Noises Off ; MFA NYU)
Pippa Pearthree (Noises Off)
Greg Keller (Our Mother’s Brief Affair; BA Connecticut College, MFA NYU)
Yale School of Drama
Mercedes Herrero (Curious Incident; MFA Yale)
Ben Horner (Curious Incident; BFA NYU, MFA Yale)
Tiffany Rachelle Stewart (Curious Incident; MFA Yale)
Lupita N’yongo (Eclipsed; BA Hampshire College; MFA Yale)
Liz Wisan (The Father; BA Skidmore, MFA Yale)
Juilliard
Enid Graham (Curious Incident)
Charles Borland (The Father)
Steven Boyer (Hand to God)
Alex Sharp (Curious Incident)
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Ben Whishaw (The Crucible)
Sophie Okonedo (The Crucible)
UNCSA
Tyler Lea (Curious Incident)
Mary-Louise Parker (Heisenberg)
Northwestern
Meredith Forlenza (Noises Off)
Kate Arrington (Our Mother’s Brief Affair)
Connecticut college
Greg Keller (Our Mother’s Brief Affair; BA Connecticut, MFA NYU)
Georgetown University
Pascale Armand (Eclipsed; BA Georgetown; MFA NYU)
Marymount Manhattan
Brian Avers (The Father; Bachelor’s Marymount; MFA NYU)
National Theatre School of Canada
Benjamin Wheelwright (Curious Incident)
College of William and Mary
Linda Lavin (Our Mother’s Brief Affair)
Columbia College
Michael Oberholtzer (Hand to God)
Mount Holyoke College
Geneva Carr (Hand to God)
Oberlin College
Hannah Cabell (The Father)
Skidmore
Liz Wisan (The Father; BA, Skidmore, MFA Yale)
Florida Atlantic University
Marc Kudisch (Hand to God)
SUNY Purchase
Keren Dukes (Curious Incident)
Hampshire College
Lupita N’yongo (Eclipsed; BA Hampshire; MFA Yale)
WA Academy of Performing Arts
Tim Wright (Curious Incident)
Wesleyan University
Frank Wood (Hughie)
Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
Akosua Busia (Eclipsed)
American Conservatory Theatre—San Francisco
Lauren Klein (The Humans; MFA)
Columbia University
Sarah Steele (The Humans)
St. Malachy’s College
Ciaran Hinds (The Crucible)
University of Minnesota
Jessica Lange (did not graduate; Long Day’s Journey Into Night)
University College Dublin
Gabriel Byrne (Long Day’s Journey into Night)
CUNY Macauley Honors College
Colby Minifie (Long Day’s Journey Into Night)
American Musical and Dramatic Academy
Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Fully Committed)
Emerson College
Andrea Martin (Noises Off)
Salem State College
Tracee Chimo (Noises Off)
Appalachian State University
David Furr (Noises Off)
Lawrence University
Campbell Scott (Noises Off)
Arkansas Arts Center
Daniel Davis (Noises Off)
University of Pennsylvania
Kate Jennings Grant (Noises Off)
Carnegie Mellon University
Megan Hilty (Noises Off)
Montclair State University
Rob McClure (did not graduate; Noises Off)
Rutgers Mason Gross
Jonathan Fielding (Noises Off; BFA TCU, MFA RMG)
Texas Christian University
Jonathan Fielding (Noises Off; BFA TCU, MFA RMG)
Syracuse University
Frank Langella (The Father)
No college (or no college found)
Andrew Long (Curious Incident)
Saoirse Ronan (The Crucible)
Michael Shannon (Long Day’s Journey into Night)
John Gallagher, Jr. (Long Day’s Journey into Night)
Bill Buell (Noises Off)
John Procaccino (Our Mother’s Brief Affair)
Denis Arnt (Heisenberg)
Sarah Stiles (Hand to God)
Nancy Robinette (Curious Incident)
Richard Hollis (Curious Incident)
David Manis (Curious Incident)
Stephanie Roth Haberle (Curious Incident)
Tom Patrick Stephens (Curious Incident)
Forest Whitaker (Hughie)
Peter Bradbury (Hughie)
Zainab Jah (Eclipsed)
Saycon Sengbloh (Eclipsed)
Jeff Daniels (Blackbird)
Michelle Williams (Blackbird)
Cassie Beck (The Humans)
Reed Birney (The Humans)
Jayne Houdyshell (The Humans)
Arian Moayed (The Humans)
@lovetoact - you clearly put a TON of work into this today - and I salute you! But, I wonder about listing the MFAs- as most of the kids/parents reading it aren’t to that point yet… (though some are thinking about it) Ex: the NYU MFA has nothing to do with the NYU an 18 year old can apply for…
Sara Stiles graduated from AMDA
Millikin has gotten so much mileage out of Sierra Boggess, and I’m not sure they were noteworthy at all before she became famous. I couldn’t believe it when I found out that literally all of the people that my daughter knows in musical theater in her region were auditioning there.
@toowonderful thanks! I included the MFAs (and indicated MFA) on purpose. Other lists (like the a playbill articles) list people with MFAs on their lists without indicating that they earned an MFA, not a BFA. There are 7 people listed in the Playbill article under ‘NYU’ who didn’t get a BFA there. I figured that people may have read that, for example, Jeremy Shamos is an NYU alum without realizing it’s from the grad program.
I also thought it was kind of cool to see where people who got their MFAs from NYU and Yale went to school undergrad.