Broadway's Big 10: Top Colleges Currently Represented on Currently Running Shows

College Majors Musical Theater Major
21

@toowonderful, if you’re talking about Sean, I believe he was at Ithaca through his junior year…he was there at least through the end of his sophomore year, b/c he performed in the spring musical the second semester of his sophomore year. Maybe you’re confusing him with Aaron Tveit, who spent 1 year as a VP major, then transferred to MT for a short time before being cast on Broadway? He wasn’t at Ithaca that long, but I believe they awarded him his BFA in 2012, anyway (do you blame them?). But, if you really think about it, who wouldn’t leave school for a Broadway job? For a lot of them, that’s the golden ring…the ultimate prize. (BTW, they also forgot Danny Gardner, Ithaca grad, who opens in just a few weeks in Dames at Sea.)

Regardless, some of these schools have very impressive lists. I find it fascinating how many Juilliard grads are in musicals, when they don’t even have a MT department. Such a great school for both acting and voice, and it looks like their grads can be successful in MT without the MT program. I think Phillipa Soo is one of the most phenomenal voices out there.

22

My daughter has AMDA on her list but I constantly see negative reviews about it…but nice to see students on this list that graduated from there. When reading their website, it does seem like it would be the perfect fit for what she wants. Thoughts?

23

@monkey13 - I am talking about Sean. D did a batch of shows with him when she was younger. If I am correct (and to be honest, I didn’t pay strict attention) he left Ithaca after freshman year for a job, returned for a bit, and then left again. Again- no certainty, but he did not graduate to the best of my knowledge

24

@DVCmember I too have heard the negative stuff about AMDA. My daughter has two friends who graduated from AMDA. One did some regional theatre then decided to travel and do cruise ships. The other has done a year or so of regional theatre and is now on a National Tour. Both of them flourished at AMDA and it was the perfect fit for them.

25

@broadway95 do you know if they did the 2 yr program or the 4 yr on both coasts?

26

I have a lot of thoughts about this list:

Do not fret if you don’t see some of the schools in which you are interested on these lists. As has already been noted, these lists are always somewhat fluid as shows open and close. For example, there were 2 OCU grads in On the 20th Century which just closed, and 2 who will be in Allegiance which is just getting ready to open, none of whom are on this list. I’m sure the same is true for many other schools. So this list will change on any given day.

I completely agree that alums on Broadway is just one of the things you should consider when determining a school’s success rate. Even actors lucky enough to be on Broadway are often not there for long . So while this is good information, it is just one small snapshot of what alums at any school are doing. It’s important to find out what the rest are doing as well. Tours, cruises, regional theatre, etc… Get as much info as you can on where they are working. And realize that even the best of the best often do things outside of Broadway in order to make a living.

One of the things I find interesting on this list is AMDA - it gets bashed a lot for not being a “real” school or one which accepts everyone. Yet it appears they have some really successful grads. I find that interesting given the reputation it had among people we knew when we were looking at schools. We got the impression we should steer clear of it. Seems like it may at least be worth more consideration than it is often given? I’m glad to hear others who know people who have had positive experiences there. It may be a good option for some.

I do agree that NYU will always have a leg up on the raw #s for a couple of reasons -

  1. the sheer number of students in their theatre programs. I believe the NYU theater program is significantly larger in terms of numbers of kids enrolled than any other school in the country. Just at Tisch alone they have upwards of 500 freshman each year in the theatre school. Significantly more than any other school on this list.
    2)NYU, like other NYC schools, also has the advantage of their location - it is a bit easier to make connections and go to auditions when you are already in the city where decisions are being made. It is one of the perks of going there for sure. I want to be clear I am not saying anything negative about NYU at all. Their training is first rate, there is no question about that. But as has been suggested, if you used percentages instead of raw data, the numbers might come out a little differently. But honestly, I think that’s being a bit picky. They are still definitely one of the very top MT schools in the nation whether ranked by raw data or percentage.

I think the other thing students can take away from this list is you do not have to go to school in a big city in order to make it to Broadway. The diversity of the schools on this list shows you can make it there from many different places and many different types of schools. That should be reassuring!

Lastly, like @soozievt said, I don’t know that I would agree about many of those being cast right out of school being dancers. Certainly some are. Most broadway shows need great dancers! And frankly, not sure what is wrong with that. I don’t know many kids in this field who wouldn’t want to be in the ensemble of a Broadway show if cast. Many a Broadway lead has started in the chorus :slight_smile: But I think those represented in this list represent a wide variety of types of roles. And honestly, Whether they are a lead, or in the ensemble, being cast and performing on Broadway is a big deal.

What it all really boils down to, I think is that you just have to look at this list as another interesting factoid among all the information you are gathering about theater schools and use it as you see fit. Nothing more, nothing less.

27

@DVCmember they both did the 2 year program

28

Members, nor moderators, have the ability to add the fire icon (which I think may mean “hot topic”). Only a forum administrator can do that. I am not sure the criteria. Certainly in this case, I noticed it was marked a hot topic before much discussion got underway. I now notice it is a featured thread on the MT Forum and on the general discussion forum. Again, moderators are not able to feature threads. Only forum administrators. CC’s forum administrators must pick topics that they think will be of interest to many members that they wish to feature. The forum administrators are not regular MT observers. But in their view, they apparently think it is a topic to feature.

29

@vvnstar - I think looking at % in most aspects of the theater world is enough to make mommy reach for a cocktail! :))

30

The list Playbill posted is totally fluid. Just a snapshot of this point in time. I certainly wouldn’t use it as a barometer in evaluating a college program. I’d want to know what many of their grads were doing, and not just who is on Broadway on this date in time. In any case, it is nice to see and know of classmates doing so well, and not just on Broadway. I get excited every time a kid I know gets cast in these professional shows and other professional gigs.

31

Very generous rounding up there :-). More like 300. There are 7 primary training studios for actors (plus one more for tech theatre) and one of them is actually for writers. Not all of those actors would touch singing roles with a 10 foot pole. Go ahead and do your percentages but it won’t matter. NYU has favored status on this kind of measurement largely due to location as well as because there are talented students in their program which many schools can also claim but they can too.

Location matters. The sooner we all get over that the better. It is no different than seeing a MUNY cast list that is heavy on the great schools in the mid-west or something in a Chicago theatre that is full of Northwestern, CCPA or De Paul graduates. I have a friend whose unbelievably talented Northwestern grad daughter is opening in something enviable in Chicago tomorrow night. She has found a number of terrific opportunities in the theatre community near her college because of the contacts she made there and is taking advantage of them. This girl is a Broadway level talent in spades and I fully expect her to show up there one day (if she wants to) and am positive she will land something great. But she doesn’t need to and for the most part hasn’t bothered to. She is already working where she is and where she has great contacts, and representation and and and… She is not on this list but probably could be and would be except why when you can love the one you’re with? I think there are plenty others like her out there who used the contacts where they are and are leveraging the heck out of it. Smart.

So in short… THIS LIST DOESN’T TELL YOU ANYTHING that matters for college and the sooner we all stop thinking it does and feeling defensive or proud about lists like this the better. No college can transform a mediocre talent in to a super star. No college can make a short brunette white soprano female into a tall male black bass in a show that is actually looking for plump comedic transgender Latino who juggles and plays the guitar. You just need to find the place where you hope you can get the training to make you the best “you” that you can possibly be and then hope the chips fall in your favor. End of story.

I’m sort of bummed that the article made it to the hot topic designation for the sake of this forum because it just shouldn’t have. @collegemom, is there any process by which the “flames” could be extinguished as this one truly is silly and not serving this community all that well.

32

@halflokum

It’s certainly generated a lot of heat! :slight_smile:

33

@halflokum - I apologize if my information is not entirely accurate. But I don’t think I’m that far off. This is what was told us when searching for schools 2 years ago - that there were approximately 60 - 80 kids per studio. Multiply by 7 and that is somewhere between 420 and 560. And we need to account for any students from Steinhardt also. There is no separation of Tisch and Steinhardt for this specific list. I have searched the internet this morning for more concrete data - but have been unable to find any. Nonetheless - the actual numbers should not be the main focus. My point was the number of people in NYU’s theater programs is greater than at most schools. I tried very hard to make it clear that this in no way insinuates anything negative about NYU at all. The training is awesome. But as I said, the sheer number of students and its location mean they will most likely have an advantage in the numbers of alums they have on Broadway. I was not being critical of NYU whatsoever and trie to make that very clear.

Likewise, I agreed that although the information is interesting, it really does not define whether a program is successful or not. As I’ve said over and over again, there are many paths to success and Broadway is just one of them. But I don’t see any issue with people being interested in the information or that it is a “hot topic”. As you know, this is a question that comes up over and over again on CC. I am assuming this is why it has been designated a hot topic. So this is just one person’s attempt to try and answer that question. Playbill is considered a fairly reputable trustworthy source in the industry. So people will be interested in what they have to say. By ignoring it, we are not going to change people’s interest in the topic. Look at it this way - by having a discussion about it on CC, at least now you can voice your opinions on the list and let people know you don’t feel it tells them anything. Otherwise, they might see the list elsewhere and take it as gospel.

So I’ll repeat, all the schools on this list are good. But as I started my initial post - don’t fret if schools you are interested in aren’t on this list. There are many, many out there that provide excellent training. Find what suits you best. On that I think we can agree.

34

I don’t know of any Tisch studio that takes more than 60, and many take less. I believe my D’s freshman class in Adler had around 50, there were 4 “groups” of 12 (there may have been one or two more in groups), my D was in a group of 12 each semester, as she is 1st semester this year. Not trying to contradict vvnstar- just adding info. I would agree with halflokum that the Tisch freshman class as a whole (including writers and tech) is closer to 300 than 500.

35

No matter how you cut it, this is a strong list. These are most of the top names in MT College Programs.

That being said - I still think AMDA is the wrong choice for 99% of actors, and believe they take money from young kids not ready or skilled enough to be in the city without a real college degree.

I do think NYU deserves to be on any Top 10/15 list, but the concerns regarding numbers are real and valid.

36

@TheaterHiringCo , could I find out why you believe that about AMDA? It’s on my daughters list of places she would like to apply, but I’ve heard negative things about it, but no real explanations of why.

37

Again, I apologize if my numbers are not entirely accurate. But I think the correct number is probably in between what you and I are guessing. I told you where my numbers came from.

I will repeat: The point is not the actual number but the fact that NYU (Tisch and Steinhardt combined) have many more theater majors than most schools on the list. That is all that was meant. I continue to say …It’s a great school. They have a lot of talented students which translate into a lot of talented people on Broadway which is what is reflected on the list in question. Let’s please move on.

38

In terms of accuracy for others reading the thread, based on many things I have read and know about, the size of the class in Tisch Drama (this includes acting, MT, dramatic writing, and tech) is 375, not 500. I think when my kid was there, it was approximately 358 in all of Tisch Drama per year. The size of the MT class is 60, but not all the other studios are as large as NSB. If you eliminate tech and dramatic writing, the acting/MT class size is approximately 300. I realize that NYU has more actors graduating than many programs. When it comes to MT, BOCO also has a lot of graduates.

In my D’s Tisch cohort, of the ones who have been on Broadway or are on Broadway now, most were cast AFTER graduating, not while in school. Yes, going to NYU helps in forging NYC networking at an early stage, no pun intended. But the location doesn’t mean they are auditioning while in school much (very hard to do that while at Tisch).

39

All of these types of lists have weaknesses (“best” MT schools, “best” shows, etc.). ALL of them. I know 2 Ithaca kids currently on Broadway who weren’t on this list. And I know there must be kids missing from other schools as well. So the list isn’t even complete.

BUT, as @TheaterHiringCo said, this list does represent many/most of the top names of schools. This doesn’t mean you need to go to one of these schools to make it on Broadway, or (as others have pointed out) that Broadway is the only successful career. Going to the top name schools does have benefits, as we have discussed many, many times before. It gives you connections; name recognition may get you into an audition; reputation may get more good agents at the showcase; you (probably) get stellar training. But the bottom line is that even if you go to Podunk U, if you kill it in the audition room, you’ll get cast. It’s impossible to determine if these top name schools attract the kids who are already marketable, or if they create them, or if it is a combination thereof. I don’t think we can ever tease that apart. So we can talk about it until the cows come home, but we will never resolve it.

So here are the facts, as I see them. 1) Some schools have better reputations than others. 2) Graduates from ALL programs, top name or not (or no school at all) can “make it.” 3) These lists make people defensive/proud/angry/jealous. 4) In the end, it doesn’t matter. If your child is REALLY talented, they will make it (whatever that means). Maybe it will be easier for them to make it if they come from one of these schools, but if they’re going to make it, they’re going to make it, no matter what. Going to one of these schools doesn’t guarantee success. Going to a school not on this list doesn’t guarantee failure.

That being said, someone could, theoretically, spend a to of time looking at where EVERY actor in every Broadway show currently running went (not an easy task, as many actors don’t put it in their bio, and don’t have it on their resume), correct for size of the program, maybe correct for when they graduated, and kind of sort of figure which schools are correlated with being on Broadway. But even then, correlation does NOT imply causation, so what’s the point?

All of THAT being said, I (personally) am a little concerned about all these new programs popping up all over, and kids being determined to get in SOMEWHERE, anywhere. I think some schools try to take advantage of MT as a “hot” major, and they may be promising more than they can deliver (i.e., good training). But that is just an opinion. There are many, many wonderful programs out there NOT on this list. So I think everyone should just take this list for what it is…a somewhat flawed compilation of where some of the current Broadway actors went to school, and keep on applying/training/auditioning. And breathe.

40

I agree with all you wrote @monkey13 !

Also, even if someone is successful in their career (however you define success), it is hard to ascertain if that is truly due to the education/training they received at X college. I mean, one could argue that the most renown schools attract and accept a very talented pool of students and so it makes sense those students may do well when they graduate and it is not ALL due to the training they got at X college.

As well, I am a firm believer that it is the person who succeeds and not due to the school from where he/she graduated. You can be a success coming from any college.