<p>I am looking a list of colleges that allow music majors (vocal performance) to audition and participate in musical theater productions in addition to operas.</p>
<p>You will probably get a broader scope of knowledge here [Musical</a> Theater Major - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/]Musical”>Musical Theater Major - College Confidential Forums) from the musical theater folks.</p>
<p>Welcome to the forum ready! OCU does cross cast operas and musicals from the VP students and the MT students. violadad’s recommendation to check out the MT forum is a good one.</p>
<p>Thanks for your replies. I will check the MT forum but I am really looking for a music major offering classical vocal training with MT opportunities on the side (in addition to operas and choirs). I think there are some schools that only allow MT majors to audition for their productions. I want to be on a campus which is open to music majors to become involved with theater but not necessarily major in it.</p>
<p>I suggested the MT forum from my reading some posts over time. There seems to be more of a desire for that type of cross-over than there is within this forum. Albeit, I may be confusing those MT folks wanting a cross-over or combo with more classically oriented training.</p>
<p>In any event, you may want to pm KatMT, who often posts in both forums.</p>
<p>Right off the top of my head, Oklahoma City University (OCU) has ALL VP and MT students auditions for ALL music performance opportunities.
Another choice might be Western Michigan University. Your vocal performance studies would be classical, and I believe their performance opportunities are fairly open … in terms of auditions/placement.
Otherwise, do check out the MT forums.</p>
<p>Oberlin offers that opportunity.</p>
<p>Jacobs School of Music, there were specific questions pertaining to that from a girl who was on the same tour as I, it seems theres opportunity for anyone to audition for MT or Operas, but as with most programs you can only really focus on one, also even if there were opportunities some schools take preference with students who actually are in the MT or Opera specific programs</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Any east coast schools to consider?</p>
<p>KatMT is at James Madison University in Virginia. PM her and do go over to the other forum. There are many discussions there about VP majors with MT possibilities.</p>
<p>Re: East coast. If memory serves correctly, I believe both Ithaca and Syracuse said VP majors could NOT audition for MT productions. This is probably frequently true at schools that have both majors, so that the kids in MT get their performance opps.</p>
<p>Maybe Florida State? We visited there three years ago, so I’m foggy on what their policy is.
Same with Shandoah Conservatory; you could look into that.</p>
<p>Serious VP programs require their majors to obtain permission from their voice teacher to audition for ANYTHING- gigs, shows, etc. Given the state of MT today, with it’s heavy emphasis on belting, gaining that permission may be next to impossible! And you may be way too busy within your own major to even have the time, since VP programs usually put on 1/2 fully staged opera and 1/2 Opera Scenes per year… It’s definitely something to ask the head of any VP program which you may be considering…</p>
<p>I always thought it was a common practice for voice teachers to have to “sign off” on any student being cast VP or MT.</p>
<p>I believe this is possible at University of Maryland… I saw a musical there a few years ago that had VP students in the cast.</p>
<p>I teach at James Madison in VA and VP students may audition for and may be cast in MT productions as well as take musical theatre performance and acting courses. A handful of VP students choose to also pursue the theatre minor. </p>
<p>I went to Syracuse, and the only students who may audition for mainstage musicals in the Drama Dept. are students who have completed the first year acting core in the department… so VP students are not eligible to audition for those musicals. There are non-Drama Dept. musicals outside of the department, but I was a drama student, and was not very clued into the non-departmental opportunities, nor if the culture was such that VP students auditioned for the extra-curricular “club” productions on campus.</p>
<p>I believe at Eastman School of Music they often will do musicals as part of their season now? </p>
<p>OCU, Indiana as others have mentioned above. I believe it is possible at Shenandoah for some of the productions? I have a couple of Shenandoah students and alums working with me this summer, and I will try to remember to ask them tomorrow. </p>
<p>NYU – Steinhardt and Westminster Choir College may be worth looking at as well. They offer a BM degree in musical theatre. Baldwin Wallace does as well, and well as a few others I am blanking on off the top of my head. Florida State and James Madison offer different degree options in MT (I believe FSU offers both a BFA and a BM – All4FSU on the MT forum can clarify this… James Madison offers both a BA and a BM). </p>
<p>More legit musicals (Rodgers & Hammerstein, Weill, Kern, some Sondheim, LaChiusa, and Guettel, etc…) can be terrific training for young classical singers. </p>
<p>Feel free to PM me if you have any questions I can be of help with. :)</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for continuing this discussion. I think musmom2 is correct about schools with a musical theater major not opening their productions up to music majors. I will be applying mostly to liberal art colleges rather than conservatories. Thanks KatMT for mentioning that some musicals are okay for young classical singers. I am used to communicating with my current voice teacher about my participation in theater so I hope to have that type of relationship continue in college with my new teacher.</p>
<p>Based on my experience, I found that most of the Schools of Music will have their auditions policy right on their website.</p>
<p>With regard to Eastman, their “MT” shows in the recent past have been the more involved Sondheim pieces such as “Company”,“Sweeney Todd” and “A Little Night Music”, the same shows offered by many opera companies nowadays. It should be noted that the roles there, and at most places, do tend to go to the Master’s, Doctoral and Artist’s Diploma students first, with a smattering of undergraduate upperclassmen when the space exists.
It would be great if schools went back to the more traditional “MT” productions (Rogers and Hart, Rogers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Lowe,etc) as they are safer for young voices, but they don’t sell tickets the way the newer shows do…</p>
<p>Sondheim is certainly Musical Theatre, and it is terrific that some of his more “legit” shows … Sweeney really is almost an opera … are in opera company repertory.</p>
<p>I do not know about all schools, but I think most MT programs do present golden age shows as well as more contemporary musicals. I know at JMU over the past few years at we have done Mystery of Edwin Drood, How to Succeed in Business, Thoroughly Modern Mille, Urinetown, City of Angels, Oklahoma!, and this year we will do Kiss Me Kate. The School of Music has done operas and operettas ranging from Street Scene to The Merry Widow to Magic Flute to Carmen. </p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>The City Opera production of Night Music is one of my favorites!</p>