<p>Many people here have mentioned Muhlenburg as a highly regarded musical theater (BA) on these boards. I was looking one their website and they said they do not have a degree in musical theater, only acting, and its kind of a create your own thing. Is this correct? Anyone who is doing this or has a kid at Muhlenburg following this path care to elaborate? Im a little bit confused on how it all works.
Thanks</p>
<p>DefyingGravity04: I can give you the perspective of what we learned there during our visit last week; I know there are also other parents who post on her with children at Muhlenberg. I have to preface my information by saying we had the same kinds of concerns when I began to research it for my daughter, and I believe she was somewhat skeptical prior to our visit. </p>
<p>However, there are great things going on at Muhlenberg. It is a BA in theatre, but they provide all the MT training you need through dance and vocal training. Some might wonder if this is realistic, and I don't claim to know the specifics of how its done, but my daughter walked away impressed. My question to her was, "If you don't get into any audition MT programs (or if you do, but don't like the school), could you see yourself being happy with the training and opportunities here?" Her answer was yes. That made my day! She has her first two auditions this week (she did audition for talent scholarship at Muhlenberg), and we can go into it already knowing she'd be happy somewhere.</p>
<p>It was highly recommended to us to visit during their upcoming production of Urinetown, but due to scheduling conflicts, we can't. This is where it gets interesting. We arrived early on Sunday, and were invited to observe rehearsal for Urinetown Sunday night. I think my daughter learned more about the program there through sitting through the rehearsal, than she did had we attended the final production. We arrived at the beginning of rehearsal (7PM) and at each hour, I would say, "OK, can we go now?" By 10PM she said, "I'm not leaving until they're done," which was 11PM. She had the opportunity to watch their director, vocal director and choreographer in action. She loved what she saw from the director (chair of the theatre department) - how he worked with the students. Me, not being as astute as she is to theatre details, realized at the end of the night, these students had made an enormous amount of progress in one evening, based on the director's direction, the student talent and concentration to improve. By the end of the night, I was sorry we wouldn't be able to see the finished product, although for my daughter's persective, I think she got the better deal having observed a rehearsal. The next day she sat in on an acting 1 class, and was also impressed with the level of work they were studying. We were told the dance department's reputation in tap dance is at the top of any school in the country. She also got to see how the vocal professor worked with the students (I gathered he is also the private voice instructor for some of their students) during rehearsal. </p>
<p>My point is, don't make a judgment call on Muhlenberg based on the kind of degree you're getting, if you're looking for a setting in a liberal arts school. Students are only an hour and a half from NYC and take advantage of it; I overheard one student telling his prof he was on his way into NYC for an audition for a revival of Grease. They also take class trips and pleasure trips into NYC all the time to supplement their musical theatre exposure. So it's not as if musical theatre is neglected in the program!</p>
<p>I guess I am the "expert" as my D is a freshman there. It is indeed a BA program, in theatre. My D has been counseled by her advisor and voice teacher to double major in music (vocal performance) and Theatre, and just take as many dance classes as she wants. She will not have to take the dance history classes that she would take if she were to triple major or minor in dance.
Freshmen are allowed to audition for and be in all shows. From my D I gather that no girls were cast in Urinetown from the freshman class, but a couple of freshman boys are in the show.
One attraction of the school besides the proximity to NYC (the kids do go there all the time for shows- they saw a preview of an off-broadway show a couple of weeks ago that was entirely in Spanish with subtitles) is the summer musical theatre they do. Casting is done from the community as well from the students and a blend of equity actors as well as non-equity actors are involved. They do three main stage shows, plus children's theatre and the actors are paid and live in the dorms.
For me as a parent I am happy my D ended up where she is. I like the fact that she will recieve a broad education, as the BA requires classes in everything from religion to PE. There is a great study abroad program, and I am sure she will participate in that.
If you look carefully on the theatre/ dance department website there is a link to see alumni who are professional actors/ dancers. There are quite a few.....not as many as the BFA programs out there, but for a BA program I think it is respectable.
My D has only had positive things to say about her professors and loves her private voice teacher. The campus is a busy place, and there is always something to do.
Urinetown opens Oct 27, which is parent's weekend...and I get to see it and my beautiful D all in the same weekend. I can't wait.
Defying Gravity, if you need more info, please let me know. I will be happy to answer your questions to the best of my ability. Charles Richter is the head of the Theatre dept there and is a great source of info. I highly suggest you contact him, and if you want to consider a great BA program, consider Muhlenberg.</p>
<p>Thanks for this thread, defyingravity! (On an off topic, I am sure I am not the only one hoping you will -- at some point -- update us about how your auditions are going!) My D wants to learn more about Muhlenberg, as it has such a good reputation and several kids from her former school are either there or went there, though none for performance. We wanted to get up there to see Urinetown, but it doesn't work with our schedule, either. Keep the info coming.</p>
<p>We live in Allentown and the program is top notch. It is my D's ultimate safety school (although she is not overly interested she knows a lot of kids there now and really respects it - but it's home for goodness sakes!!)/ Her plan is if none of her 5 pre-xmas programs look good she will apply to the "berg! It is a good school, location is great w/o NYC expenses and it is VERY active! Their summer program is incredible! </p>
<p>Feel free to ask me any location/parental type questions...and I know of at least 1 other cc'er who has a child there as well who can provide mroe concrete program details!</p>
<p>MikksMom</p>
<p>Mikksmom....
Out of curiousity, what is Allentown like? I have Muhlenberg on my list but my mom keeps telling me that I would not enjoy it there becuase of the location... Any description would be great.
Thanks!</p>
<p>P.S. say hi to your daughter for me! (we were at CAP together)</p>
<p>The only thing I know about Allentown is it is where Peggy Sawyer (of 42nd Street fame!) is from. :)</p>
<p>haha not going to lie.... That's all I knew too. ;-)</p>
<p>..well that's better than most folks who say" isnt that a Billy Joel song?" and yes it is! </p>
<p>Allentown is a medium size city - lots of area theater and music. MusicFest is August is HUGE and pretty well known. There are a lot of colleges in the area so there is quite a decent sized number of young people around. Now as an ' old person' - read adult w/ kids- when we moved here 9 years ago, I dont really know much more than that. I think the biggest benefit here is that we are 1.5 hours from NYC by a very convenient bus. Lots of folks commute every day. I know kids who take lessons in the city as well. </p>
<p>The program at Muhlenberg is very strong. Their vocal music program is well respected and they do have an incredible theater department. Their summer program also draws very well and they have gone to using a lot of their own students in those productions. </p>
<p>The ' Berg is a nice school - well rounded academically and probably a very good non audition school to consider!</p>
<p>MikksMom</p>
<p>
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..well that's better than most folks who say" isnt that a Billy Joel song?" and yes it is!
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</p>
<p>I was browsing the thread, and that's exactly what popped into my head :o</p>
<p>Gee, and I thought about Rosie from "Bye Bye Birdie" (along with Peggy Sawyer)!</p>
<p>You're right: Rose Alvarez from "Bye, Bye Birdie" also hailed from Allentown. I have a feeling that some writers of musicals consider it the quintessential small American town. It sounds lovely to me. We are definitely going to visit.</p>
<p>Many students at Muhlenberg double major. They make it very easy. Given that, it is quite easy to create a MT major. My D (soph) does that with a double major; voice performance and theater. She takes dance classes every semester to round out her training. You can choose to build your major with what ever emphasis you would like. If you are a strong dancer then have that as one of your majors and just take the other complimentary classes. If you are applying, I recommend auditioning for a talent scholarship. They are very generous and make awards by department as well as academics.</p>
<p>You can be any major and audition for the shows. For the freshmen it is a little tougher, due to the audition schedule. In the second week of school auditions are held for entire first semester. Frosh can't be as prepared as others for that little surprise. My D didn't get cast in any of the "big" shows last year but there are tons of student run productions so that everyone gets a chance to perform.</p>
<p>This year things went a little better for her. She has been cast in Urinetown and was in the Summer program as well. She loves the school as do all her friends we have met. The Theater and Dance department is about 10-15% of the student body. The theater "club" has almost 400 members, so you know you are going somewhere that theater is very popular.</p>
<p>We love the school, faculty and community. I hope this is helpful</p>