<p>Hi, Everyone!
I’m a freshman in the New Studio: Music Theatre program, and I’d be happy to answer any questions you might have about the program, auditions, etc.</p>
<p>I’m having the time of my life in New Studio on Broadway. We have the most amazing teachers, many of whom are working or have worked professionally on Broadway and in the areas they teach. NSOB has been a safe, nurturing environment for me to grow as an actor studying the discipline of Musical Theatre, and after only one semester here, I feel that I have improved so, so much. Best of all, there is nothing but love and support between the students here. No competition, talking-behind-backs, etc. We really have become a family and are having so much fun learning in this studio.</p>
<p>I know that Sutton Foster is on the faculty for the NSOB. How active is she in the program? What does she do? How often is she there? Also, are there any students in the NSOB that are double majors? Thanks so much!</p>
<p>My D is auditioning on 1/21 for MT at NYU. I heard they have you audition in your dance clothes since singing is after the dancing aud. Is this accurate? She doesn’t know what to wear? Thanks for helping out. Maybe we will meet you?</p>
<p>@EJmusicman:
Sutton Foster is an adjunct faculty and taught our “Song Performance” class for first semester-- we had her class every Tuesday for an hour and fifteen minutes (the length of our other classes). It was basically a class teaching us how to act through song-- my favorite class of the semester. It was very laid back, and such a fun class! She also taught an elective for upperclassmen, a “Crazy for Gershwin” cabaret class that culminated in a cabaret at Joe’s Pub. I heard great things about that class, too.
Since she’s doing the revival of “Anything Goes,” I don’t think she’ll have time to teach second semester, with 8 shows a week, etc. But she told us that she would be back teaching. I think it mostly depends on her schedule, but she loved teaching here and we would love for her to be back!</p>
<p>Well, I know one student who is a transfer (a 3rd year) who is in the acting track and he is double majoring in computer science, I believe. It depends on how many AP (or IB?) credits you may have from high school and how committed you are to get a double major-- I’m working with my guidance counselor and it looks like w/ my AP credits I can graduate a semester early or work towards a double major or a minor. It’s just a very heavy work load being in Tisch already, but it’s definitely doable! :)</p>
<p>@Lulu63
Well, I’m not sure how different the audition is from last year, since I believe this year they audition at the Tisch building on Broadway? (Correct me if I’m wrong!) I auditioned at Chelsea Studios last year in midtown, because the New Studio facilites weren’t ready.</p>
<p>But yes, we had dance first and then went right to our acting and singing auditions, which were in separate rooms. Because I had signed up for the audition really early I was near the top of the list on the acting and singing rooms-- they had a set order for each room and it’s up to you to be there. But even though I went really quickly after the dance audition, I felt totally ready to audition. I put on a skirt over my leotard for my acting and singing auditions, and I think that worked nicely.
I’m not really a big dancer, but for the dance audition I wore a black leotard and ballet tights and slippers, though I saw everything from complete dance outfits to t-shirts and shorts. I’d recommend she wear whatever she feels comfortable and confident in.</p>
<p>The Tisch audition was my favorite audition because they wanted us to do our best-- after the dance audition the pianist who would accompany the singing auditions came into the dance room and warmed us all up (VERY nice!). Then before our acting auditions, we did some acting warmups with the same faculty member who we auditioned our monologues for.</p>
<p>Hope that helps! And break a leg on Friday!! :)</p>
<p>Cheezn- I just noticed that Steinhardt will soon open Sweeney Todd- Does Tisch produce mainstage productions that require a classical bent for some of the characters as in Sweeney, Light/Piazza, etc?<br>
Thanks for the inside scoop!</p>
<p>@classicalbk
To be honest, I’m not sure. (But I hope so, because those are two of my favorite shows!) They’re working on the musical “Two Gentlemen of Verona” in Tisch mainstage right now, and I’m not sure what musicals they are doing in the future. But each studio does its own shows in addition to the Tisch mainstage musicals (but not NSB right now because we’re mostly freshmen and can’t perform). Plus, there are student productions all the time.
I’m classically trained and in my private voice lessons I’m continuing with my classical studies as well as Broadway styles. Also, in our Song Performance classes we are working on styles from many different periods of musical theatre. So I definitely don’t feel like a fish out of water. There are students from all different kinds of backgrounds vocally.
:)</p>
<p>Thanks Cheezn! I’m glad to hear you have a classical background and you’re keeping it going.<br>
Is it for one year or two that new students stay off the main stage?</p>
<p>^^All Tisch students can’t be in productions for just their freshmen year. In freshmen year, they also have required crew assignments. They perform in class in studio and such that year only.
(this doesn’t just refer to main stage but any play/musical productions, which at Tisch encompasses way more than just mainstage shows)</p>
<p>Just wondering for any New Studio on Broadway Musical Theatre students - how are the acting classes? How many are you taking per semester? What types? Are you learning a variety of techniques? What about voice/speech/movement classes? Thanks!</p>
<p>Hi, @collegesearch26!
We Music Theatre students have one main acting class (2 1/2 hours long) that we have twice a week with students from the Acting track. There are 16-18 people in each class. There are three different teachers for the acting class-- each of us stays in one teacher’s class each year. One of the acting teachers is our studio head, Kent Gash. (He’s the only studio head in the Drama department that also teaches freshmen, which I think is pretty awesome.)
What you do in acting class really depends on the teacher-- In one class I know they are focusing a lot on Meisner technique, in another it’s a lot of Uta Hagen. But I believe we will move to another teacher next year and learn another technique. There doesn’t seem to be one stand-out technique New Studio teaches- right now we’re getting a general understanding of a bunch of techniques while we’re freshmen.</p>
<p>So that main acting class is 99% straight acting-- no music theatre involved. In my class we have had a few projects that have given us the option of incorporating song or dance into the work, but it’s mostly work from plays.</p>
<p>I’m LOVING my acting class. I had never taken an acting class before coming to NYU, so this whole experience has been eye-opening, and I have grown so much acting-wise in only five months.</p>
<p>In addition to that main acting class is our Song Performance / Small Group Voice class, which we have on Tuesdays and Thursdays. (Last semester the incredible Sutton Foster taught our Song Performance class and this semester Michael McElroy teaches both classes). It’s for MT’s and it’s basically an acting-through-song class. I found this class SO helpful, because we have learned that a song is no different from a monologue-- and we have learned how to use the music to better convey what we’re saying with the text. I would consider this class a hybrid between Acting and Singing, because we’re doing both. But I would say the focus is on the acting work, because that’s the most important thing.</p>
<p>Hi there! My daughter will be applying to college’s for Musical Theatre so all of this information on Tisch’s program is awesome…thank you! Quick question: is this a 4 year program? Do you graduate with a BFA? Thanks so much!</p>
<p>Yes, the Tisch program, regardless of which acting studio, is a 4-year program-- but (depending on workload and credits) people can graduate a semester or a year early. But we start out in Primary Studio (for example, New Studio on Broadway: Music Theatre) for our first two years, and for our second two years we move on to Advanced Studio, where people have the option of transferring to another studio, or staying in their first studio.</p>
<p>We graduate with a BFA in Acting, regardless of the studio we are in.</p>
<p>Hi,
any chance you might know why it stills shows on Albert that my D still needs to audition when she did on 1/21??? Does anyone else’s status still show this?</p>
<p>It’s confusing, I know, but elsewhere I have seen that the audition box doesn’t get checked off until the audition results are in. Perhaps that is the situation here.</p>