My son wants to eventually do it all in the acting areas – stage, screen, voiceovers, etc. As a rising high school senior, his original thinking was that MT seemed limiting, somehow implying that all the person wants is to be on Broadway, and that Acting was a more broad choice. But as he looks at the course curricula at various colleges, it appears to be the opposite; MT majors take pretty much the same classes as the Acting majors, plus the dance and singing classes, which can make them more versatile and desirable. Insights would be appreciated!
I think it depends on the school, the focus of the training and performance opportunities, and the kind of student (in terms of interests) a particular program seems to attract.
At some schools Musical Theatre majors take all of the same courses as Theatre majors, plus singing, dance, musical theatre performance, etc…, and can audition for and are cast in plays as well as musicals.
At some schools Theatre majors can take all of, or close to the same courses as Musical Theatre majors (if it is a school that has both majors), and can audition for and are cast in plays as well as musicals.
At some schools there is only a Theatre major, but there is musical theatre coursework as part of the program, and they do musicals.
There are many, many variations in terms of opportunities and focus of training.
My suggestion is to focus on the curriculum and opportunities at the school (which it sounds like you are doing). The degree itself is not necessarily important, the training and opportunities are.
I teach in a program where there is crossover opportunity between musical theatre and theatre. We have musical theatre alums who work almost exclusively in non-musical theatre, commercials, etc…, and theatre alums who work almost exclusively in musical theatre. Most long terms working actors I know do film, tv, industrials, voiceovers, plays, and musicals (if they sing).
Even if in a program that does not afford the crossover opportunities while in school, it is possible often to supplement training with summer intensives, lessons, and coaching. Most actors I know continue to work with coaches, take lessons, dance class, etc… after they graduate when they can afford it, and are not currently working on a project.
There is also always graduate school. One of our Musical Theatre alums wanted even more focused training, particularly in acting, so auditioned for graduate acting programs, and is currently in the MFA program at Yale. One of our Theatre alums wanted even more focused training particularly in musical theatre performance and dance, so audition for and will be attending the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland MA in Musical Theatre Performance.
So many options, and paths! There is not one clear path for everyone. 
To add to KatMT’s wise advice: If your son is eventually interested in film work as you say (screen, voiceovers), he should pay attention to what each individual school offers in training specifically for these skills.
For instance, at Northwestern, where my D recently graduated, they just added an Acting for Film module. My D, a non MT student, was able to really focus on skills in front of and behind the camera, including scene work, cold reads, commercial reads, screenwriting, editing, sound, directing, cinematography, self promotion, creating work. She left with reel of her work that had been critiqued by outside professionals, both actors and casting folks. NU also has a very strong MT major. I’m not sure a student could do both; I think so? It would be a good question for anyone interested.
Ultimately, as KatMT says, each school has different opportunities and focuses. Look at their websites, and don’t hesitate to ask questions during the audition as well.
KatMT gives excellent advice - and a LOT depends on the schools where you apply/are accepted. My D had acceptances to both acting and MT programs - and in the end chose acting. Her general reasoning was:
- It is easier to supliment voice/dance independently than acting. Eg- you can take private voice (which she does) or outside dance, harder to get access to additional acting classes.
- She felt that acting would give her training in “more mediums” (stage, film etc)
I don’t think there is a right/wrong answer. I can’t think of a musical I have seen without acting majors in it. (Eg anyone who went to Juilliard) and there are lots of bway people (with mt degrees) in tv shows etc. choose your schools, audition, train, and go for it!
Thank you for these extremely helpful responses! Recognizing that it won’t be perfect, I’m trying to design my spreadsheet to review the approaches and opportunities at some schools. I saw a CC thread from awhile back that listed conservatories, but I’d appreciate input on this framework for my spreadsheet in which I will look at reg ed requirements, first- and second-year performance opportunities, size of program, etc. The categories and schools listed would be:
BFA - Conservatory - Acting: Julliard, SUNY Purchase, CMU
BFA - Conservatory - Music Theatre: Boston Conservatory, CMU
UK Conservatory (Acting, Singing and Dancing): LAMDA, RADA, et al
BFA - Conservatory-Style - Acting: UNCSA (with lots of singing and dancing), Elon (with some singing and dancing), BU, U Mich, FSU, Emerson, Syracuse, Ithaca, Muhlenberg, Penn State (coming this fall)
BFA - Conservatory-Style - Music Theatre: Elon, BU (albeit only 4 MT courses added to Acting curriculum), U Mich, FSU, Emerson, Syracuse, Ithaca, Penn State, Hartt
BA - Northwestern, some Ivies
Did I get these classifications right? And/or am I missing any gems? Thank you soon much; I’m getting bleary-eyed trying to set this up.
@TheatreMom21, interesting work! This process can be so confusing…
I guess I’d put UNCSA at BFA-Conservatory, not Conservatory style. Also, the UK Conservatories do perform musicals (as well as plays and films and other stuff!). My impression, and I could be wrong, is that UNCSA is most like a UK conservatory.
But how did you differentiate between the two, Conservatory and Conservatory-style? Not challenging you, I’m just curious.
Others with more knowledge of the other programs will chime in, I’m sure. Did you leave out NYU because you’re not interested? Were the other ones you left out also by design?
Just to clarify, Northwestern is a BA (BS in my D’s case), but is much more theatre-intensive than some Ivy BAs. You major in Theatre but you have areas of focus, including MT, Acting, Playwriting, Stage Management, and then you have additional modules you can add, e.g. Acting For Screen, Devising, Digital Media, etc.
Otterbein is Conservatory style for both BFA Acting and Musical Theatre and there is definitely crossover opportunities.
Agree with @connections UNCSA is a true conservatory. The program is very intense. Similar to Juilliard, LAMDA, etc.
Re: connections’s questions,
I’m not sure how well I did in differentiating conservatory and conservatory-style, but my thinking was about the number of General Ed classes…seems like the conservatories have less than 15%, whereas the conservatory-style have between 15 and 40% General Ed…
Also, left NYC out by design…son imagines he may be there for a lot of his career, and would prefer to be at school elsewhere (except Julliard), and other schools left out because I’m trying to hit ones with which we already have some familiarity through friends. That being said, we certainly plan to investigate all others that the group suggests.
@TheatreMom21 – I think that your classifications make sense… agree with @connections and @bfahopeful that UNCSA probably should be on the Conservatory list… since it is at at arts school, with no non-arts majors on the campus, and very few credits outside of the major classes.
Muhlenberg should be on your list of BAs, since it is not a BFA program, but a BA program where students are able to take dance and voice, and they do musicals regularly.
I am not sure if you were just listing the schools on his current list and where they fall, or schools that you have looked at that fall into those categories… but, he may want to look at the following in each of the categories you listed…
BFA – Conservatory Style Theatre with MT opportunities – Virginia Commonwealth University, Shenandoah Conservatory (has a BFA in Musical Theatre, but there are cross over opportunities for both)
BA – (have both Musical Theatre & Theatre, with cross over opportunities for each) American, James Madison
BA – Theatre (but with a musical theatre focus) Wagner College
If your son has the stats to be competitive for Ivies and Northwestern, than Muhlenberg could possibly be a safety because it is non-audition, but they do consider demonstrated interest.
There are many others schools that offer crossover opportunities. It is important that everyone have at least 1, if not 2, academic, artistic, and financial safeties that they would be happy to attend. I think it is harder to find the safeties than the reaches… and pretty much any school that requires an audition is a reach, because you never know if you will be admitted.
There is tons of great information here, and many posters willing to answer questions. You came to the right place :-)!
Our daughter and we really liked Williams College’s small theater department. It’s a BA program.
http://62center.williams.edu/about/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWBvBFyxk18
http://www.theatermania.com/berkshires-theater/news/marisa-tomei-rose-tattoo-photos_77714.html
You could add CCM in with your conservatories…
Also- I assume any final list will also include some safeties- b/c other than possibly muhlenberg (depending on stats) everything you have is either an artistic or academic reach. Some are lotteries
From what I’ve seen acting BFAs get a lot more training in the technical side of acting – accents, stage combat, Shakespeare, acting for camera – than MTs, whereas MTs obviously get more singing and dancing. Actors learn to be functional singers and movers. MTs learn to act for MT (which is a different style than classical or contemporary theater, let alone film or TV).
“MTs learn to act for MT” this very much may be the case at some schools, particularly schools where Acting majors and Muaical Theatre majors arw in different acting classes. Others train MTs and Acting majors in the same classes, with MTs having additional courses specific to acting the song and in musical scenes. That being said, there are only so many hours in the day, and depending on the school some things (like dialects, stage combat, etc…) may not be taken by the MTs because they are in dance, acting the song, and music classes.
The same thing for Acting majors interested in Musical Theatre training, they likely will not be able to fit in as many dance, music, or musical theatre specific classes.
Check the curriculum at the schools in which you are interested, and ask lots of questions about electives and performance opportunities available to Acting majors in musical theatre skills classes, and MTs in more specific theatre training classes.
Yes, this is true at CCPA but other programs may be different.
The University of the Arts is a conservatory with few gen eds and a couple/few general arts-based class requirements, and where all courses incorporate the arts in some way. They offer a fair amount of flexibility/options, even for MTs, so there’s room for electives like stage combat, Shakespeare, dialects, etc. I’m not sure how much MT a straight acting major gets, but one can audition for the MT minor, too. Plus, acting and MT majors are in the same acting studios, and casting is open to everyone.
yes, that’s different. At CCPA, the acting classes split during junior year. (MTs and As are together freshman and sophomore years)