I am posting here instead of the drama/theatre forum because I am curious about others experiences who were originally MT applicants. If your child is a redirect to a program where there is a lot of crossover (i.e. they can get dance and vocal as part of the curriculum and they take classes with the MT students), some schools also say you can audition for musicals (and for MTs vice versa). However, given that you were not accepted for MT and are auditioning against those who were…would you even have much of a shot? I know my kid would be sad to not be in any musicals for 4 years (or longer). This is a hard question to ask at the schools because we don’t want every question to the acting head to be about MT! Would love to hear more about people’s experiences and if they are willing to name the school, even better!
My child was not a redirect , however, every musical we have seen at Otterbein has had BFA Acting majors in leads and there is a tremendous crossover. Additionally, he thinks one of the best dancers in his class is a BFA Acting major!!
My D was not an acting redirect either, but, there is a TON of crossover at Coastal between acting and MT. They take many of the same classes. All acting/MT majors audition for both the musicals and plays, and MT’s get leads in plays and acting majors get leads in musicals. It was actually hard to remember who was “acting” and who was “MT”.
@CBSQandA – My D auditioned for both MT and Acting and in the end, only got acceptances into Acting programs. Interestingly, none were actual re-directs. While she would be happy in a BFA Acting program (as she says, “sure beats accounting”), she wants one that allows her to take vocal/music and dance classes (and maybe get a minor in one of those areas?) and audition for musicals, even if they are only student-directed.
I would love to see a list of schools that offer both BFA Acting and MT and offer a great deal of cross-over between the two. Anyone come across such as list?
My D said the head of Ball State Theatre department told her starting this year they are integrating many of the classes between Acting and MT the first two years. This was the opposite at Pace where they said there was very little overlap between Acting and MT.
Yes, one of my students had a call with Ball State faculty yesterday and they told him there is a lot of overlap between MT and Acting. MT majors audition for plays, Acting auditions for musicals. I believe showcase includes both. He was redirected to Acting at two schools - Ball State and TCU. Both have told him there are opportunities for him to take voice, dance and other musical theatre electives. At Ball State, however, I think he will have an additional fee, but he said it wasn’t “much.”
I don’t think the decision (if you have it) to go MT vs Acting should be made based solely upon chances of getting cast in a musical or showcases. I think the first thing to look at is the degree’s requirements and curriculum. Make sure the student is happy with the overall focus of the training. In my D’s case she is in an MT studio and fully half of her classes are focused on music and singing. There’s a big difference between that and taking private voice once a week. She doesn’t spend as much time on Acting as she would if she were in an Acting studio - there’s always a trade-off because you only have so many hours in the week. Some performers would probably prefer to take more Acting and supplement an Acting program with voice lessons. I honestly don’t think one type of program is better than another - they each offer chances for the performer to thrive - but they are very different.
@CaMom13 I don’t disagree. I did require both my students to list their criteria before we started this process, so they could revisit it after they received their offers. Those things are important to this student, so we did look at curriculum Sunday and I encouraged him to set up calls to learn if he would still be able to get training in voice and dance (which he considers to be the area he needs the most work in — and I don’t disagree). This isn’t a student who has extra money to take outside lessons or training. I guess I should have expressed that they were his concerns in case someone was worried about missing out on things they were looking for in a program. Showcases are not a necessity, but one of his criteria was that the school had a way to connect him with future opportunities like showcases or agents, etc. He was worried he would not have the same opportunity if he went Acting. He loves both of the acting programs he was accepted at, but was also offered some wonderful MT spots as well. So I told him to find the place that fits what you need out of a program. And that will vary from student to student!