Musical Theatre at Emerson

College Majors Musical Theater Major
1

<p>Ok, all you intrepid MT explorers - what’s Emerson’s program like? I ask for the same student to whom I referred in my last post - she visited and loved the campus and facilities, but I have not really ever heard anything substantive about the program itself, and their website doesn’t reveal much at all. Any Emerson MT students out there? I need the standard info: strengths of the curriculum, notable (or even just working) grads, notable faculty, senior showcase info, etc.</p>

<p>Thanks - I love this board! (and I hope the info I share helps to answer your questions like you answer mine!)</p>

2

<p>My son is going into his junior year as a BFA MT major at Emerson. This is the perfect college for him. He is incredibly happy with his training. It's top notch by professionals who really care about their students. I can't tell you have much he's grown over these last 2 years. </p>

<p>They constantly have master classes and visits by professionals passing through Boston. The last was the cast of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf" before it opened on Broadway. Dennis Leary, Norman Lear, and Jay Leno are among their more well known alumni.</p>

<p>They look for smart, interesting, "quirky", highly talented students who think outside the box. You can pick out an Emerson student from miles away. Emerson students are always doing something. They are involved in all manner of theater and film and are told to audition for everything right from the start. S's teachers believe the best way to learn is by doing. They can fine tune in class.</p>

<p>S is in the honors department, which covers all his academics. Very challenging and rewarding. Lots of reading and writing papers. All the "ologies" are studied, and it really gets the students to think about the world around them.</p>

<p>S spent his first semester Sophomore year at their 12th century castle in Well, The Netherlands. He visited 9 countries and it was an incredible maturing experience and helped him grow as an actor. As a mother, I feel that he can pretty much go anywhere in the world and I don't worry (as much <s>).</s></p><s>

<p>Emerson is in the process of building a new student residence and have just acquired another new property and are renovating another major theater (they have The Majestic, which lives up to its name), more rehearsal and classroom space, and more student dorms.</p>

<p>They do have to re-audition at the end of sophomore year. The class was cut from 30 to 16. S said he knew who would be going, since they were not doing the work. And there is a lot of work.</p>

<p>All in all, Emerson is the right place for S, and we are very happy with it. And it's only about 4 hours away so we get to see him in his productions. He was recently in 2 Harvard plays, and is planning to direct "The Adding Machine" in the fall at Emerson.</p>
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3

<p>Good question. To begin with, Emerson is certainly regarded as a good program and has a nice alumni list. With that being said, my brother just finished his freshman year there and is transfering to BOCO. For him (and i repeat for him because it is all personal preference) it was not as intense as he had wanted it to be. But then again, some of his closest friends there love it so it is all personal preference. Hope this helps</p>

4

<p>Am I mistaken or did Emerson phase out it's dance program last year?</p>

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<p>Funny you should say that about your son. I have a friend who said the same thing about Emerson; it didn't "challenge" her enough! And it's so hard to get into - go figure! We have a friend at Boco who loves it; he's gonna be a junior. He's fabulous and loves it there, but says lots of his friends were cut.
:(</p>

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<p>The thing about Emerson is that you can be as busy, or not, as you want. The students must take a full courseload of MT & liberal arts classes to make sure they have enough credits. It's not a conservatory until Junior year when things really get focused on MT and more challenging. However, it gives lower classmen the chance to participate in clubs and more productions that are constantly happening throughout the school, and at other schools (like Harvard) and other venues. Not only are there acting opportunities, but there are opportunities to direct, produce, participate in tech, dance, etc. Emerson is also part of a consortium so you can take classes at any of the other colleges, including BOCO. My S finds Emerson quite challenging, but it is what you make of it.</p>

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<p>I agree, that makes perfect sense. I just know that fr my brother personally, he wanted to be trained hard right out of the gate which is what most programs do. With Emerson, there is a bit more focus on academics which may or may be what one is looking for. It just so happens that my brother wanted complete focus on preparation for a career in MT. But great point, it is certainly what you make of it. No school is challenging if you dont do the work!</p>

8

<p>One of my younger Ds was helping a friend search for information on Emerson tonight and they were referred to the discussion in the link below, by a current Emerson student who is currently in the program:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.livejournal.com/community/emersoncollege/685216.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.livejournal.com/community/emersoncollege/685216.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Also, this about the ongoing labor dispute at the college:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.livejournal.com/community/emersoncollege/882875.html#cutid1%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.livejournal.com/community/emersoncollege/882875.html#cutid1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>I am extremely interested in this school after looking at the website. Anyone know anything about it? I love all the options for minoring in the BFA program. If anyone has info you can reach me at aim sn: truebelieverx</p>

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<p>Your best bet is to go through the archives of this discussion and search on the term "Emerson". There is a lot of information there.</p>

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<p>someone told me that emerson dropped their mt program...idk if this is true...please feel free to clairfy if you know, cause i dont</p>

12

<p>I just merged the new thread asking about Emerson with an old thread on Emerson so that we can keep information on this school in one place and not duplicate it. </p>

<p>Also, to answer the last post here, Emerson HAS a BFA in Musical Theater program. I believe they phased out the dance program. They also have someone new heading up their program. If you are looking for a BFA in Musical Theater, definitely look into this school as they surely have a program in it.</p>

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<p>The poster from yesterday talks about a minor in MT. Is there actually such a thing at Emerson? I couldn't find it on their website.</p>

14

<p>I think Iacboi's quote about minoring in the BFA was meant that while doing a BFA in MT, one can minor in something else. I did not read it to mean that you can minor in the actual BFA major of MT. NO, I don't think you can do that at Emerson. You must be accepted into the BFA for Musical Theater or the BFA for Acting. You can't just get into the college and minor in musical theater. My D got accepted into Emerson but not the BFA program. She would not have gone there because it meant she could not do Musical Theater there. Hope that helps. I think this boy was trying to say that at some schools, like Emerson (this is true at others, such as NYU), you can minor in a second area if IN the BFA for Musical Theater program.
Susan</p>

15

<p>Thanks for the clarification. My D loved Emerson when we visited. It's so hard to wait and see what happens.</p>

16

<p>soozie, you may be able to answer this as i know your D auditioned and got into emerson last year, but i wanted to see any other opinions on it as well...</p>

<p>does anyone know anything about the dance audition regarding whether it is more focused into ballet/jazz/etc? i'm auditioning there and haven't really heard anything about the dance portion.</p>

<p>thanks, all!
maggie</p>

17

<p>i auditioned at emerson already. the dance audition at emerson was jazzish...but it wasn't even really that jazzy. it was mostly an audition to see how you move and if you have personality. it was really loose and calm. i wouldn't worry about it</p>

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<p>Maggie, just for the record, my D got into Emerson but NOT into the BFA, she was in EA to the college, deferred for the BFA and eventually denied for the BFA in April. She thought the Emerson dance audition was by far the EASIEST of all her college auditions and remarked that you did not have to know how to dance at all to do it. Like BroadwayWannabe says, it was jazzish I think and not really based on ANY technique but more if you could move/personality. You will have NO problem if you are not dancer in terms of doing the actual dance. It is more showing yourself as a performer. She said for anyone who IS a dancer, the dance audition was, well, a bit of a "joke" as it did not discern dance technique at all. This is not the case elsewhere. You'll be FINE, trust me, on this part. </p>

<p>Susan</p>

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<p>yeah absolutely i totally agree with soozievt....there was no technique involved in it whatsoever. it was just your simple box step kinda stuff. i've taken a fair amount of dance and had no problem with it....and there were people in it who had no dance experience who also had no problem with it. of the few schools that i've auditioned at so far, it has been by far the easiest as well. i only wish they were all that easy!!</p>

<p>and just for the note, the head of the MT department at emerson made it clear that the dance audition would not make or break you (he was the one who taught it the day i was there). In fact, at the end of the dance audition, he individually asked each of us if we came to emerson would we place ourselves in beginner or intermediate ballet and jazz (apparently advanced was not an option for freshman MT majors). He wrote down for each person how we would rank ourselves. And a lot of the people who had no problem with the dance put themselves in beginner ballet and jazz.</p>

20

<p>thank you all so much for your quick responses! (and soozie, sorry for the confusion about your D and emerson, oops!)</p>

<p>i feel so much better now knowing that it's not that complicated. i can learn choreography reasonably well and have a tiny bit of ballet background and a LOT of useless scottish highland dance background (should've done more ballet....grrrr), but i can move pretty well. </p>

<p>thanks for the eased nerves!!
maggie</p>