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Musical Theatre Core Curriculum
The Musical Theatre track offers young performers the opportunity to select a course of study focused on singing, dancing, and acting. Students study voice, take a clear sequence of dance focused on musical theatre, and take classes such as Acting a Song that bring together multiple skill sets to create a more complete performer. Musical Theatre students may also select electives within the Acting or Design & Production tracks.
For information on graduation requirements and academic curriculum, please visit Academy Academics.
Required Courses: Musical Theatre Majors
This course provides the foundational studio experience for all Performance majors in the Theatre Division. Students are divided into four class sections to work with individual Acting faculty members and a select ensemble of peers for the entire school year, with the opportunity to work with a different teacher for every year that they are a Major at the Academy. Basic exercises from primary theorists are intermixed with ensemble improvisations and analytical and practical work with assigned dramatic texts.
This course explores the utilization of the acting process through song. Students learn the unique challenges of the genre for the performer through work with scenes, ensemble and small group songs, characterizations, vocal work, and choreography. This course culminates with a showcase of selected material performed during Festival at the end of the school year.
Audition Technique provides students the opportunity to create quality audition material through individual appointments with the instructor. Each student will be required to have six monologues prepared and ready to be performed by the end of the semester. These pieces will work together to form "packages" consisting of a mix of comedy and drama, classical and contemporary, in a way that will showcase the student's individual strengths. Each student will meet with the instructor in a weekly 25-minute session. Students are required to identify the pieces on their own, although the instructor will give advice on appropriate material selection. This is a student-driven course.
This course allows students to exercise physical skills and coordination through the practice of dance methodologies for Musical Theatre. Students learn various dance styles (ie. Jazz, tap, ballet). The course provides a serious and specifically focused dance opportunity for Theatre Majors.
This class will provide students with the basic directing techniques needed to direct a play. We will explore composition, terminology and the ethics of good stage directing. We will learn to recognize the various theatrical styles and their influence on directing choices. We will learn to break a script down using units, verbs and arrival points.
In this course, students explore the captivating world of musical theater history, journeying from Gilbert and Sullivan's groundbreaking operettas to the end of Broadway's Golden Age. Students will delve into iconic works, innovative creators, and transformative moments that shaped this vibrant art form and left a lasting impact on the cultural landscape.
In this course, students are introduced to the work of African-American playwrights including August Wilson, Lorraine Hansberry, Ntozake Shange, Lynne Nottage, and Dominique Morisseau, among others.
This course offers Theatre students interested in pursuing a Musical Theatre option in their studies a chance to explore basic techniques of breathing, voice production, music reading, and ear training, and the use of those skills in a Musical Theatre repertoire. Particular focus will be placed on "milestone" shows in American Musical Theatre. Research and song analysis will be required for selected shows to incorporate acting skills in solo presentations.
This course introduces students to the wide variety of dance styles used in Musical Theatre. Students participate in numbers from musicals across multiple genres, gaining valuable experience across a wide range of choreography.
This course provides individual voice lessons to Theatre Majors with a talent for and interest in Musical Theatre. Students will learn important vocal techniques for optimum performance and receive instruction on repertoire from the musical theatre canon.
This course provides training in the areas of vocal technique, musicianship, artistry and repertoire within group and one-to-one contexts to students in the Musical Theatre track. Students will further their vocal development across a variety of musical styles required of the singing-actor via flow/resonance based practices and vocal cross-training techniques.
This course is designed to link vocal and dance skills in a class that focuses on developing the student's ability to dance and sing simultaneously. Choral numbers from the Musical Theatre repertoire are learned vocally and fully choreographed.
Theatre Company serves as the primary "lab course" for the Academy Theatre Arts division, allowing students to utilize the skills they are developing in their other theatre curricular offerings. Theatre students actively participate in all facets of preparing a wide range of productions to be presented to audiences of the school community as well as the general public.
Sample Musical Theatre Curriculum for a Four-Year Student
Semester I
Required Courses
Theatre Company / THA051
Acting Technique / THA053
General Dance / DAN101-102
Advanced Ballet / DAN110
Choir / MUS055-056
Sample Academic Courses
Algebra I; Biology; English I; French I
Semester II
Required Courses
Theatre Company / THA051
Acting Technique / THA053
General Dance / DAN101-102
Choir / MUS055-056
Sample Academic Courses
Algebra I; Biology; English I; French I
Semester III
Required Courses
Theatre Company / THA051
Acting Technique / THA053
Choir / MUS055-056
Sample Academic Courses
Geometry; World History; English II; French II
Semester IV
Required Courses
Theatre Company / THA052
Acting Technique / THA054
Choir / MUS055-056
Advanced Ballet / DAN110
Elective Courses
History of Music Theatre / THA334
Interdisciplinary Art Making / INT057-058
Sample Academic Courses
Geometry; World History; English II; French II
Semester V
Required Courses
Theatre Company / THA051
Acting Technique / THA053
Song & Dance Lab / THA302
Musical Theatre Voice Studio / THA328
Elective Courses
Choir / MUS055-056
General Dance / DAN101-102
Interdisciplinary Art Making / INT057-058
Sample Academic Courses
Algebra II; U.S. History; English III; Chemistry
Semester VI
Required Courses
Theatre Company / THA052
Acting Technique / THA054
Musical Theatre Voice Studio / THA328
Dance for Musical Theatre (intermediate) / THA323
Elective Courses
Audition / THA320
Physical Characterization / THA410
World Theatre / THA340
Choir / MUS055-056
General Dance / DAN101-102
Interdisciplinary Art Making / INT057-058
Sample Academic Courses
Algebra II; U.S. History; English III; Chemistry
Semester VII
Required Courses
Theatre Company / THA051
Acting Technique / THA053
Dance for Musical Theatre (advanced) / THA323
Musical Theatre Voice Lesson
Audition Technique / THA405
Advanced Musical Theatre Techniques
Elective Courses
Voice & Diction / THA315
Stage Movement / THA401
Classical Acting / THA315
Directing / THA403
Choir / MUS055-056
General Dance / DAN101-102
Interdisciplinary Art Making / INT057-058
Sample Academic Courses
Precalculus; Ecology; English IV
Semester VIII
Required Courses
Theatre Company / THA052
Acting Technique / THA054
Advanced Musical Theatre Workshop / THA324
Musical Theatre Voice Lesson
Elective Courses
Acting for the Camera / THA402
Acting Shakespeare / THA404
Mask / THA316
Choir / MUS055-056
General Dance / DAN101-102
Interdisciplinary Art Making / INT057-058
Sample Academic Courses
Precalculus; Ecology; English IV