In the Musical Theatre Department, students master storytelling in three different disciplines: voice, dance, and acting.
While many graduates of The Academy attend highly regarded BFA conservatory programs in musical theatre or acting, others choose to pursue their training in academic BA programs at liberal arts colleges.
A broad sampling of recent Musical Theatre graduates’ college placements include, but are not limited to, Northwestern, NYU, AMDA, Carnegie Mellon, the University of Minnesota/Guthrie, Emerson, Manhattan School of Music, Stanford, Princeton, Chapman, The New School, Boston Conservatory, Cal Arts, Indiana, Illinois Wesleyan, USC, Berklee School of Music, Roosevelt, Columbia Chicago, Webster, Penn State, and Shenandoah.
Musical Theatre students are taught by Chicago professionals, working out in the city on their own art as they impart wisdom to students based on their own professional training and experience. In addition to the department's permanent faculty, a rotating roster of guest artists means that the lighting designer or choreographer of the fall show is working with Academy students in between gigs at any of Chicago’s most reputable and innovative professional theaters.
For Musical Theatre students, performance is a key part of learning, and students have ample opportunity for it. The department produces four to five main stage shows per year, including two musical theatre productions and several plays as part of our annual Shakespeare Festival in collaboration with the Theatre Department.
Recent Musical Theatre productions have included Spring Awakening, A Little Night Music, Nine, A Chorus Line, Into the Woods, Head Over Heels, The Pirates of Penzance, Sunday in the Park with George, A Man of No Importance, Anything Goes, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and Merrily We Roll Along. Our recent Shakespeare Festival titles have included The Merchant of Venice, Cymbeline, The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale, As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, and Macbeth.
Outreach
The department also produces works to be performed out in the community. Over the last two years, Musical Theatre seniors produced and toured the Theatre for Young Audiences musical Seussical, and Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
More about the Musical Theatre Department
See Justin Tranter on NBC Chicago’s new series “It’s OK to Ask Questions”.
Read our interview with Academy Alum and 2023 Gala Emcee, Ally Ahern (Musical Theatre ‘17)
Read our interview with current Musical Theatre student Ava Baldassari.
Read our interview with Emma Thatcher (Musical Theatre ‘10) and Sarah Franke (Media Arts ‘11)
Hear from Academy seniors!
An interview with Academy alum DeMone Seraphin
Pictures from the 2021 Summer Program!
Check out the 2021 Brush Up Your Shakespeare Festival!
A small army of faculty began a two-day, 400-mile caravan, stopping at each senior’s home to hand-deliver diplomas and personally applaud each graduate. Congratulations to the Class of 2020!
Pictures from the 2019 Alumni Party, updates of Alumni Grants, the 2020 Alumni Challenge, and Showcase Honoring Margy Stover
The Department of Musical Theatre presents their Spring Musical, Cabaret!
Art by Erna Schmidt-Caroll, c. 1928.
The Department of Musical Theatre presents their Spring Musical, Cabaret!
Art by Erna Schmidt-Caroll, c. 1928.
Please join us for our all-school showcase, Encore! Stay tuned for more info.
See Justin Tranter on NBC Chicago’s new series “It’s OK to Ask Questions”.
Austin Peyton (Musical Theatre '21) Featured in Chicago Tribune
Justin Tranter featured in TIME, Billboard, BuzzFeed and more for new song "Hands."
Huge congratulations to Academy alum Jose Ramos (Musical Theatre, '11) for being cast in Chicago's upcoming run of Hamilton.
FACULTY
The general goal of the private voice lesson is to oversee a student’s artistic progress by guiding that student in developing practice skills, a solid technique that supports a wide range of styles, and appropriate recital, competition, and audition repertoire. Students will study both classical and musical theatre repertoire—including the songs that they are assigned in Studio.
Voice Repertoire is a student’s opportunity to perform repertoire in front of their peers and work on putting technique into practice. Theory is taught both in isolation and in integration with our daily study.
Our musical theatre program is one of the only in the country where our students study dance in the dance department, and we relish the privilege to do so. Freshmen and sophomores will take Ballet, Jazz, and Modern class, and all students will be placed in dance class during the first week of classes. Additionally, our students take a weekly Musical Theatre Dance Repertoire class where they learn classic Musical Theatre dances from great choreographers like Jerome Robbins and Bob Fosse.
Musical Theatre Studio class is the centerpiece of our department's curriculum and the place where students will bring together not only the skills they are working in acting, dance, and voice class, but also where they build their content knowledge and understanding of the art form overall. It is essential for our students to gain a thorough understanding of the history of the art form: the shows, the creative teams, and the way that the genre was shaped by each historical era. Freshmen students take "Musical Theatre Studio I". Sophomores and juniors take "Musical Theatre Studio II". Seniors participate in "Senior Study" which incorporates elements of each.
*Course titles reflect transcripts for the 2017-2018 freshman class.
Acting focuses on building the skills for storytelling that an actor will bring to a text, but it also gives the student an experience of applying those skills to a specific period style of material. Each year, students work with both contemporary and period styles of material with a focus on each for a semester. A key component of this class is building a keen sense of ensemble and partnership with fellow actors. Different classes may focus on different elements of acting performance, like movement, voice, and text. The work of our acting classes includes the study of playwrights including Tennessee Williams, Oscar Wilde, Anton Chekhov, John Patrick Shanley, Tony Kushner, Noel Coward, and David Lindsay-Abaire. Freshmen students take "Introduction to Acting". Sophomores and juniors are split between "Intermediate Acting" and "Advanced Acting". Seniors take "Advanced Acting".