MUSICAL THEATRE - Royal Academy of Music
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MUSICAL THEATRE 2019-20
WELCOME
The Royal Academy Musical Theatre Opportunities to perform throughout is to create performers with a
Company is, first and foremost, the year are a priority. Thanks to our voracious and long-lasting appetite
precisely that – a company. Each new, award-winning Susie Sainsbury for investigation and ongoing
year we painstakingly select a troupe Theatre, production values keep pace discovery, in the knowledge that
of actors and singers with diverse but with professional industry standards. mastery is hard-won and should
complementary skills, along with a And because we set the bar so high, never be taken for granted.
small group of aspiring music directors. we attract world-class directors, music
They immerse themselves in an intensive directors and choreographers into the Daniel Bowling
and transformative year of artistic Academy to work with our students. Head of Musical Theatre
development, designed to lead directly
to a professional life in the industry. Regular exposure to agents, casting
Our students inspire and support one agents and industry professionals is an
another in a safe environment that important part of the programme. In
encourages risk-taking and creates 2018 we saw an unprecedented number
brave, highly skilled and confident artists. of graduates moving directly into
high-profile work, including the shows
WHAT SETS US APART? Hamilton, Les Misérables, Miss Saigon
We are immensely proud of our rigorous and Heathers.
MA programme and its proven track
record of turning talent into brilliance. Every mentor in the Royal Academy
The quality of our core staff in acting, Musical Theatre Department is
voice, speech and movement is dedicated to creating an environment
outstanding, and we are honoured to in which company members can IMAGE CREDITS
MARC BRENNER cover page, pages 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
have Claude-Michel Schönberg, the experiment, make mistakes and CHRIS CHRISTODOULOU page 4
composer of Les Misérables, Miss Saigon develop an original voice. Individuality
Royal Academy of Music © 2018
and Martin Guerre, as our current is applauded and nurtured; diversity is Every effort has been made to ensure that the information
included in this publication is correct at the time of going
Visiting Professor of Musical Theatre. embraced and supported. Our aim to print. Any queries regarding its content should be
addressed to publicity@ram.ac.uk
OUR STAFF
HEAD OF MUSICAL THEATRE Sam Kenyon REPERTOIRE COACHES
Daniel Bowling LRAM Teaching Diploma Kevin Amos
Olga Masleinnikova Tom Brady
COMPANY MANAGER Devising and Movement for Actors Alfonso Casado Trigo
Katie Blumenblatt Matt Ryan Project Director Ron Crocker
Anne-Marie Speed Caroline Humphris
EVENTS MANAGER Head of Voice, Spoken Word Sam Kenyon
Gillian Schofield Karl Stevens Dance Stuart Morley
Milo Twomey Acting Through Song
ASSISTANT COMPANY MANAGER Lloyd Wylde Voice PANEL OF ADVISERS
AND ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Pippa Ailion MBE
Louise Flew SINGING TEACHERS John Caird
Ross Campbell Chrissie Cartwright
VISITING PROFESSOR OF John Evans Sir Trevor Nunn
MUSICAL THEATRE Kevin Fountain Matt Ryan
Claude-Michel Schönberg Alison Guill
Ann James VISITING THEATRE DIRECTORS,
SONDHEIM PROFESSOR OF Mary King MUSICAL DIRECTORS AND SPECIALISTS
MUSICAL THEATRE VOCAL STUDIES Tim Richards See www.ram.ac.uk/mth for
Mary Hammond James Spilling recent visitors
TEACHING STAFF MUSICAL DIRECTOR CONTACT US:
Dylan Brown Acting PROGRAMME TUTORS Tel: +44 (0)20 7873 7483
Josh Darcy Improvisation Daniel Bowling Email: mth@ram.ac.uk
Ryan Gover Tap Nick Skilbeck Web: www.ram.ac.uk/mth
George Hall Project Director, Mark Warman
History of Musical Theatre David White
3
PROGRAMME OF STUDY
Prepare for a career in musical theatre with our intensive one-year postgraduate programme
Led by industry experts, the Musical Our rigorous conservatoire training internal competitions adjudicated by
Theatre Department functions as a prepares you for the demands of leading musical theatre practitioners.
theatre company. Our schedule is the industry. As a Performance student Personal guidance will be given on
packed with classes, with the working you will take classes in singing, how to prepare for your future career,
week typically running from 9am to acting, voice and the spoken word, including the most up-to-date advice
6.30pm, Monday to Friday, sometimes integration of acting and singing, on making industry contacts, marketing
also requiring weekend or evening work. repertoire coaching, audition technique, yourself and negotiating with agents
We offer Principal Study in two areas: musicality, extended voice techniques, and casting directors.
Performance, which leads to an MA, and ensemble singing, dance, movement
Musical Direction and Coaching, which for stage, and history of musical theatre. The year culminates in an agents’
leads to an MA or Professional Diploma. As a Musical Direction student you showcase for the UK’s top theatrical
will focus on accompaniment, agents, two full-scale productions
orchestration, transcription, conducting, and two devised cabaret performances
programming and musicianship. You led by creative and production teams
will also be offered individual piano from the industry.
and singing lessons.
The Musical Theatre Department has an
Daily class work and one-to-one tuition impressive 95% success rate of students
will be combined with opportunities signing with agents upon graduation.
to perform for industry experts. You will
attend masterclasses with professionals
from London’s West End and around the
world, and have the chance to workshop
new musicals from emerging composers
and writers. You will also be able to enter
4
SUBJECT AREAS
SINGING individual tutorial. We cover such combinations demonstrated by a
You will have a 60-minute individual components as speech and accent, text choreographer or teacher. We aim
singing lesson and a 40-minute and language including Shakespearean to give you confidence in dance,
individual repertoire coaching session verse, and vocal health. The integration and the ability to translate musicality
each week. In addition, there are group of the speaking voice with the singing and style to the appropriate task.
coaching sessions, ensemble singing voice is fundamental to the programme
projects and audition technique classes. and directly supports the work of the MOVEMENT
Informed by the latest physiology singing teachers. These classes are designed to build
research, we explore all aspects of confidence and cultivate a sense
your singing voice. INTEGRATION OF ACTING of physicality. We take a creative
AND SINGING approach to the work, offering a safe
ACTING In this weekly class you will be environment in which to try things out
These classes and tutorials provide encouraged to match your vocal quality and stretch boundaries without fear
a supportive environment in which and texture to the acting demands of a of ‘doing it wrong’. Looking at solo
to grow and practise your skills as a song, and to develop your individuality, and ensemble movement, including
company. We cover improvisation, acting with a particular emphasis on extended contact and partnering work, we aim
through song, text work, sight-reading, voice technique. Audition repertoire, to create complex choreography
building a character, the rehearsal strategies and technique are practised from simple building blocks. In the
process, audition work and more. throughout the year, as well as the first term the focus is on telling a story
You will apply your learning in the assembling of a strong audition through movement. Later in the year
rehearsal and performance of scenes as repertoire ‘bible’. you will start to combine text and song
well as whole plays, musicals and revues. with movement.
DANCE
SPOKEN WORD The dance course concentrates HISTORY OF MUSICAL THEATRE
These classes cover voice science and on three vital elements: musicality, In these weekly sessions we listen to
its practical application to speaking and empathy and technical ability. and discuss musicals from the Gershwin
singing, and include a weekly 20-minute You will learn to replicate dance and Cole Porter era to the present day.
SUBJECT AREAS
INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT MASTERCLASSES AGENTS’ SHOWCASE
These classes are an opportunity to Visiting performers, composers and AND PRODUCTIONS
work with professionals in performance, directors give masterclasses and You will take part in a showcase with
direction, casting, musical direction, workshops during which they share an invited audience of agents and
choreography, performance coaching their insight into the industry. Sessions casting directors, as well as full-scale
and psychology to formulate and practise held by representatives of professional musical productions. In 2018 the end-
strategies for breaking into the industry. bodies and mock auditions with guest of-year productions were Working and
How best to prepare for (and win) an professionals are also arranged. In The Sweet Smell of Success – both
audition is fundamental to this course. 2017-18 guests included Claude-Michel accompanied by the Royal Academy
Schönberg, Pippa Ailion, John Caird Orchestra in the Susie Sainsbury
NEW MUSIC WORKSHOPS and John Cameron. Theatre, our multi-award-winning
Get involved in the research and new performance venue.
development stages of a musical, PROJECTS
helping to create new characters and Practical projects are rehearsed and MUSICAL DIRECTION
stories. In 2017-18 our students worked performed throughout the year, In addition to one-to-one piano tuition
with director John Caird, composer allowing you to put everything you and a 30-minute weekly singing lesson,
John Cameron and lyricist Ranjit Bolt have learnt into practice. They are students specialising in this area focus
on a musical adaptation of Dickens’s selected according to the individual on a wide range of skills including
Hard Times. needs of students and the company conducting and arranging. You will
as a whole and are directed by top attend and accompany relevant Musical
industry directors, both established Theatre classes and workshops as
and emerging. Past projects have your timetable allows. You will act
included musicals, revues, concerts, as Musical Director on performance
cabarets, plays, showings of devised projects, collaborating with a
work, interdepartmental collaborations professional director, and will
and recordings. accompany and conduct public
performances and competitions.
MEET PAIGE SMALLWOOD
‘I moved from New York ‘I’ll be forever grateful for the
to London in the summer opportunities I was given to make
of 2017 to study at the connections and develop
Academy on a Disney my knowledge of musical
Theatrical Productions theatre rep. The best thing
Scholarship, and it of all is that straight after
changed my life – I would graduation I booked the
do it all again in a heartbeat. part of Éponine in the US
I felt supported and tour of Les Misérables!’
motivated from the very
start, and I made so
many wonderful
friends. As well as
preparing me for
the demands of
the business, the
programme nurtured
my individuality
and gave me space
to explore my
creative ideas.
7
MEET STEPHENSON ARDERN-SODJE ‘I came to the Academy as a Cameron formal musical theatre training – I was Mackintosh Foundation Scholar and working in an office and had almost graduated in 2018. The Musical Theatre given up on my dream of a career in the MA programme strikes a great balance creative arts. Fast-forward to June 2018 between theoretical and practical and I was making my West End debut learning. Class sizes were small and as Alexander Hamilton in Hamilton, tailored to our specific skill levels, so performing to a full house at the Victoria I felt constantly challenged. We had Palace Theatre. This wouldn’t have been incredible lessons, masterclasses and possible without the training I received audition prep sessions with professionals from the Academy’s amazing Musical such as Claude-Michel Schönberg, Pippa Theatre team. I would recommend Ailion and Hadley Fraser. Sessions on this programme to anyone seriously how to approach agents, how and considering a career in why to register with Spotlight musical theatre.’ and Equity, audition etiquette and many other aspects of an actor’s life were all really useful and helped me to build a network of contacts. ‘Before coming to the Academy I’d had no 8
RECENT HIGHLIGHTS IN RECENT YEARS, OUR MUSICAL PAST STUDENTS West End shows, London fringe theatres, THEATRE COMPANY HAS: A measure of our programme’s success national and international tours, rep • performed songs by Cole Porter is the high proportion of Musical Theatre seasons, film and TV, opera companies, at Cadogan Hall with the Royal students who leave the Academy with on the radio and as recording artists and Philharmonic Concert Orchestra representation (95%), and the number backing singers. The Academy has also • appeared in the Christmas Special who obtain professional work. Alumni produced some of the UK’s top musical of Friday Night is Music Night on have worked at the National Theatre, directors, as well as successful arrangers BBC radio and television with the Royal Shakespeare Company, in and writers of musical theatre. • performed in live concert broadcasts with Sir Elton John • taken part in the televised production of Disney’s Broadway Hits at the Royal Albert Hall • recorded the soundtrack vocals at Abbey Road studios for the animated film Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles • taken part in This is the Hour, a special performance of Claude-Michel Schönberg’s music accompanied by the Royal Academy Symphony Orchestra. Find excerpts of the evening here.
NEXT STEPS
Interested in studying on the Musical Theatre Programme?
Here’s what you need to know
If you were unable to come to our Open If you live outside Europe and cannot
Day on 15 October and would like to travel to London for the auditions,
know more about the programme, we will accept a video audition for the
please email mth@ram.ac.uk or visit MA only (not for Musical Direction).
www.ram.ac.uk/mth. You can take Please contact admissions@ram.ac.uk
virtual tours of Academy spaces, including for information.
the fabulous Susie Sainsbury Theatre
and Angela Burgess Recital Hall, here. For entry and audition requirements,
click here. Candidates in receipt of
To join the Musical Theatre Department in certain government benefits are granted
September 2019, the deadline is Thursday application fee waivers. For full details,
1 November 2018. Applications should see here.
be made via UCAS Conservatoires.
We can consider late applications if The Academy aims to provide an
places are still available. Please contact inclusive environment for learning,
admissions@ram.ac.uk if you have any actively promoting equality of
questions or have missed the deadline. opportunity. We welcome applications
from candidates with disabilities who
We will be holding live auditions in early meet the musical, academic and
December 2018 (London) and at the end performance criteria outlined in the
of January 2019 (New York). Please note entry requirements. Please contact
that the audition process may take an our Disability Advisor, Judy Fink, if
entire day and you may be invited to a you have any questions.
recall audition at a later date.
10NEXT STEPS INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS If English is not your first language, you will need to demonstrate your language proficiency to be admitted to the Academy. Details of our English Language entry requirements are here. If you are applying from outside the UK or the EU, you will normally need Tier 4 Adult (General) Student Entry Clearance to study in the UK. Find more details here. SCHOLARSHIPS The Academy is committed to encouraging greater diversity in the industry. We seek to ensure that outstandingly talented artists are able to take advantage of our world-class training, regardless of background or circumstances. Our Entrance Scholarships are awarded on the basis of merit following a live audition. For information about all scholarship opportunities, please get in touch with us at mth@ram.ac.uk.
Patron HM The Queen President HRH The Duchess of Gloucester GCVO Principal Professor Jonathan Freeman-Attwood CBE royalacademyofmusic RoyalAcadMusic royalacademyofmusic Marylebone Road London NW1 5HT www.ram.ac.uk Download our prospectus at T: +44 (0)20 7873 7373 www.ram.ac.uk Sign up to email alerts at www.ram.ac.uk/sign-up Registered Charity No 310007
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