MUSC 270: Musical Theatre Workshop

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Class Program
Music
Distribution
Humanities Performance/Skill
Credits 1 Lab Hours 22
This class explores Musical Theatre in a studio workshop setting. Students will study the work of the actor/singer/dancer and use their gained knowledge to develop as performers. Also, students will prepare and present as soloists as well as members of small groups and larger ensembles. Since this is a workshop course, students will prepare material for class presentation and critique. The class will also focus on the audition process, musical theatre history, and repertoire selection. Finally, the entire class will participate in a culminating showcase performance at the end of the quarter. This course may be repeated for up to six credits. Some performances may be held at off-campus venues.
Course Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to demonstrate the following knowledge or skills:

  1. Demonstrate appropriate musical, acting, and movement audition skills in conceptualizing, preparing and performing selected solos, duets, and ensembles.
  2. Become familiar with important musical theatre composers and their works, and apply specific knowledge of relevant factors of musical theatre through class discussion and presentations.
  3. Collaborate with the director, music director, accompanist, choreographer, and other musical theatre personnel on the elements of musical theatre performance through performance preparation
  4. Appraise and evaluate performances in musical theatre and understand the actor/singer/dancer’s work as an artist in musical theatre through evaluations.
Course Content Outline
  1. Introduction
    1. Musical Theatre Vocabulary
    2. Physical Warm-Ups
    3. Vocal Warm-Ups
    4. Vocal Assessment
    5. Resume Writing
  2. Musical Theatre Dance
    1. Definition of Choreography
    2. Basic Steps
    3. Dancing at an Audition
    4. Exaggerated Movement
  3. Solo Repertoire
    1. Picking a Classic and Contemporary Solo
    2. Picking a Classic and Contemporary Monologue
    3. Cutting your songs to 16 bars and 32 bars
    4. Cutting your Monologue to 1 minute
  4. Scene Work
    1. Blocking
    2. Working with a partner
    3. Working in ensembles of three or more
    4. Choosing Scenes
    5. Defining your Character
  5. Perform the selected musical theatre repertoire
    1. Class Workshop
    2. Public Performance
  6. Reviewing Performances
    1. Class Workshop
    2. Public Performances
    3. Recorded Performances
Department Guidelines
  • This class is offered as a lab class.
  • Since students can take the course more than once, a varied repertoire of materials are needed for each quarter.
  • All students must take part in the performance element.

PO4 should be assessed: Students will be able to recognize or articulate personal/interpersonal aspects of, or connections between, diverse cultural, social, or political contexts.

PO5 should be assessed: Students will be able to solve problems by gathering, interpreting, combining and/or applying information from multiple sources.