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For many, a career in the performing arts is an intimidating prospect. But for those who dare, it can be one of the most rewarding and exciting professions. This is especially true for those who have careers in musical theater. For young people worldwide, the idea of performing in a musical on Broadway, the West End, or just down at their local theater is a dream come true. But what is involved if you want to turn this dream into a reality?
It’s not easy to succeed as a performer. But it’s just as important to have realistic expectations about what it means to have a performing arts career. Even people with exceptional talent and perfect preparation will often fail because they will be unprepared for the realities of life in the performing arts business.
So before you embark on this path, think carefully about the goal and the preparation needed for those long-term ambitions. Elizabeth Bradley, Performing Arts Industry Essentials contributor, shares the different types of training you will need to embark on in your musical theatre career.
Watch the full video to learn about:
- What training do you need as a musical performer
- What training do you need as a choregrapher
- What a triple-threat means for performing arts
If you want to be a musical performer in contemporary musicals…
It’s important to know that composers are writing things now that the average human voice can’t achieve. The common joke used to be that someone “sounded like they had a seven-octave voice.” However, human beings don’t have seven octaves in their voice boxes. As a result, the level of training, vocal care, and strategy that contemporary musical theater singers are more demanding than it’s ever been before.
If you want to be a choreographer for a musical piece…
The demands can be just as high. For example, in plays like Choir Boy, the actors would still have to meet all of those demands for choreographic and musical training. The old shorthand was calling someone a “triple threat,” which meant that you were equally talented in acting, singing, and dancing. Some prominent Broadway singer-actors can dance well enough to get through most of the choreography they might be assigned but perhaps not well enough to do a full-out Broadway number. Others, like Bebe Neuwirth, were, in some ways, dancers first and can do it all.
Any career in a performing arts field will require hard work and dedication. Musical theater certainly isn’t any different. But with the Performing Arts Career Guide, you can be certain that you are heading down the right track for your artistic goals and ambitions.
