This is the second time through for our family in placing a son into a musical theatre BFA program:
Here are 5 differences in the past 5 years:
1. PRESCREENS. Very few programs required video prescreens in 2010. Now the prescreen is (nearly) a common practice and I imagine it will become even more prevalent because of…
2. MORE STUDENTS AUDITIONING. I thought the field was pretty crowded 5 years ago, but now, there seems to be an even higher demand from students and families. Programs added additional slots for on-campus auditions as well as whole additional weekends. Programs added days to Unifieds. All this (I believe) has led to…
3. A PROLIFERATION OF BFA PROGRAMS. Supply and demand as it were. Either these programs have been here all along and they are just now advertising more, or more are being created. It seems like there is a specific Musical Theatre track being developed in every College/University that has a Theatre and Music Department. That leads to a pretty crowded Senior Showcase season in NYC, which leads to…
4. EVEN MORE COMPETITION AT THE BRAND-NAME SCHOOLS. Some schools have climbed the ladder as far a “Branding” is concerned, but the “Big Three” are still the “Big Three” and there is some fierce competition especially between 2 of those 3. (NYU will always be NYU, they are their own thing. Carnegie will always be Carnegie. But U of M and CCM draw and accept the same people…as was pointed out by a school official at an audition day.) Don’t argue with me…argue with them…which leads families to use…
5. EVEN MORE AUDITION COACHING SERVICES. I’ve never looked into the cost at these services, but I bet they are not free. We are a part of large High School theatre network in our region and we were one of the few families that did not use some kind of coaching service this year. In 2010, we didn’t know anyone who had used a coach…which makes me wonder about…
5a. THE DEVELOPING COTTAGE INDUSTRY NETWORK OF PRIVATE OR INVITE-ONLY COLLEGE AUDITIONS: “Moonifieds” have been around for a long time, but there now seems to be a developing series of organized, but not open to the public multi-college rep attended “workshops” or even straight-up auditions happening. Even here in KC there was a “High School Senior Showcase” organized by a large and well-respected Youth Theatre organization that was well attended by a large number of mid-level college reps. These counted as auditions for most of these schools. My son was even recruited after a performance of a show he did from a small college wanting to develop their theatre program. They actually sent a college rep like a recruiter for a University sports program to the show to look for talent.
Could this be the way of the future? And a solution to some of the “venting” we’ve done on CC?
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