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Best university for Musical threatre/acting?

Hopefully somewhere in London but not essential. Is there a good list like with academic subjects or not? Can somebody please just outline the main best ones, if there is a big ranking of anysort be it offical or unoffical. Thanks.

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Reply 1

Seba_Nile

If you want to do musical theatre you can't do it with academic subjects.
If you want to do MT then the best places (in unofficial but generally excepted order) are:
Central School of Speech and Drama
Mountview Academy
Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama

Otherwise you can combine "drama" with almost any BA subject at most conventional unis

Reply 2

Mark_E

Don't forget Arts Ed and Guildford school of Acting

Reply 3

Seba_Nile

I was listing the generally accepted top three but yes Guildford and Arts Ed both have very respected courses too.

Reply 4

Mark_E

I's say Arts Ed and Guildford are higher than Central/Royal Welsh for musical theatre. Central is better for acting though.

Reply 5

Seba_Nile

All in all its really up the institutions you like personally. The facilities, atmosphere, location, student body and whether you like the tutors and lecturers you meet on interview/audition etc.
Most drama schools have a good reputation so its up to preference (and obviously acceptance)

Reply 6

beccaarr

Actual uni or drama school?
Uni wise, Manchester Met is ace.

Reply 7

Seba_Nile

Outside of Drama School then yes Manchester Met, Warrick and Queen Mary's are all said to have good courses

Reply 8

francescarella

central!!!

completely unbiased of course :p:

actually i am unbiased, becuase i'm not even on the acting course :smile:

and i jsut saw their showcase last week and my god the acting was astounding!! and for the next show theyre doing jerry springer the opera :woo:

can't wait!!!

Reply 9

Seba_Nile

LMAO!
Central is one of if not the best in the world for acting at the moment.
Its only real rivals are Tisch (NY) and Moscow (Russia)

Reply 10

francescarella

central send students to moscow for a semester :yep:

Reply 11

Acaila

Check out the courses accredited by the NCDT: http://www.ncdt.co.uk/index.html

Those are the top courses and are held to a certain standard for their accreditation.

I would definitely take issue with the "top three" mentioned above. I don't believe in silly rankings based on nothing but hearsay, but those would not be my top three if I had to pick. As I say, the NCDT ones are all strong really and to get in to any of them is a big accomplishment.

Reply 12

Seba_Nile

The top three mentioned are what I have been told be professional practioners who employ graduates from the institutions, so these are the three they tend to consider before other students. Perhaps they are not the best in quality but they are, apparently, the most employable according to the professionals I know inc. Professional Stage Manager, 2 Casting Agents, A Director and 3 MDs.
Unfortunately I'm a techie so know people like this is no help to me on that level but this is the advice I have got from them

Reply 13

francescarella

i think for musical theatre, the best are places like:
mountview
GSA
guildhall
italia conti
LIPA

for acting i think places like:
RADA
CSSD
RSAMD
RWCMD
LAMDA

and for technical theatre i think places like:
CSSD
rose bruford

Reply 14

Seba_Nile

Guildhall doesn't do musical theatre, its either singing (music) or acting but they do a good techie course.
RADA, from what I've has gone downhill in terms of the tutors that teach there but the name still carries alot of clout, is notroiously diffucult to get into and a very good teaching school. Just not the forefront of theatre that it used to be. Thats just what I hear though

Reply 15

francescarella

oh does guildhall not do musical tehatre? ah well shows how much i know about drama schools lol.
i'm in my lil central bubble. i'll be at your interview next week btw :biggrin:

Reply 16

Seba_Nile

YEY!!!!
I will see you there then, missy :P!
Anyways, who said being in a "lil central bubble" was a bad thing :P

Reply 17

Acaila

A lot of acting courses do train their students in some musical theatre as well (indeed, at my drama school, on the acting course they have singing lessons every year, singing as part of the showcase and often a musical is part of the final year performance schedule). It's all about being versatile in the theatre industry and acting courses realise this. There are certainly plenty of working performers in musical theatre who trained at Guildhall.

And my information comes from professionals in the MT industry. Francesca's list looks a bit more like it from all accounts, though, as I say, the NCDT courses are all of a certain standard and entry on to any of them is an impressive achievement. Wherever you go though isn't going to guarantee you a career in this business.

Incidentally, I've been very impressed by students coming out of the MT postgrad at RSAMD, though I assume this thread has a more undergrad focus.