Music Theatre at Carthage

Top: Maggie Spanuello and Mike DeFrang in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to The Forum. Above: Michael Chase as Trevor Graydon in Thoroughly Modern Millie.Kenton Rauwerdink as Miles Gloriosus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

The mission of the Carthage Music Theatre and Opera Program is to provide quality music theatre training founded in a liberal arts education. The Music Theatre and Opera Program aims to provide a theoretical foundation grounded in practical experience in music theatre performance. Students will learn singing, acting and dancing, and apply that knowledge in a variety of formal and informal performance venues.

Students in the Music Theatre and Opera Program are expected to balance academic discipline with practical pre-professional experience. The Bachelor of Arts in Music Theatre is designed for the student who has a strong proficiency in voice and basic proficiency in both acting and dance. The curriculum consists of "core" courses in voice and musicianship supported by studies in performance, dance, design, and music theatre history and criticism.

The Goals of the Music Theatre and Opera Program are to:

✓ Develop comprehensive musicianship,

✓ Develop mastery of performance skills in music theatre,

✓ Develop an appreciation of the history of music theatre, its styles, conventions, and social context, and

✓ Provide artistic stimulation and cultural enrichment for students, faculty, staff, and the surrounding community.

Students in the Music Theatre and Opera Program will be able to:

✓ Demonstrate a thorough understanding of the unique requirements of integrating music and theatre into a fully realized performance,

✓ Demonstrate a professional level of voice production and technique,

✓ Demonstrate proficiency in sight singing and basic musicianship,

✓ Analyze and interpret roles from a variety of styles and genres,

✓ Demonstrate an understanding of basic production elements such as set design, costume, make-up, lighting, and props,

✓ Demonstrate knowledge of music theatre repertoire, the history of its development, and the relationship of this history to performance practice,

✓ Demonstrate a thorough knowledge of the allied music genres of opera, light opera, choral performance, and jazz,

✓ Demonstrate proficiency in basic dance and movement skills appropriate to music theatre, and

✓ Demonstrate proficiency in audition techniques.